Stand-up comedy -- or, what’s always been referred to here as monologues -- has been at risk of dying from success. The whole thing began modestly, with the people from Club de la Comedia telling their stories standing up, with a chair as the only prop.

Later, at Paramount Comedy it was decided to create a new pool with newer quantities that would become mega estrellas, like Eva Hache. But success can be a double-edged sword, and trying to transform someone who isn’t funny telling a story at Christmas dinner into the new king of the monologue is a recipe for disaster.

Luckily, to counteract such atrocities, there are offers such as Rachel Arieff that make us think that, in the end, it’s a good thing that this genre no longer seems so distant to us. If it weren’t for antecedents like these, maybe the queen of Anti-Karaoke, who’s been doing it for months now (to packed houses) at the El Sol club on Jardines Street, wouldn’t have been able to debut her show Cómo ser feliz todo el tiempo. It’s a series of monologues written by Rachel herself, in which this mutifaceted artist -- who at times can resemble the Terremoto de Alcorcón in attitude, weathered by the New York underground -- shares her life, her thoughts, and much more. What makes this show extra attractive is that it offers a dose of extra spectacle, approaching cabaret, that is often lacking in the Spanish monologuists. Rachel Arieff’s show can be seen on December 14 in the club Galileo Galilei (calle Galileo, 100). The magazine Vanity Fair has defined her as “a cyanide pill hidden inside a delicious chocolate bonbon.”

-Marta Aguirre