Episodes
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Martin Durchov has never done any podcast interview - not until this episode popped his podcast cherry. You can find his Instagram profile, but be warned there’s not a single comedy-related content on it.
The Bulgarian native is one giggly and happy chap, described by your host Kuan-wen as a very “settled” immigrant in the UK. Even his accent mellowed over the years he stays in the UK - a fun fact your host found out when he checked Martin’s stand up clips in preparation of the interview and noticed the accent shift pre- and post- Covid.
Martin talks about the wider “East European” brand, how Bulgaria often gets lumped together with its neighbour Romania, what national stereotypes he incorporated into his comedy routines and how he gradually edit down the percentage of jokes based on his nationality. He learned early on that it is better as a performer to address the obvious, for him that is the accent and the hairs on his arms.
For listeners who are gigging comedians, Martin also shares why he Is not set on pursuing the comedy career progression even though he had a very promising start pre-pandemic (winning the Comedy Store gong show, getting into the final of So You Think You Are Funny and getting paid work within a year or two)
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You can find Martin on Instagram, but there might not be any comedy-related content there….
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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01:10 Intro
04:14 Citing his accent and foreignness as the opening joke but unaware of the accent at the start
08:19 “It’s good to mention obvious things”
11:43 Bulgarian stereotypes as an East European country and why it tends to be bundled with Romania
19:45 Bulgaria Searches For Talent
23:29 Getting requests to do certain jokes
24:42 Between jokes and portraying your own country’s image
27:00 A gentler and silly stage persona
30:58 Martin’s accent mellowed over the years
32:22 Not pursuing comedy career progression and not into the social media game
37:14 On being the face of one’s own small country
41:36 Foreignness does not weigh much on Martin’s mind
44:04 Without hearing Martin accent, others not able to work out where he’s from
45:28 Not having too many connections with Bulgaria in the UK
49:06 Martin’s (non-)used social media
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Shalaka is a self-proclaimed nerd with a PHD in trains whilst loading herself with Millennial angst. Those are supposed to be the most interesting and unique things about her. However, just because she’s from India, the audiences in the UK expect her to talk about being Indian or South Asian.
In this episode, Shalaka eloquently explains her own code switching, detailing her accent automatically adjusts based on the people she talks. This is the result of a racist “friend” at Uni constantly mocking her accent for years. As a first generation immigrant, she is also surprised by the gap between how the British Indians’ idea of India and the India she knows from growing up in Bangalore.
Her ethnicity becomes an easy target for the sometimes lazy opponents during Comedy Roast Battles, which only serves Shalaka as she excels in this specific format of comedy shows (UK Roast Battle Champion and International Roast Battle MVP).
You can catch Shalaka at the following work-in-progress shows:
May 24th - The Boathouse, Cambridge Fringe (tickets)
June 6th - Canal Café, Chichester Fringe (tickets)
*Your host Kuan-wen referenced Ronny Chieng's bit on The Daily Show, the idea being "Indians are not Asians (in America)" It was a topical line when Rishi Sunak became the UK's first Prime Minister of Indian heritage. See the clip here.
Another reference is to Russell Peters. We cannot find the exact clip but there is a similar clip of crowd interaction from Russell Peters mocking a Taiwanese American (or maybe Canadian) for having an Anglicised name. See the clip here.
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01:00 Intro
03:25 Not insisting on the correct pronunciation for her name
04:30 Hilarious caption typo in Shabaka’s Comedy Central clip
05:55 Code switching - Shabaka’s accent changes depending on who she talks to
09:48 What do people (in the UK) mean when they say “Asian”?
11:29 Shalaka’s different way of speaking at South Asian gigs
12:46 An idea of India frozen in time
17:03 Attitude towards women also frozen in time
21:28 People’s view on India from British Indians vs from Indians
25:30 Clownery of your own culture in front of audience that are not South Asian
27:33 Shalaka’s light Indian accent is the result of befriending someone racist to her
32:05 More self-reflection on her accent
34:18 Minority comedians mimicking an accent that is not genuinely theirs
39:58 How Schlaka’s ethnicity is used as attack lines during Roast Battle matches
42:04 White racism not as hurtful as Indian to Indian racism
45:34 Not focusing on being the Indian comic; not pandering
50:33 Shalaka’s own memory of India also has a gap with India today
55:31 Shalaka’s social media
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Missing episodes?
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This bonus episode (90% in French and the remainder in English) was recorded as part of the conversation with French It Up Comedy Club founder Jeff Vitale, the majority of which was released as season 2 episode 26 in the previous week.
