McDonald is in real life an accomplished blues harmonica player (he jammed with Frank Zappa in an interview recording during Zappa's second Australian tour) and many of Norman's musical performances were regularly punctuated by poorly executed and inappropriate harmonica playing, such as in his rendition of the Billy Joel signature tune 'Piano Man'.Īs the series developed McDonald and his team introduced additional live and pre-taped segments including: Among his memorable performances were his histrionic rendition of the Tom Jones hit 'Delilah', his charades-like version of 'Send in the Clowns' and his heroic interpretation of the Liza Minnelli's theme-song 'Liza with a Z', which Norman back-announced by guilelessly expressing surprise at the fact that few singers except 'Miss Lisa Minnulli' had ever attempted the song. Genuine musical performances by guest stars were countered by Norman's own unique interpretations of popular songs – he specialised in portraying his lyrics through mime and sign language and frequently punctuated the song with 'dramatic' interjections. The Gunston show was a subversive parody of the established variety 'Tonight Show' format, centering on a weekly roster of celebrity guests who were 'interviewed' by Norman.
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