Asians are NOT unfunny

The world thinks we are totally humorless: let’s prove them wrong

THE EMAIL HAD a dramatic tone to it. “Only you can save the world,” it began. Yeah, right. Why do all the weirdos write to me?

“Like attracts like?” a colleague suggested.

As I read the letter, my eyebrows rose higher until they floated cartoon-like over my head. The writer was not being sarcastic, but serious.

A teacher who wanted only to be known as Man-sir had sent me links to several articles which said the biggest threat to world peace was the culture gap between West and East. “Experts say the best bet for bridging that potentially catastrophic gap is shared entertainment: movies, sport, and in particular, humor,” he wrote.

But that’s the problem. “Westerners consider Asians to be wildly unfunny. And several non-Western cultural groups, such as Muslims and Mainland Chinese, they consider humorless to a dangerous degree,” Man-sir wrote. “We need to prove Asians can be funny.”

Your columnist wrote back: “Why me? There are many famous comedians. I am but a worm.”

He replied instantly: “True. But most famous comedians are Westerners and they have a coarse style which does not work outside the West. You are not as funny as them but you are Asian, you serve an audience of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and so on, and you are totally inoffensive.”

Intelligent, sensible people do not waste time on people who insult them.

So I dropped what I was doing and phoned him at once.

The world’s most pressing problem was a drastic shortage of Islamic humor, he explained. “Locating and distributing this will defuse global tension by showing that Muslims can be funny, charming and self-deprecating.”
*
Thinking about it, I realized words like “funny” and “charming” aren’t used a lot about Osama Bin Laden, the only Muslim most Westerners can name. Man-sir was right about something else, too: Asian comedians are as rare as armpit hairs in the Jonas Brothers’ fan club.
*

Time to consult an expert. I phoned Wang Daiyu, a devout Chinese Muslim (there are more Muslims in China than in Saudi Arabia).

“Are Muslims funny?” I asked.

He replied: “Asking that question triggers an automatic fatwa. How would you like to die?”

I assumed he was joking, but you never know with him, so I quickly moved the conversation on.

“Do you know any Islamic jokes?”

He gasped: “Are you kidding me? Muslims INVENTED jokes.”

He pointed out that the famous Nasruddin jokes are 800 years old. And he gave me an example of a Muslim joke said to come from the 9th century.

This is it:

A man who claimed to be God was brought before the Caliph (leader). The Caliph said to him: “Before you open your mouth, let me give you a warning. Last year, a man turned up claiming to be a prophet sent by the Almighty, and we put him to death.” The man nodded. “You did the right thing. I didn’t send him.”

Not bad.
*
Getting on to my email, I commissioned Wang and other readers to find humor that was generated by people in Asia or dealt with Asians or Asian interests, and was not offensive but genuinely funny. 
*
Add them below using the comment function, or send them to me via email: nury (at) vittachi (dot) com.

We have a mission.

Being funny is a serious matter.

Only we can save the world.

*

Technorati Tags: Asian humor,islamic humor,chinese humor,indian humor,muslim humor,moslem humor.hindu humor,buddhist humor,christian humor

Comments

[Siggy]

Nice idea.

There was a lovely piece in the New York Times a couple of years ago about using humor as a bridge, here's a quote from it:

MADISON, N.J. — The Jewish comedian began with a routine about raising adolescents. “There was a reason Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac at 12 and not 13,” he said. “At 13, it wouldn’t have been a sacrifice.”
A half hour later, the Muslim comedian took the stage, raising his hands so the Jew could pat him down for weapons. He then urged the Muslims and Jews in the theater, adversaries on the world stage, to cheer their commonalities: “C’mon,” he exhorted, “let’s give it up for lunar calendaring.”
The evangelical Christian comedian also did a half-hour set, observing that though his children’s school teaches abstinence, it also gives out condoms. “That,” he said, “is like a department store saying ‘No shoplifting, but just in case, here’s a trench coat.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/us/31religion.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=azhar%20usman&st=cse&oref=slogin

[Rather worried]

Interesting, I really think there is a belief that Asians are not funny, i just looked up "islamic humor" on the google and all the material is people poking fun at terrorists. This proves that a. many people in the west think consciously or subconsciously tht muslims and terrorists are the same thing and b. the humor comes from the west, not from the east. where are our jokes?!!!!