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Cet épisode bonus est un extrait de l’entretien publié la semaine dernière avec Jeff Vitale, fondateur de “French It Up” comedy club, où les spectacles se font en français même si le club se trouve à Londres. Pendant un quart d’heure, votre animateur et son invité Jeff ont discuté la dynamique entre les langues, la géopolitique et les identities culturelles lorsqu'une langue est partagée par plusieurs pays. Ils ont aussi parlé de faire la thérapie en anglais au lieu de français.
L’entretien original a été mené principalement en anglais (l’épisode précédent) sauf un quart d'heure vers la fin. Cet épisode bonus permet aux auditeurs francophones de mieux comprendre notre invité dans sa langue maternelle (malgré la maîtrise limitée de la langue française de l’animateur).
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A proper separate episode in French was originally planned, but your host had to concede he's just not that fluent in French to conduct a whole interview. 😅. The short segment in French is therefore released as a bijou bonus episode for the French speaking listeners (which we are not even sure there are that many!)
Regular English episodes will resume next Tuesday on May 6th, 2025.
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“French It Up est LE comedy club français à Londres. Lancé en 2016 par Jeff Vitale, depuis rejoint par Fabrice Edouard Laroche Francoeur, le concept séduit un public francophone de plus en plus large et fait émerger une nouvelle scène d'humoristes français à Londres.”
After introducing London’s Comedy show in the Spanish language Comedy Por Favor in episode 19, we turn our attention in this episode to London’s French comedy club “French It Up”, whose shows currently rotate between the trendy Exmouth Market in Clerkenwell and nestled next to the beer garden in Vauxhall. The mastermind behind this, Jeff Vitale, talks about the specific “expat humour” and makes a careful distinction between French speakers and French expats, as a good percentage of the audience also comes from other francophone countries. He shares how he has grown and plans to continue to grow this comedy club from strength to strength in this English city that boasts enough French citizen to be France’s fifth or sixth largest city.
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Follow French It Up Comedy Show on Instagram
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00:51 Intro
02:39 An episode about a comedy show in a foreign language
04:47 French It Up audience’s specific sense of humour (expat Francophones)
07:36 Work office observations as popular joke materials
09:52 French speaking audience does not equal French people
11:58 Reasons for stopping bilingual French/English shows
15:51 Comedy materials about migration and cross cultural differences
17:00 Doubters and continuing to attract non comedy fans
19:48 Why French It Up was set up
22:57 “Intermittents du spectacle” - French government support for actors
24:38 More efforts into organising and promoting shows post Covid
27:15 Cross over with English stand up scene? French It Up’s own eco-system of performers
30:18 Not to be confused as a show in English (but talking about France)
30:53 Where the show name “French It Up” comes from
32:00 Jeff speaks too fast for non native French speakers to understand
33:04 How fluent one’s French has to be to go to a French It Up show?
35:18 The French language’s fluidity and rythmn
38:59 French It Up being a relief for nostalgia?
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Celiac, dyspraxia, sporran, ricochet, hypochondriac, cheugy, mausoleum, flab… how many of these English words do you - as a non-native English speaker - know? Similar question for the native English speakers again: any of these words that you are not aware of?
These are just a sample of words in the English language that your host Kuan-wen has acquired through doing comedy, mostly from observing other comedians’ routines. More than just getting exposed to new words, your host explains why he believes doing comedy in English has multiple advantages when it comes to learning the language, that you do not need to wait until your English is considered “perfect” before you can starting trying out English comedy.
(*Yeah, this is kind of a filler episode with no guests)
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Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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00:32 Intro
01:27 Outline for this episode
02:22 Reasons for another monologue episode
04:01 Learning the English language through performing comedy in English - an analogy
06:21 An advantage for non-native English speakers who perform comedy in English
07:43 Performing in English forces performers to listen to themselves how they speak
09:17 Learning a more natural/wholesome English through doing comedy
11:40 Learning about another culture - a wider group of people one gets in contact with
12:54 Musicians having lighter accents
13:34 Pursuit of specificity in comedy helps grow one’s vocabulary
14:35 List of words Kuan-wen learned from other comedians’ comedy sets:
celiacdyspraxiasporranricochet (from Ken Cheng)hypochondriaccatharsischeugy (from Shalaka Kurup)mausoleum (from Pete White)flab (from Adam Riley)necrophilia23:48 Four comedy gigs with vastly different audiences within three days - a mixed crowd with many Mandarin speakers; a crowd of French speakers; a crowd of a provincial English town; a crowd with mixed European punters
28:48 Podcast listener statistics Jan-Mar 2025
30:58 Upcoming episodes
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Veteran London-based Romanian comedian Radu Isac returns after his last interview on this podcast in 2022. Radu catches up with your host Kuan-wen to chat about how his career plans and gigging pattern change along with the moving landscape of the comedy industry. Between this episode and the first interview three years ago, Radu released his comedy special “Keep Coughing” on Youtube and organised his own tour across continental European cities.
