Comedy with an Accent

“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 19...

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 was...

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...

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 compl...

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...

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 has...

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...

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...

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 ad...

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 spe...

“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 episod...

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 o...

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...

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...

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...

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 i...

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 in...

¿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...

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...

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...

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, Samir...

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...

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....

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 obj...

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...