 You're a full-time comedian, right? With an asterisk, yes. So in the day, I'm actually a pet rehoming officer. I help people figure out whether they want a cat or a dog. Okay, interesting. And we're going to talk about that because you have an upcoming event, and it's called Doggies, so I was actually very curious why Doggies. So we'll get to that later on, so you want to know about that. I'll stick with us. Now, you're discovering you can make people laugh, getting to chat, how is it being a stand-up comedian in Kenya, especially? It's getting better by the day. It's not where we all want it to be. Where we want it to be is you get on stage, you do five minutes of comedy and you get 14 million shillings. Exactly. But we're not there yet, baby steps. We're getting there. But yeah, I think if there is a time to become a stand-up comedian in Kenya, it's actually right now. And industry is very young. So if you have the heat, if you're funny, you can actually climb the ranks pretty high in a very short time. And yeah. Actually, it can actually work. For most people, you know, with stand-up comedy, we usually associated it with Churchill most times because Churchill's show was the big thing when it was there. And some people would even wonder, you know, was that Indian guy, for others who are seeing you, who have not followed you for a long time? And you've been doing some things. You're doing great things. And you'll tell us about that. So if someone is going for a stand-up comedy, what are some of the areas that are there? What are the platforms that are there? Okay, good thing about stand-up comedy, you can dive in with one foot still on the outside. So you can have... I think for the most part of it, for stand-up comedy to work, you do need to have a second job for now. There are comedians who have crossed that boundary where only stand-up comedy can work. That's where most of us want to be. But if you are a burning stand-up comedian, in Nairobi it's quite a scene. You know, every Monday there are two writing workshops. You know, there's one at Two Grapes in Kilimani. And there is one at Chemi Chemi Restaurant, which is also around the junction there. So there are two workshops happening. If you want to learn how to... You know, it's free for anybody, comedian, you know, get in touch with Punchline Comedy Club, Nairobi or stand-up collective, you know, and they'll hook you up with these workshops and open mics. You know, a comedian is like going to the gym, you know, practicing comedy. You need to go to an open mic to practice those humor muscles. And so open mics quite a few. There is one on Wednesday again at Two Grapes. There is one on Thursday at Priyosh in Rafta Road. There's one happening at Zero Lounge, Zero 20 Lounge, another one on Thursday. Friday again at Chemi Chemi Restaurant, Saturday again. So the weekdays are open mics and Saturdays are paid shows. So you can see slowly there is a slower, I guess a snowball effect happening, where hopefully comedy can be a full-time job for really talented people. Okay. For the open mics, for someone like me, for those that don't know much about it. So it's just an open mic is what comedians just come as long as you, you know, you feel you can entertain people, just come and do your presentation and then go. You come and just register. So open mics basically are free shows. So any comedian who wants to perform can ask the open mic, you know, the guy who runs the open mic if they can get a spot. Spot is, you know, a name on the list when you can go up to five minutes and then come out. And the audience also knows that it's an open mic, so they also have very, you know, because the older comedians are trying new material, you know, and the younger comedians are trying to write material. So there's a lot of workshopping happening on stage, but good thing is Kenya has a lot of talented people. So open mics are really, are sometimes even on the same level as paid shows. Okay. Very interesting. You've said that, you know, with comedy, it takes practice as well for others. The thing is just something that just comes to natural. Have you ever met someone, or is it something that you can do? We meet someone, they tell you, like, do, make me laugh. Something very random. Can you be able to do it? I mean, it's a very weird question. You know, so comedy, I think, they're different types. There is sketch comedy, which is people acting and it's recorded and it's shown, you know, that is sketch comedy. Then there is stand-up comedy, which is what I do. I stand on a stage and people listen to me. So there's a setting that requires my jokes to work the way they're supposed to work. And of course, there's also improv comedy. Now, this is where you say people say, don't write anything, I can just be off the cuff, which is, yes, a form of comedy, but what I mostly specialize is the stand-up comedy. So whenever people tell me a joke, I'm like, okay, but you'll have to sit down and bring, like, 13 of your friends and I will give you a mic and I can do an hour. I'll make you laugh for an hour, which is what we're going to do at 21st October, by the way. So yeah, that's usually, but it never works. When people make me laugh, it never works. It's not the right setting. Setting. You're not in your environment. You can't make it work that way. But I think you're really natural because, you know, there's a humor, you have humor here and there. Thank you. Everywhere. Thank you. All right. Now, what did you do after the Churchill show? What did you do? When did you stop? Okay. When did the end for you in Churchill show and then how did you continue from there? Well, I guess it was, I didn't just stop. I just couldn't get the time to go. You know, for Churchill show, you needed at least three days in a week. I think it was a Tuesday, a Wednesday and a Thursday, something like that. So it's very few jobs where you can