Anisa Nandaula: No Small Talk

Best Newcomer at the Melbourne Comedy Festival last year, Anisa Nandaula is a Ugandan Australian from Rockhampton, Queensland with a suitcase full of stories. While these stories form the backbone of her one-hour standup show, it’s Nandaula’s ability to interact warmly with her lively audience that makes No Small Talk especially enjoyable this NZ International Comedy Festival.

Truth is often stranger than fiction and comedy gold emerges straight off the bat as a couple in the front row admit to having had an affair before pairing up legitimately. More couples, friend groups, and the one African in the audience offer up similarly fun titbits that Nandaula skilfully massages to comic advantage without belittling or patronising them. Her quick and witty responses to their answers to her questions are frequently brilliant and mark her as a gifted natural comedian.

Nandaula’s own background and that of her part-Asian boyfriend make for interesting and often hilarious anecdotes about race. Her unique take on an Indian speaking at an Australian white supremacists’ rally is inspired and unexpected. And her fellow Africans certainly don’t get a free ride. Her description of how anyone who’s not clearly black or white is referred to in Kenya gets one of the biggest laughs of the night, as does her account of African dads and their lack of knowledge of the particulars of their children’s lives.

Religion comes under the spotlight too, the audience audibly sympathising with Nandaula’s tale of being five minutes into a protracted hair-braiding session and being asked, as a Muslim, “Have you ever considered your religion is wrong?”

Race and religion may seem like dangerous ground to walk on for a comedian, but Nandaula manages not to cross the line into offensiveness by being genuinely funny and bringing her own humanity into every narrative. The addition of her neighbours’ cute seven-year-old, dogs, lions, and baby elephants doesn’t hurt either.

No small talk here, just big laughs.