A satirical look at multiculturalism is coming to St Albans, with four comedians giving their take on what it’s like to live in diverse Australia.
Sukhjit Kahlsa will host the night, with sets from Diana Nguyen, Sami Shah and Dilruk Jayasinha across the evening.
Jayasinha – perhaps best known for his appearances on Channel Ten’s
Have You Been Paying Attention – said the group would bring a wide variety of perspectives to the show.
“Sukhjit is from India, Sami is from Pakistan, I’m from Sri Lanka and Diana is Vietnamese so it’s a nice mix of cultures,” he said.
“It’s not about the content sometimes, with these shows, it’s more that you are representing a different culture up there.
“I could get up there and talk about Tinder and it would still have a place on the night, but having said that I will probably touch on some multicultural themes. It would be silly not to.”
Jayasinha said there were particular challenges faced by non-Anglo comedians.
“I think language is a definite challenge,” he said. “I mean, technically English is my second language, so that can be a challenge for the immigrant comedian.
“And I think there can be an expectation to talk about your cultural background that you may not necessarily want to do.
“It’s different when it’s a multicultural night, but for the first four years or so I didn’t talk about my cultural background because I didn’t want to give in to that expectation.
“Also, me and Sami (Shah) have both had it happen where we’ve been mistaken for each other, and we couldn’t look more dissimilar. The only things we have in common is we both do comedy and we’re both brown, so that can be frustrating at times that you’re instantly compared to another ethnic comedian, when your set should stand on its own merit.”
The show will be on Friday, May 12, from 7.30pm at St Albans Community Centre and Bowery Theatre, Princess Street, St Albans. bowerystacc.com.au
Ewen McRae