have those three days off, you know, because you had to go to audition and all that. So when I got a day job to support, you know, my living standards, you know, I like eating fried chicken, you know, it costs money, you know. You need to finance it. I need to finance it. But thank God there were these, for the lack of a good word, I would say underground comedy clubs like Stand Up Collective and Punchline and also Nairobi Comedy Club, who is like the pioneer, I guess, of the underground scene. And those, you know, me, I just wanted to be a comedian. Now, I knew I wasn't going to be, maybe I came in hot now. So I had my expectations a bit realistic and I knew I had to get better. So maybe being, so this underground comedy club really helped me transition very smoothly into the kind of comedy that I guess works best for me. Okay. Yeah. All right. So now you're involved, you're actively involved in Punchline, Nairobi Comedy Club and every other thing. I am, I always come for the open mics. I do paid shows, yeah. That's my level of involvement. Okay. Yeah. Nice. Now, tell us about, before we get to the other questions, tell us about the upcoming show that you have. It's a one-man show. Yeah. Which is very interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about it. I mean, I guess on Twitter I always see, or I guess it's X now. People always, there's always this narrative that there is no Kenyan comedian who could do comedy for an hour. Yeah. So this is some way of my, I'm like, hey, guys, maybe you do not know, but not only I, but we have at least six, seven other comedians who I believe can do strong comedy for an hour. So this is my way of showing everybody, hey, there's a scene here. Please have a look at us. Give us the money we need. 14 million, five minutes. Come on. But yeah, so this show is called Dogies. It's my one-man solo comedy show, although I do have my friends and very strong comedians. Emmanuel Kisiangani and George Waveru opening. You know, just helping, you know, they're just trying to open, make the crowd nice. So the stage. Set the stage, you know. And also I like, you know, as a comedian, I always go for stage time. So if I can give somebody stage time, I always feel nice. Okay. And Yashiko Vedaka, who is also a comedian, is helping me direct. Brian Mutai, he's the other guy. You know, I'm the artist. He's everything else. He's the logistics, production. He's the guy who handles that. Doug Mutai, he's an executive producer. He's going to be, he runs Stand Up Collective. So he's helping us quite a lot. And other people who probably are going to join our team later. You know, Ribiya is also going to be an executive producer soon. John Ribiya, a lawyer, you know. So every comedian has kind of a day job. I mean, you have noticed so far. But yeah, so this show is called Dogies. Because I do have jokes about Dogies. Yeah, actually I just knew about Dogies, your test. Yeah. And also, I guess this is just an inside secret or I would like to share. In this, in the local, I would say, English stand up comedy scene or I would say the underground stand up comedy scene. A Dogie is a joke that works most of the time. I would say 99% of the time. That joke is a joke that has worked. Now I call it Dogies because this is a collection of all the jokes that have worked in my career. So these are the tried and tested. These are the ones people paid for. But now you get to see them in a theater which I believe is one of the best ways to watch, to actually even absorb experience. Thank you for this kind of comedy. True, okay. So it's going to be at Kenya National Theater. Sorry, Allianz Francais. Oh, sorry. Yeah, Allianz Francais. What's the date? 21st October. Allianz Francais. Tickets are available at my website, amandeep.co.ke. If you're a Kenyan, you should know how to spell the names of the people of the 44th tribe. So I'm not going to spell my name, you should know. And your second name is actually very hard. Jagde, it's phonetic. Jagde. But how you write it and how you pronounce it, it's very different. I think it's the D that you're spelling as they. Jagde, even day is fine. Okay. Jagde, Jagde. Okay. Amandeep, Jagde. Thank you. Ah, there you have it. So it's www. Amandeep.co.ke. You know why? Because I'm a Kenyan citizen. So many things about it. We are the 44th tribe. People forget. I'm a bit angry. We forgive you. Now, we went to look at some of the comedies that you have. And also we have the poster. Just in case it's there, the producer will show us as we enjoy some of Hans Jokes coming up, coming up. Rod, he was feeling homesick. So I took him to Alchemist. He was from India. Let me tell you something about bringing Indians to Kenya. You do not take a raw, undomesticated, untamed Indian and just throw them in Kamkunji. No. You will scare them. You are not used to so many, you know, look around, you know what I'm talking about. You have to slowly, you know, slowly hit it up, you know, make them slowly, how do you say it, acclimatize them. How do you say the word? Climatize them. Thank you. Thank you very much. Nice. I can acclimatize to that view any day. You have to slowly get them used to, you know, to being in Africa. You have to learn about the BL to BR ratio. The black to brown ratio. And you start it at a low, you know, and then you slowly heat it up and then you make them comfortable, you know. You don't throw the frog in the hot water. You throw the frog in warm water and then you heat it up, you know. So you take the Mouindi to Diamond Plaza, you know. And then you take them to Oshole Center Parking. Sir, it's center food court, you know. Slowly. Then it will be west, you know. South B. Pangani. Mulalongo, you know. This Mouindi is ready for Africa. So I was with this Mouindi in Alchemist. He looked around. He was like, damn. I did not know Africa had so many Indians. I'm like, you buffoon. You idiot. You think