Comedy with an Accent
Comedy with an Accent is a podcast hosted by Taiwanese comedian Kuan-wen Huang. Each episode features interviews with non-native English speakers who perform stand-up comedy on the UK circuit. They discuss the challenges and strategies of performing in a second language, cultural differences, and how they switch between languages. The show offers a unique perspective on comedy from immigrant and expatriate comedians.
Episodes
S02E35 Xhuliano Dule, Italian/Albanian speaker - From Elbasan, Albania 🇦🇱
“Your existence is an act of politics” Italian stand up comedian and playright Xhuliano Dule only knows it so well.Our *third Italian-speaking guest is able to claim dual cultural heritage, as he originally comes from Albania across the Adriatic sea. He arrived in l’Italia as a small child on a speedboat with his parents, similar to many of his compatriots who searched for a better life in the 199
S02E34 Kathryn Mather, English speaker (Lancashire accent) - From Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England 🏴
Our latest focus on distinct accents on the British isles turns to Northwest England. Our guest Kathryn Mather comes from Rochdale, historically part of Lancashire but now part of Greater Manchester. “Likkle girl down in hospical” - have you heard that one before?Kathryn was crowned winner of Frog and Bucket World Series in 2017 (Manchester’s prestigious comedy club’s new act competition) and wa
S02E33 Your host Kuan-wen’s Monologue #4 🇹🇼 2025 Review, Intercultural sensitivity, Tommy Robinson Rally
A year end review based on 2025 Spotify Unwrapped and the podcast platform statistics, released on the penultimate day of 2025!In case you are not a stats nerd on where the podcast is consumed, this monologue episode also includes a brief discussion on the Bennet scale, also called the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. The framework was developed to analyse how people react to cul
S02E32 Dimitri Bakanov, Russian Speaker - From Kherson, Ukraine 🇺🇦
Language itself should be a neutral issue; but it never is in the real world. Dimitri Bakanov is a London-based Ukrainian comedian. He is also a native Russian speaker, having lost the full fluency of his Ukrainian when he moved away with his family at the age of 11. When languages are tangled with identity, life throws in a big warfare on top of the existing nationalist tensions, things get co
S02E31 Your Host Kuan-wen’s Monologue #3 🇹🇼 Comedy Lost In Translation
Is it possible to perform stand up in yet another language (aka not English, not your mother tongue, also less fluent) but relying solely on translating whatever existing materials in English you have? Technically - yes. Though some jokes are simply not translatable. Some can be translated but it would not make sense or would not work. Some might still work but the effect could be heavily discount
S02E30 Mike Rice, English Speaker - From County Kilkenny, Ireland 🇮🇪
Mike Rice is probably THE guest this podcast has had so far who proved to be the best at impersonations and accent mimicry. During the course of this interview alone, he improvised a South London, a posh West London, a stereotypical Essex woman and a generic American accent. In his comedy routines and comedy special on Youtube, Mike has done a German accent in the context of WWIII jokes and he h
S02E29 Spring Day, English/Japanese Speaker - From Kansas City, Missouri, USA 🇺🇸
Have you ever tried to learn a foreign language so hard, that it influences and moulds your speech pattern in your native tongue? That you moved to a foreign land to learn that foreign language, consequently your English vocabulary becomes restricted to the more common words, just so people around you could understand?Such is the story of Spring Day (Comedian, not the weather), a fluent Japanese s
S02E28 Martin Durchov, Bulgarian Speaker - From Sofia, Bulgaria 🇧🇬
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
S02E27 Shalaka Kurup, English/Hindi/(Childhood Malayalam) Speaker - From Bengaluru (Bangalore), India 🇮🇳
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 adj
S02E26 French It Up - French Comedy Show in London, Jeff Vitale - From Marseille, France 🇫🇷
“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
S02E25 Your Host Kuan-wen’s monologue #2 🇹🇼 Learning English v.s. performing stand up comedy in English
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 ot
S02E24 Radu Isac returns (From Vaslui, Romania 🇷🇴; From Season 1 Episode 6-7)
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
S02E23 Peter Flanagan - English/Irish speaker, From County Kildare, Ireland 🇮🇪🍀
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
S02E22 Tatty Macleod - English/French speaker, From Camors, Brittany, France 🇫🇷 🏴
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)
S02E21 2024 Review + Your Host Kuan-wen’s Monologue 🇹🇼
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
S02E20 Vlad Ilich - Macedonian speaker, From Kumanovo, North Macedonia 🇲🇰
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 int
S02E19 Comedy Por Favor - Spanish Comedy Show in London, Sergi Polo (From Barcelona, From S01E16) returns
¿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 t
S02E18 Louise Atkinson, English speaker (Hull/East Yorkshire accent) - From Kingston upon Hull, England 🏴
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 Edin
S02E17 Donatas Kveselys, Lithuanian speaker - From Raseiniai, Lithuania 🇱🇹
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
S02E16 Samira Banks, [Unnamed language]/German/English speaker - From an unidentified country in the Middle East
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
S02E15 Sam Yarb, English speaker - From Post Mills, Vermont, USA 🇺🇸
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 cit
S02E14 Kat Nip, Polish speaker - From Skrzyszow, Poland 🇵🇱
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.
