Have you noticed the lack of funny Asians lately? Before you whip up the comments about the fabulous Goodness Gracious Me, may I remind you that it was written in 1996. Nineteen ninety-six! Asian stand-ups are uninspiring, I haven’t heard of anyone funny in ages.
I haven’t seen new comedy duo Asian Provocateurs yet (I’m hoping to catch them at the Edinburgh Festival now that I’m home) but I saw Paul Sinha at the Festival a couple of years ago and he was dull dull dull. For how long is he going to open with “I used to be a GP” and “it’s tough being Asian and gay”. His show quickly dealt with my surprise that I was able to buy tickets on the day of his performance. Shazia Mirza is not funny. Hardeep Singh Kohli does make great Radio 4 programmes but he doesn’t quite have me rolling around with laughter.
Do we have to go over the Atlantic to find a decent comic now? Russell Peters was funny, granted, but even his mild racist comments against everyone are getting dreary the 90s style humour of “have you noticed that we do this and white people do that” is uncreative. Vidur Kapur is a gay New Yorker and I am reliably informed that he is funny, but all of his gags on youtube seem to involve him acting extremely camp and, yawn, tell us that “it’s tough being Asian and gay”. I’ve also heard of Rajiv Satyal, but to me, he looks a boring nerdy version of Russell Peters “hey have you noticed that Hispanics can’t say certain words”. Anyway, none of these comics are home grown.
Are British Asians just not funny anymore?
Bubbly
