Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Ashwyn Singh: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1750

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

In this 1740th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with writer, musician, and comedian Ashwyn Singh about his unique perspective to explore themes of cultural identity, immigration, and family with wit and relatability. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, the Waterfront BIA, Blue Sky Agency and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Welcome to episode 1740 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Toronto's Waterfront BIA. Check out what's happening on Toronto's Waterfront this summer. Blue Sky Agency, the official distributor of Silen's quiet,

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past and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today making his Toronto Mike debut is writer, musician and comedian Ashwin Singh. Welcome Ashwin. Thank you for having me. Do friends call you Ash or is that forbidden? Does it have to be Ashwin? Ash is actually more somewhat acceptable. Usually when they say my full name, then I have to be like that A at the beginning is a U phonetically, the way people say usher. So then it becomes Ashwin,

but it's weird to call somebody ush. So Ash is actually fine. So I said it wrong. It's Oshwin. Oshwin. Oshwin. Okay, try it one more time. Say one more time. Oshwin. Oshwin. So it's like yeah, like usher. Yes, exactly. Okay, you know, you just say that. Hey, I'm like usher, except I'm Oshwin. Okay, honestly, it's a pleasure to meet you. I played some of your stand-up, like while we were waiting for you there's a live stream at live.torontomike.com and I just played some of your like your sets your stand-up and

already rave reviews because Burlington Rob who I know better as Rob Pruse Do you know the spoons the 80s new wave band out of Burlington, Ontario? I'm so sorry, but I don't okay Okay, you know, don't apologize to me. You're not alone. But the keyboardist for The Spoons in their heyday was Rob Proust. So Rob Proust says that that standup

I was playing was excellent. Oh, thank you, Rob. So already rave reviews. You're already in the funny category. My audience is keyboard players and drummers. You know, drummers are a little crazy, right? Yeah, I think they're the closest to the comedian in the band, because they get annoyed and then they don't know how to tell people.

Interesting. So then they're bagged. Okay, you're going to tell me everything I need to know about comedians in this episode here. What neighborhood of Toronto did you come from today? I came from Regent Park. Okay is that so how long have you lived in Regent Park? Two years now yeah. And how long have you lived in Canada? Nine and a half. Well I was here August of 2014. So, and then I was gone for about a year in the middle.

So yeah, about ten years. And where did you come from, Ashwin? Oh, you know. You know what? Usher, I'm going to struggle with this the whole episode. So I'm almost begging you. Let me call you Ash. I said do it. Okay, Ash. My apologies.

Ashwin. Where did you come from? New Delhi, India. What do you think, I mean we're gonna get into it, what made you want to get into stand-up, we're gonna talk about some of your observations, I've pulled some clips, we're gonna talk about the music, we're gonna talk about Desi translations, but what do you think of Canada now that you've been here several years now? What are your thoughts on our country here? Oh, it's easy on the eyes. If you just got rid of your big brother that you keep learning from that does terrible things, it would be fine. Is that Doug Ford? No, America. Oh, the bigger brother. Yeah, I'm releasing something tomorrow where I ended up talking to like 200 white old white

people in Prince George because I was doing a show for the Prince George Council of Seniors and I was like, you know, everything America does you do 10 years later. That's why you're doing racism now. Do you think Canada is doing racism now? I mean, I mean, it was more of a joke. They've always done racism. This is not new. It's just the target has shifted, which is fine.

I get it. Do you find it again, Prince George, I think that's like the hub, that's like the middle of British Columbia, Prince George. Like I think of geographical center is Prince George. It's just very Northern Canada more so than yeah, but I think it was it's there are parts of Canada where you go which seem

like they're not old but How do I say this? It's like people say you shouldn't go to small towns small towns towns are racist. And I'm like, no, no, no. In the small towns, everybody knows who the racists are. Because they all speak to one another. In Toronto, they can hide on YouTube behind keyboards, present company excluded. But in Prince George, you just land

and some guy picks you up and he goes, don't go over there. That's where the racist lives. Like, it's that simple. So I enjoyed it. So I'm curious about Toronto specifically here since it's really, it's a fact that it's the only place I've ever lived in my entire life. That's how exciting I am. Born in Toronto and still here. I'll probably die here for goodness sakes. But you would think Toronto being so multicultural, you'd feel like this city would be less racist. But what's your experience with that? I think per capita it probably is. It's just in person. It's like New York, like there's

so many people that when it's that many, as the population of a city gets too congested people start keeping to themselves on the street, but they're that much more active online and on social media. It's weird like there is far more people in Toronto that you could run into in a five mile radius and in Prince George, but the percentage of people that say hello to you is higher in Prince George than it is in Toronto. Oh I can I can that. But I feel like if you live in Toronto or even work in Toronto and live in the 905, if you don't like brown people, you're going to have a bad time. And this is true of most of the world, Mike. Anywhere you can go, if you dislike brown people,

you're going to have a bit of a tough time. Because there's nowhere in the world you can go and say, oh, there's no Indians here. We will come. That's not a threat. That's a promise. It's weird, because here's the thing. I think the one thing that sometimes gets lost in conversation always is what culture is, right? Because one common complaint that people always have is like they're changing our culture

or they're not of this culture or whatever, something like that. And I'm like, well, answer me this. What is culture is as much people as people are culture, right? People participate in culture and shape it as much as culture is supposed to shape the next generation of people.

