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

Martin Durchov has never done any podcast interview - not until this episode popped his podcast cherry. You can find his Instagram profile, but be warned there’s not a single comedy-related content on it.

The Bulgarian native is one giggly and happy chap, described by your host Kuan-wen as a very “settled” immigrant in the UK. Even his accent mellowed over the years he stays in the UK - a fun fact your host found out when he checked Martin’s stand up clips in preparation of the interview and noticed the accent shift pre- and post- Covid.

Martin talks about the wider “East European” brand, how Bulgaria often gets lumped together with its neighbour Romania, what national stereotypes he incorporated into his comedy routines and how he gradually edit down the percentage of jokes based on his nationality. He learned early on that it is better as a performer to address the obvious, for him that is the accent and the hairs on his arms.

For listeners who are gigging comedians, Martin also shares why he Is not set on pursuing the comedy career progression even though he had a very promising start pre-pandemic (winning the Comedy Store gong show, getting into the final of So You Think You Are Funny and getting paid work within a year or two)

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You can find Martin on Instagram, but there might not be any comedy-related content there….

Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram

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01:10 Intro

04:14 Citing his accent and foreignness as the opening joke but unaware of the accent at the start

08:19 “It’s good to mention obvious things”

11:43 Bulgarian stereotypes as an East European country and why it tends to be bundled with Romania

19:45 Bulgaria Searches For Talent

23:29 Getting requests to do certain jokes

24:42 Between jokes and portraying your own country’s image

27:00 A gentler and silly stage persona

30:58 Martin’s accent mellowed over the years

32:22 Not pursuing comedy career progression and not into the social media game

37:14 On being the face of one’s own small country

41:36 Foreignness does not weigh much on Martin’s mind

44:04 Without hearing Martin accent, others not able to work out where he’s from

45:28 Not having too many connections with Bulgaria in the UK

49:06 Martin’s (non-)used 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

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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe