Comedy Night Fail..
I have always thought it was a brilliant idea to have stand up comedy gigs in Cambodia...gives us expats something else/different to do.The event is held once every month at Pontoon Club and the sponsors fly in about 2-3 comedians:mostly up and coming sometimes well known comedians,to come and perform in Cambodia.All these comedians are usually hilarious and the few times I have been,I have had lots of fun.This month they had two acts coming down to PP,Matt Price from UK and Augustine Dennis from Ghana!When I saw this I immediately got verrry interested.You see,all the previous comedians have been Westerners telling Western jokes.Actually the crowd too has always been westerners,save for like about 5 Africans (me and my friends) who in Africa we would be referred to as coconuts-which roughly means we are black on the outside and white on the inside..lol ..basically means that we hang out with Western(white)people..and everything else that goes with that..lol.
Anyway I was a bit excited and slightly anxious for my fellow Ghanaian brother Augustine.I wasn't sure how the crowd would react to him,plus I was anxious coz I thought nobody would understand his jokes...being African in a room full of Westerners!And the only reason am saying this is African stand up comedy is definitely different from Western stand up comedy,obviously.We are sooo different and what id find funny as an African could be frowned upon in the western world.Something simple as spanking kids...well in the Western world its called spanking because the parents that do this probably just literally give a few spanks on the kid,probably on the bottom,yeah?Well in Africa,children are not spanked,they are beaten...azin a proper beating with a belt or a stick or a shoe or all the above azin if I told you how many times I was beaten up by my mum..and if I described to you the 'beatings' am talking about,you'd probably say that was child abuse-if you are western that is.And also different African countries have their own different 'styles' and some stand up comedy can be very very country specific.Example:The kenyan stand up comedians always make fun of our politicians,our president and the different tribe stereotypes(we have more than 50 different tribes in Kenya)..so if a westerner or even an African from a different African country were in the crowd,they'd have to know a thing or two about kenyan politics and kenyan tribes to understand even 20% of the comedian material!crazy ay?
Unfortunately or fortunately,I had nothing to worry about since Augustine did not show up.The organizers said that he missed his flight bt when he talked to us over the phone he said that he couldn't come because Cambodians thought he was too gorgeous...hmmm?This statement led to speculations that he was denied entry at the airport-though unlikely in this case,many Africans have been denied entry at the Cambodian airport-ill talk about that in another post!!
Then the organisers started saying that they wanted to try something-have Augustine perform via skype I was like what the hell??!I think that didn't work out coz later they said that no..we will have him perform over the phone..azin we call him and put him on speaker and let him perform-again I was like WTF?how will that even work?fail!
So at this point the show was sort of a mess..you know.The guy from UK wasn't that funny and it got complicated and very awkward when he had the phone call with Augustine on speaker,and even when Augustine was trying to talk to the crowd...it was weird,we couldnt hear him clearly and it was a bad idea to begin with...oi!!And even after the organisers realised it was a bad idea ...Matt Price wasn't that good,most of the Africans that had come walked out and other people too were like this is horrible am going home.I decided to stay till the end,and actually towards the end Matt Price wasn't that bad,he got people laughing and so the quarter of the show wasn't that bad,and at that point I had had too much tequila-blu tequila was one of the sponsors.After the show I got to chatting a bit with the few Africans left-they were pissed lol.Then two of my friends and I ended up in Darlin Darlin for some salsa dancing before heading home.
Augustine is scheduled to perform in August...will I go to see him...yeah!I really want to hear his material plus he is kinda cute :)
Anyway I was a bit excited and slightly anxious for my fellow Ghanaian brother Augustine.I wasn't sure how the crowd would react to him,plus I was anxious coz I thought nobody would understand his jokes...being African in a room full of Westerners!And the only reason am saying this is African stand up comedy is definitely different from Western stand up comedy,obviously.We are sooo different and what id find funny as an African could be frowned upon in the western world.Something simple as spanking kids...well in the Western world its called spanking because the parents that do this probably just literally give a few spanks on the kid,probably on the bottom,yeah?Well in Africa,children are not spanked,they are beaten...azin a proper beating with a belt or a stick or a shoe or all the above azin if I told you how many times I was beaten up by my mum..and if I described to you the 'beatings' am talking about,you'd probably say that was child abuse-if you are western that is.And also different African countries have their own different 'styles' and some stand up comedy can be very very country specific.Example:The kenyan stand up comedians always make fun of our politicians,our president and the different tribe stereotypes(we have more than 50 different tribes in Kenya)..so if a westerner or even an African from a different African country were in the crowd,they'd have to know a thing or two about kenyan politics and kenyan tribes to understand even 20% of the comedian material!crazy ay?
Unfortunately or fortunately,I had nothing to worry about since Augustine did not show up.The organizers said that he missed his flight bt when he talked to us over the phone he said that he couldn't come because Cambodians thought he was too gorgeous...hmmm?This statement led to speculations that he was denied entry at the airport-though unlikely in this case,many Africans have been denied entry at the Cambodian airport-ill talk about that in another post!!
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| The awkward phone call... |
So at this point the show was sort of a mess..you know.The guy from UK wasn't that funny and it got complicated and very awkward when he had the phone call with Augustine on speaker,and even when Augustine was trying to talk to the crowd...it was weird,we couldnt hear him clearly and it was a bad idea to begin with...oi!!And even after the organisers realised it was a bad idea ...Matt Price wasn't that good,most of the Africans that had come walked out and other people too were like this is horrible am going home.I decided to stay till the end,and actually towards the end Matt Price wasn't that bad,he got people laughing and so the quarter of the show wasn't that bad,and at that point I had had too much tequila-blu tequila was one of the sponsors.After the show I got to chatting a bit with the few Africans left-they were pissed lol.Then two of my friends and I ended up in Darlin Darlin for some salsa dancing before heading home.
Augustine is scheduled to perform in August...will I go to see him...yeah!I really want to hear his material plus he is kinda cute :)
I like your blog..particularly this post..This is Augustin Dennis btw
ReplyDeleteWhaaat??!No way!!Is that really you Augustin Dennis?like the real you?Whooa ok well am glad you like it :)
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