Review by Steve Bennett

Steele immediately dispels any preconceptions about gorgeous blonde Californian women with this intelligence, insightful offering.

She begins by boasting that the show has garnered four stars, albeit a combined total drawn from four different reviews, setting a self-deprecating tone for this enjoyable hour.

She's lived the UK long enough to collect a wide collection of observations about our conventions, as seen from her outsider's standpoint, and has a flair for various British accents, which she uses as she regales the audience with witty anecdotes about her dysfunctional American past and colourful British present with the skill of a seasoned raconteur.

But behind the routines is the hint of an emotional vulnerability that her assured and confident performance largely contradicts.

She uses both poignant and more prosaic material - including childhood chaos stemming from a perhaps certifiably insane family, the bizarre performances of her pets when they are on heat, and why cats don't like to get wet as it reveals them to be 'hamsters on stilts'.

This is a personal journey conducted with charm and dignity by a very able and funny comic.

However, Steele's self-consciousness sometimes exposes minor cracks in her slick persona and she can seem self-obsessed at times but then, the show is all about her.

Review date: 1 Jan 2002
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett