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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Follow Samira 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 comedywithanaccent@gmail.com

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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

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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Follow Sam on Instagram

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 comedywithanaccent@gmail.com

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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

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 comedywithanaccent@gmail.com

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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