Review by Corry Shaw

If you do not think it is acceptable to stereotype people based on where they come from, if you think that jokes about Indians working in call centres or newsagents are both hackneyed and borderline racist, if you like your comedy to have lots of laughs then Slumdog Comedian is not the show for you.

Papa CJ has been traveling the world performing comedy based on his upbringing and life in Calcutta and not only are his exploits incredibly dull, the way he presents them is on the verge of being hateful, stating at one point that Indians are better than Chinese people because the Indian kids wear the shoes that the Chinese children make in the sweatshops. If he had aimed for his intonation for this particular gag to be anything other than smug and serious, he failed.

As he ploughs through his material he excuses the lack of laughs by pointing out that we are not getting the jokes. We are getting them fine, they’re just not funny. The performance is hindered further when a few well intentioned heckles leave Papa CJ at a loss for words, freely admitting that the biggest laugh of the show is provided by a young man in the front row.

It is very clear that CJ truly believes his own hype and is not shy about pointing out all of the fantastic gigs he has played in all the interesting places, making sure to mention he was in the American reality TV show Last Comic Standing – not quite so quick to point out that he didn’t even get as far as the public vote.

There is a pomposity about this man that jars the nerves, a smug self-satisfaction that dominates his writing and leads to material that is derogatory and in some instances cruel. This attitude and confidence is so far removed from the basic and amateurish nonsense that he spouts.

Review date: 14 Aug 2009
Reviewed by: Corry Shaw