Regarded as the comedian’s comedian in Romania (some fans even described him as Romania’s George Carlin), Radu shares his approach performing in front of liberal and less liberal audiences, British and a more internationally mixed audience and why he thinks it is important to be able to make different crowds laugh. He talks about running the popular bi-weekly Immigrant Comedy show in London and why comedy should remain a safe space for the expression of ideas, as he has done so in his comedy special.
Radu’s comedy special “Keeping Coughing” (free to watch on Youtube)
Radu’s live comedy show “Sadly Funny" at Top Secret Comedy Club in London 6 April 2025
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Follow Radu on Instagram and his website
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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00:34 Intro
02:06 Summary of Radu’s prior appearance on this podcast
03:49 Gigging less often outside London now
04:36 Radu’s vs liberal audience and comedy shows with audience less sympathetic with immigrants
07:53 An example of audience not taking Radu’s poking well
09:32 How to and who to mention the act is foreign?
10:51 Change of career goals - non-native English speaking audience and touring outside the UK
16:29 With non British audience in mind, changes in joke writing?
18:23 Casual racism from English hosts of podcasts Radu went on
20:52 Touring (gigging) in continental Europe
22:21 A released comedy special recorded in Vienna (and another unreleased version recorded in London)
24:41 Difference between UK gigs and gigs in continental European cities
29:57 Running Immigrant Comedy Show and Radu’s criteria for “immigrants”
34:00 Romanian Youtube users’ comment on Radu’s accent
36:09 On Radu’s comedy special on Youtube “Keep Coughing”
37:22 On the joke “A vaxxed anti-vaxxer”, Radu’s intention and his approach
44:16 Radu’s social media
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Given Ireland and Britain’s complex history, not least over 700 years of colonisation and dominance and the most recent thorny issue of Northern Ireland’s border during Brexit negotiation, what does a comedian’s Irish accent represent in the eyes of British audience?
There are in fact quite a few Irish comedians in the UK. Peter Flanagan is our very first guest, as in addition to his identify of a professional club comic, he is also a column writer for The Irish Times, documenting his views as a Irish diaspora living in the UK and his witty take on British politics.
Peter talked about the most memorable heckle from an English woman that was akin to a racist mime, what an idealised Irishman’s image would be and how he got used to the British public’s lack understanding in the bilateral history or even just Britain’s own history (and geography).
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An example of Peter's column in The Irish Times (note that there's a paywall)
Kuan-wen was singing a jingo for Sheila's Wheel (click for video on Youtube) - a commercial for car insurance aimed at female drivers in the 2000s.
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00:47 Intro
03:01 Out of numerous Irish comedians in the UK, why Peter is invited
04:33 An Irish accent too strong for some yet not strong enough for some
05:53 The perception of a “Dublin” accent in Ireland
07:23 Not just one accent in Ireland (and stereotypes of a generic Irish accent/Irish comedian)
09:06 A memorable racist meme heckle
11:54 Irish used to be the main group on the receiving end of racist attitudes in the UK
13:24 How Peter feels as an Irish comedian in the UK? Is it fair to compare Anglo-Irish relationship with that between Taiwan and China?
17:42 The sweet Irish accent for BBC and the idealised Irishman - Terry Wogan
20:52 Different expressions of humour: between a column writer for The Irish Times and a club comic
24:51 Making stand up comedy informative or even using it to educate the audience?
27:18 British public’s lack of understanding of their own history and indifference to Ireland
30:11 For all the Nazi jokes British comedians make, where’s the British Empire’s South African concentration camp joke?
31:40 How Peter won over Brexit-supporting audience?
34:41 Learning to be himself and not liked by some on social media
40:04 City comedy vs rural comedy
43:18 Difference between Irish audience and British audience
45:09 Peter’s social media
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Name a stand up comedian who’s like the ambassador of both the English and French cultures? Many of you probably think of her bright pink hairs straight away. Yes, you have Tatty Macleod in mind, and she really has been given the title of an honourary ambassador for the British Council and was invited to host the alumni day by the French embassy in the UK.
THE Anglo-French (or Franglais/ Frenglish) stand up comedian and social media star is well known for her hilarious online sketches on observations of both cultures in both languages. Her debut comedy hour - FUGUE - sold out its entire 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival run. The subsequent tour has sold over 10,000 tickets and counting, with the continental European leg now extended to 2025. This includes four nights at the Soho Theatre and two nights at Clapham Grand in London as well as three nights at Théâtre des ateliers in Paris - with three more nights at Théâtres des variétés in Paris booked in this May.
