Ohio-born comedian to take his routine to India
FAIRFIELD, Ohio — An Ohio-born standup comedian who bills himself as “The Funny Indian” will find out whether people in his ancestral homeland agree.
Rajiv Satyal will tour India with two other Indian-American comedians on a Jan. 4-17 trip organized by the U.S. State Department. He says their comedy show “Make Chai Not War” will include messages of diversity and religious harmony, with a measure of diplomacy.
His routines often include jokes about being Indian-American, he says.
“I’m pretty much going to do my act. But the tone changes,” Satyal told The Cincinnati Enquirer (http://cin.ci/s3brWS). “If I do a lot of Indian jokes with an Indian audience, it’s a `you guys know what I’m talking about’ thing. Whereas, if I’m in Alabama, it’s more explanatory.”
Satyal and Azhar Usman of Chicago founded the “Make Chai Not War” show and a third Indian-American, Hari Kondabolu of Queens, N.Y., will join them on the tour. The three also will conduct comedy workshops while on the trip.
Satyal said comedy can help bridge differences.
“It’s cool to be able to go to India because that’s where a lot of religious strife has been happening,” he said. “We’re not even really religious on stage. We might do some religious jokes, but it’s more just bringing people together.”
Satyal is Hindu; Usman is Muslim.
The 35-year-old native of Hamilton, Ohio, honed his comedy while working for consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co., in a regular column for a company-produced newsletter. He also appeared in comedy clubs.
He said P&G was supportive of his comedy career, joking in an interview Tuesday with WCPO-TV that it might have been because it was like “go on, get out of here.” In 2006, he left the company and moved to Los Angeles.
Before the tour, Satyal has been spending time with his family in the northern Cincinnati suburb of Fairfield. He graduated from Fairfield High School, whose sports teams’ nickname is Indians, for Native Americans.
“I guess I really was a Fairfield Indian,” Satyal said.