DeAnne Smith On How To Do Meaningful Comedy In The Year 2017

DeAnne Smith got started with comedy in a world a little less alarming than the one we inhabit today. "I used to write poetry a lot as a published poet," she recalls. "I started doing open mics and decided if I had people's attention I would rather make them laugh than feel quietly reflective. So I gave up my life as a poet and got into comedy."

Now she's coming to Australia with Post-Joke Era, a show set against the backdrop of misogyny, white supremacy and hatred that seems to be gripping humanity. "The phrase 'post-truth era' is from the idea that facts seem to be counting for less and less," Smith says. "In my mind a lot of comedians are struggling with what we're doing in a world where it feels we need to do so much more than get on stage and tell jokes. We need to be out on the streets protecting people more vulnerable than us! The title for me is how to do comedy in a meaningful way in 2017."

"In my mind a lot of comedians are struggling with what we're doing in a world where it feels we need to do so much more than get on stage and tell jokes."

Smith's style is relentlessly positive, lacking much of the self-effacing put-downs or bare-knuckle aggression common in Aussie comedy. "I think it's cathartic to be in a room full of people all laughing at the same thing. To have a comedian say something on stage that backs up your private thoughts or something you go through can be really affirming."

Inevitably, Smith has a thing or two to say about gender, putting forward 'transmasculine house mouse' and 'hot Harry Potter' as potential gender alternatives for herself. "There's definitely a big chunk of my show where I'm talking about gender. My favourite part starts with me saying, 'I don't identify with being a woman, euch, I don't want to be a man, gross. No offense, everyone!' and from there I have fun with the gender dichotomy most of us feel we have to be a part of."

Despite hailing from in Montreal, Canada, the bow-tied comedian has always had a weakness for Australia. "For one, I love the weather," she admits laughingly, then adds: "Australians are comedy literate. You see a lot and you know a lot. I feel like Australian audiences, in general, have a good sense of the history of comedy and various styles. It's really fun to perform for audiences that value the same sorts of things that you do."

At the very least, you can expect Aussie levels of irreverence from Smith in Post-Joke Era. "I feel like this year's show has a fair amount of blue language that even surprises me when I hear it. I'm like, what? Did I just say pussy again in that joke? Why?"

DeAnne Smith presents Post-Joke Era 30 Mar — 23 Apr at Taxi Riverside, part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.