DeAnne Smith is funny, thought-provoking and most of all, touches your heart with her honesty and vulnerability. Her solo podcasts are fantastic streams of consciousness in which she wrestles with an issue while at the same time giving voice to her innermost thoughts, doubts and fantasies. She fearlessly talks about her own fears, which for DeAnne isn't a paradox. What a brave, funny little heart she has, and I find myself relating and going from the depths of feeling lost to laughing out loud. When DeAnne has a guest on, the show takes a nose dive - just kidding! See what I did there. Seriously though, her guests aren't famous celebrities expounding about their life and latest project, they are DeAnne's pals. People she has known for a while, which allows them to immediately bypass formalities and dive right into an interesting topic. Every episode centres on (yes, I shamelessly spelled it the Canadian way) a question that might never get answered, or it might get answered in the first 5 seconds - or it might raise an entirely different, but more fundamental question. The show feels like hanging out with old friends, where everyone is loved and welcome and can be completely themselves - because that is exactly what this is. After an episode with friends, I feel that satisfied feeling you get when you have just had a visit with friends - sure, it's vicarious, but that doesn't matter. I'm going to hack into iTunes and alter the rating code to allow me to give this podcast SIX STARS (a gasp washes over the crowd). Great show.
