Comedy with an Accent

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, but...

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。...

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...

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...

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...

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 Englis...

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 episode Mark's distinct deadpan and at times anti=comedy style...

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...

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 E...

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...

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...

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, Ch...

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 alo...

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!

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 c...

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 very...

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'. Trave...

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 h...

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...

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...

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 wor...

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...

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 countr...

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...

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...