You can be clean and funny - seriously

We asked stand-up comics about the PG rating of their material. Here's what they had to say

by

Nivriti Butalia

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Published: Fri 22 Jul 2016, 12:00 AM

Last updated: Sun 24 Jul 2016, 11:06 AM

Here's an admission: I'm not a big fan of swearing, whether in conversation or while watching stand-up comedy. The ratio of cussing versus wit ought to be proportionate. (Read: clearly in favour of wit, and we're talking clever, well-observed, dry.) I've been told that makes me a prude (and a hypocrite). But the balance has to be right. I cringe every time someone is too liberal, sprinkling sentences with words that might've made my grandmother blush. And every time I hear a stand-up comic, on stage or on YouTube, glide successfully over the cuss versus wit obstacle in favour of wit, my heart sings. Surely, clean, intelligent comedy has takers. And, surely, that is why there's this buzz lately the world over about comedy in that direction.
Naturally, not everyone agrees about this so-called trend towards clean comedy. Omar Kazim, 'The Half Emirati Comedian' - his dad's Emirati, mum's Scottish - has been doing stand-up for eight years, was voted UAE Club Comic of 2016, and says his comedy isn't clean "at all". Kazim only performs for expats and crowds that are 21+. He likes the freedom of performing without restrictions, he says. "It doesn't matter whether your humour is clean or not. All topics should be fair game, as long as the material is unique and written smartly, without any direct offence to anyone. Lots of comedians in Dubai always target certain communities, like Indians and Filipinos, which is alright if done nicely, but 90 per cent of it isn't."
But who defines what's alright? Humour, as we've all heard before, is subjective. It's not easy to agree on what's funny, what's totally tasteless or only a wee bit inappropriate. There's a flimsy line dividing material only slightly off-colour and an out-and-out racist slur. Some people, the guilty ones for sure, will 'feel bad' at a crack about how, say, Indians in Dubai love to pose for selfies next to sports cars that don't belong to them, wearing shades, channelling Vijay Mallya. So, there's no pleasing everyone. Offence is cheap and everyone takes it.
Kazim has had to apologise for his jokes on occasion. "I am Emirati. I like to make fun of myself, which isn't seen in Arab culture." He does have the luxury of being seen as a 'local' though (and therefore able to get away with the self-deprecatory humour). So what about other expat comics? Are there rules to performing stand-up in UAE? Things you can and cannot say?
Gail Clough, Dubai-based founder of the Laughter Factory comedy club that's been around for 20 years, says, "There are no rules. We bring some of the best stand-ups in the world to the region: Russell Peters, Michael McIntyre and Jason Manford, to name a few. It's simple; our comics want people to have a good time. They are not here to offend anyone. Clean comedy would be no swearing. We have never been told anything is off limits. Our comics are professional, and perform regularly on TV, so they know how to conduct themselves."
She says every comic has his or her own style and life experience. "We have never had a complaint about the content of the show. People only complain if they don't find someone funny. It's usually down to personal taste." Down to subjectivity, again.
Dave Marosi, an amateur stand-up comedian who used to be based in Dubai till early July (and has now moved back home to Canada), has seen 100 sets or so in Dubai in the two years that he was here. He says, around 50 per cent of those acts were "clean", and they were mostly new comedians or those working in specific environments where the venue requests "clean" material. Marosi, however, thinks clean comedy is censored and boring. "The best comedians in the world would never be considered clean," he says. "To me, the rule of thumb for comedy in the Middle East is: avoid talking about religion and the royal family. Anything else should be fair game."
Marosi adds, "If you waste time writing material that doesn't offend people, you are not being honest. The politically correct movement is getting so bad for comedy that some of the biggest comedians - like Seinfeld and Louie CK - are refusing to play college campuses because the reactions are too out of control."