[Ajay]

Here's another traditional Islamic joke,probably 1000 years old.

A man with no sense of humor says to Ashab the comedian: “You should stop telling jokes and start sharing holy wisdom.”

Ashab replies: “Me? I can do holy wisdom. In fact, my fellow comedian Nafai told me that the pair of us know the two holiest truths of all.”

The man with no sense of humor asks: “So what are the two holiest of truths?”

Ashab replies: “I don't know. Nafai’s forgotten one and I forgot the other.”

[Ray Tan]

Asian people are a little quieter and more reticent then Westerners, which is why i think they get a reputation for being unfunny.

also, Western jokes really strongly on highly developed conversation techniques such as irony and sarcasm (discussed last week) and references to popular culture.

it is inevitable that these will go over the heads of people not familiar with that style of conversation. thus they will miss the joke and get the (unfair) tag of being "humorless."

[Mr J Khabra]

I'm a long time reader of your column in the Standard, (nothing else to read on the bloody train, which happens to be free!) , but first time commenter.

I am an Asian, Indian to be exact, who was born in the UK and lived there for 28 years before emigrating to Hong Kong. I agree to an extent with the writer of the letter, Westerns 'think' that Asians are not funny, it does not necessarily follow that they are not.
In the UK there are quite a few Asian comedians in the mainstream, Sanjeev Basker who was part of the team that did Goodness Gracious Me, there is Omid Djali, an Iranian comic who had his own show on BBC 1 at prime time, Hardeep Singh Kolhi, very funny Sikh comedian/presenter, and Radio 4 always has female Pakistani comics, over in North America there is Russell Peters. If anything, Westerns should find that we Asians are extremely funny.

Perhaps this is a case of Asians ‘thinking’ that Westerners ‘think’ that we are not funny, how could this be so? Is this a throwback to colonial thinking? That somehow we as the conquered people are not good enough and therefore have to kowtow to the emperor, i.e. Western Civilisation? Let me tell you as someone who spend most of his years in a supposed ‘civilized’ country like England, to paraphrase Mark Twain, rumors of their civility have been greatly exaggerated! The Emperor is naked!

I find that I am far more happy in Hong Kong, because they know how to run a country. The UK is run by a group of low life dim-wits, who are not quite as smart or witty as they think they are. They tax the people to death, they sell all the family silver because they can’t manage an economy properly, then they have to import millions of low skilled immigrant workers while their own people rot on benefits. The heath care system is a mess, education is a joke and politicians do not care about the people they govern, through a two party monopoly which is like a choice between dumb or dumber. I spent 5 months in Hong Kong, and I was healed mentally, physically and spiritually, I never plan to go back to the UK.

As Gandhi said when asked about ‘Western Civilisation’, it sounds like a bloody good idea, when do they plan to start?

[farah]

i do agree with 'rather worried' that the search gave out results of jokes on terrorist. shocking but yet people think real low about muslims and the only joke according to them that Muslims can come out with is how to kill and how they demean women. the jokes were NOT funny.

there're this Nasiruddin shah jokes that has become almost extinct now. i remember that my father had this hardbound book on N. Shah jokes. i dont know if Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) was funny or not but browsing sites i saw couple of jokes on Him. if people never saw Him (since there're no photos of this prophet) then how come they remember the jokes he cracked?

before showing that Muslim can be funny people should be made aware that unlike some radicals and fundamentalist groups who just plain use the religion for their own purpose, Islam doesnt support violence, terrorism or a shallow place for women. after that crack is established and the animosity removed then will the world be able to see how funny Muslims can be.

[farah]

there's this show on BBC 'Kumar's at No. 42' about this family which had a son, his parents and his grandmother. they would invite celebs on the show, question him and the family used to sit and crack jokes on either their son or the celeb's answers. it was pretty hillarious.

