Extra quality and added fun have been on the agenda since Rachel Arieff arrived in Barcelona two years ago. The American's satirical, cabaret-style stand-up comedy and crazy karaoke have brought a previously unseen style of entertainment to the city's listings.

Rachel Arieff was born in Milwaukee and started her career as a comedian in Austin, Texas. From there she went to New York, where she was part of the cutting-edge artistic scene of the Lower East Side, and in 2000 she moved to Los Angeles. In 2003 the newspaper L.A. Weekly rated her show Discotown! "the best comedy show" in the city. Too late: Rachel came to Barcelona on holiday and settled in the Ciudad Condal in 2004. "I liked it so much I decided to come back and live here," she says enthusiastically.

In Barcelona she continued her artistic career with Cómo ser feliz todo el tiempo (How to Be Happy All the Time), a Spanish language adaptation of her L.A. show in which she puts together cabaret, monologues, comedy and music. It is staged once a month at the Café Teatre Llantiol. "I've made a CD of satirical songs which poke fun at American society," she says, explaining the show's development in the two years that it has been on the Barcelona scene.

"When I came to Spain I based the show on these songs, because I didn't speak the language very well and still couldn't put the words into Spanish, so I based it on the music. I started with drums, I played the keyboard and it was all very musical, but I'm not exactly a great musician, so I wanted to concentrate on the monologues and simplify things. The show that I do now isn't at all like it was when I arrived. Since I've been here I've written new scripts, many based on the culture shock I've experienced."

When you go to the theatre in Spain to see comedies or monologues your posterior usually goes numb after half an hour and you want the show to be over ASAP. How to be Happy... lasts almost two hours and you don't even notice it. It's so much fun that time flies by. "The biggest compliment you can pay a comedian is to tell them that their show is the least painful you've been to," Rachel laughs, adding: "It also surprises me how long it lasts, but I enjoy it and every show is different as I improvise a lot. The basic monologues are in place, but depending on the vibes with the audience I can play with them, change them, and add things... It seems to me that in general people here associate the theatre with heavier, more formal stuff, with a wall between the actors and the audience. Walls have never worked well for me."

Rachel has always worked for herself: "Where I'm from, there is no support for artists, nobody writes for you. You can't do a degree in Fine Arts at university, leave with a certificate that says you're now an artist and get involved in theatre; if you do that they laugh at you. I've always done everything at street level, developing slowly over the years. I'm very irreverent; I don't have much respect for institutions that mummify the art of acting. I don't consider myself an actress. I'm a comedian. It pisses me off when people call me an actress.”

How to Be Happy Being American

When asked if her move from the U.S. to Barcelona had anything to do with the fact that her career hadn't really taken off, Rachel's reply is categorical. "I didn't have high hopes," she claims. "There, if you're any kind of artist and you want to be famous then you're a jerk. My dream was to earn my living performing, but it was very difficult. Maybe I would have succeeded if I'd stuck around for a couple more years. I didn't leave because I wasn't successful, but because I was ready for a change my way of life. It's like when you have a crappy job in an office and after 15 years you decide to turn your life around. I didn't want to stop what I was doing, but I know a lot of people who have spent years on a TV series and then they end up working as a secretary in an office.”

All in all, Rachel came to Barcelona because: "I loved the quality of life. Let's face it, that's what all the foreigners say. I know that it's getting more complicated, but... all the stuff going on in my country is disgusting, the United States is heading for total fascism. It started years ago with foreign policies, wars... It's fucked up and I wanted to leave," she declares without hesitation.

With the feelings that President Bush and his policies arouse in Spain, I had to ask this American 'exile' if she has suffered hostility from the locals. "No, people distinguish between the people and the government, although there are always those who tend to generalize too much. It happens here too, but because they don't know what it's like to live there. Here the media gives you all the details and information. The papers print what is happening in the world, but over there it's just a vast propaganda machine and most stories don't reach the people. In an atmosphere like that, your vision of the world is different when there is a crisis.”

When she talks about U.S. politics, Rachel's face and voice change and she becomes serious. "When I came here in 2004, we were already at war, and the President's polcies were disgraceful, but I still didn't feel totally ashamed of coming from there. Now I feel it. Things have gotten so bad. When I arrived I couldn't imagine they would get any worse, it was unthinkable. There are so many people dying because of the policies of that pig and the people who support him," she comments sadly.