Among Tatty’s 600k+ followers across Instagram & TikTok, many are nomads themselves who are attracted to what Tatty personifies as a Third Culture Kid - a fluid identity and multilayers of heritage, accompanied by bi- or trilingualism. Born in Zimbabwe to British parents and raised in France by her ethnically Scottish/Welsh but culturally English mum, Tatty talks about code-switching, fine-tuning her accent to fit in and how accent, languages become intertwined with emotions and her identity in this fantastic episode.
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Follow Tatty on Instagram
Tatty is on Tour in Europe in 2025. Check Tatty’s website (click here) for tickets.
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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00:55 Intro
02:04 A true bilingual guest and how she thinks accents reflect one’s life journey
04:35 Coming to terms with a tinge of an English accent when she speaks French now
06:36 Moving between countries - a quick summary of Tatty’s childhood and adolescence
07:41 Accents, languages, identities - and a sense of belonging
10:39 A very subtle accent but visual clues of a non French person
14:30 How Kuan-wen learned to speak French and dislike Parisians
15:40 Choosing what language to speak in v.s. being rude to foreigners?
21:09 A Third Culture Kid; a bicultural upbringing
23:41 People remain determined to ask Tatty to pick a side (between her dual cultural heritages)
26:48 Tatty’s specific fan base
30:18 What did this question/terms of phrasing “like we say in French (Comment on dit en français)” imply?
34:07 Are the cultural nomads an ultra niche group?
36:17 All identifies are relative; shall we say British or English?
39:17 Tatty’s diction when she speaks English; an accent from a time capsule
43:30 Changing one’s accent to fit in
44:54 Jokes/comedy sketches based on stereotypes grounded in reality
46:32 Tatty’s debut solo show (currently on the European leg of the tour)
49:31 Nearly didn’t do the comedy sketches online
52:00 Tatty’s social media
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This is a one-off monologue (without a guest!!) before 2024 comes to an end. But hey. monologo(s) do also mean stand up comedy in Spanish and Italian.
This episode covers the 2024 Spotify for Podcast unwrapped to share with the listeners data of your consumption of this Podcast this year, supplemented by statistics from the podcast’s hosting platform. There is in addition a mid-point summary of season 2, with a roadmap of episode recommendations for different types of listeners.
Your host Kuan-wen then shares the original idea of the podcast, his thoughts on guest invitations - maybe a bit of frustration, too - and his recent experience of studying and brushing up his *Taiwanese for a podcast interview.
*For context, the use of Taiwanese is in constant decline in Taiwan owing to past government policies, with ever fewer people from younger generations being able to master it. Its circumstances are comparable to those of Welsh and Irish.
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Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
Follow Comedy with an Accent on Instagram
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00:33 Reasons for a no-guest episode
03:59 Alternative idea of the host of the podcast turning into the guest for a one-off (nah)
05:45 Outline for this episode
07:44 2024 - Season 2 mid-point review and some stats
08:45 Season 2 episode recommendations (based on the type of listeners)
17:08 Data from 2024 Spotify for Podcasters Unwrapped
18:30 More data on Podcast consumption from the hosting platform
24:50 The idea behind Comedy with an Accent since the launch - a moving Venn diagram
27:51 Criteria for guest invitations/selection
31:34 Kuan-wen’s apologies for occasional grammatical and pronunciation errors
34:04 Kuan-wen prepping for an interview conducted entirely in Taiwanese
38:17 Thoughts on producing the monologue episode
40:34 How much discussion about languages should be included in the podcast?
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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North Macedonia’s proudest export to the UK and so far the only North Macedonian comedian performing professionally on the UK comedy circuit, Vlad has appeared on BBC Stand Up for Live comedy in 2021. He took home various awards wins from Comedy Store London King Gong, Up The Creek Comedy Club’s One To Watch and The Stand Up Comedy Club’s “Get Up, Stand Up” competitions.
A sizeable chunk of the interview was given to explain why North Macedonia ended up being called North Macedonia, after years of appearing as FYR Macedonia in Eurovision, why “Macedonia” can be a tricky name to claim. Vlad explains his reluctance to spend more time on this point due to the general lack of awareness about his native land by the western word. We also explore the wider dynamics of the Balkons region and between the ex-Yugoslav neighbours and how this interacts with comedy.
Vlad also points out the double standards when Little Britain is pulled off the shelf, there is little outcry when it comes to Borat. We talk about employing stereotypes as tools for comedy and why ignorant depiction of foreigners continue to get by.
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Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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00:40 Intro
03:09 Some introduction about Vlad’s native North Macedonia and why there is a “North” before “Macedonia”
07:03 People know little about other parts of the world why Vlad is tired of having to explain his nationality
10:46 Explain your accent at the start to build a relationship with your UK audience
15:26 The odd gig when the immigrant label irritated the audience
16:10 Could comedic exaggerations be taken as misleading factual statements?
