It’s not easy to stand out amongst the talented lineup of Brown Women Comedy, now in its third year at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Each of the South Asian women comics featured bring a unique and fresh perspective, exploring the layered and hilarious complexity of the brown woman experience.
But Gauri B is instantly memorable, catapulting onto the stage as the larger than life closing act.
In her short comedy career (four years), Gauri B has amassed a loyal following of over 300,000 on Tiktok and Instagram, with over 500 million views of her jokes. She has sold out shows in London, NYC and Berlin, where she moved to from India when she was only 21.
Her 10-minute set at the Festival is a much shorter preview of her typical show. In a tighter time frame, she zips around the stage, telling stories that pack a punch and delivering harrowing punchlines that shock and delight the audience.
“I don’t enjoy humour unless it’s dark,” Gauri reflects, as we catch up after her successful week of performances in Melbourne. “I don’t mind if an aunty or uncle is offended by my abortion joke. I’d still rather keep it in the set for the people in the room who get what comedy is supposed to be about. The young people get it. And the cool older people.”
Nothing is off the table in Gauri’s set – jokes about abortion, colonisation, religion and sex are expertly juggled without leaving audiences a chance to take a breath between laughs. It’s not the kind of set that should do well, especially as more comedians complain that they have to be increasingly politically correct.
The answer to this anger and resentment seems to be platforming more talented women of colour like Gauri, who don’t need to punch down to get laughs.
“Comedy comes from tragedy,” says Gauri. “The way I process my trauma is through humour, and the darker the subject matter I deal with the bigger the laugh I get. Comedians who feel like they have to be politically correct need to ask why they are writing their jokes.”
I ask her what she means by this and she elaborates.
“Are you making a trans joke because your small mind can’t fathom another gender? Are you trying to say you’re the smartest person in the room, everyone else is dumb and doesn’t get your humour, and that progress is bad?
“I deal with uncomfortable subject matters, yes. But the purpose of the punchline is to release that discomfort for the audience.”
This was something I noticed during her Brown Women Comedy set – the darker the punchline, the greater the connection felt in the audience. After all, Gauri insists her jokes shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“I am shocked when people are shocked by my content!” she says. “As women, and as a community, we are all going through the same things, and yet so many of my jokes would still be considered taboo.
“The Melbourne audience is so warm though and they’re great ‘laughers’. I can’t wait to come back.”
Sadly, aside from Brown Women Comedy, there still aren’t many shows featuring women of colour at the Festival. As she built her career online and internationally, it was common for Gauri to hear that there could only be one woman in the lineup at an open mic night, or for her to be asked to perform last minute, because a lot of women showed up in the audience.
She says the tide is very clearly turning, though, and it’s great to see.
“Women have money. We’re financially independent. People selling entertainment need to cater to us now. They need our money. We’re happy to pay for the content we like, content that makes us laugh. It shapes culture - look at Barbie, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, just in the last year. I love it.”
When it comes to facing prejudice, like many women whose identities intersect to create more disadvantage, Gauri shares that she often feels the most judgement from her own community. She has still never performed in India.
“I never belonged in the traditional Indian community,” she explains. “You can feel judged. I don’t think I would have pursued comedy if I had stayed in India, because I don’t fit any of the traditional roles carved for Indian women. It’s easier to be a man in India. And they’re so much more open when the dark, offensive comedy is coming from a white man.
“Daniel Sloss recently toured in India, and got so much love. And it makes me wonder, could an Indian woman get away with those kinds of jokes?”
Her reflection is tough to reckon with, but it is an honest one. You only need to look at her comments section to see most of the hate coming from Indian men – about her weight, her comedy, her looks.
“I have had the opportunity to do standup in India. But I’m very scared. There’s so many men in my comments section that write nasty stuff. I’d love to perform there one day, but I don’t know how they’d react to it.”
Despite dealing with online hate, she is grateful that social media forced her comedy to get better, faster – and to help her get over the hate quickly. She also created her Instagram page the day she decided to become a comedian, having discovered her own favourite comedians on Instagram and Youtube. With her savvy marketing background, she knew this is where the majority of her target audience would find her.
“There is so much hate on social media. But it makes me feel a responsibility to the viewers, to be just as funny in shows as the stuff they’ve seen online. And I love connecting with people who come to my shows and bring other people who have never seen my comedy.”
And which comedians make Gauri B laugh?
“Nikki Glaser - she’s so hot and funny. And Ali Wong, Michelle Wolf, and Daniel Sloss. I also recommend checking our Urooj Ashfaq, Kanan Gill and Anirban Dasgupta at the Festival this weekend.”
I ask Gauri what advice she would have for other South Asian artists in Melbourne who are trying to make it in their own industries. After all, she’s barely 25 and has already had a whirlwind career, exuding confidence in everything from her comedy to her clothes.
“Don’t listen to the noise,” she says. “And do what you love every day.”
You can follow Gauri B on Instagram and YouTube.
Brown Women Comedy has three more shows left for the festival this weekend. Buy your tickets using the discount code ASACFriends.
Jess Mathew is a writer and proud daughter of Indian migrants. She loves pop culture, and exploring everything Melbourne has to offer. You can connect with her on Instagram at mzmathew.
