Indian comic brings the house down whilst tackling homophobia
A gay comedian takes to the stage, poking fun at the hypocrisy of homophobia in Indian culture.
Nik Dodani had the crowd roaring with laughter at the Ha Ha Cafe in North Hollywood – sharing with the audience his backstory about coming out to an Indian-American household and the experiences that ensued.
The 21-year old stand-up jokes: “When I was in high school, I was going through a phase where I really wanted to be different. So when I was 17, I decided to be gay.”
He then goes on by comparing his homosexuality to the Indian culture he was brought up with – going so far as to say: “I have a theory, I’m pretty sure a gay man planned our biggest festival way back when.”
“We’ve made a lot of progress in the LGBT community. We’ve come a long way. But it’s still hard to be gay sometimes,” the comic explains.
I think it’s a little harder to be Indian and gay, because Indian culture is still very homophobic, which is weird to me because Indian culture is also very gay.” Dodani added.
When talking about arranged marriages, Dodani points out that one of the perks of coming out was that he would be saved from this tradtion – except for one problem, his mother is a “dedicated woman”.
He jests: “Just last week she posted an ad on Facebook that read, ‘My son: 21 years old, gay, Indian, works in entertainment, seeks Indian lesbian facing similar family pressures.”
As well as chatting about Indian culture, the stand-up turns the spotlight onto the gay community itself – talking about gay stereotypes and it’s labels: “Bears – the big burly gay men. You have twinks which are the younger slender gays…” but then he asks – what if we did this to straight guys?
“You’d have the Weasel – that’s the guy who lies to get into women’s pants.” the comedian deadpans: “Then you have the…well I guess that’s it.”
Nik Dodani, who has been featured on The Comeback and Selfie, is expected to perform next month in Los Angeles with headliner Whitney Cummings.
