The first time we ever see Deborah Vance, she’s onstage at her Vegas residency, delivering desultory jokes about an unappealing lover while wearing a jacket so bedazzled it seems to have its own energy field. The routine itself is much duller—Deborah (played by Jean Smart), when asked by her partner if she’s close to orgasm, screeches that the only thing she’s “close” to is late-onset lesbianism—but then we follow her offstage, majestic and unfussed, gliding serenely though chitchat with