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GROUP 5:
Racial Comedy & Asian Accents​

  • Kazandra Torres: Podcaster

  • Keira Keenan: Podcaster

  • Sama Shansab: Podcaster & Tech Person

  • Laila Khan: Transcriber

Overview

Minimalist Stairs Scene

Anjelah Johnson’s Nail salon stand-up comedy skit was our assigned case study to frame our topic of, racial comedy and are Asian accents funny, are they problematic? In her stand-up comedy skit she speaks upon her experience at a nail salon. Her nail tech was a Vietnamese woman. Anjelah Johnson then acts out her interaction with the woman and when she would at the women speaking, she would then emphasize her being Vietnamese by talking in a fake Vietnamese accent. In Johnson’s defense she was just interpreting her accent. However, at the end of her skit she continues the Vietnamese accent while speaking gibberish in a Vietnamese accent. This case is controversial because her exaggeration of the accent and continuing to speak nonsense in the accent could be perceived as mockery. 

The case study of our choice was Jo Koy’s stand-up comedy skit of, You can tell Asians apart by their accents. This case study is similar to Anjelah Johnson’s skit because Jo Koy usually focuses on racial comedy. Specifically in this skit of his, he exaggerated almost all Asian accents such as Filipino, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese accents. Moreover, he provides analogies to what each accent sounds like. He states Koreans have a deep husky voice like they’ve been smoking weed all day. Also includes that Koreans sound like Asian ghosts. He then proceeds to give analogies for Vietnamese accents and saying how they talk fast and that's why they sound like they’ve been on cocaine their whole life. This case was controversial because of the offensive analogies he connected to specific Asian races and their accents. Connecting drugs and even mentioning porn for Japanese accents was unnecessary to trying to emphasize the difference in Asian from their accents.  

Discussion Questions

  • Are Asian accents funny? Are they problematic?

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Podcast Link

 

Full Transcript of podcast discussion: Transcript

“In the Background” — Research Section

  • Assigned Case Study:

  • Assigned Viewing:

    • “Anjelah Johnson talks PC Culture and its impact on Comedy | Checkitow #1 - CLIPS | LATV” | LatiNation (2019)

  • Relevant Case Study: 

    • “How to Tell Asians Apart - Only by their accents!” | Jo Koy : Comin’ in Hot | Jo Koy (2023) 

  • Assigned Readings: 

    • Scholarly Source: “Racial Accents, Hollywood Casting, and Asian American Studies” | Shilpa Dave (2017)

      • This Article argues how Hollywood uses vocal performance to identify an Asian American Individual. The author emphasizes that exaggerated accents are used to differentiate a certain ethnicity, for example, how the exaggerated Indian accents usage results in success in Hollywood, which reinforces harmful stereotypes for Indian Americans. 

    • Popular News Media Source: “How “‘Ching Chong’ Became The Go-To Slur for Mocking East Asians” | Kat Chow (2014)

      • Chow highlights how the phrase “Ching Chong” has been used to identify and mock East Asians. The article brings up recent examples of celebrities using the phrase while tracing back the history of this phrase, its ties to racism, and explaining the harm it continues to bring to this community. 

  • Additional Research readings:

    • Scholarly source: “Woke Comedy vs. Pride Comedy: Kondabolu, Peters, and the Ethics of performed Indian Accents” |  Steven Gimbel  (2020)

      • This article examines the difference between the two Indian comedians' use of an Indian accent.  Hari Kondabolu uses his humor to discuss racism and stereotypes, and avoids “otherizing” jokes, while Russell Peters embraces ethnic accents and stereotypes in a way that presents solidarity.

    • Popular news media source: “Why do we judge intelligence through English pronunciation?” | Rahat Ara Kabir Kheya (2025)

      • Rahat Ara Kabir Kheya critiques how South Asians have the pressure to master perfect English in order to seem intelligent. This article highlights colonialism and Western media’s roles in this belief as well as the double standards South Asians are forced to have when white people try (and fail) to learn South Asian languages. 

Cultural Artifacts

  1. Cultural Artifacts ––Public/Popular Discourse Collection 

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