Daphna Baram Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts Lancaster University Thesis: Something to Declare: Immigrants’ Stand Up Comedy in the UK https://www.missdcomedy.com
I am grateful to the NWCDTP for funding my field research trip to Edinburgh Fringe in August. It enabled me to watch twenty performances by immigrant stand-up comedians and other immigrant comedy performances, and interview twenty performers for my PhD “Something to Declare: Immigrants’ Stand-Up Comedy in the UK. I recorded and transcribed all the interviews and relevant parts of the shows.
This excursion doubled the number of my interviewees and enabled me to interview and watch them all in one place, and at the very pinnacle of their year of performances. I also made vital contacts with the University of Edinburgh and Fringe Central, who assisted with logistics. I was also – unfortunately for me, but interestingly for my research – exposed to a few racist incidents aimed against immigrant comedians, which informed me further of their experience.
I was in awe and happy to meet immigrant comedians who live away from London, and who immigrated from all over the world. It broadened the scope of my research and made me consider new perspectives. Photos: Kuan-Wen Haung (Taiwan); President Obonjo (aka Benjamin Bello; Nigeria); Sylas Szabolcs (Romania).
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