Sikh comedian smirks at stereotypes

Adelaide recently h eld its annual Fringe Festival, a 24-dav celebration o f cabaret, comedy, dance, theatre, music and visual arts evenrs It is t he secondlargest in the world , behind only the Edinburgh Fr in ge. Festival held in Scotland. However, me. very nanire. of fringe festivals is that they are somewhar marginalisedeven though me Adelaide festival is indeed such a big event, fringe thearre is quire simply meatre mar is not mainsrream. Th.is year, Ajir Dhaliwal joined forces wirh his friend Amy Manuel for h is first fringe show, in a comedic duo that turned quite. a few beads. Called .AjitatiJ1g A 11a1- the lifestyles of the Sikh and TJ1Jistcd, th e pair recently recei ved t he Dave Grant comedy g ram, wh ich wa s presented in mem ory of tl, e Mel b ourne comedian who sadly passed away in 2010. The gram helps new comics looking for their fust Fringe s how, and provided Amy and Ajit with three free nights at a Fringe venu e, along wim assistan ce in the form of flyers a nd printing, as well as mentoring regardi ng presentation and m arketin g.

Amy and Aji t m et during a comedy course, and formed a friendship as a result. "We did some gigs toged1er and got to know each other m ore We just have tbe s ame sense of h umour we we re both loo king forward co our first Fri nge show. We laugh at similar things and we find the whole psycho logy around comedy very inre resting," Dh aliwal says

' 'The idea around me show is also about stereotypes and how peop le judge eac h other. Eve n rhough

Amy and I look ve ry different o n me ou ts ide we're very similar o n th e ins id e "

The show is a hum orous exp loration of the duo's lives and lifesryle.s - cackli n g subj ects such as a comparison between Sikhs and J edis, w h at prin1ary schooltead1ers acrually think of their kids, and even why Prince. Charming isn't such a great ro le mode.I after a ll Th e show irself is only 45 minutes lo ng- but in that time, tl1e pair cover ground from E ngland to i\us wwa, crossi ng H olland and India o n tbe way.

Ajit i s described as a laidback, genial personality, and as wirh all comedic duos, the conrras t was imporram; Amy's is a. dark persona, full of man ic energy. le b egins wid1 d1e pair presenting the audience w ith a se t of words to ass ign to one o f them. For example, "pretty"

(w hich gen erally went Amy's way), an d "te rrorist" (wh ich often went the. other way) J\nd it is in mis initial framing of d1e s h ow that rhey establish die undedying premise - challenging stereotype_~ From tl1is, mey begin telling rhe stories of their own lives, Ajit's b eing o n e of a fashion-conscious Sikh from a big, happy family He was born in Britain to Br itishb o rn parents, and migrated to Australia only as a ree nager If someone asks him co go back where be came from, he scrarches his head and says "lvtitcham?"

Meanwhile, Amy's background is an ourer- suburbs upb ringing in Melbourn e, one that was hardly comfortab le and caused her co become a ngry and lash our at others, only to eventually find a ,vay out tl1rough me literary circuir.

If the witty title wasn't a good enough crowd -puller, the pair's materj~l was described as edgy and interesting, and in tl1e current so cial climate where the world i s fast becoming a smaller place, challenging ill-conce ived and archaic stereotypes has become an important part of society And mere. is no better way for us to be doing mis tlia n mrough some. light-hearted comedy;

Being d1eir fus e fringe festival i t was a lot of hard work for the p air, according to Aj it "To do your first show tliat you're putting o n yourself and prod u cing yours elf i s quite exciting, b ut it's obviously ve.ty ner ve-wracking ar me same time ," he. says. Indeed, some of the performance was srill slighdy rough around t he edges But the audience and critics alike agree that it would be great to see them around again. Leading critics from the show desctibed me show, in a wo rd , as " amiable" - definirely a successful d eb ut in t he toug h field of stand- up co m edy. Adelaide has already given the. duo its stamp of approval, and while it's unknown w h etl1er they will be. co ming to Sydney Fringe in September d1is year, it will definfrely be worth a v isit to some of the venu es, from Leichhardt to Su rr )• Hills, to en joy some of di e culture that often slips through me cracks for not being "mainstre.ani" enough.

Rita m Mitra