19:22 How true are these jokes? The Serbian aunt boycotting Sex And The City joke and the Taiwanese army joke
24:05 Being the only comedian from your country on the UK comedy circuit
25:37 Is Macedonian just an extension of Bulgarian?
32:17 The Balkan discussion
34:21 Nostalgia towards Yugoslavia
37:35 The “Borat” question
44:27 Growing out of early jokes based on foreign stereotypes
48:25 Vlad’s social media
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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¿sabias que todos los meses se hace un show de monólogos de comedia en español en Londres?
One half of the masterminds behind the popular Comedy Por Favor show, Sergi Polo returns to talk about how the idea of a comedy show in Spanish in London came about and why the brand has been a massive success in the Spanish and the wider Hispanic community - with every single show sold out in advance since the first show two years ago.
With performers from Spain, Latin America and Spanish-speaking Anglophones and the mirroring audience, a Comedy Por Favor show is always a hodgepodge of conviviality and joy (and a bit of a chitchat). As everyone in the room is guaranteed bilingual person, this creates a supportive atmosphere if anyone struggles to speak Spanish at any given point.
Sergi also shares his insight and the uncertainty he still questions himself performing in different languages to crowds in different countries. The same question is extended to his online output in English as well as Spanish, where Sergi has grown his followers substantially since his last episode two years ago.
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Sergi and Soraya’s podcast (in Spanish) Los de Londres
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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00:49 Intro
02:22 Why is Comedy Por Favor - a comedy show in Spanish in London - so popular? (compared to other comedy shows in foreign languages )
05:57 How the idea of Comedy Por Favor was born
06:37 The trial runs/practices in Barcelona before the first show in London
08:40 Kuan-wen’s Casio watch disrupting the interview
09:32 Warm reception by the Comedy Por Favor audience
10:54 A show that makes the audience feel they are transported back home
12:12 The chitchatty Spanish-speaking audience
14:22 Misunderstandings between Spanish spoken in different countries?
16:17 Hoping to attract more Latin American audiences
19:17 Spanish-speaking native English speakers who go to Comedy Por Favor shows
22:09 A supportive audience for non-native performers
doing comedy in Spanish
25:43 Jokes based on ideas that are funny more easily translated
27:34. Sergi learned English through performing comedy in English
28:51 Puns and comedy in different languages
29:38 How to estimate the market size for a Spanish comedy show in London? How many Spanish speakers are out there?
30:55 To create a community rather than pursuing bigger venues for bigger shows
32:11 Doing comedy solo shows/specials in different languages
37:29 A TV interview in Catalonia
38:10 Doing a show in Catalan in London on Saint George’s Day
39:29 Differences between Spanish audience in London and in Spain
41:40 Sergi’s Social Media; Los de Londres podcast
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Our third ever guest from England hails from Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire. For listeners interested in the numerous accents that exist in the UK, the Hull accent is considered one of the most distinct accents.
Louise Atkinson has provided the tour support for Live at the Apollo stars Sarah Keyworth and Esther Manito and her solo show “Mates” won the Amused Moose Best Debut Show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023.
A proud northerner, Louise talks about what makes the Hull accent distinct, which has been named as the sexiest accent by Timothée Chalet. As the podcast now boasts more listeners outside the UK, the conversation goes into great length explaining the North v.s. South divide in England and the relevant but not entirely identical class divide in the society.
Louise talks about the local pride - Hull was selected as UK City of Culture in 2017 and has widely been seen as a tremendous success story.
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Follow Louise on Instagram
Louise’s podcast Be Fairy Afraid on Spotify; Be Fair Afraid on Apple Podcast
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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01:05 Intro
03:57 Louise hates it when people from south of England question her accent
05:20 Fellow. Comedians mocking Louise’s accent
07:45 Adjusting her accent overseas in a corporate job
08:45 Accents and classism in the UK
11:20 North vs South divide in the UK
13:40 A world famous actor from Yorkshire
15:33 Northern England vs South England is not always working class vs middle class
16:52 Proud of being from Hull
18:44 “I HATE people” but perceived as “affable” because of a northern accent
21:25 The Hull accent is the sexiest accent per Timothée Chalamet in the UK; what influence makes the Hull accent distinct?
26:25 Who gets to joke about Hull being the backwater?
26:50 UK City of Culture 2017
28:54 Self-deprecating a British trait, not necessarily just for the Northerners
29:34 Performing across the UK and knowing audience from different parts of the country
32:40 The “Waitrose” audience
36:10 A few more random facts about Yorkshire and Hull
37:52 Louise’s social media
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Donatas Kveselys is the second Lithuanian comedian featured on this podcast. This episode, however, feels half-dedicated to the Kingdom and the people of Sweden, for Gothenburg, Sweden is where Donatas currently lives and where he started performing stand up comedy (in English).
