"Radical mischief-maker, provocateur and brilliant performer" Candy Bowers joins Richard Watts for the SmartArts 20th Anniversary Special.

In front of a live audience in the Triple R performance space, the "human powerhouse" performs 'YO MAMA SO PHAT' (with music by Busty Beatz) from her show Australian Booty, explaining the track's inspiration from "your mama so fat" jokes in the Queensland comedy scene in the early 2000s.

Candy then chats to Richard about black representation in the arts, the need for the 'old guard' in theatre leadership to move on and the importance of cultural competency behind the scenes.

Looking back on over 20 years of making art in this city, Candy says there's now more diverse faces in casting, but asks "where can the canon go to" when the same people are running the game? She looks at her experience working in Hollywood as a strong example of black representation on-set, in the writer's room and executive producers, but back in Melbourne she notes the lasting problem of performing in front of majority-white audiences.

"Our arts scene is still elitist and hasn't let people in, hasn't given invitations to the party yet."