Review: Bronwyn Kuss: Sounds Good

When she was a teenager, one of Bronwyn Kuss’s teachers played the girls Janis Ian’s 'At Seventeen', presumably, the comic says, to teach them “how hard life is when you’re an absolute dog”.

Like all of the smart Australian’s jokes and observations, this is delivered with levels of dryness that could bring a drenched phone back to life. Most of her stories have a toe in tragedy, but she tells them with a resigned shrug that suggests she’s used to lots of things being rubbish and it’s best just to laugh.

Something that happened after her girlfriend got “in too deep” on Facebook Marketplace, and the eye-bulging array of unsolicited appendage images she once received get entertaining treatment, as does the vet treatment the couple’s rescue dog requires.

She’s got some artfully constructed contempt for various characters, from the insufferable drama kids at school to DJs (there’s some fantastic space trip material) to the delusions of a woman who took her love for Oprah Winfrey worryingly far.

You’re in safe hands with Bronwyn Kuss, who has the air of someone who’ll happily say out loud what you're secretly thinking.