What do you get if you cross a wholesome looking, all-American girl with a perverse, foul-mouthed, surrealist stand up comedian? You get the mutant lovechild of Britney Spears and Richard Pryor on speed that is Rachel Arieff, who will be performing her show 'How to be happy - all the time' at the Cafe Llantiol throughout January.

Rachel is from the USA, and just to underline the point she wears star-spangled hot pants and a cheerleader grin throughout her show, topped off with a shocking red, curly wig. After establishing herself in Hollywood's underground comedy circuit Rachel has ended up in Barcelona, where she will be performing her toxic routine to an often bemused and mostly delighted mix of locals and foreigners.

Rachel's delivery style is characterised by a manic energy that doesn't let up for the whole show and her material focuses an ironic eye on the way American sees itself, and the way the world sees America. Rachel knows that for something to be genuinely funny it needs to be genuinely serious too, and her skits on gay marriage, paedophilic priests and trailer-trash culture have a dark side which makes the humour hit home (although the frequent contributions of her bad-tempered cat Mr Tacos leave political satire on the margins).

Despite the apparent chaos on stage Rachel is a slick performer, who knows how to work her audience in two different languages. The highlights of the show are the songs, where Rachel manages to mix musical dexterity with a scabrous humour in showstoppers like 'Have a Baby' (an ode to the unmarried teenage mother), 'Smoking Grandma' (encouraging senior citizens everywhere to take up the habit) and 'The John Ashcroft love song' (a moving tribute to Bush's crooning, statue-covering, bible-bashing bad lieutenant).

Rachel Arieff is an antidote to the post-intelligent America and her entertaining show is a reminder that humour is often the best way to deal with extremism. Rachel Arieff is ready for Barcelona, but is Barcelona ready for Rachel Arieff?