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Promotional art for Horndog
Cover image credit: via TMDB

Horndog

Rose Matafeo

HBO Max · 2021 · 58 min

A frantic hour about teenage obsessions and romantic desperation.

Rose Matafeo begins this hour by redefining the word horniness as a kind of frantic, all-consuming passion that teenage girls direct at things like K-pop, crochet, and Franz Ferdinand. She is on stage with the physical energy of a cartoon character, bouncing around, making weird eye contact, and presenting a slide show featuring 2003-era WordArt on a millennial-pink background. It is a defense of obsessive devotion that treats the goofy preoccupations of youth not as embarrassing mistakes, but as the peak of human passion.\n\nThe show was taped in January 2020 at the Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End and released shortly before Matafeo’s sitcom, Starstruck, made her a major name in international comedy. The hour itself is a polished version of the live set that won the Best Show award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018. It features her late introduction to masturbation, the mild despair of being a heterosexual woman, and her childhood spent in Neopets forums. She punctuates her confessions with a choreographed dance number that feels completely earned.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Redefining the term 'horniness'

    Explains that she chose 'horndog' to describe an intense, passionate, unregulated devotion rather than purely sexual appetite, before discovering the word 'passionate' exists.

  2. Returning to the dating pool after multiple breakups

    Compares re-entering the dating world after nine adult relationships to repeatedly recommending a restaurant that has given you food poisoning eight times.

  3. Emotional speech on the validity of obsessive devotion

    A sincere, tearful monologue explaining that devoting 100 percent of oneself to whatever you love—from K-pop to Franz Ferdinand—is always worth the grief and heartbreak.

  4. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Surprise ending dance routine closer

    Closes the hour by performing an unexpected, high-energy dance routine with back-up dancers.

How it plays

Tone
Goofy, joyful, earnest, and heartwarming, balancing ridiculousness with sincere emotional vulnerability.
On stage
A high-octane mix of neurosis, flamboyant self-deprecation, and zany exuberance reminiscent of a Looney Tunes character.
Pace
Frantic, gallop-paced, and high-energy with a nervous, jittery excitability that captures the frantic momentum of obsession.
About
obsessive love and horniness, teenage angst and geeky obsessions, dating and past relationships, female sexuality, early internet culture and fandom

What the critics said

Universally praised as an inventive, astutely observed, and hilarious exploration of millennial romance and teenage obsession, blending high energy with surprising emotional warmth.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: bbc.co.uk, hbomax.com, primevideo.com, avalonuk.com, theartsdesk.com, thespinoff.co.nz, pastemagazine.com, en.wikipedia.org, theguardian.com, imdb.com.

Backstory

Adapted from her live show that made history at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Matafeo became the first person of colour and first New Zealander to win the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show.

Details

Released
Taped
The Ambassadors Theatre, London
Runtime
58 min
Where
HBO Max
Director
Barbara Wiltshire
Honors
Edinburgh Comedy Award - Best Show (2018)Barry Award - Nominee (Melbourne Comedy Festival)
Topics
After
On and On and On (2024)

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