Interview: Kim David Smith Slinks COMME UNE FOLLE at Joe's Pub

When the world feels particularly unhinged, Kim David Smith reaches for a torch song and an exquisite gown. The Helpmann Award-nominated performer has built a career transforming melancholy into art, channeling the spirits of legendary divas through his distinct lens. His upcoming show Comme Une Folle: torch songs for tough times because gay promises to be both balm and rebellion – a glamorous act of resistance wrapped in black velvet and accompanied by piano.

Smith’s two-city tour this fall showcases the intimate power of cabaret at its finest, moving from Provincetown’s Post Office Café in September to the storied stage of Joe’s Pub in October. With an impressive lineup of guest artists including drag icon Joey Arias, Welsh popstar Bright Light Bright Light, and Tony-nominated Charles Busch, these performances promise to turn vulnerability into strength through song. We sat down with Kim David Smith to discuss the healing power of torch songs and why sometimes the best response to chaos is simply to put on a dress and sing.​​

“Comme Une Folle” means “Like a Madwoman” in French — how did you land on this title?

In certain circles, “Comme Une Folle” also means “Like an F-Slur,” which, when considering both meanings, and adding the extended title of “torch songs for tough times because gay,” perfectly summed up my general drive to commission an exquisite gown and sing torch songs to those willing to indulge me. With everything going on, and not knowing quite what to do with my feelings about the world, I have leaned into this unshakable compulsion to put on a dress and slink about. Historically, when feeling enraged and exhausted, or troubled and trampled, and especially when feeling undone and uncertain, I reach for a torch song. Doesn’t everybody?

What exactly are torch songs? Why not angry protest songs or biting satire for tough times? 

Life lived outside of the unquestioning, plastic, Republican sarcophagous of “normalcy” is a protest in and of itself (“queer existence is resistance,” as I like to say), and so I would characterize each song I sing on stage as a bitingly satirical protest anthem, simply for the fact that I, a gay-married, super-gay immigrant am singing it

Torch songs are my favorite means of meandering through melancholy; a delightful indulgence of emotion. My entire life I’ve leaned into sadness, when she visits, by putting on Julie London’s spectacular Around Midnight (1960) or her ingeniously titled London By Night (1958). Play either or both of these records late in the evening, and you’ll have your definition of a torch song by the time the needle scratches to a halt.     

How long has this show been in the works? Have you workshopped this set anywhere? 

I’ve been humming all these tunes from a young age; anyone who knows me knows full well I abase myself at the alliterative altar of my own three-headed goddess, comprised deliciously of Marlene, Minnelli, and Minogue. Kylie’s been a psyche-shaping presence ever since I received her eponymous debut album at 6 years old in the local McDonald’s party room (remember those?!?), and Marlene and Liza became formative inspirations in my teens, along with Julie London, Edith Piaf, and the truly divine Eartha Kitt. All my gals form a sort of gay goulash in my brain, and it is this goulash I serve to my audiences.   

Comme Une Folle is heavy on the Julie London (delicious!!), but all the flavors are there, including one or two Dietrich delights from my Mostly Marlene album, released in March of this year. Go stream it, folks!  

Any uptempo moments? Can we expect some signature Kim humor in between the heartbreak?

We as a country, a planet, and a universe need silliness more than ever before. And, so: silly I shall be! Torch songs are best served when tempered with a smile, methinks!  

What made you want to bring each of your guest artists — Bright Light Bright Light, Charles Busch, and Joey Arias — into Comme Une Folle? 

I can’t help myself. Any excuse to be in the same room as these legendary lovelies shall be thoroughly taken advantage of by yours truly. Charles will be singing a favorite Judy tune on October 5 at Joe’s Pub, and Bright Light and I are pulling together a silly duet from my favorite genre of ‘90’s dance music, known colloquially and delightfully as “handbag house.”

You’ve done shows with just piano and with a full band. How do you decide between the intimacy of piano and the lushness of a multi-instrument ensemble?

There are times I can’t resist booking the band (which is such a profound joy – we love those boys: David Siliman on drums, Skip Ward on bass, and Matt Podd on accordion), but honestly, Tracy Stark, my music director and one of my best friends in the entire world, is an orchestra all unto herself. I’m never alone onstage with Tracy – and we’ve had a BLAST rearranging and reimagining the new songs for September at the Post Office Cafe in Provincetown, and October at Joe’s Pub. 

Your cabarets tend to be quite the fashionable affair — care to drop some hints for the new look?

My friend Fritz Masten is building the exquisite black velvet gown that I simply cannot shut up about for Comme Une Folle. I can’t wait to squeeze my manly form into it!  

Which of your muses would be the most fun to have at a party? 

I can easily report that the most fun of my muses to have at a party would be my mother, Linda Randall, who appears on my Mostly Marlene album in a studio duet of Friedrich Hollaender’s “A Little Yearning.” She’s my muse for living life to its fullest, kindest, and brightest. As to “my gals,” the only one I’ve really met in person (and I say this having “met” Kylie three times now – I sure hope she doesn’t recall any of those meetings, as I’m somehow a Minogue-struck, useless, brain-gored nothing around her) is Eartha Kitt, who was extremely warm and kind with me after a show of hers at the Café Carlyle in 2007. I’d invite her to dinner any night of the week.

If Comme Une Folle were a cocktail/mocktail, what would be in it? 

My husband is the potions master around our place, but if pressed, I’d say Comme Une Folle would consist of champagne (Cava if not true champagne) with a shot of absinthe in, garnished with a maraschino cherry and served in an iridescent coupé. A little gay, a little frenzied mad-woman, and a little French. Si bon!

Learn more about the artist on his website at kimdavidsmith.com