It's OK, I have many XYZ-American friends

August 12, 2012 2:18 PM

I'm looking for racial comedy, in English, available on video, or less preferably mp3. It doesn't need to be the exclusive topic of the comedian, but it should play a part. No preference for a specific racial background, although East Asian would be interesting to see, since I haven't seen much of it before. Examples: Maz Jobrani, Canada's own Russell Peters, Chris Rock.
posted by demagogue to sports, hobbies, & recreation (30 answers total)

Jo Koy talks about being Asian in his act like in the one I linked.
posted by xingcat at 2:23 PM on August 12, 2012

Steve Byrne is an Asian-Irish comedian who has several amusing bits about race. I believe at least 2 of his specials are available on Netflix Streaming.
posted by dotgirl at 2:27 PM on August 12, 2012

Kate Rigg does a lot of comedy about being an Asian-American.
posted by mellifluous at 2:31 PM on August 12, 2012

Also, Margaret Cho.
posted by mellifluous at 2:32 PM on August 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

Dave Chapell
posted by Jacen at 2:37 PM on August 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

W. Kamau Bell's new show Totally Biased is produced by Chris Rock and just launched on FX. He's one of the smartest & funniest comics working today, and his staff (including people like Hari Kondabolu and Kevin Avery) is full of other smart comedians who are thoughtful and interesting on the subject of race. Here's an interview from Colorlines with the writers.
posted by judith at 2:43 PM on August 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

Katt Williams is a black comic that does some stuff about race.

Anjelah Johnson is a Latina with a bit about nail salons that seems to be WILDLY POPULAR with white ladies and makes me distinctly uncomfortable.

Kumail Nanjiani has a bit about finding out that Karachi, where he grew up, is a level in Call of Duty.
posted by kavasa at 2:48 PM on August 12, 2012

Goodness Gracious Me
posted by goshling at 2:50 PM on August 12, 2012 [7 favorites]

Sugar Sammy does a lot of funny racial stuff (mostly Indian -- his culture -- Arabic and Haitian). He also does language stuff (funny) and gender stuff (very not).
posted by jeather at 2:51 PM on August 12, 2012

Donald Glover's first Comedy Central special has a really good part in the first bit about race, being a black nerd in particular. Here's another bit by him.

Ahmed Ahmed's part on the Axis of Evil tour [which he does with Maz] is also really good. If you like him he did a whole WTF episode with Marc Maron talking about growing up as a practicing Muslim in LA where his family killed all their own lambs, etc.

Negin Farsad is an academicky type who also does stand up about race relations and is quite good. Her show is called The Dirty Immigrant Collective.

Helen Hong talks a little here about being raised by Asians.
posted by jessamyn at 2:51 PM on August 12, 2012

Oh and I forgot about Awkward Black Girl. Not standup but a bunch of web episodes that deal with a lot of different race and awkwardness issues.
posted by jessamyn at 2:53 PM on August 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

Hari Kondabolu
posted by hydropsyche at 3:10 PM on August 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh and I forgot about Awkward Black Girl. Not standup but a bunch of web episodes that deal with a lot of different race and awkwardness issues.

Along the same lines, the Unwritten Rules web series deals with a Black woman's experiences in an office where all of her co-workers are White.
posted by fuse theorem at 3:12 PM on August 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

Seconding "Goodness Gracious Me", and also "The Kumars at No. 42"
posted by Joh at 3:29 PM on August 12, 2012

Frank De Lima is a Hawaiian comedian of, apparently, "Portuguese, Hawaiian, Irish, Chinese, English, Spanish, and Scottish heritage". I was shown one of his specials in an anthropology class. He does a lot of bits about Hawaiian identity, and makes a lot of cracks about haoles (white people).

I actually found him to be cringe-inducingly unfunny, and to this day, I'm not sure if the professor was trying to expose us to an unfamiliar culture's style of comedy, if he genuinely found it funny, or if he was totally fucking with us. But it fits your criteria!
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:32 PM on August 12, 2012

Shit White Girls Say to Black girls
posted by endless_forms at 3:49 PM on August 12, 2012 [3 favorites]

Key and Peele.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:16 PM on August 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

Vijai Nathan is pretty big-time among Indian-American comedians.
posted by escabeche at 4:21 PM on August 12, 2012

Here's one bit where Katt Williams directly discusses race: Killed by a tiger.
posted by Lexica at 5:15 PM on August 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

Omid Djalili is funny about Iranian culture here and in related Youtubes.
posted by zadcat at 5:28 PM on August 12, 2012

Scroll the 4:30 mark of this link - Anjela Johnson making fun of the Korean ladies at the nail salon. Outrageously funny.
posted by phaedon at 7:02 PM on August 12, 2012

Sean Majumder has some great bits about being the lone South Asian kid growing up in rural Newfoundland.
posted by peppermind at 7:40 PM on August 12, 2012

Hannibal Buress has a funny bit about grocery shopping and racism.
posted by Ragged Richard at 8:34 PM on August 12, 2012

Obligatory maori comedy: Billy T James. RIP.
posted by arzakh at 9:35 PM on August 12, 2012

I am going to assume you already know about Richard Pryor, but if not.

Richard Pryor.
posted by St. Sorryass at 12:31 AM on August 13, 2012

George Lopez talks about differences between Chicano culture and White American culture.

Even Louis CK has talked about being Mexican but because he doesn't look it he gets to hear racist remarks..
posted by xicana63 at 5:50 AM on August 13, 2012

Gabriel Iglesias
posted by dean_deen at 7:51 AM on August 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Maysoon Zahid and Shazia Mirza are two funny women comedians who riff extensively about being Muslim in the US and UK, respectively.

Dat Phan is a Vietnamese-American comedian who talks a lot about being the son of immigrants.

Alec Mapa is more of an actor now, but if you can find his earlier standup or performance art, it's very interesting on the topic of growing up Filipino.

John Leguizamo is also mostly acting now, but Spic-O-Rama, a 1990s off-Broadway show and later cable special that he wrote and appeared in, is an amazing exploration of stereotypes about the Latino community.

Which reminds me of Robert Townsend's great The Hollywood Shuffle.
posted by Sidhedevil at 8:26 AM on August 13, 2012

Carlos Mencia does racial comedy, with the caveat that everyone seems to hate him.
posted by cnc at 12:13 PM on August 13, 2012

Fags Mags and Bags is a radio series about an Asian-run corner shop in Glasgow (many East Asian businesses in the UK are small ones, like convenience stores or takeaways). Some of the actors from Goodness Gracious Me are in it, and also in Masala FM, another radio sitcom about a community station. There may be other East Asian comedians over here in the UK that have escaped my notice - Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi immigrants are the main immigrant community here.

Paul Sinha performs from the point of view of a man from an Indian background who is a) gay b) gave up being a doctor to pursue comedy.

Reginald D Hunter does a lot of pieces on race and how race and gender intersect. He's mainly known as a panel comedian in the UK, because much of his live act is unbroadcastable, or it was when I saw it ten years ago or so. (I once took a train back to Manchester with him, and the scally sat next to us reached over and, apropos of nothing, squeezed his crotch with the words 'I've always wondered if it's true about black men'. As RDH is built like an American Football player, he was very brave to do that.)
posted by mippy at 7:21 AM on August 14, 2012