(L-R) Nishi Nagpal (organizer), performers Jim Dailakis, Larry Thompson, Sugar Sammy
and Ravi Siddharth, an up-and-coming comic who emceed the event and Aash Shravah, CEO, Intense
Entertainment
Raj S. Rangarajan
NEW YORK: Whether you are plain bored or slightly under the weather or just need a pick-me-up made famous by Wodehouse character Jeeves, to revive your spirits, a stand-up comic’s creative outpourings could help. For several decades, the art of the stand-up has been berated or celebrated, depending on who’s talking. Hollywood and Broadway have always provided juicy fodder for the likes of Jack Benny and Jackie Mason to Johnny Carson and Jay Leno who have provided comedy routines as staple entertainment.
A recent event hosted by Aash Shravah, CEO of Intense Comedy in Manhattan, New York featured three comics – Sugar Sammy, Canadian of Indian origin, Larry Thomson, African-American and Jim Dailakis, an Australian of Greek origin. Older men, the Brits, the Sikhs, teenagers, and other stereotypes were targets.
Today, the younger generation of Indian-Americans and other ethnic groups are exposed to localized ethnic and stereotyped humour that is capable of laughing at themselves without feeling offended – something the 50-pluses could never do. Names such as Russell Peters, an Indian based in Canada, Vijai, a lady comic whose parents are originally from South India and Daniel Nainan whose is half-Malayalee and half- Japanese, have been performing to standing-room-only audiences.
Sammy rocked the 200-odd crowd with his provocative wit and cultural comebacks. Larry had his audience in stitches when he spoke of black women from South America and Jim carried the day with his imitation of a kangaroo hop. Each of them derived his energy and enthusiasm from the participatory and appreciative audience. Sammy said, “When the audience is participating I love it. I love ad-libbing and improvising on the spot. However, I also write a lot of material.”
Sugar Sammy acquired his nickname from a sorority at McGill University in Montreal. Of Punjabi origin, when asked his real name, Sammy said, “I’d rather not say because I get a lot of death threats from the people via telephone e-mails and in person.”
An actor and full-time comic, Sammy says, “I think its something I naturally knew that I had but I think what triggered it was watching Eddie Murphy’s “Delirious” when I was nine years old.”
Sammy, who is fluent in French as well, said, he will be performing in Quebec, and also plans to tour France, Belgium and Switzerland soon. To a question if he ever makes fun of politicians such as American President Bush or Canadian Prime Minister Martin, Sammy said, “I think when you write material it has to come from the heart. I’m not really interested in politics right now but I’m sure it’ll come in a few years.”
To a question if he preferred a particular ethnic group as a target at his performances, Sammy responded, “I grew up in an environment where everybody got along and understood each other. Montreal is very cool like that. Indians are just the same as all the other ethnicities. Once you start believing that they are not that way you fool yourself into censoring your material to fit them. Be yourself and Indians will respond just as well as anyone else.”
Larry Thompson majored in psychology with a minor in theatre at San Francisco State University and has been doing stand-up since 1999. His inspiration for stand-up comedy actually started when “I was eight years old and I saw how my grandmother used to laugh at the Three Stooges on television. One day our television broke, so I started doing comedy to amuse my grandmother and my three younger brothers.”
Larry feels, he constantly learns from each ethnic groups and says, he has a weakness for Indian spicy foods. He is happy that “in my years of doing stand-up, I have never met an audience that I didn't like. I find the Indian people, both as an audience and as individuals, to be fascinating. When I'm on stage, my goal is to have fun. So I have subjects that I do draw from, such as talking about marriage, dating and the like.” His favorite comedians are Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters from whom, he learned the art of ad-libbing while on stage.”
Jim Dailakis, born to Greek parents in Australia, currently lives in New York and has been doing stand-up full-time for nine years now. Being an Aussie in America is a significant part of his act like the imitation of a kangaroo hop on stage. He talks about relationships, love, and mimics movie stars just as readily as he switches from American to Australian accent.
He also does radio voiceovers and prank calls. Jim who considers myself an actor first and a comedian second, went to school in Australia. He studied at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York City and writes screenplays. “I've written four screenplays and one of them now has a distributor, a director who's worked with Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.”
Confesses Jim, “I'm not really sure what inspired me to become a standup comedian but I'm sure brain damage had a lot to do with it! It really was by accident but the adrenaline rush and the overwhelmingly incredible feeling I get making people laugh is a fix I definitely got used to and love.”
Jim calls Indian audiences “fantastic.” I'm not just saying that but I found that they are extremely responsive and have a very similar feel to Greek audiences. I think it's the strong family bond that our cultures are known for. Having said that, I think it's also quite funny that if a joke is really good they'll respond magnificently but if it's not that great the silence can be deafening!”
Adds Jim, “I grew up with so many Asians in Australia who are still friends so I feel like I have somewhat of a beat to the culture. He says, Australians are also a great audience, specially those who live in cities. They are very attentive and most patient. They will wait forever if they have to wait for you to get to the punch line.
Jim says, “I really love doing this. Sometimes, I don't think an audience realizes that they are doing just as much for me as I'm doing for them. Seeing a whole room full of people smiling and laughing is an unbelievable feeling. It's an incredible high.”
Jim’s site: www.comedianjim.com
Rahul Siddharth, an up-and-coming stand-up who warmed up the crowd at the recent Intense show, started by declaring, “Punjabis could be considered the Irish of Asia.”
[Raj S. Rangarajan is a New York based freelance writer. He covers trend stories on art, travel and lifestyles and reviews books, films and plays for media based in New York, California, Toronto, India and Australia.]
