Heard the one about the Pakistani standup? Finding the funny in ethnicity

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/may/13/pakistani-standup-funny-ethnicity-sami-shah

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There’s an old Stewart Lee routine aping bad American standup. “My mom is from [ethnicity X] and my dad is from [ethnicity Y], so when I see a [foodstuff from either of those cultures], I don’t know whether to eat it, or shove it up my ass!” But the kind of standup that routine mocks isn’t confined to the US. I’m reminded of it whenever – which is often – a standup introduces themselves with jokes about whatever cultural heritage or identity distinguishes them.

At such moments, I bridle – and not only because Lee has stigmatised that kind of shtick for good. To anyone who watches a lot of standup, sending up one’s own identity is revealed as a simple ingratiation trick, like every comic’s obligatory gag about their own appearance/which less attractive version of a famous person they resemble. (Another trope Lee has ruthlessly mocked.) What you get for free with this material is the audience’s affection, because you’re sending yourself up; and the kind of easy laughter generated by recognisable (and safe, because they’re self-authored) cultural, ethnic or religious stereotypes.

Last week, the Pakistani comic Sami Shah was at it, joking about the improbability of a Karachi-based funnyman. I don’t mean to single him out. He was funny; and so was Fern Brady who – down at Parliament Square an hour or so after Shah’s show – opened her short set with analogous jokes about having a broad Scottish accent. These choices get defended on the basis that it’s a comedian’s job to address, not ignore, the elephant in the room. But sometimes the heart sinks a little at how quick they are to do so. Couldn’t the elephant be left unbothered a little longer? Couldn’t it be addressed in more oblique or creative ways?

But my response to this type of material isn’t consistent. On the one hand, I’m often disappointed to see comedians assenting to the idea that their ethnicity or identity is their most interesting quality. On the other, it often is their most interesting quality. If, like me, you see comedians by the score making comedy from the perspective of relatively privileged middling-class Britain, and then you see someone who isn’t doing that, it’s their identity – their different-ness – that can be the thing it’s most exciting to hear about.

I can think of several occasions, reviewing comedy, where I’ve both wanted and not wanted to write: she should stick to doing jokes about being Muslim/an ex-social worker/using a wheelchair – that’s when she’s funniest. I want to write that because, to me (who isn’t any of those things), that’s when the comedy is at its most illuminating and unfamiliar. I often don’t want to write this because it’s a bit of a depressing conclusion to reach, and because it doesn’t exactly encourage an act’s creative development. I don’t want to assist in the pigeonholing of any comic.

Finally, I accept that – in an artform that’s more tribal than most, and where success is earned by finding ways to make audiences like and identify with you – comedians will always flog their own identities for comic effect. It’s only dispiriting when it’s done mechanically – when it’s the first thing a comic mentions and the hoariest reference points they’re reaching for. Of course, standups will joke about who they are: culturally, demographically, ethnically and the rest. But if the point is to advertise their distinctiveness, it’s probably best that they don’t all do so in more or less the same way.

Three to see

Jeremy HardyWhat better, in the wake of the most depressing thing ever to happen, than a spirit-rallying evening in the company of old-skool, seen-it-all-before lefty gags-man Jeremy Hardy?• On 13 May, Guildhall, Derby. Box office: 01332 255 800. and touring.

Jack and Dean Live“The most exciting double act in the digital world”, no less – stars of YouTube and BBCRadio 1 Jack Howard and Dean Dobbs take to the London stage.• On 16 May, Bloomsbury theatre, London. Box office: 020-3108 1000.

Brighton fringeAnother week’s worth of fringe comedy on the south coast, including Colin Hoult, Ria Lina, the Beta Males and more.• Until 31 May. Box office: 01273 917 272.