Sajit mentioned comedienne Vijai Nathan in his post. She is that doubly rare breed, a female desi comedian. However, she didn’t spring fully formed out of Robin William’s forehead onto the stage. Her origin story involves a past as a copywriter until one day, her comedic talents were unleashed by a comedy workshop. The moment when she quit her day job to pursue comedy full time became a part of her act:

“… her father was furious: “He said: ‘Vijai, how could you do this to your family? I have struggled in this country for 25 years and you’re going to disgrace me this way?’
I said, “But dad, I just want to make people laugh, you know, be a comedian.’
He said ‘Oh, your mom told me you wanted to be a Canadian…” [Link]

Audiences also have a hard time getting it sometimes, too:

“This guy shouts out: “Woo! Keep it going for the Cherokee. Yeah!”
I said, “Sir, I’m not the kind of Indian with bows and arrows. I’m the kind with unlimited access to nuclear weaponry...” [Link]

She actually started out “really bad Clinton impressions” and much more mainstream jokes before developing some very desi material:

… my parents were always worried that I was becoming too American. My Dad would say: ‘So you want to wear pants, eat cows, have minty fresh breath. That’s it, you’re going back to India.’” [Link]

… her mother overheard her singing along with Madonna, and put a stop to it by insisting, “Vijai, you are not like a virgin, you are a virgin!“… [Link]

Despite the difficulties involved in the profession, and the fact that her parents are often the butt of the humor (she apparently mentions her father’s playboy collection), they are supportive of her and she is grateful:

… those years were difficult, but Nathan’s family became her backbone … There were even plenty of times she thought about quitting, but Nathan says, her father encouraged her to keep going. [Link]

Awwww. Except for her (implied) preference for curly fries over pakoras, her story sounds pretty traditional in the end. One of those perfect blend things

Related Links: Girls, Girls, Girls, Wikipedia on Rasika Mathur