[Mr J Khabra]

'i do agree with 'rather worried' that the search gave out results of jokes on terrorist. shocking but yet people think real low about muslims and the only joke according to them that Muslims can come out with is how to kill and how they demean women. the jokes were NOT funny.'

farah | Monday, 01 February 2010 at 11:48 AM

A joke is only funny if it has an element of truth to it. I used to live in Leicester, in an area which is 80%-90% Muslim, and there is some truth to those generalisations.

First of all, so many women are forced to wear the Burka, they walk two steps behind the man, who can wear whatever he likes. Now the reasoning is that women may be tempted to stray, but can't you say the same about men? Also, the tradition of veiling women goes back to ancient Greek times, it is not linked to Islam at all, it is just a tribal tradition that men used to control women. Perhaps some women enjoy not being under the pressure that society puts on them to conform to certain standards of beauty, and maybe it does stop women from straying, but it is inhumane to ask a women to put on a Burka in hot weather, not to mention quite detrimental to their health. We have moved on from the 7th Century, the very mentality of Islam is that everything learned during that time is perfect and cannot be questioned. Copying and translating old Greek textboxes, keeping a library in Bagdad, and sticking ‘Al’ in front of words doesn’t give you credit for any advancement.

Then there is your violent nature to anyone who speaks out against you, in Leicester, there were local residents who did not want a Mosque built in their area, this was not due to a hatred of Islam but due to concerns over traffic and how such a building would look in a quaint little English town. The residents got together a petition of 1,500 signatures and stopped it for one year, this resulted in death threats to those who organised the petition. A year later the planning permission was re-submitted and accepted after local MP’s were bribed, and now the area is in chaos. All the residents who could move out have moved out, there is traffic chaos, the Mosque does not obey the law and broadcasts a call to prayer at 10 30 pm at night, which is against the law of the land. However, because of ‘political correctness’ and the block vote of the Muslim patrons, the Council turns a blind eye.

There was also the violent reaction to the book by Salman Rushdie, the Danish cartoons, and constant demand after demand that the people in the UK bend over backwards to accommodate and appease you. Which they have done, yet you ask for more and more.

The way you act and behave towards non-Muslims is testament to the very nature of your modus operandi, one which hasn’t changed in 1300 years.

[Nury]

I agree with the comments above, especially Farah and Khabra, that Asians can be every bit as funny as Westerners.

But I think it is one of those things that we can't argue using logic.

We actually have to prove it by generating humor.

It's curious that Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at 42 are generated by the BBC. I wonder why Asians in Asia haven't created such shows?

[Sash]

Actually i think this is a very real need.

I mean i cant even imagine a moslem stand upcomedian. Im sure they must have them.

I have a moslem kid in my class and he is just like everyone else, its not fair that they are labelled as unfunny.

[Nury]

Correction, I agree with Mr Khabra's first comment, that Asians can be funny.

In Mr Khabra's second comment, he expresses negative feelings. I've heard other people say such things.

I have no desire to stop people holding opinions.

But my point is that there is SO much negativity and criticism. There is no shortage of that sort of thing.

What there IS a real shortage of is good-natured, good-humoured bridge-building. Which is today's topic, so let's get back to the subject.

Does anyone know any good-heart, non-offensive Asian jokes?

[Foxlore]

Humor is hard on the ‘international stage’ because it is so deeply contextual (i.e. whose context are you trying to address?) Drama is easy…dramatic hooks like suffering and sadness are universals. If you look at some of the Hong Kong entertainment that has managed to cross the East West divide, you can see the classic stars like Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow who both referenced the physical comedy of slapstick from people like Harold Lloyd or Looney Tunes before they got international recognition. But much of the mou lei tau wordplay of Chow’s earlier films are lost on western audiences in poor translations that just don’t work. Even some of Chow’s work does not make the transition to Mandarin well. I can imagine that a country like India with a broad range of languages would be equally challenging on a contextual level.

Lack of language ability can apparently be funny too and I have seen ‘comedy’ shows in Japan and China, where the whole premise is having foreigners speak the given language and trying to trip them up or get them to say the wrong thing. This provides a world of laughter (sometimes canned) for the studio audience…and I suppose for the viewing public. But then isn’t all that different from the notoriety that initially surrounded William Hung on American Idol, who was both rocked and mocked by the industry.

