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DeAnne Smith animates the lesbian relationship experience

Are you a gay lady who has been in a relationship with another gay lady? Are you a gay lady who wants to be in a relationship with another gay lady? Are you a lady, gay or otherwise, who once had a notion about another lady, gay or otherwise? Well then you are going to want to watch out comic DeAnne Smith’s video “An Honest Lesbian Relationship” immediately, if not sooner.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Right now you’re laughing. I know you are. Or, more accurately, you may be struggling to breathe while wiping away tears and snorting in a way that alarms your co-workers. I’ll give you another minute to compose yourself.

The woman behind the hilarity is Smith, a comic from upstate New York who has lived in Montreal since late 2004. She started her comedy career the following year and has since appeared on television shows and comedy festivals internationally. In 2007, she was a contestant on NBC’s Last Comic Standing. In 2008, she won the Sydney Comedy Festival’s Time Out Best Newcomer. This November, she will headline the Feast Festival, a major LGBT arts festival in Adelaide, South Australia with her show, “Sexy Feelings.”

Since posting “An Honest Lesbian Relationship” less than a week ago, the video has amassed almost 9,000 views (and growing), making the round over Facebook, Twitter, emails and texts from gay lady to gay lady telling their friends, “OMG, watch this. LOL.”

DeAnne conducted an email interview with AfterEllen.com over the weekend, in between shows.

AfterEllen: So you’re from New York (city or upstate?), but live in Montreal. How long have you been a Canuck?

DeAnne Smith: I’m originally from Endicott, New York. I moved to Montreal in late 2004. I’m not really a Canuck, but sometimes I pretend I am when I’m in other countries so that I can hear all the crap people say about Americans.

AE: What did you do before you started performing as a comic in 2005?

DS: Basically, I drifted all over Mexico teaching English. Had I known I was going to end up a comic, I might have tried to earn more money or learn a marketable skill to fall back on. Instead, I ended up contracting typhoid fever – twice.

AE: Did you always want to be a comic? How did you get into it?

DS: I first saw comedy on TV when I was about 11, and something in my subconscious must have been sparked. Then, after just a mere 17 years of repressing that dream, I went to my first open mic night in Montreal. I had been accepted into a MFA writing program, but quickly decided that I’d rather do comedy than write poetry.

With stand up, you know right away if people like the joke. With poetry, you don’t know if the silence in the room means people are quietly reflecting, or planning their suicides.

AE: Do you remember how old you were when you got your first laugh and what it was for?

DS: This is such a sweet question! Also, it kind of makes me feel like I’m in therapy.

I was always joking around when I was younger. I got kicked out of a Brownie (like, the younger form of Girl Scouts) lunch once. My friend and I were cracking each other up with nonsense words, until finally, the troop leader said, “Girls, if you can’t stop laughing, you’re going to have to leave this table.” I got up and left. As far as I was concerned, it wasn’t even a choice.

AE: You’ve made several international TV/festival appearances, including Last Comic Standing. What was that experience like?

DS: Last Comic Standing was a fantastic experience. When the show aired, people from all over the world contacted me. Some were messaging me as they were watching the show, like, “I hope you make it!” I was reading the messages, thinking “Oh. You are about to be disappointed.” Surprisingly, I’m a big hit with teenage boys. I love that. So Last Comic Standing was amazing, and the first time I realized, “Hey, I could probably do this for a living.” It was also the first time I realized that a fair few straight boys have crushes on me. Total bonus.

AE: How would you describe your style of comedy, does your act include LGBT-themed humor?

DS: I should probably know how to describe my comedy, but I don’t. Critics have used adjectives like smart, fearless and quirky. I got “nerdy but dirty” once. For better or worse, that’s pretty apt.

I don’t have a ton of jokes that are specifically “gay jokes.” But I’m very open on stage. I’ll hit on women in the audience; I talk about my relationship. I just am who I am. I don’t want to be pigeon-holed as a “gay comic.” I’m more interested in queering up the mainstream.

AE: Not to get personal, but your Twitter bio says you’re a sex god. Is this verifiable? Do you have references I can call?

DS: See, this is the best part about being my own publicist and manager and everything. I blatantly lie, and the media picks up those lies. So, yes. Yes, I am. I am a sex god. And I can prove it.

Damn. And with that, I’ve managed to create yet another interview I won’t let my Mom read. Usually, it’s because I end up mentioning her alcoholism.

AE: I’ve also noticed your haircut is a tad Bieber-esque. Are you considering your legal options because it appears you had that style before he was able to see above the kitchen counter?

DS: Let’s get this straight: the website should be called JustinBieberLooksLikeLesbians and should just be one giant picture of him. I’ve been rocking this style since 2007, so if anything that little girl looks like me! I am most disturbed, however, by how many other lesbians look like me, of which I wasn’t previously aware. And a lot of the time, they look better than me. It’s very weird feeling like an inferior version of myself. Cut it out, ladies! I call dibs on sweepy hair.

AE: OK, on to “An Honest Lesbian Relationship.” Where did the idea for the video come from?

DS: Really, I just ran across the Xtranormal site and I wanted to make something. And then it all poured out. It grew from the line, “At some point, I will become emotionally unavailable and increasingly withdrawn.” Out of context, those are kind of harsh tokes, so I realized I had to make the rest as hilarious as possible.

On another note, I can’t believe I just used the phrase “harsh tokes.” Your readership is going to get the wrong impression of what I’m all about. Dude.

AE: How long did it take to put together?

DS: You’d have no way to know this but again, this question makes me feel like I’m in therapy. I’m, um, a bit obsessive about things. So it took a few hours, because I went through and meticulously changed details – camera angles, words here and there, the characters’ expressions. I’m still kicking myself that one of them says “Humina, humina” instead of “Hubba hubba,” which would have been easier to understand. So, uh, it took an afternoon.

AE: Is it autobiographical, did you ever manifest a kitten out of love before?

DS: Yes and yes.

AE: What kind of response have you received, or are people too busy laughing?

DS: It’s been great! My friends started spreading it around to their friends, and it seems to resonate with people. I don’t aim to write a lot of “Oh my god, it’s so true!” kind of jokes in my stand up, so it’s nice to be able to do that here.

AE: Are any more planned? Can we expect “An Honest Lesbian Trip to Whole Foods” soon?

DS: Oh goodness. I think I’ll have to do that now.

Find out more about DeAnne Smith at her website deannesmith.com or her YouTube channel, TheRealDeAnne.

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