Drawing from their experiences as an Indian American growing up in different states of the country, comedians Nimesh Patel, Sid Singh, Sanjay Salomon along with the host Niraj Shah and headliner Indian American female comedian Aparna Nancherla had the audience in the Beantown and Brown pub in Allston, MA on Jan. 24 laughing away. New Hampshire native Niraj Shah hosted the comedy lineup. 

A lot of the comedy certainly was drawn from their own experiences growing up as brown person in the US and having to deal with stereotypes. “I was pulled over the other day by a cop who yelled  - you can’t read, can you and let me go! Now it always amazes me how mainstream Americans always think Indians do not know English despite the fact that the spelling bee is always won by an Indian.  Anyway I did wonder if I should be upset because this was racist of him or be amazed at his irrationality and explain the fact about the spelling bee. But if being racist allowed him to let me go why not eh?” said Niraj Shah. 

Comedy was also drawn from the Indian heritage. “I hailed a cab in New York when the Indian cabbie said five people is too many in the car. I asked him to remember where he came from – India where 17 people in a three-wheeler may be considered too few” said Nimesh Patel. 

The arranged marriage scene was brought up by Sid Singh. “My grandmother said she would find me a soul mate. She said she had a few questions – the first do you want an educated girl – the second do like long hair – and third – well there was no third question”

Aparna Nancherla the headliner kept her comedy more female oriented and did not touch upon much of her Indian upbringing. It was refreshing to see a female India comedian. Aparna is a writer and performer on the critically acclaimed FXX show Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, and became the first Indian woman to perform stand up on late night television when she recently appeared on Conan on TBS.

Comedian Al Park, Mehran Kaghani and Rob Crean also were part of the lineup and used their own unique backgrounds for their comedy. 

It was a pleasure to see South Asian comedy at this level and it certainly made for a lovely evening out.