It's weird how in Australia we're always talking about
"Have we got a problem with racism?"
Problem? No!
We're awesome at it.
We crush it regularly. We're the best.
If there was a Racism Olympics, we wouldn't go. There'd be foreigners.
You guys know the rules in Australia, right?
You can't be white and make black jokes.
And you can't be black.
That's my favourite one-liner.
Do you want me to answer with the question?
I think race is a hot topic in comedy at the moment
because race is always a hot topic.
It's a hot topic to white people because it's different.
If it hasn't been about the white and black issue,
it's been about the Muslims, or the Asians, or the boat people.
I think that there's a lot of things that comedy can do
that puncture all the awkwardness and bubble around race.
Comedians get a lot of licence to talk about
that sticky uncomfortable stuff we have inside our heads.
Or there's the people like "Hey mate, you flew here. We grew here, mate."
Do you know what that means?
They did more than you did to get here, okay?
They went on Webjet, all right?
They made sure their liquids were in 100 mL or less.
Probably had to watch an Ashton Kutcher film on the way,
been fisted by Border Security, filmed by Channel Nine.
You just fell out of a vagina, you free-loading foetus!
You can say things through comedy that other people really want to say.
This is just me talking about my life
my parents and the way I grew up, being brown in rural Australia,
which happens to be, for everyone else, the "hot topic" of race.
You think of me as different, but I go through the same thing you do.
My parents can annoy me at Christmas just as much as your parents do.
Growing up mixed-race in Australia, being half-Chinese, half-Ghanaian,
means that you're just constantly blowing people's minds.
So ever since I was a little kid, it'd be like
"That's my mum and that's my grandparents."
People would be like "What?"
Mind explosion.
The things that I enjoy about being here
are things like access to better health care and education.
But the thing that I cherish the most, if I'm being honest,
is the fact that Australia taught me how to skol pints.
I barely drank when I was in Sri Lanka
but now I sink piss like a fucking champion.
I grew up in the era of "Stop the Asian invasion",
so I've been called all of those things.
Coin slot, slit head, chink, gook, ching-chong ching-chong.
I think the phrase "curry muncher" is funny.
Curry muncher. It's a fun word. It has a nice rhythm to it.
But it was once said to me at a gig in a not a funny way,
and I think that's what's the difference.
I was talking to this guy in the crowd and he goes
"Why don't you piss off, you curry-munching prick?"
Now, none of those I would consider harsh words,
but the way it was said was the most hateful thing I've ever heard.
And it actually hurt. I felt like it hit right there.
I was in the middle of an audition once and they said
"Okay, so now we really want you to
just improvise a martial arts fight sequence.
And I'm like...
As if every person that looks like this
can just suddenly snap into 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'.
I've never experienced a racial slur as a white person,
because you can't really,
because reverse racism is not a thing.
The worst thing you can call a white person is what? Cracker?
Small dick? Can't dance?
Hey! You can't tell that joke, man. That's racist!
Yeah, but you know how long a week in blackfella time is. Proper long.
How is a week in blackfella time
different to a week in whitefella time?
Ah, you know. Murri time.
You're not Murri.
Hey Bubba, you don't wanna talk to me like that when I belongs to you.
That's proper hurtful, you know.
You know, at first white people were actually like,
"Are we allowed to laugh at this?"
It's like, yeah! Cause we're taking the piss out of ourselves,
we're taking the piss out of you, and we're taking the piss
out of the white community that marry into our community.
Growing up as an Arab Egyptian Muslim
my grandparents and his parents and my Mum's parents
were actually first cousins.
Why marry someone in just your gene pool?
Why not anyone else? There's so many people.
My dad's always like "When I meet your mother,
"she meets the most important requirement in a wife.
"She comes from a good family."
But she comes from your family!
Everyone else is on Oasis Active and Tinder.
My dad's on familytree.com
just swiping right, trying to find his nearest cousin.
Arabs don't find that bit funny at all because it's so normal.
I find a lot of things funny about my own racial group,
just like I find a lot of things funny about my own family.
But it's one of those things that I can poke fun at it,
but you wouldn't be able to.
I'd be offended if you poke fun at it.
Everyone think baby number three will be quick.
Because the lady is already stretch out.
VO: This is my mother.
I still remember your head pushing out le,
like someone cutting me with a knife.
When you're making fun of your own racial group,
it's steeped in truth and a common understanding.
And when other people make fun of other races,
I think it can be laced with a lot of judgment or assumptions.
Is there a line in comedy? Of course there's a line.
But I think we're too politically correct these days.
You know, PC is full of shit.
I think you can joke about anything.
I honestly think that there is no topic that is off limits in comedy.
That goes for race, sexuality, gender, whatever,
if you're coming at it from the right place.
Be aware that your words have power
and that they could hurt someone.
And I'm not saying you should necessarily avoid
hurting or offending everyone
but consider who you might hurt or offend
and then consider how much you care.
Cause if you don't care, fuck it! Do it!
Like, I make jokes about right-wing Christians.
And I know it offends them and I'm glad it offends them.
Because I don't give a shit about how they feel.
If I can give you an analogy about what I think comedy is,
it's kind of like stretching, physically stretching.
For the most part, if you do it gently, it feels good, right?
If you push a little harder, it hurts.
But if you can conceptualise
that you will be a better person at the end of it,
you can appreciate it.
Laughter is a bridge, you know? Comedy unites.
We all might look a bit different on the outside,
but at our core,
no matter where we come from, no matter what colour we are,
the things that we laugh at, the things that we cry about,
the things that drive us and move us, they're all the same.
Through humour, we're able to engage on a human level
at something so ridiculous as racism.
I mean, that's a gift.
It doesn't matter what colour you are, you find that shit funny.
And we can all laugh.