S02E13 Tiziano La Bella, Italian speaker - From Rome, Italy 🇮🇹
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 o
S02E12 Sam See (From Singapore 🇸🇬, From S01E25) returns
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 t
S02E11 Marjolein Robertson, Shetlandic/English speaker - From Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland 🏴
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, bu
S02E10 Blank Peng, Mandarin speaker - From Fujian province, China 🇨🇳
Making headway to big comedy clubs’ paid spots within two years of arriving in the UK, Blank got into almost all the major Comedy New Act Competition finals and collected gong show wins like a dedicated Pokemon player collecting the Poke gym badges.“Blank is an incognito bilingual stand-up comic,” so goes her comedy profile on some of London’s top comedy clubs’ websites. It is not by accident she’
S02E09 Micky Overman, Dutch speaker - From Almere, The Netherlands 🇳🇱
Describing her accent as “a beautiful mess”, comedian Micky Overman’s show “The Recipe” was amongst the best reviewed shows at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023. The excellent show is now free for viewing on Micky’s Youtube channel and forms the basis of this interview.Micky has one of those accents of a proficient non-native English speaker that not everyone can work out what her mother tongue is. De
S02E08 Guido Garcia Lueches, Spanish speaker - From Montevideo, Uruguay 🇺🇾
Guido Garcia Lueches is a theatre maker, actor from Uruguay. His one man show “Playing Latinx” - though categorised as Theatre rather than Comedy in last year’s Edinburgh Fringe - packed in so many jokes that it was probably funnier than many shows under “Comedy” had to offer.To be fair, the show was also marketed as “Half stand up”, but to its creator, genre is not something he’d bother. It’s wh
S02E07 Philipp Kostelecky, English/German speaker - From Ljubljana, Slovenia 🇸🇮
In Philipp’s comedy set, he likes to open with “Hi, my name is Philipp. I come from Austria, America and Slovenia.” In real life, sometimes Austrians do not see him as Austrians (He left Austria at the age of four), Slovenians may not seen him as Slovenians, Americans might find something a bit off about him. Those Americans not familiar with an English accent might even think his accent is Engli
S02E06 Mark Silcox , Hindi speaker - From Ganj Basoda, India 🇮🇳
Best known as the mischievous private investigator on Channel; 4's Joe Lycett's Got Your Back, Mark Silcox is an accomplishment stand up comedian in his own right, even though he claims not to be a very ambitious comedian himself. For comedy "is just a way of spending time with friends"Apologies for the delay in publishing this week's episodeMark's distinct deadpan and at times anti=comedy style m
S02E05 Alice Frick, German speaker - From Vienna, Austria 🇦🇹
Alice Frick is a comedian, writer, producer originally from Vienna, Austria, who is also the show runner of "Laughing Labia", an all-female line up comedy show and one of the longest-running LGBTQ+ comedy show in London with a loyal following.Alice talks about the articulation lessons she has been having and how her English went from American-sounding to more obviously German when she decided to s
S02E04 Arielle Souma, French speaker - From Bossise-le-Roi, France 🇫🇷
Comedy powerhouse Arielle Souma is the very first French guest on this podcast after more than thirty episodes (FINALLY!). Unapologetic, unfiltered and oozing “I don’t give a f**k” energy, Arielle is known for her commanding stage presence and her punchy, intense and impactful comedy delivery. Arielle talks about keeping her English simple and accessible, thus easier to understand for non-native
S02E03 Gino Christofaro, German / Portugese speaker - Brazilian 🇧🇷/ German 🇩🇪 Comedian
Gino Christofaro is the podcast’s first guest whose home city is not indicated in the episode title. He simply cannot name one.Being an embassy kid, Gino never had a childhood home like many of us do.Gino has been featured on Comedy Central Germany’s Roast Battle and is a now TV writer in both English and German for Comedy Central, ZDF, Paramount+ and Amazon.Born in São Paolo, Brazil, Gino was br
S02E02 Jamie Wang, Mandarin / Shanghainese speaker - From Shanghai, China 🇨🇳