Rock ‘n’ Roll All Night

Rachel has had another show on the go for the last year or so. Every Monday at Sidecar she presents Anti-Karaoke, an absolutely unique comedy-rock karaoke. Rachel is master of ceremonies, introducing the participants, dressing them up and sometimes singing with them. She also does satirical and comic impersonations of various personalities: Madonna, Michael Jackson, Courtney Love, Cher, a hybrid between Salvador Dalí and Dollly Parton, and Sinéad O'Connor (who comes out ot screw up the show) have been just a few of her victims.

Anti-Karaoke night has become a phenomenon outside the realms of Barcelona. "It's been like a snowball that has grown and grown," Rachel says. "Some nights in July and August we had to close the doors because the place was packed. I'd thought there wouldn't be a soul around in August, but it was absolutely heaving. And most people who go to the Anti-Karaoke are from here. When it started I thought that most of the audience would be foreigners, because people in Spain had a very negative idea of karaoke. When I went to the karaoke bars here I could understand why.”

It seems that U.S. karaoke lounges are not at all like the ones in Spàin. As Rachel explains, "In the U.S. I went along to have fun.” "There were many comedians there and we went out together, fooling around. We were very irreverent. When I came here and saw that strained atmosphere, I decided to set up a karaoke night to my own taste."

That taste obviously fits perfectly with that of the local clientele, as it has been spectacularly successful. There are regular Anti-Karaoke goers who turn up week after week to take part, almost creating a small community. "In the U.S. I had a lot of artist buddies, musicians and comedians but when I moved here I didn't know anyone. The people I got to know didn't do creative things, I was empty and I felt strange. I missed that fun and creative atmosphere, so I decided to create something myself. The first thing I did was a show called Festival Open Mic, also at the Llantiol. It was open to everybody and any discipline: there were monologues, comedy, music, poetry, anything goes. It lasted a year, but we needed new blood as the same people always performed. That was the springboard to the Anti-Karaoke.”

In general there's a lot of rock in Rachel's karaoke repertiore, and its nothing like the cheese that we're used to in Spain. For her, however, it is the most normal thing in the world. "For me rock 'n' roll and comedy have always gone together. But I'm not talking about lame comedy and cheap jokes, but American-style comedy, like Lenny Bruce, challenging the audience, daring, irreverent and subversive. In the U.S. many rock stars are friends of the comedians. If you to a comedy show there you'll bump into well-known rock musicians and vice versa.”

Comedy and rock culture do not traditionally co-habit the same areas in Spain. However, Rachel points out: "I think it does exist, but it's different. It's more underground. There are many people who aren't in a group and they're great singers. Some are learning by performing in the Anti-Karaoke. Some even have their own fans. The atmosphere encourages these things to happen. There is magic in the room, good vibes and creativity. When nervous people are in the right atmosphere many new, amazing and innovative things can happen.”

The magic of the Anti-Karaoke that Rachel describes has been experienced by international groups who go along to Sidecar when they are in town to perform or visit. "That's good for the show, as it adds something special. The audience can say 'wow, there's the group that I saw play tonight.'”

Musicians who have shown their face at the Anti-Karaoke include The Cult ("without Ian Astbury, who had injured his hand and had to rest"), Supagroup, Backyard Babies, Black Halos, Jim Wilson (Mother Superior), Jennifer Finch (The Shocker, ex L7) and Sean Yseult (Rock City Morgue, ex White Zombie).

They come along to have a good time," Rachel explains. Sometimes they want to sing, sometimes not. What I love is that they really like the show. They are amazed, and they are from the U.S., where people have supposedly seen it all. They are surprised to see a show that is so fresh and with such a good vibe. Some of the groups have even admired or felt intimidated by the level of the Anti-Karaoke participants.

Although How to Be Happy All the Time and Anti-Karaoke have a fixed residency in Barcelona, Rachel occasionally takes her shows outside the city. She is now planning a mini-tour of Andalucía. Her website www.rachelarieff.com reveals everything about the artist, from the songs available at the Anti-Karaoke and its weekly chronicles, to the life and miracles of her cat, the great Mr. Tacos. "He is my id," she confesses.            -Pere Giménez