How To Make Racists Laugh (With You) - Asim Chaudhry

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When Asim agreed to do this podcast, I messaged all my bros from school days immediately. Asim's character Chabuddy G, of 'People Just Do Nothing' fame, was one of the biggest cultural influences on those hazy days. In the playground, we used to spit Chabuddyisms over a bit of 2 touch, while deep cuts of UK Garage (Peven Everett pls stand up) blared off an iphone speaker. If Reform was talking about a nostalgia to this past, maybe I'd get on board.

Asim has gone onto a stellar career in acting and screenwriting since his debut on the BBC. But it's his expertise in crossing the weather veins of cultural commentary with British character humour, that made him the perfect guest for our podcast.

Never shy to wind up pearl-clutchers on the left or right with his exciting inversions of stereotypes, Asim encapsulates the type of comedy that we believe can heal the UK. His jokes are rich in cheek and healthily inclined to the absurd.

So isn't it ironic, that as we sat lamenting the script-written transformations of once-idealised creators into right-wing grifters, all I felt was a glowing appreciation to be sat with one of my heroes - and him be exactly what I cracked him up to be.

If reality has indeed become satire, grab your popcorn and find some of your favourite people to laugh with. We must, at the very least, enjoy the show.

Chapters 00:00 Intro 03:30 Ending The Wasteman Life 11:42 Desperate For Male Validation 17:15 Making The Racists Laugh 22:04 Baiting Out Grifters 30:01 Finding Common Ground 40:22 Escaping Echo Chambers 47:17 What Figure Could Unite the Left? 54:15 How Powerlessness Fuels F@scism 1:03:30 Class, Agency and Finding Success 1:12:15 Staying Grounded 1:18:20 Ethics Of Chabuddy G 1:22:03 Privatisation of Water + Dirty Business 1:29:30 Comedy Is The Great Equalizer