by CHRIS BARRY

Name: DeAnne Smith

Age: 29

Occupation: Stand-up comedian

Bio: This pleasantly hip and mercifully unpretentious Village broad arrived in Montreal in late 2004, snugly on the arm of the Mexican girlfriend she’d been living with down in Zapatista country, Chiapas, Mexico. Originally from upstate New York, DeAnne says she “only found the guts to start doing stand-up comedy last year,” but has since taken to it with a vengeance, having co-founded the well-received Comedy on the Main soirées that go down at Kandybar (4147 St-Laurent) every Wednesday, and claiming to make the local comedy scene circuit at least four nights a week. A soon-to-be published poet, with her first book, The Unrequited Giant & Other Freaks, coming out this spring via Dusty Owl Press, if you’d like to be one of her Internet buds, go to myspace.com/deannesmith and tell her as much.

Something that happened to DeAnne in Mexico: She was evicted by her landlord who suspected she was engaging in unnatural acts with another woman. “It took them six months to figure it out, but the landlord had connections with the federal police, so one day, three guys in uniforms and guns arrived and said, ‘Leave.’ I know this kind of [discrimination] happens to people all the time, but it came as quite a shock for me, a white woman with a middle-class background who’d never had this type of experience with the police before.”

Something that’s happened to DeAnne in Montreal: She and her gal pal were officially married last week.

Does she classify herself as a lesbian comedian, always telling jokes like, “You know what really stinks about munching carpet...” or, “Erect penises, I mean, really, wassup with that?” etcetera? “No, because I’m not even sure exactly what I’m doing yet, I’m just being myself. But others have described it as ‘intellectual’ or ‘cerebral.’ One thing I do always strive for is to be socially conscious—while at the same time stay funny.”

A few of her comic influences: Bill Hicks, Ellen DeGeneres, Paula Poundstone.

Does she agree there might be more enthusiasm for the local comedy scene if any of the stand-ups were, um, how do you say… funny? “Ah, but that’s not true. It’s like TV, 90 per cent of it’s crap, but there’s that 10 per cent which might speak to you—or at least is aiming beyond the lowest common denominator. Locally, there’s Heidi Foss, David Pryde, Mike Patterson, Derick Lengwenus—there’s lots of people doing good work here.”

Why the hell she does it? “It’s really about communication, but on a deeper level, and I know this sounds hokey, but it’s true, it’s really beautiful to be in a room full of strangers and then make them laugh. Out of nowhere you all have this common experience—and it’s a good one.”

Has she ever actually had this experience—making a room full of strangers laugh? “Hmm, maybe every other attempt. Certainly not always.”

Musical preferences: Ani DiFranco, Joni Mitchell.

Last book read: Zen and the Art of Stand-up Comedy by Jay Sankey.

Words of wisdom: “When you’re thinking of something, you’ve got a lot to learn.”

Comments? dimwit@hdot.net