This show is a cute but cool hour of observational comedy as Maren May regales us with tales of navigating through the social challenges of being both half German (Maren was born and brought up there) and a little bit autistic (Maren has done all the online tests). She can’t decide whether she is afflicted with feeling awkward in social situations because of her German-ness or her autism. Or maybe it’s because of her day job as an accountant, with dyscalculia?

I love the way Maren is somehow reticent yet ebullient. And her delivery, with her distinctive ‘European’ intonation, is a joy to listen to. There are many euphemisms we use in Australia which Maren subjects to a literal analysis. For example, she wants to know where the elevator stops if it doesn’t go all the way to the top? And she thinks that members of the Gale family will be delighted when it gets very windy. Maren also delves into the advantages which sometimes arise from being direct, such as when she impersonated a music festival penis controller (don’t all music festivals have such a force of dedicated professionals?) to get a peek at a pecker.

And she shares with us a few of her dreams. The usual stuff like being in a supermarket (?) or Clark Kent taking his glasses off - “what are you doing down there, Clark?”. But what do these dreams mean? Well Maren advises us that, as usual, ChatGPT has all the answers and is even capable of undertaking a psychological analysis of a journaler’s jottings, with amusing results. The show is self-effacing because the joke is generally on Maren when she thinks she might have committed a ‘faux pas’. But make no mistake, Maren is very savvy with an instinct for recognising the absurd, and will have you chuckling away at her social misadventures.

The show, at the Shoe Bar, is directed by comedy luminary Claire Hooper.