DeAnne Smith: Livin' The Sweet Life

“Wouldn’t it be great if I got a review and the only part they didn’t like was when I Chinese burned my bum hole?” There’s no other quote I could begin on here really, is there?

Deanne Smith’s crudely mimed coda to an excellent routine about suffering shockingly rough treatment to her privates during a bikini waxing session wasn’t my favourite moment, admittedly. But relative to, say, a different joke about the questionable ethics of commercial agriculture, it did bring a certain sense of smutty/serious balance to the hour.

The title of this show by the Canadian-American ukulele-strumming nerdy lesbian indie-girl quotes something an ironic voice in her head said on a rare occasion when she had enough money for a weekly bus. But there’s another irony to the title too: relative to, say, the poor exploited sweatshop worker who made her mobile phone, life is sweet in all truth. Cue a comedy exploration of the sometimes contradictory fine-line between honest ethical living and self-indulgent white middle-class guilt.

It’s smart if only occasionally sensational stuff, such as her story about a father-lesbian bonding session over Dallas Cowboys cheerleader trials, or her lengthy anecdote about a one-night stand gone bloodily wrong. It's the kind of real-life comedy that writes itself but is skilfully relayed.

She shares in the sweet life by showering a guy down the front with gifts, ranging from a cushion to a drink, confectionary and at the end something rather more, shall we say, visceral. No, not a Chinese burn to his bum hole.