In thinking of just how hard comedy can be, I am reminded of a semi-documentary film with Albert Brooks called Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

[Ajay]

I agree with nury, lets not complain about each other or talk religious politics.

It's not a matter of censorship, it's just that the subject of religious politics is soooooo boring.

Much better to swap jokes as he says.

Q. What is the best way to get to Paradise?
A. Get in the right lane and go straight!!

(How about that? A joke that works for every religion! I should get extra points for that one, no?)!

[Nury]

Ajay, thanks for that great joke -- you definitely get extra points for that!!

Foxlore, interesting comment. and I love that movie -- in fact the picture at the top of the page comes from a scene in that film.

It's such a sad scene -- he makes all these jokes and no one laughs.

It's happened to me several times!

[farah]

we can go on a war about Islam vs other religion any time (since it's the fad thing to do these days) but there're something which people need to understand about the fundamentals of Islam.

1. in Islam men are supposed to take care of the women. they are responsible for the roof about their heads, the garments they wear, the food they eat and should be willing to bear any brunt for the sake of their partners. altho these days women are much more liberal in decision making traditions like that are still followed. so if a wife walks behind their man doesnt mean that she's inferior but it's a sign of protection.

2. Muslim women are supposed to cover themselves in such a manner so that except their eyes no part is exposed. we dont follow these norms and regulations and leave it to the devout muslims to do so. but trust me it's a choice of women to go for this attire and not forced by their husbands (some exceptions do apply). if someone is willing to do then she wouldnt have any objection to wearing this dress. even in the hottest climates and hottest countries you will see women wearing burqas or hijab because it's what they choose to follow.

3. Azans are meant to be given out loudly so that every muslims hear it and say their prayers. it's a sign of calling to attend to one of the pillars of Islam. sad to say that people feel that way when the prayers are said aloud but shouldnt the reason be also for the respect of the religion? besides the prayer lasts for only 2-3 minutes.

4. we are never allowed to draw any caricatures of our prophet or Allah any time because we dont know how or what they look like. we dont take our religion that easily that we can just ponder over it. in fact religion paves a way to God and His prophets and i dont think anyone should poke fun at it. something should be left alone for making fun of. (this does depend from people to people). so if a Muslim takes it close to their belief that pictures should not be drawn then others should respect the basic right of the religion.

5. Islam is a religion of peace. the animosity people say that Muslims have against any non-muslim is only limited to some radicals and fundamentalist groups only. but majority of the Muslims dont even feel that way. i have non-Muslim friends, colleagues and bosses even and there's no hostility or clashes between religion. it's all because people are exposed to the Muslim backlashes that these sort of feelings generate.

even in bangladesh we have to stand against these extreme fundamentalist so that they dont take advantage of the religion to establish their rules. we dont even feel that some things are not right.

sorry for taking up so much of space but no one can know the other religion that well to point the flaws in them. just because someone is Muslim doesnt mean that they have to be terrorist of any manner.

[Jason]

Russell Peters!

[Foxlore]

Well....let me add some to the mix.

Old buddhist monk - "Do you understand that you don't really exist?"

Young buddhist disciple - "Whom are you telling that to?"

_______________________________________

Shaolin monk - "The Buddha lives in all of us."

Shaolin disciple - "Then can he do my exercises?"

[ss]

One of the key points to understanding humour or expressing it is command over language. Asians are quite funny in their own languages (just watch the comedy shows in any Indian, Chinese, Japanese or Malay TV channel); they are naturally less funny in English, which is not their first language. Similarly, western folks are rarely funny when they communicate in any Asian language.

[sej]

I think broadly speaking, there are two types of humour... spoken humour, and physical humour.

Physical humour is where someone does something funny, or rather, totally humiliates themselves by their physical actions, which of course, everyone else laughs at. I'm sure this type of humour exists everywhere and goes across all cultural boundaries.

Spoken humour on the other hand, is very reliant on the language skills of the comedian. For an idea to be funny, it doesn't just have to be a funny idea, it needs to be put forward in just the right way, and that *way* is going to be different for each language.

In fact, that difference can even be seen across different regional areas of the same language. Consider English. English (British) humour is very different from American humour, even though the language is supposed to be the same. Even from within the UK, I'm sure English Humour is different from Welsh humour, is different from Scottish humour and is different from Irish humour, even though the different areas are but a stone's throw from each other.