How do you perform stand up comedy when half of the audience sees you as the enemy at worst, or not knowing what to think of you at best, in a language that is neither your or the majority audience’s mother tongue?Given the complex relationship between China and Taiwan, how does one position herself when they are known as “The Chinese comedian” in Taiwan?Jamie Wang is a student from Shanghai, Chin
S02E01 Victor Patrascan, Romanian speaker - From Vameș, Romania 🇷🇴
Could you ever imagine no longer having a fixed place you call home, not even having a storage space to keep your belongings, that you are just constantly on the road, crossing borders at times, moving from one city to another?Such is the life style of Victor Patrascan, a truly nomadic comedian who has been on the road since 2020, all for his love for performing stand up comedy. In 2022 alon
S02 Bonus Episode [Recorded in French] En Savoir Plus Sur French It Up ... en français
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.-------------------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 spect
S02 Bonus Episode [Recorded in Mandarin] 原名不詳，中文藝名 404，現居倫敦的中國單口喜劇演員 Blank Peng
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
S02 Bonus Episode [Recorded in Mandarin] 來自中國上海卻「入虎穴」台灣的單口喜劇演員 Jamie Wang
This is a special episode recorded in Mandarin with our Chinese guest Jamie Wang from last week. For the non-Mandarin-speaking guests, our regular episode in English will be updated next Tuesday April 9th at 7am. （It's the normally bi-weekly schedule so this bonus episode does not come at the expense of regular English episodes！）延續上一集，本節目特別用中文額外錄製一段主持人 Kuan-wen 與來自上海的表演人 Jamie Wang 訪談內容。Jamie 回顧自己
Comedy with an Accent is back! Season 2 incoming
Comedy with an Accent is back! Sorry for the prolonged break but we are back with another fun season, First episode will be out at 7am (GMT) on Tuesday 12 March. See you then!
S01E31 Vidura Bandara Rajapaksa, Sinhala/English speaker - From Colombo, Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
One of the fastest rising stars selling out venues across European cities, Sri Lankan born Vidura spent his childhood, his teenage years and his young adulthood in small chunks of time in different countries, Vidura is a globe-trotter. To him, Berlin sometime feels more like home than Colombo. In the final episode of the first season of this podcast, Vidura is our perfect guest to illustrate how
S01E30 Denis Chuzhoy (Dan The Stranger), Russian speaker - From Kursk, Russia 🇷🇺
When your host messaged Dan about the interview at the start of this year, he replied that he was still on the move after leaving Russia. He could not be sure where he will have a legal paper to stay.It's a weirder-than-ever time to be a Russian comedian, especially one who dared to joke about Putin's height in his comedy special. Dan followed his instinct to become a 'travelling comedian'. Travel
S01E29 Schalk Bezuidenhout, Afrikaans / English speaker - From Kempton Park, South Africa 🇿🇦
Schalk Bezuidenhout was tour support for Trevor Noah and won South African Comics' Choice Awards' Newcomer and Break Through Act of the Year. This episode was recorded in May when the South African star brought his show to Soho Theatre in London for a 5-day run, filling the room with South African expats and local Brits alike.Schalk explains the stereotypes attached to Afrikaans and talks about ho
S01E28 Joshua Bethania, Kannada/ Tamil/ Hindi/ English speaker - from Bengaluru, India 🇮🇳
Having only started performing comedy in the UK in 2021, Joshua was crowned winner of So You Think You Are Funny in 2022 and bagged another win at London Comedy Store gong show. He was finalist at BBC New Comedy Award 2022 and nominated as Best Newcomer by Chortle. The Southern India's native came to the UK for a corporate job and he only took up a comedy course to get better at communication doin
S01E27 Jomi Cruz, Portuguese speaker - From Cascais, Portugal 🇵🇹
Our very first Portuguese guest is comedian Jomi Cruz who radiates tons of youthful energy and resembles a junior Eurovision contestant. Jomi shares how he acquired a quasi American accent that is not good enough to fool Americans but just enough to trick some Brits. Jomi chats about the few stereotypes associated with Portugal for British audience but the one bad joke about Madeline McCann* that
S01E26 Evaldas Karosas, Lithuanian speaker - From Rokiskis, Lithuania 🇱🇹
