Deep Heat pursue creativity, challenge self-doubt and embrace existential crises - Sydney Comedy Festival

Lucy Bailey reviews the duo’s latest show. 

Back with the follow up to their debut show ‘A Bit Much’, Sydney based comedy duo Kate and Ruby, known as  ‘Deep Heat’, were back with ‘A Bit More’ at the 2021 Sydney Comedy Festival. The show promised to deal with ‘the inevitable existential crisis that all mediocre artists face’ and the duo’s hour of comedy more than lived up to this promise by examining creative self doubt, working as a ‘struggling artist’ and the perils of being a woman in the #MeToo era.

The show was aimed at an audience of fellow disenfranchised young people and was chock full of insights into the plight of young artists, be it self doubt, existential dread, or the backup plan of becoming a drama teacher. Such anecdotes were told through clever dialogue between the duo and pre-recorded voices. One of the funniest was a high school acquaintance turned accountant who, with fake sincerity and a little bit of condescension, remembered the ‘little performances’ that the duo would put on in high school. 

Further reflections on this theme included a hilariously literal tribute to ‘Fleabag’ during which Ruby, who proudly notes her physical similarities to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, thrusts a brown paper bag labelled ‘flea’ towards the audience. But these skits weren’t just hilarious. They also spoke to a deeper message: the struggle (and perhaps impossibility) of finding one’s own identity as an artist and carving out a cultural space for yourself. 

The performance also included some adroit moments of political and social commentary, particularly surrounding the interplay between deriders and proponents of ‘cancel culture’. This was achieved through the interweaving of impressions of ‘the comedian who must not be named’, a possible reference to Alex Williamson (whose show pulled from Sydney Comedy Festival 2021 after abuse allegations) or simply to a ‘boys club’ culture that excuses sketchy ‘mentorships’ and borderline harassment. Such impressions, combined with sequences in which Kate and Ruby engaged with his (prerecorded) voice in conversation, were sharp, original, and funny. Additionally, the final number of the show - in which the girls smeared blood over themselves to the tune of ‘maneater’ was a moment of perfect absurdity and a triumphant rejection of the literal and metaphorical ‘voices’ that sought to constrain the duo throughout the show. 

Despite the general relevance of their commentary, it occasionally became too specific. This, compounded by what felt like an audience full of people who knew the duo personally, left me feeling somewhat outside of their performance. I can imagine that an audience who shared less in common with the performers would struggle to comprehend their more jargon laden jokes. 

Moreover, whilst the ongoing joke about ‘searching for the perfect bisexual sketch’ was conceptually interesting: a  commentary on the pressure of artists to comment on their various identities ad nauseum within a culture of self branding, it fell flat in execution. This was possibly due to the degree that the ‘perfect sketch’ had been built up throughout the show (mentioned 4 or 5 times), which added too much pressure to the stale punchline that ‘pirates are bisexual’ - a rehash of the ‘Bi - Pirate tiktok’ trend of late 2020. Despite this, even the sketches that fell flat or didn’t resonate with audiences evidenced the duo’s conceptual ambition and enthusiasm and never took away from the overall excellence of the show. 

Overall, this dynamic duo was entertaining to watch and ‘A Bit More’ proved to be an interesting commentary on the role of emerging artists. The performance showed a promising degree of authenticity and originality. You can keep up to date with Deep Heat here.  I know I’ll be on the lookout for their next show.