Donatas is a London Comedy Store Gong Show winner. He also secured the 3rd spot in the Roast Battles’ 2024 International Western Division League table.
Having already left his Eastern European homeland Lithuania to move to Sweden for work, Donatas gave stand up comedy a go in his adopted country where the majority of population do not speak English as their mother tongues (but are known to proficient English speakers). Talking about layers of cultural and linguistic code switching!
Donatas discusses how he got to understand the reserved Swedish folks inside out from a foreigner’s perspective. He talks about doing Swedish jokes for Swedish crowds - If you don’t know already, you should definitely google “SNUS” and “SWEDEN” - but also explains why he is now travelling and gigging elsewhere in Europe for a broader reach.
Content warning - from 34:47 onwards there's a brief mention of suicidal feelings as part of a discussion on anxieties
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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01:02 Intro
04:12 A Lithuanian comedian performing English stand up comedy in Sweden
05:18 An East European accent
07:13 The odd foreign performer who performs in English at Swedish comedy shows
10:18 Lithuania in Swedish people’s eyes
12:57 Dissecting the “Chernobyl Survivor” joke and Lithuanian stereotypes
16:21 Lithuanians’ views of HBO’s series Chernobyl being shot in Vilnius
19:20 A white comedian with a foreign accent vs a Swedish comedian from ethnic minority backgrounds
23:45 Lithuanian as an East European language but not a Slavic language - it’s a Baltic language
25:11 Swedish people in Donatas’ words
28:30 Jokes for Swedish audience only; “SNUS” in Sweden
30:41 Travelling around to perform to difference audiences
32:03 What does Donatas like about performing for the Swedish audience
33:10 Bad at imitating his comedy idols, finding his own voice
34:47 Penchant for dark humour
37:35 Returning to his home country to perform in Lithuanian?
40:09 Donatas’ social media
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Winner of the prestigious So You Think You Are Funny competition in 2023, Samira Banks is a bright new star making waves on the UK comedy circuit. Her trademark jokes include her family’s journey fleeing their homeland as refugees. The crowd’s laughters are often raucous but some sensitive souls amongst them also pull their faces wondering. “Are we supposed to joke about refugees?”
On stage, Samira refers to her heritage as a broad “from the Middle East.” She never specifies which specific country that is. This question thus forms the central discussion of this episode and explains why in the episode title, both her mother tongue and her native country remain unspecified.
Growing up in Germany and moving to the UK for work, Samira is another guest with an international accent that is hard for others to associate it with a specific place. Samira shares her family’s stories and why a reunion of her extended family would turn into a mishmash of accents.
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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00:58 Intro
03:58 An international accent that is hard to pin down
06:58 Picking up multiple languages growing up
08:31 Why Samira chooses not to specify her home country when performing
13:09 Family history of fleeing and becoming refugees settling in different western countries
16:51 A closely-knit family and the elders’ funny views on romance and marriage
18:39 Between the English language, the German language and her mother tongue
19:48 German speakers refusing to see Samira as German
20:50 Some other complaints about German speakers
23:50 German v.s. British
25:22 Samira’s past naive assumption of anyone with accents from the north of England
27:04 Middle class refugees’ “privileges”
29:29 Difficulties of handling refugee experiences as comedy materials
31:52 What does Samira think about her position telling her parents’ life experiences?
35:59 Samira’s social media
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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How do you perform and progress on the comedy circuit, when you as a native English speaker already moved to an Asian country where the population does not speak English as their mother tongue (and there really isn’t much stand up comedy going on)?
Such is the story of Sam Yarb, co-founder of the leading comedy club in Taiwan - Two Three Comedy Club 二三喜劇. Sam started by arranging road trips to cities and towns of all sizes on the East Asian island to target the scattered English-speaking expats. Gradually, along came the Taiwanese people.
As stand up comedy becomes more popular and the Mandarin scene outgrows the English scene, Sam becomes the instrumental figure in bringing international acts to the island and connecting the English performers with neighbouring Asian countries.
We hear from Sam how he manages a comedy club in a foreign land and Sam’s observations on the local Taiwanese v.s. expat audience
The Firelight Chat podcast episode with Sam quoted in this episode:
On Apple Podcast
On Spotify
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Two Three Comedy Club on Facebook
Two Three Comedy Club on Instagram
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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00:44 Intro
02:51 Sam’s accent
05:03 How Sam started performing comedy in Southern Taiwan (a short Northern v.s. Southern Taiwan debate)
06:36 Comedy road trips in Taiwan
08:51 Audience make-ups in small Taiwanese towns and tailoring materials
10:57 A self-deprecating American comic in front of a Taiwanese audience
15:50 Expat v.s. Taiwanese audiences
19:56 Taiwanese approaching stand up comedy shows with curiosity
23:07 Taiwan - China relations as comedy material?