Evaldas could have stayed in his native Lithuania and earned much more from doing comedy. After all, he started performing at a critical time in Lithuania when anyone who decided to perform was almost automatically a professional comedian.Instead, the hopeless romantic fan of stand up comedy came to the UK and started again from bottom of the barrel - doing open mic gigs all over the place to work
S01E25 Sam See, English / Singlish speaker - From Singapore 🇸🇬
Described by some as the "mother hen" of Singapore's burgeoning stand up comedy scene, Sam has just performed his solo show "Government Approved Sex" to critical acclaim at this year's Melbourne Comedy Festival.This episode was recorded at the start of 2023 when Sam returned to the UK after a mini-tour in continental Europe (preceded by a full Edinburgh fringe run last summer).Sam shares why his m
S01E24 Anne Klein, Luxembourgish/ German/ French speaker - From Luxembourg 🇱🇺
Actor and comedian Anne Klein is the first Oscar nominee (In the short film The Red Suitcase) and the first Luxembourgish guest on this podcast. Fluent in English, French, German and her native Luxembourgish, Anne has this amazing ability to switch between languages and disguises her accent(s) to fool inattentive listeners.Anne talked about being the oddball that is too weird for her small country
S01E23 Adam Hopkins, English/Mandarin Speaker (West Yorkshire Accent) - From Leeds, England 🏴
This week, your host Kuan-wen would like to introduce the burgeoning comedy scenes in his native Taiwan - both in English and in Mandarin - as an example of how Asia is catching the stand up comedy fever (and catching up!). Since he has not lived in Taiwan for over a decade, the introduction is recorded through the eyes of an Englishman who has spent the last few years first in Shanghai and then i
S01E22 Viggo Venn, Norwegian speaker - From Oslo, Norway 🇳🇴
Our mini Scandinavia tour comes back to Norway again after two recent episodes feauturing guests from Denmark and Sweden. Viggo Venn, previously half of clowning duo Zack & Viggo, is our second guest from Norway.Viggo trained as a clown at the renowned École Philippe Gaulier, where he is now a member of the teaching staff. His clowning instinct - a desire to entertain and a persistence to emb
S01E21 Evelyn Mok, Swedish / Cantonese speaker - From Gothenburg, Sweden 🇸🇪
Evelyn Mok is well known for being the former co-host of the (now retired) Rice to Meet You Podcast and the creative mind behind multiple popular sketches. The Swedish native is also one of the highest-profile comedian of East Asian heritage in the UK, who now spends her time between both countries.Evelyn talked about how the feeling of being "other'ed in Sweden in her childhood prompted her to mi
S01E20 Stephen Buchanan, English speaker (Glaswegian accent) - From Glasgow, Scotland 🏴
“Are you the WHSmith guy?” Stephen Buchanan is known by strangers these days for his viral sketch clips, shared so widely that he’d be stopped and recognised by random people on the street. He won the BBC New Comedy Award in 2018; he is a third of the popular podcast Some Laughs and part of the new generation of comedy talents coming out of Glasgow, a city that has produced exceptional performers
S01E19 Cansu Karabiyik, Danish / Kurdish / Turkish speaker - From Copenhagen, Denmark🇩🇰
"What's your mother tongue?" A simple question.. Cansu Karabiyik, our guest this week, replied, "That's a complicated question. I don't really have a national identity anymore."As a Kurdish/Turkish Danish citizen who studied abroad first in America then at Cambridge University in the UK, Cansu is an example that national identity and our relationship with a language may not always be straightforwa
S01E18 Jesse Appell, Mandarin Standup performer, English speaker - From Boston, USA 🇺🇸
Ahead of the Chinese New Year, we are rejiggling the podcast's format slightly. Our guest this week is Jesse Appell, a native English speaker from Boston, USA who performs stand up comedy in Mandarin and whose career started in China. This reverses our usual format of interviewing non-native English speakers who perform English stand up.Known as 艾杰西 in China, Jesse has performed on Chinese TV and
S01E17 Steffan Alun, Welsh speaker - From Abertawe (Swansea), Wales 🏴
