Libby Purves evokes a racial steeotype

You rarely need to present a poker face on radio.

However, one suspects that's what comedian and former professional poker player Ken Cheng was tactfully doing on Radio 4 this week –  when he was asked if his race assisted his bluffing abilities.

'Do you have a good poker face?' Libby Purves asked him on Something of the Night. 'I would imagine that being Chinese that would kind of help. Westerners might find it hard to read you.'

Doubling down, she added: 'Inscrutable. Inscrutable, that's the cliché isn't it?'

Laughing, Cheng replied: 'That's one of the advantages of my race! I think I have quite a good poker face, especially as I do comedy as well, so I have quite a performance element to that as well.'

Chortle reached out to Cheng to ask if he was, in fact, annoyed by the question. But he's keeping his cards close to his chest.

Published: 15 Mar 2018