26:12 Expat audience in Taiwan v.s. US audience
26:57 Nationality comparison based comedy materials
28:34 Being a comedy promoter/producer in Asia
30:31 How the small town gigs are organised and promoted
31:31 Writing all funny ideas that come to mind and making selections later
35:03 Sam’s Social Media and 23 Comedy Club in Taipei
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Polish stand up comedian Kat Nip is a Berlin-based but globe-trotting performer. She runs her own comedy show in Berlin but is also a regular at comedy clubs in London, including the popular Top Secret Comedy Club.
Winner of London Comedy Store gong show, Kat Nip has written for and acted in Comedy Central Poland’s “Mini-Mock” series in 2022 and 2023. She has also appeared on Arte and Buzzfeed UK.
Having lived half of her live outside her native Poland, Kat’s native slavic sound is quite hard to detect. Yet her accent morphs where she moves to, so she ends up with a funny scenario of a faint German accent even if she does not speak fluent German.
Kat also shares how changes in her health and lifestyle led her to reflect on her comedy materials and directions as well as her stage persona.
Kat's comedy special "Traitor" can be seen on OUTtv
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Follow Kat Nip on Instagram
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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00:37 Intro
01:51 Guessing Kat’s nationality based on her accent
03:45 A Berlin-based polish comedian who lived in the UK and almost everywhere, hence the confusing accent
07:45 Ending the podcast policy
09:41 Unfiltered
10:34 Polish stereotypes
12:45 More of a Berlin girl than a Polish lady on stage?
15:25 Quit drinking but continuing to do a show about jokes on drinking
19:00 Moving on from the easy jokes
21:53 Traumatic experience of performing in Polish to the kind of Polish crowd that made her leave Poland
24:46 Specific type of fellow Polish netizens that are easily offended
28:13 Is the “Polish builder” stereotype still valid?
31:12 Kat’s journey and why she left her village
32:48 Difference being a Polish comedian between London and Berlin
35:03 Comedy reflecting life’s changes (moving on from typical Berlin expat lifestyle)
39:14 Just live your life the way you want
41:43 Why choosing “Kat Nip (presents)” as stage name?
43:49 Hastag gross food on Instagram
45:07 Kat’s social media
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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As one of the founding members of Becomedy - a comedy show production team in the English as well as Italian languages in both Italy and the UK - Tiziano La Bella is a stand up comedian performing professionaly in both languages. He has appeared on Comedy Central Italia and Amazon Prime and only just recently relocated from London back to his home town Rome. Tiziano came to the UK with a clear objective to hone his craft, at a time when there simply wasn’t much stage time for stand up comics - Italy was not yet familiar with the concept of modern stand up comedy and would confuse it with their traditional cabaret. (He definitely did not come for the British weather and sky!)
As a result of the migration of Italians in the UK, Becomedy has been able organise stand up comedy shows in Italian in London and Tiziano has performed more frequently in Italian in recent years, leading to more gigs booked in his native Italy. Tiziano has made use of what he learned from English stand up to shift more focus on performing in Italian and eventually decided to move back as the stand up comedy scene in Italy is now fast growing.
On the eve of his relocation, this podcast invited Tiziano to talk about his accent which carries a hint of Australian English, his creative process in both languages and how he dissect the audience into four different groups. We also talked about the Italian stereotypes and how the Italian accent is the endless bottom of the joke, even though Tiziano does not find doing accents particularly offensive.
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Follow Tiziano on Instagram
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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00:46 Intro
04:14 An evolving accent and now a hint of an Aussie accent
08:03 The W-word between British English and Australian English and how Americans and British audiences perceive the C-word differently
10:56 Foreign/minority comedians doing accents on stage?
12:35 Young Italians’ improved English fluency
15:13 Italian stereotypes mined by influencers on social media
16:43 Choosing the funny-sounding words and the formality level of words
20:06 Weird Duolingo scenarios
21:13 Italian immigrants not necessarily able to improve their English fluency
27:05 Forced to use English regularly during Erasmus and starting to perform stand up comedy
29:54 Start of stand up comedy journey and how Tiziano never intended to settle in the UK
32:06 Returning to Italy; shifting to content and performance in Italian
35:19 The reality of living in Roma (Garbage collection) v.s. garbage collection in Taiwan
36:07 “Is this joke about Chinese offensive?”
