Psych Ward Famous: How I Became Jesus And Interviewed A Warlord comedy review – Laughing through the madness
Drawing on experiences of addiction, mental health and sex work, Smyth delivers a wild, brutally honest set that finds humour in life’s darkest corners
.png)
As we settle into our seats for Psych Ward Famous, opener Duuvy Jester offers some sound advice: ‘strap yourselves in’. One hour later, after Sian Smyth’s groundbreaking set, that advice will certainly help you survive what is a wild ride. Yet, like most rollercoaster rides, when it’s over you’re both happy and sad that it’s ended. A routine characterised with unflinching acceptance of all things dark and twisted, Psych Ward Famous platforms Smyth’s personal experiences with recovering from drug addiction, mental health and working in the sex industry.
From tales of reaching out to a warlord over Instagram, to moments of mania and mess, each memory dates from her broader ten-year career as a comedian and ultimately shows us the importance of finding laughter in some of the worst things we (and Smyth) have ever gone through.
It’s in this unflinching commitment to the harshness of her material, ripped right off the pages of her own life, that Smyth ironically champions inclusivity. You don’t once feel left out, as Smyth manages to achieve astonishing levels of relatability through her own exclusive experiences. This talent for finding the funny in what’s (frankly) depressing is her greatest strength and there’s an undeniably reckless charm to how normal Smyth makes abnormality feel. Revolutionary yet daringly funny, Smyth takes the conventional rules of comedy and tosses them so hard and so far, you’ll forget you ever wanted to play by them.
Psych Ward Famous: How I Became Jesus And Interviewed A Warlord continues at the Mess and Recreation Hall at Adelaide Gaol until March 22.