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! The first episode in 2023 took your host to the Land of Song on the British isles - Wales. Steffan, more often in his Welsh tongue, is a Radio host, TV presenter and household name in his native Wales. Steffan also performs throughout the UK in English, a language he only became fluent in his teens.The Swansea native's love for his culture and his langue is evident throughout
S01E16 Sergi Polo - Catalan/Castillan Spanish speaker, From Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain🇪🇸
Bon Nadal! Feliz Navidad! Our last guest in 2022 is our third Spanish-speaking guest - also the podcast's first Catalan speaker - the self-titled "Lovely Boy From Barcelona" Sergi Polo.Fresh from being nominated for the prestigious Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year, Sergi is a regular at the popular Angel comedy in London who is known for his snappy, sharp and witty gags. Just check his Insta
S01E15 Jin Hao Li, Mandarin/Singlish/English speaker - From Singapore 🇸🇬
Baby comic Jin Hao Li is still studying at the University of St Andrews, but he already amassed a remarkable win at the legendary Comedy Store Gong Show in London and got through to the final of Chortle Student Comedy Award this year; A fellow veteran comedian described him as "You are a baby who is walking - but you are not supposed to!"The Singaporean comedy prodigy explains in this episode why
S01E14 Freddi Gralle, German speaker - From Berlin, Germany🇩🇪
Your host Kuan-wen describes Freddi as one of the best kept secrets to comedy audience in the UK and the US.Freddi has been a veteran on the Berlin stand up comedy scene, one of the largest in a non-English-speaking country in Europe thanks to the large number of expats in the city. In fact, it should be two scene"s", since Freddi used to perform both in German and in fluent English and the two on
S01E13 Sahil Shah, Hindi/ Gujarati/ Marathi speaker - From Mumbai, India 🇮🇳
India's stand up comedy star Sahil Shah has been in this business for over a decade.He has been at the forefront of India's modern stand up comedy scene and has pretty much grown with the scene. It started with comedy sketches uploaded to Youtube, later packed out live shows. This year, he performed for the first time at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the UK - including a week at the Comedy with
S01E12 Esther Manito, English/ Arabic Speaker (Essex Accent) - From Saffron Walden, England 🏴
Live at the Apollo star Esther Manito started performing stand up comedy only as recently as 2016 - not to forget we should probably count two years out because of the pandemic. The ex teacher has since brought two critically claimed solo shows (Crusade, #NotAllMen) to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and become the first female comedian to perform at Dubai Opera House.Describing herself as an "Essex
S01E11 President Obonjo, Laftian (?) speaker - From Lafta Republic (?)
For the avoidance of doubt, President Obonjo is a comedy character created by Anglo-Nigerian comedian Benjamin Bankelo Bello.In clear contrast to the brash, uber-confident and larger-than-life self-appointed African dictator in exile who speaks with a thick African accent, the comedian Benjamin Bankelo Bello is a soft-spoken, suburban Englishman who often wears a cardigan on top of his shirt.Benja
S01E10 Victoria Olsina, Spanish speaker - From Córdoba, Argentina 🇦🇷
Fresh from winning the LGBTQ+ New Comedian of the Year in the UK, Victoria was featured in the Guardian (See link to the article) a month after this podcast episode was recorded. Her unique brand of humour is best illustrated by the joke quoted in the Guardian interview, in a love poem to the former Home Secretary in the UK Priti Patel, "I wish I was the Falkland Islands, so you can occupy me inde
S01E09 Hubert Mayr, German speaker - From Lamprechtshausen, Austria 🇦🇹
The very first German speaker invited to this podcast is not from Germany, but from Austria - a relatively small country that produced a range of household names from Mozart, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joseph Fritzl, Hitler to Conchita Wurst. This small country is also the remnants of the once mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire.Hubert explains why the loss of the empire creates a visibly darker sense of h
S01E08 Isa Bonachera, Spanish speaker - From Almeria, Spain🇪🇸