Wrong yardstick
Earlier this year, in April, the astute Indian political satire act Aisi Taisi Democracy came to Dubai and performed to a packed house at the auditorium in Mall of the Emirates. Rahul Ram, Sanjay Rajoura and Varun Grover together are Aisi Taisi Democracy.
Asking Grover, who is a lyricist and writer besides being a stand-up comic, whether they got any instructions to keep it clean before their performance, he said no, nothing of the sort, echoing Gail Clough in that "there are no rules".
He said, "My comedy personally, as well as our comedy as a group (Aisi Taisi Democracy), is relatively cuss-word-free and totally free of any sexist/casteist/racist slurs or intentions. We do use an occasional cuss-word (say twice or thrice in a 90 minute show), but even that is gender-neutral."
Is it more difficult to make people laugh if the humour is clean? "Making people laugh," Grover says, "is not a great yardstick for successful comedy. Yes, expletives are sometimes an easy way to [evoke] laughter, but that doesn't necessarily make for a memorable comedy act. Comedy that makes people look at things from a new perspective while making them laugh is what I'd call successful comedy."
It's mostly newer comics, according to Grover, who use profanities "as that's considered cool (often because they are copying American comedians) and gets them an easy laugh. No grudges against such comics," he says, adding that he personally doesn't have a problem with the use of swear words in comedy.
Even if not in Dubai, has he ever been told to 'keep it clean'? "Yes, at a corporate show. I didn't like it." It's always offensive, he says, when a comic is told to do things a certain way. "One of the purposes of comedy is to shake things up, to make people uncomfortable by showing them the mirror."

The golden rule
A practitioner of clean comedy in the region/ advocate of being true to one's comedic voice is Mina Liccione, comedian, artist and a performing arts professor. She says, "I consider myself a clean comic, and our company, Dubomedy Arts, produces and teaches clean comedy internationally TO ALL AGES. We always think about our audience, and bring in international comedians, who will relate to the UAE community as well as share comedy values similar to what we do." 
There's a long list of international comedians who perform clean sets, including Jerry Seinfeld, Dean Edwards, Dean Obeidallah, Nemr Abou Nassar, Fluffy etc. People will gravitate towards comedians they connect with. The golden rule of comedy wherever you perform, she says, is to "read the room" and "know your audience".
Liccione, citing UAE's Anti-Discriminatory Law, says, "My husband, Ali Al Sayed (also a comedian), was just talking about how, in the UAE, it is actually illegal to tease [people] about any religion. Joking about any religion is extremely sensitive and can come across as hurtful or offensive. Neither of us perform vulgar jokes or material about religion in or outside of the UAE."
So while there seem to be no laws which comedy is specifically bound by (the Anti Discriminatory law applies to all spheres), there is the risk of stepping on too many toes too often.
Pakistani stand-up comedian Junaid Akram says, "The stand-up scene in Dubai is on the cleaner side because, as a performer, you must adhere to the cultural sensitivity of the place. There aren't any rules. It comes down to one's own judgment and knowing where to draw the line." Speaking of gauging the feel of the room, and testing the waters, Akram says you can't come on too strong too early on as "you first need to understand your audience, build their trust, bring them closer" and then - as he puts it - "bam!"
So, people here aren't prudes? "People in UAE are anything but prudish," Akram feels. "This is the most multicultural country in the region and the influx of so many nationalities has created a very open and comfortable environment. I've seen people enjoying clean comedy a lot but I've also seen people squishing their drinks out laughing during a not-so-clean set."
The reason Liccione says she doesn't go for the off-colour routine is because "jokes about religion or that are vulgar are not my voice". She says, "I am currently in New York City and spoke with the legendary comedian Colin Quinn after his show and he said, "I don't do jokes about sex, but I do swear because that's how I talk. Other than that, I keep it clean." Some people consider having a curse word here and there in the set fine - it's still considered clean because of the topics and how the curse word is used.

Is there a trend towards clean comedy then? Perhaps. But, also, there are often trends in comedy, Liccione says. For example, in the beginning, many jokes were about mothers-in-law and had a fast-paced, one-liner style and timing. Then came observational comedy, which launched the Seinfeld show. That was followed by more autobiographical stuff, which led to Ray Romano's show, Everybody Loves Raymond. Now, the jokes are longer and a lot of comics are more "politically correct, because that's how the world is".

We're rooting for clean-ish routines with some food for thought. There are a lot of us who enjoy stand-up, not for the cussing - we'd rather you edit all that out - but for the mental tickles, the something to mull over, something we hadn't thought of earlier. And if there are some good laughs thrown in, we've got our money's worth.
nivriti@khaleejtimes.com