37:50 Italian accent being the only accent everyone is comfortable with doing
42:10 Not having a stereotypical Italian appearance (based South Italians)
44:23 Differences between performing in different languages to difference crowds
47:47 BeComedy with Italian/English shows in the UK and in Italy
49:17 Tiziano’s social media
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Our first returning guest is Singaporean comedian Sam See, previously featured in Episode 25 of the first season.
Since the last recording in January 2023, Sam has uprooted himself and relocated from Singapore to the UK as - in his own words - he has reached the ceiling in Singapore. Sam shares his gentle criticism of the comedy audience in Singapore.
Sam also just finished supporting Ed Byrne on tour in 17 locations, including some well-off towns and some run down places. The bulk of this episode focuses on Sam’s approach to perform as a newly settled immigrant act in these small English towns in front of audience that are predominantly old and white.
Sam is at Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year (2024) with two shows:
The Asian Comedy Showcase
Sam See: And I Can't Feel at Home in This World Anymore
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Follow Sam on Instagram
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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00:44 Intro; why Sam is invited back
03:37 Sam moving from Singapore to the UK
05:04 The tour - opening for Ed Byrne
06:53 The reason Sam swapped Singapore for UK
08:54 Has Sam considered US or Australia instead?
09:40 First time Sam living on his own
13:17 How Sam was asked to be Ed Byrne’s tour support act
15:48 More on the actual tour
16:46 Winning over an older, predominantly white audience
19:32 Research fun facts before arriving in a new town for performance
28:16 Some British cities/towns with tricky pronunciations
29:35 Audience demographic
31:00 Singaporean audience trained Sam to always write generally
33:00 Example of Sam employing local references in his jokes
34:19 Sam’s own touring plan
37:45 Sam’s shows at 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and his social media
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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Marjolein Robertson is a Shetlandic comedian, actor and storyteller. She was Scots Speaker of the Year in 2022, ranked number three in The List’s Hot 100 as one of the top Scottish cultural contributors. Hey 2023 Edinburgh Fringe show “Marj” also received award nominations and was one of the best reviewed show at the Fringe. Technically, Marjolein is this podcast’s second guest from Scotland, but same with every other island, Shetlanders see themselves as Shetlanders first and Scottish second.
The interview largely revolves the concept of “knapping”. The verb “to knap” for Shetlanders means to change the way you speak to accommodate the listener, as you do not expect the listener would understand your original way of talking. It is an equivalent to code-switching, but the process is probably more automatic when a Shetlander meets a non-Shetlander. It explains Marjolein’s accent shift as she performs and gets interviewed down south.
We also talk about how Marjolein weaves Shetland folktales into her comedy and takes advantage of general audience’s ignorance when it comes to her native island.
This is probably the episode with the densest discussion on linguistics and cultural identity to date; it is therefore slightly longer.
Marjolein is performing at Edinburgh Fringe this year! Her new show “O” is at Monkey Barrel The Hive at 17:40 daily (except Aug 12th). Reserve your tickets here.
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Follow Marjolein on Instagram
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]
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00:48 Intro
03:10 On Shetland and islanders’ identities
06:34 How Shetland is indicated on a map
09:41 Marjolein’s comedy CV & her Wikipedia page
11:34 “Knapping” - a Shetlandic word meaning changing one’s way of speaking to make oneself better understand for the other person
15:51 Marjolein’s “American voice” v “Shetland voice”
18:48 How Marjolein’s accent shits on stage
21:40 New movement in Shetland - the “No Knapping” badge———
25:15 Shetland’s extinct old tongue “Norn”
26:53 “Scots” as a language tangled with Scottish independence
28:53 How A Faroese man - Jakob Jacobsen - helped preserve evidence of the old Norm language
30:37 Audience in England knows Shetland even less than Scottish audience
33:04 Marjolein plays with people’s ignorance when it comes to Shetland
38:50 On her Shetlandic not being “broad” enough for some fellow Shetland’s
46:29 A Storyteller
52:44 Marjolein’s 2024 Edinburgh Fringe show “O”
54:31 A poem in Shetlandic
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
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This is a special episode recorded in Mandarin with our guest Blank Peng from last week
前一集的英文訪問 Blank 提及她在中國喜劇圈表演的一些經驗，第二段用中文訪談，主持人與來賓都能比較自然地暢所欲言（但也不能到太暢所欲言啦......這就點到為止就好）。Blank 解釋為何她的普通話在中國被視為不夠標準，甚至她的閩北口音會被其他省份的中國人嘲笑為『台灣口音』，主持人一同討論台灣與中國一些中文用語和發音的差別。
在表演部分，Blank 也剖析為何她會在台上稍微觸碰政治的議題，為何她現在在英國選擇先專心發展英文的單口喜劇演出，以及她對倫敦當地中文單口喜劇的觀察。
The next English bi-weekly episode will be available on Tuesday 30 July
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