Polyamory, autism, ADHD, oh my!

Anna Piper Scott has it all and is determined to laugh about it. In this hour-long stand-up set, Piper Scott divulges the different labels she’s tried on in an exploration of queer identity.

Bouncing between lesbian, bisexual, monogamous and polyamorous, Piper Scott takes us on a wild journey that begins with her, two Spanish-speaking teens and a cowboy on a tram. 

On the night of review, a small audience filled only the front two rows of the Bally, but you wouldn’t have thought that from the sound of riotous laughter. Were some of us overcompensating to create an atmosphere and make Piper Scott feel better about the lack of ticket sales? More than likely. But she proved quickly she didn’t need our pity.

It is a great skill of Piper Scott’s to simultaneously make a show feel intimate and like she’s playing to an audience five times its size. 

Chatting to the audience as they enter is disarming, as Piper Scott does her best before the comedy set to coax an audience into trusting her, and develop a rapport that takes the fear out of audience participation. She might pick on you, and you will like it. 

Piper Scott describes her show as an exercise in queer joy written for individuals that aren’t queer. While it’s a show for everyone, there’s ample opportunity to be ‘in’ on the joke – whether it be as a bisexual, non-binary, autistic, or just a good ol’ train enthusiast.

Her queer joy, though, is not sequins, girlhood and Mardi Gras. Though of course, those things can be queerly joyful, Piper Scott in her red checked leggings and Doc Martins has an element of grittiness to her joy. It’s not flashy, but it’s authentic and an important reminder that not all queer joy looks the same.  

Throughout the hour, she takes tangents and twists, with highlights including how she affirmed her boyfriend’s identity with a birthday badge and the way her girlfriend – who always falls asleep in films – believes Star Wars is Fast and the Furious but in space pods. For the pop culture references, Fast and the Furious is about as straight as it gets, with other quips on Dungeons and Dragons and The L Word drawing giggles from those in the know. 

None of that Queer Stuff is like catching up with an oversharing bestie you haven’t seen in a while. You might zone out for a second when she gets into the weeds of Roman history, but she’ll win you back with a big payoff when you return to that tram. 

Anna Piper Scott: None of that Queer Stuff is playing at the Bally at Gluttony until March 10. 

Read more 2024 Adelaide Fringe coverage here on InReview.

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