Isa celebrates being "weird" in their comedy approach. They got into the comedy world by accident when they tried to impress a girl - well, Isa did not get the girl, but they did get comedy! The wicked Spanish comedian - 2018 finalist of BBC New Comedy Awards - enjoys sharing the wacky thoughts in their head rather than joking about and conforming to all the worst Spanish stereotypes, against thei
S01E07 Radu Isac, Romanian speaker - From Vaslui, Romania (Part 2)🇷🇴
In the second part of interview with Radu, the chat wandered off at times to include the funny geopolitical situation of Romania and how that gets reflected in Radu's comedy. Kuan-wen also delved deeper into the mechanics of Radu's voice and tone and how those embody Radu's comedy style and his worldview.---------------------------------------Radu's Instagram (@radu70mld)Radu's 2022 Edinburgh Frin
S01E06 Radu Isac, Romanian speaker - From Vaslui, Romania (Part 1)🇷🇴
Radu is the type of performer that is regarded by many fellow comics as a comedian's comedian.He not only wins over audiences at comedy clubs, his contrarian approach often involves him throwing out ideas and notions that challenge the audiences' worldview. As he lays out his arguments, the unthinkable suddenly becomes so convincing for the audience and then chuckles come along. Radu's comedy is n
S01E05 Yuriko Kotani, Japanese speaker - From Japan (Part 2)
The hilarious interview with Yuriko continues in this episode.In the last episode, your host Kuan-wen and Yuriko started the discussion of the partial and poor understanding of Japanese culture by western societies. An extension of this is the fetishisation of Japanese culture. Because of some of the terms mentioned in the chat eg Bukkake (ぶっ掛け) - and possibly because your host Kuan-wen's mischief
S01E04 Yuriko Kotani, Japanese speaker - From Japan (Part 1)
After two episodes centring on European languages, we are back to Asia this week to discuss comedy and foreign accents with the brilliant Japanese comedian Yuriko Kotani, 2015 winner of the prestigious BBC New Comedy Award.Your host Kuan-wen asked Yuriko her view on the piecemeal understanding/perception/interpretation of Japanese culture by western societies. They also shared their constant strug
S01E03 Luca Cupani, Italian speaker - From Bologna, Italy 🇮🇹
The effortlessly charming and cultured Italian comic Luca Cupani, who at some point in his life was more fluent in Latin and in ancient Greek than in English, brought the podcast to a new intellectual level that really challenged your host Kuan-wen to keep up. Renaissance paintings and modern art were casually referenced to and our guest this episode randomly threw away proper Latin phrases rather
S01E02 Thor Stenhaug, Norwegian speaker - From Bergen, Norway 🇳🇴
It is not uncommon to name boys after the Norse hammer-wielding god in Norway, but it is a bit weird to use Thor as the first name but also "Odin" (Thor's father in mythology) as the middle name. It does not help that the image of Thor is hijacked by Aussie beefcake Chris Hemsworth, when our second guest of the podcast looks more like a member of a tattoo-free 90s boyband.[The distorted sound has
S01E01 Chin/Qin Wang, Mandarin speaker - From Xi-An, China 🇨🇳
Hailing from Xi-An（西安） , Northwestern China, Chin Wang won the legendary London Comedy Store gong show in March 2021 and has since been on a meteoric rise. Chin and Kuan-wen talked about their occasional 'glitches' switching between English and Mandarin, a veiled constructed criticism on her accent, her move south of Hadrian's Wall from Edinburgh to London and how messing up tones when speaking Ma
End of Season 1 Announcement (But NOT the Podcast!!)
Hi all! Thanks so much for your support in the last year. Season One of Comedy with an Accent Podcast is coming to an end at episode 31 - there's one more episode to be released this month. The podcast will go on! It's just that it will take a summer break in August and return in autumn. Your host Kuan-wen explains why the summer break is needed. Please don't unfollow because we will be back
S01 Bonus Episode [Recorded in Mandarin] 美國相聲暨中文脫口秀 / 單口喜劇演員艾杰西
[Notes for our non-Mandarin-speaking listeners, this is a one-off special episode recorded in Mandarin. We will be back to our normal bi-weekly episode in English on Jan 31st]先祝各位聽眾一聲新年快樂，兔年行大運。上一集以英文訪問來自美國波士頓，但在中國以相聲和單口喜劇走紅的艾杰西（Jesse Appell）。錄音當天，我們以中文分別又錄製了這一集。本集中文內容集中於主持人冠文與杰西討論中國與台灣所用中文的差異、杰西闡述他中文如何學到如此入骨的歷程、以及中國相聲「說、學、逗、唱」四大要點。看看杰西的中文好得多驚為天人杰西於中國電視節目表演內容
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