Sam See on why so few comics from South East Asia come to the EdinburghF ringe

I've been asked this every Fringe since 2019: where are the Asians?

Now, what they mean by this isn’t ‘where are the Asian acts’, there are plenty from the UK and the US in the festival on a yearly basis and they are lovely folks. The question these people are asking is: ‘Where are the Asian acts from Asia?’

There has only been a small handful of us that have made the trek to the other side of the globe, though I can assure you most performers back in Asia are dying to perform at the Fringe. I have been up the most from Asia, 2024 being my fourth Fringe, and before me, Jinx Yeo, who has performed at the festival three times. Some others have made their trips but have told me they are never coming back, and the reasons are not ones I’ve ever heard from UK acts.

Before we begin, this whole piece does exclude the Indian comedy scene, as it is so large and has been going for so much longer, that it is very much separate from the rest of the Asian comedy scene, where stand-up is still a new art form and only beginning to grow. It’s comparing apples to apple juice, and this piece looks just at the South East and East Asian comedy scene.

COST WITH THE EXCHANGE RATE

This is the biggest complaint when anyone comes up to the Fringe, regardless of where you’re from. I have friends in London who moan to me about the prices of their £50 train. I have to remind them that for the first three Fringes, I have had to fly to Edinburgh on a £1,400 flight, more than most acts spend on PR.

The cost is always going to be bad, but for a lot of Asians, the exchange rate is what kills the thought of them coming to perform, even for a week

For context, for the £5 a meal deal might cost in the UK, you might get three cups of coffee in Singapore. But in Malaysia that will be half a chicken with a side at Nando's, and in Vietnam that will be a sharing meal for two at KFC. Imagine asking them to pay £3 for a croissant in Pret A Manger? They would rightfully club you in the Pret.

MATERIAL

You can be the best comedian in Asia, sell out shows night after night, have millions of fans, and then you come to Edinburgh and you realise that none of your best jokes work here. There is of course the language barrier, most acts in Asia are performing in their second language, but there is also the content barrier.

Common topics in Asia include the difference between the nationalities and races/ethnicities, the figures in government and the laws they pass, even a few passé bits about why women and men are so different. Do you think Pauline and Archie from Skegness knows what the heck a Myanmar is?

It can be immensely disheartening to see your jokes fall flat, despite you knowing how solid they are, but then not understanding why, or even how to go about tweaking them.

Now, try to imagine how that would feel when you learn your entire, well-travelled hour doesn’t work a lick, and you have reviewers out the door who also don’t realise you haven’t the foggiest on how to translate it to their understanding. Where do you even begin to fix a plane while it’s plummeting?

CULTURE

There wasn’t a single day in 2019 when I first visited the Fringe where I wasn’t franticly trying to learn what was the ‘right’ thing to do. Having to ‘cheers’ people while looking them in the eye, not being able to cheers with an empty glass, not leaving a table if a bunch of rounds have been bought but you haven’t bought any yet… and that’s just to do with drinking.

Do you know how weird it was for me when someone came up to me for the first time to ask how I’m finding the food? Should I tell them the truth? Should I lie? W hy are they even asking me, didn’t they cook the damn schnitzel themselves?

It can be immensely overwhelming, and when you are also trying to impress and network, we know that one wrong step can stain your name for ages. This can be a lot for people from a vastly different culture, where we now have tolerate things that we find immensely rude to us, like talking over people, casual joshing, and random laddish grabbing and holding. We have to tolerate that, but they can’t tolerate us? It’s not cricket, is it?

ISOLATION

When other Asian comics come to Edinburgh, I do try to make myself available to be a listening ear and help. I’m not perfect, but I will try. However, I am just one person in a sea of uncaring humans.

The Fringe can get lonely, even more so when you’re halfway across the world, , sitting by yourself after a bad gig with a seven or eight-hour time difference from home. The artists’ bars are intimidating, you can’t buy yourself a nice meal because you haven’t made much or have much, you don’t know how anything works here, and you don’t have any friends, comics or otherwise, to talk to.

You are, well literally, an alien in this place. And for some, even trying to spark up a conversation can be difficult with the language barrier, and the content barrier.

These are the reasons a lot of comics from Asia either don’t do the festival or will not return to it. This isn’t me railing at the festival, or having a solution, I can’t fix years of economic woes in Asia with a 1,000-word think piece. What I hope this does is to help others to empathise and understand that, as artists, we are just hoping to belong in a difficult world.

• Sam See: And I Can't Feel at Home in This World Anymore is on at Laughing Horse @ The Counting House at 5.45pm

Published: 11 Aug 2024