The Funny Indian Newsletter, Vol. 205
October 2023: Speaker of the House, Quick to Catch Your Eye
Welcome
Welcome to The Funny Indian Newsletter!
Happy Halloween! Or Halloween Season, at least. Can’t believe we started seeing decorations before Labor Day. Is it an LA thing to orange out a store in August??
Apologies this one got long. It’s not so much words as images. So scroll and have fun.
And you’re the first to hear about my podcast interview with the Tangle founder, journalist Isaac Saul. Don’t know what that is? It’s become my primary source of news, so yeah, don’t sleep on this dude. Again, scroll. And again, have fun.
Musings
Sick Burn
A few months ago, some Cincinnati friends invited me to an event in Los Angeles. Parul & Smita organized a fundraising event for Lilly Singh's upcoming movie. Of course, I'd interviewed Lilly on my talk show last year.
At that event in Beverly Hills, I met Dr. Vershalee Shukla. Cue to a few months later when I received a text from her. She asked if I knew anyone who could perform at the 2023 Firefighters Unite against cancer gala in Phoenix, AZ. I said, "Well... me?"
"But it'll be mostly White folks."
"Lucky for you, I grew up in OHIO."
I got this.
Dr. Shukla, along with Dr. Pablo Pritchard, started the Vincere Foundation, a cancer clinic open to all, but which has helped so many firefighters fight cancer, as they're diagnosed at much higher rates than the average person. Ironically, the frequency of such diagnoses has increased as newer buildings and homes are built with composites instead of wood. When they burn, they let off carcinogens, as do the "turnouts" (the jackets) the firefighters wear.
From this perspective, perhaps I should've gotten a job in my field: I graduated with a B.S. in Materials Engineering and I might've solved this problem since I really majored in Irony.
I'm used to coincidences in the Brown community since so many of us do know each other. But when it happens with White folks, it always tickles me. It... "turns out" that Brian Moore attended my alma mater and he heads up the University of Cincinnati Alumni Association - Phoenix Chapter.
AND he knows Michael Rottenbiller, who leads the LA chapter and attended my show at the Bourbon Room Hollywood in July.
The gala organizers needed me to do only 10 minutes of standup. Super grateful to everyone who came up to me to tell me how well I did. Well, yeah. I have NINETY MINUTES of material. I would HOPE any 10-min set would be...
(During my set, I asked them how they felt about the fact that that's Zoomers' preferred way of saying "cool."*)
The crowd was probably 70% White, 20% Latino, and 10% everyone else. In news that will make PoC everywhere happy, we started 30 minutes late. So, it isn't just us. I opened by asking, "How's this possible, given it's a FIRE event... aren't you guys used to being on time??"
Because my set was so short, I didn't get a chance to throw in all the jokes I had, including apologizing as a Hindu for Mrs. O'Leary's cow.
My wife and I do our best to take water over to the fire station in our neighborhood when we can. Bottled water they can drink. Not buckets of water they can use to put out fires. So, perhaps this all was good karma.
All in all, we raised $200K on Saturday night for this amazing cause. My two-year-old son is at that age of complete fascination with firetrucks. Don't let that feeling go away. Do what you can to support your local firefighters. They have a very dangerous job and are some of the true heroes in our communities.
We're living in the future. We have driverless cars and a Speakerless Congress.
As a White woman, I — oh, wait. That wasn't me.
Updates
See
Future:
11/01: The Ice House (Pasadena, CA) (pic)
11/03: P&G Global Alumni Summit (Washington, DC)
11/04: ICC Diwali Night (Greenwich, CT)
11/08: Goodnights Comedy Club (Raleigh, NC)
11/14: P&G (Cincinnati, OH)
Past:
10/01: Texas Hindu Campsite Fundraiser (Houston, TX)
10/14: Firefighters United Against Cancer (Phoenix, AZ)
Listen
THE TANGENT SHOW: Journalist Isaac Saul
I was ecstatic to sit down with journalist Isaac Saul. His newsletter and podcast, Tangle, have become my primary source of news. And that is saying a lot for a news junkie like me. I found him truly to be politically up the middle. And since I toured a political show called The Man in The Middle, his takes in this episode resonated deeply with me.
We covered many questions including the political makeup of his ever-increasing audience, what kind of praise he finds the most meaningful, what kind of criticism drives him crazy, which part of the process feels like work, which party is doing the most to help (and hurt) the average American, whether Donald Trump's supporters really believe he can fix the country, and more. But we started with, "Why did you name your show Tangle?" Enjoy.
Shout-out to designer RJ Jethwani. Listen anywhere you get your podcasts — but here on Spotify or go to TheTanGentShow.com.
Listen
THE TANGENT SHOW: Comedian Jocelyn Chia
In June 2023, Comedian Jocelyn Chia made the front page of The New York Times. The Singaporean got into hot water when she told a series of jokes at the Comedy Cellar in NY that the country of Malaysia didn't appreciate. Yes, not just a few Malaysians. A country. I DMd Jocelyn on IG because I admired her willingness to stand her ground and not apologize for a joke. She graced me with her presence, and I'm not using "grace" simply because it's a common Asian name. I was honored she sat down with me over Zoom to deep-dive into what happened, how she dealt with it, how the levels of trust about the media among Asian and American comedians differ, and how Jocelyn's mental health preparation enabled her to not only weather the storm but also to capitalize on the moment.
BIO: Jocelyn Chia is a New York-based lawyer-turned-comedian. She is a regular at the Comedy Cellar and Gotham Comedy Club, and has been featured in Vulture, Vice, CNN, BBC, and (if you read above), The New York Times. She has been on the Howard Stern Channel of Sirius XM, MTV, Gutfeld! on Fox News, TMZ, Vice TV, and Comedy Central. Follow her on at instagram.com/chiacomedy.
Shout-out to designer RJ Jethwani. Listen anywhere you get your podcasts — but here on Spotify or go to TheTanGentShow.com.
Watch
BOTFRIEND
ChatGPT helped us write this short sketch. Enjoy. What do you think? Would love to see any other sketches you've seen with which AI assisted.
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Laugh
Since this is a FUNNY Indian Newsletter, I present here the 5 funny things that I saw, heard, wrote, or remembered for the last month... otherwise known as FIVE - Funny Indian's V Events.
5. Mad props to my old roommate for his clap back. And boy, am I glad I stuck those disclaimers on my own piece after talking to him.
4. An oldie but goldie - The Blind Man. #NSFW
3. One of Andrew’s earlier ones. So true.
2. Sad but True.
1. Wow. How did the rest of us miss this ingenious take?
Close
THANK YOU to all of you for your support. You are my true core of fans — I couldn't do this without you. Happy Halloween!
Love,
- Rajiv