Is it possible to perform stand up in yet another language (aka not English, not your mother tongue, also less fluent) but relying solely on translating whatever existing materials in English you have? Technically - yes. Though some jokes are simply not translatable. Some can be translated but it would not make sense or would not work. Some might still work but the effect could be heavily discounted. There are your host Kuan-wen own experiences.

The third instalment of your host’s monologue geeks out on foreign languages and comedy again. He summarised a few thoughts from performing at French It Up Comedy Club by accident (Season 2 Episode 26) and dabbling in a few sentences in Italiano at another night called Italian-ish.

The podcast will have a short summer break as your host is bringing another solo show to Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We will be back in autumn and have a nice summer break!

*The mix-up of languages and feeling unsure about the fluency level became even more evident through editing this episode. Your host said “the habitants of London” when in hindsight, it probably would have been more natural to say “the inhabitants of London’. Then he realised it’s because he was jumping back and forth between English and French. In French, they are more used to saying “les habitants”

Also, he is still not sure if it should be “J’ai l’air de lesbienne”, “J’ai l’air lesbienne’ or “J’ai l’air dune lesbienne”?? Any French speaker that can shed some light on this?

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Kuan-wen’s 2025 Edinburgh Fringe show Andrews Are The Worst

(This will be performed in Scotland, where their Patron Saint is St Andrew 😆)

https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/kuan-wen-andrews-are-the-worst

Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram

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00:32 Intro - summary of what this monologue episode is about

02:10 Why another monologue episode?

04:19 Discussion on comedy and translation in prior episodes

05:09 English being the comedy language for most guests on this podcast

07:25 Performing in a second foreign language - Your host Kuan-wen’s experience of performing at French It Up Comedy Club

09:39 Kuan-wen’s estimate of his fluency in either language

13:56 Some joke types are not cut out for translation (eg puns)

17:51 Different social norms for the speakers of another language

19:45 Unsure about whether the exact words are used

24:42 A phonetically sounding word may not sound funny anymore in another language

29:00 Less capable of riffing in French on stage

29:57 Jokes written specifically in French

31:55 What would a French native speaker fluent in English prefer?

33:55 Cross-language puns

37:18 Conclusion

41:28 How multiple languages co-exist in one’s brain? Kuan’wen’s own example - the distance between some languages seems to be wider

45:02 Cities where comedy shows in different languages are available

46:45 Latest podcast statistics

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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe

Mike Rice is probably THE guest this podcast has had so far who proved to be the best at impersonations and accent mimicry. During the course of this interview alone, he improvised a South London, a posh West London, a stereotypical Essex woman and a generic American accent. In his comedy routines and comedy special on Youtube, Mike has done a German accent in the context of WWIII jokes and he has also done an Indian accent. Did the last one cross the line? Between Mike’s inclination for dark jokes, there’s a lengthy discussion why it may not have and Mike’s intention with his jokes.

Mike explains the catholic hangover in the Irish parlance and how he went from semi-consciously ditching his Irish accent to pick up an American twang in the USA to embrace his Irishness and appreciate the beauty of how his father talks and what growing on a farm means.

Slightly further from the usual focus on accents, identity of this podcast, Mike accounts for his rebellious teenage years and the depression in his twenties, how he changed his outlook in life and how he balances a creative soul that isn’t afraid of showing vulnerability with an upbringing where he was expected to toughen up.

Mike’s podcast: Mike and Vittorio’s Guide to Parenting

Mike’s special on Youtube: An Irish Disgrace & Nasty Character

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Follow Mike on Instagram

Mike’s 2025 Edinburgh Fringe show

Mike is going on tour starting from November 2025. See his Instagram for tickets

Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram

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01:00 Intro

04:37 People making remarks about the Irish accent

05:23 An accent from rural Ireland and the catholic hangover

09:24 Mike’s family dynamics

11:24 Mike trouble-making teenage years and the school trip to Andorra (Part 1)

13:36 A discussion on using “That’s gay” as a punchline to a joke

17:09 When does a joke go too far? The intention and the context of a joke

19:22 Personality developed to deal with the environment

20:45 On doing accents

25:05 The school trip to Andorra (Part 2)

28:00 Rebellious teenager but also a sensitive soul

31:24 Pain and unhappiness in his 20s

34:50 Mike’s podcast output

35:42 Mike not seen as an outsider despite his accent

38:09 From disliking his Irishness to embracing it; an inferiority complex from not being able to wash away the farm smells

43:54 An advantage to be an Irish act in metropolitan England

45:37 Gigging in continental European cities

46:19 Irish descendants

47:38 Mike’s use of the English language and the books he read

51:19 Mike’s online following and his consistent stage/podcast/real-life persona

53:53 Mike’s social media

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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email comedywithanaccent@gmail.com

Have you ever tried to learn a foreign language so hard, that it influences and moulds your speech pattern in your native tongue? That you moved to a foreign land to learn that foreign language, consequently your English vocabulary becomes restricted to the more common words, just so people around you could understand?

Such is the story of Spring Day (Comedian, not the weather), a fluent Japanese speaker who lived in Japan for over 16 years and who started learning this language at the age of 13. Spring tells the random nature of her life story how she ended up in Japan, how she became a comedy performer in both Japanese and English in Tokyo, and why she decided to leave after she realised her identity would always be an outsider （外人, gaijin） in Japan

Spring now happily calls London and the UK home. She was featured on Live at the Apollo on TV, one of the highest achievements comedians in the UK can have. In this episode, Spring recounts the tales in Midwestern America where she used to call home and left behind, becoming the minority American who has a passport and travel abroad, and her long and complex, entangled history with the land of Nihon (and all the obscure observations of this island nation that are no longer her comedy materials)

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Follow Spring on Instagram

Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram

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01:12 Intro

03:28 Leaving behind her identity as an outsider （外人, gaijin）in Japan

05:14 “Just the right level of passive-aggressiveness” in the UK - compared to Japan and the US

07:58 Do American comedians have an “accent” for British audiences?

09:08 Spring’s aversion to American centralism

12:22 Immigrants? Expats?

14:02 How fluent is Spring in Japanese now?

16:05 A mid-western American accent influenced by Japanese and British expats

18:56 Why Spring moved to Japan and started performing comedy in Tokyo?

21:18 Spring’s accent when speaking Japanese

23:39 The foreign loaned words in Japanese making it harder for English speakers

26:56 Performing stand up in Japanese and why some of Spring’s jokes couldn’t translate

29:50 How Spring’s time in Japan shaped her stand up and her speech pattern

31:41 Onomatopoeia （オノマトペ） in Japanese

34:24 All the dark sadness and tragedy in Japanese Rakugo（落語, “fallen words”）, folk music and literature

35:58 The tales of two Kansas Cities in Kansas and in Missouri

37:49 Spring’s Mid-western accent

39:36 A stage character of a rural American?

41:57 Living on the same street with serial killers

43:59 Caricatures/characters of rural Americans

47:06 Some of Spring’d weird experiences in Japan that became her comedy materials

50:47 Transition to the UK and finding out who she is outside Japan

53:10 London is now home

55:04 Spring’s social media

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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email comedywithanaccent@gmail.com