So in short, spoken humour doesn't belong to a people or a culture, it belongs to a language. Further, *everyone* can be (is) funny, it just depends on how they're heard.

Oh, and of course, we being human, don't usually find something funny unless it's at someone else's expense.

[tamanna]

it nothing new that western people are jealous of asian people..and thus they call us "unfunny" and what not..

and for those u have misconceptions regarding Islam and muslims..what u see isnt always the truth.
and a very nice comment farah

[Wisteria Blossom]

Asian? How about Japan?
A woman approached a toll gate. "How much to cross the bridge?"
"Two yen."
She gave the man one yen and started across.
"I told you it's two yen, not one."
"I only intend to go halfway. Then I shall jump off.

[Rachelle]

I'm sure you've heard of Russell Peters...although his form of comedy can be debatable about whether it's "inoffensive" or not. Interesting how self-deprecating always works as humour.

Another proof that Asians ARE funny....just take a look at all the game shows Japanese/Korean/Taiwanese/Hongkies have! More of a Sunday-night-and-I-have-nothing-to-do-but-laugh-at-stupid-shows kind of funny, but still :P. Take a look at these too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I606ovtavSQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYqg2cSWTSQ

Asians think of more creative ways to be funny!!!

[T.G.]

While i partly agree with the comments above that say that language is an issue (from ss and from sej) I think this is a bit of a red herring. The reason i say that is because western humor is every where, you see the same comedians and comic movies in every language, translated if need be.

But where are the Asian comedies that make it to the global stage and entertain the whole world?

They are missing. Except perhaps for Stephen Chow, I can think of very few Asian-sourced comedies that have made it big.

so language is not the issue.

Having said that, I think this is avery worthwhile project, and I hope you gets lots of Asian jokes sent in, I am sending you by email a (non-offensive) Muslim joke.

[TS]

Sanjeev Bhasker, Omid Djalili and Hardeep Singh Kohli have not really come out of Asia. Their comedy is mostly derived from having an Asian origin in the UK.

Other examples of this is the films "East is East" and "Bend it Like Beckham" which both centres on children of parents from Asia living in the UK, caught up between the culture of their family and the society they live in.

The few Muslims I know have great humour, but again they are greatly influenced by western culture.

My English speaking Chinese colleagues in Singapore pretty much had the same sort of humour as me.
On a project we where told to clear out a control room because the main contractor's management from Japan was on site visit.
It was very interruptive to our work and we where confined to do our work in on the floor in a neighbouring room.
At one point we found ourselves sitting Japanese style on the floor around a big box with our drawings on top.
Annoyed by the situation we began to speak exaggerated "mock" Japanese, like you would hear in an old Samurai movie.
Suddenly we realised that someone had entered the room and when we turned around, we saw that the five top directors from the Japanese main contractor stood there with our manager.
Our manager was purple-red in his face from embarrassment, but the Japanese, all dressed up in suits and the biggest cameras money can buy, was all smiles and wanted to take pictures of all of us.

Later we learned that Japanese had told our manager that they were very impressed with a westerner speaking fluently Chinese....

[Christy]

@Farah on Islam: Applaud! :) Assalamu Aleikum

-------

Arabic teacher: Make a sentence with "wife". What you can't? It's easy, "I have 4 wives"!!! The Western people, they always complain we have too many wives.

:D

[fardel]

Strange things can be heard on one's mobile phone nowadays in France
Alllo !
Ali?
This is Allah!

[farah]

Christy Walaikum As'Salam and thanks :)

T.G. : you can share the joke and show how funny Muslim jokes can be. dont worry we wont throw bombs at you :D

[Ape]

Ape can't recall where and when he first heard this riddle...
--------------------
Indians have long ones, Chinese have short ones. Guess what are the "ones".

Their names
--------------------

[grandpa]

In Irak , before the second war, women were walking behind men.
After the war , they were walking in front.....
Because of landmines.......
Do you know why Western etiquette wants men to give way to women at a door?
It is a tradition which started in France in the XV century, when assassins were hiding behind doors...