Africa is filled with just African Africans? Africa is this variety. There are different kinds of Africans. There are brown Africans. And if you follow me to Kilimani, I'll show you the brand new, just imported, Chinese Africans. Oh, these Africans. They own casinos, smoke embassy secrets. And instead of eating ugali, they eat shia long bao. Oh, shh. Look, these Chinese Africans. You know, they're so powerful. Our police has to learn Mandarin. Yeah, that means nobody gets away without giving a bribe. You cannot claim language barrier as the reason to not pay your kakitu kidogo. No, no, no. Sorry, no understanding. Bro, yellow 50 shillings. So I was watching the news and apparently there's a video of a mother eating a daughter. And look, people told me, don't look at that video. You don't want to see that video. You want to scratch your eyes out. Don't see that video. But you know, I had to look for that video. Somebody tells me not to do something. I want to do it twice as more. So I googled mother eating out daughter. I didn't find that video, but the one I found, I'm not complaining. I wish Kenyans made videos like that. There are no videos of people that I can relate to doing things like that. If you look for Kenyan porn, most of the titles. I mean, the rest of that video you should listen to it on your own and there's a specific time that you should listen to that according to a month. Yeah, this is not a joke that you watch in the morning with your coffee. It shouldn't be a joke to watch in the morning. Not on morning TV. I mean, you can play it. Have no problem. We didn't really listen. But yeah, where you can find it on his YouTube channel, Amandeep. God. Just Amandeep is fine. Yes, that's where you can find it. Alright, so Amandeep, we've known about you. Have you ever gotten someone who says from the jokes that some are insensitive or some are sexist or stereotyping? How do you handle it? Those are the reviews I want to put next to my poster. Because if you want those kind of jokes because that's what comedy is supposed to be a release. If you're always compact, if you're always inside your head with all these funny thoughts, everybody has these thoughts but there's nowhere to release them. Comedy shows are the best. People have told me all that but it's like getting angry at Sylvester Stallone for killing all those people in Rambo. This is art. Yes, exactly. This is different. So people just need to know how to accept it and not take it too seriously because it's a joke. That's what it's meant to be. Plus comedy is subjective. Sure it's insensitive to you but somebody else is having the laugh of their life. And there's a good thing about comedy. There's a comedian for everybody. So maybe I'm not the one for you but there's definitely one for you. And if we have the poster here it will be posted up on the screen as well. This is how it is. See the dog is there the best of his jokes that he has told all coming together and excited about this. What is your best experience as a stand-up comedian since you started this journey? I don't think I can talk about... Let's start with the worst experience before we get filled. Well, I can't talk about either the best or the worst if you're catching my drift. It involves a lot of oil but speaking of second best and second worst is usually getting hackled. Hackling is when you're performing and somebody in the audience interrupt and I think the worst was in Kisumu any of the people from Kisumu a bit energetic a bit loud just between me and you so as I'm performing somebody insults me in my own mother tongue and I was very young as a comedian and it really messed up my whole performance but it was a lesson I had to learn it somehow and thank you to that random guy in Kisumu for teaching me that lesson and best I think most of the shows where I have a good show is among the best it's very hard for me to put them side by side sometimes somebody comes and tells me I loved your show it's the same feeling all the time it's the same ecstasy of emotions I get at the same time when people tell me they love my comedy what would you say is unique about your comedy? I wear a turban I am brown I am funny I have a bit of man boobs they're a bit sexy I have a weird accent it's not English but it has a little bit of Indian English South B Indian accent and I say things that you really want to hear quite interesting unique what do you want as we come to a close final one who do you what do you see yourself to be like is it Trevor Noah why are we forgetting him you had mentioned him Kevin Hart where do you look to be when I was younger my main goal was to be the biggest or the best export of stand up comedy from Kenya that is not neither Trevor Noah or Kevin Hart so unfortunately that is what I will have to pick up that mantle and be the best export of stand up comedy from Kenya so that is what I see myself and wherever that takes me hopefully it is at the levels of Trevor Noah and all that and of course who wouldn't want to be at those big levels it's not that it's 14 million for 5 minutes not much people pay more for petrol and you cry me at least I will make you laugh please give me your money finally give you a shout out final word this is your camera this is my pitch an Indian giving a business pitch this has never happened before please why am I begging I have a stand up comedy show coming on the 21st of October at Allianz Francais for 7 years so trust the product is going to be good tickets are available at amandip.co.ke can I send a message to my mom yes wow that was okay you know her birthday is coming up soon so I wish her like a birthday oh wow that's nice thank you mom yes wow thank you so much for coming on board and I definitely want to be a part of your show and yeah that's pretty much about it we are going to take a short break and then we'll be back for the crash of my English take with us