Being Funny in Bangkok: Three Local Comedians Weigh In [S5.E6]

Greg interviews three local comedians, Justin St-Denis, Chris Raufheisen, and Tana Sukke, about life as a stand-up in Bangkok. After a few quick bios Greg dives right in with his brief experience as a standup in Canada and then later in Bangkok, which kicks off a discussion about the recent history of western-style stand-up comedy in Bangkok. 

Tana discusses the difficulty of doing comedy in a foreign language, as well as the difference between English comedy and Thai comedy. Greg and the gang try to figure out the seeming Thai preference for silly gags and sound effects and discuss famous Thai comedian Note Udom and his Netflix special. According to Tana, Note is unique in that he’s truly doing stand-up as opposed to playing a character on stage. 

Greg then takes questions from the patrons, and the first question involves the effect of ‘pc’ or ‘woke’ culture on comedy in Bangkok. Luckily, the local comics agree that the Thai scene has largely been immune to the sometimes judgmental audiences in the West, partly due to tourists’ expectations that Bangkok is a somewhat raucous and racy place to begin with. But audiences filled with Thai people tend to carry on the ‘mai pen rai’ attitude that Thais are famous for, rarely taking offense and rolling with most jokes. Yeah Thai culture!

Check out Raw Comedy Bangkok for information on future shows. 

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