So if the population of a country is 50% one culture, then how much of that is going to seep into what the culture is today? So if you really want, and I don't even think this is a good idea, but if you really wanted to keep that tight of a hand over fist, I don't want my culture to change, the way to do that would be to correct the immigration numbers before they happen, not complain about it after you have let people in because you had like a declining labor market. What are your thoughts? We're gonna get into, you know, why you got into comedy. We're gonna talk about like these Desi translations, these videos I've been watching, they're quite wonderful.

Like I'm gonna play one and discuss that and we're gonna talk about where you're at, what's coming up, because I know you're doing something with maybe right now, shout out, are you doing something in the near future for Just For Laughs? Yes, September 24th, I will be doing my very first headlining show for Just For Laughs Toronto, which should be fun, Comedy Bar Danforth, which is very nice because it's the room I've

played most in my life. I think it's really nice. You don't have to say like dress for the job you have. Right. Like I got that show and I was like this isn't the same room I have sold out four times over the last two years. This is the room we should do it in. Excellent. Comedy Bar. Great room. And Just for Laughs. I'm just happy to know there's still a Just For Laughs. Yeah, you know, if you had ever asked me at the beginning of my career between you and

Just For Laughs, who do you think will go bankrupt first? I would have picked me. I would have picked me. But it's, I mean, obviously you're headlining on September 24th. So, cause you know, what is it Mark Twain said, reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated. Something to that effect, but just for labs still, still breathing. Oh yeah. Well, I think comedy is always going to breathe. Right. So I'm, I'm, I'm glad that it's back.

I'm happy I'm doing it. It's what's it better late than never? Yeah better late than never. And I don't even think I am late. I'm still a comedy baby as far as most professionals are concerned. I just yeah I'm happy to be on. Because I've had stand-ups come over who were royally pissed at Just For Laughs. Like I'm thinking now of FOTMM FOTM by the way, friend of Toronto, Mike, Ashwin, you're now an FOTM.

Did I nail that Ashwin? Yes, you did. Okay. You know what? I'm going to just remind myself to turn that a into a you, I can't fuck it up now. Ashwin, uh, Simon Rakoff was very vocal about, uh, Jess for laughs and some royalties with Canada laughs

on Sirius XM. And he had a, you know, very specific agenda with, uh, just for laughs and some royalties with Canada laughs on Sirius XM and he had a you know very specific agenda with just for laughs and I think maybe he was doing a little bit of a jig when there were reports of just for laughs filing for bankruptcy like he had won this this battle but just for laughs still plays an important role in the career of stand-ups like yourself, right? Just for laughs is a celebration of success that has thus far gone unnoticed, more than it is a kingmaker that people seem to think it is. I don't think like here there's 10 people on new faces at Just For Laughs. I know all of these faces. None of them are new faces to me. They're not new to you. Yeah, some of these people have been doing comedy for ten years, nine years, eight years.

They were people I asked for advice when I was starting stand-up. So when industry says something is a new face, they mean this person is an old enough face that people already know about them, but still unnoticed by the majority of the world which right now that describes every successful comedian Under 1 million followers, which is every successful comedian Because with the niche sort of Instagram social media fame that we have 200,000 followers is the minimum like level of recognition required for your profession to be feasible. Which means, so like in my room, in a 150 people

room where everyone has come to see me, everybody goes, oh, you're famous. And then, but as soon as I leave that room and I'm sitting on the subway, I don't have to worry about being mobbed or anything. So I'm not actually famous. I just have the minimum recognition required. And if you don't have that, you're most likely not doing JFL either. Right? So it's just like, just for laughs is great to have. But the truth is, if I didn't have it, my life would go on. Okay, like, so on that note, so for example, on your official bio, so Ashwin, I've been reading your official bio and it's got Canada's got talent in there. It's got the debaters Great CBC show. I've had the host on this show

You know big festivals the big ones like Winnipeg and in Halifax So, you know, I guess is it fair to say that stand-up aficionados in this country? Know the name Ashwin Swing Singh? They got the wrong name there, but Singh. Nope. If you ask like what level of fame do you think you have? I have friends and I like them and people who stand up, I admire. So I could I could tell you like I can count on like my two hands like the the people that I have met that I admire that that Mutually we have respect for then there is industry

I respect that has met me once and I think I did a good job But I have no clue that remember like I loved my debaters episode Yeah, and I think I think people remember it, but if I met Steve Patterson again I I don't I don't know if they would remember. But I know that my debating partner, Lisa, I'm forgetting her last name, sorry Lisa. But Lisa would remember, she gave me a big hug after. And she was like, oh you did great, they're gonna book you a lot.

And that was the last I heard. How long ago was this booking the debaters? This was the Winnipeg Comedy Festival last year before last, so 2024. Do you want me to make a call to Patterson? I don't know, maybe we get you back. I'm serious, because he doesn't live that far from here. And he's also an FOTM.

I'll make a call for you. Sure. I just think you're funny. Oh, thank you, I appreciate that. I think that's half the battle when it comes to stand up. You got to be funny, right? I distinctly remember I had like one too many arguments on my debater set because it was a little bit longer.

And, but the audience was really on my side. Like everything I was saying was getting an applause break. And I distinctly remember looking at Steve and Steve looking at me and me going, let me have one more. And he let me have it. What was your topic? Uh, it was whether, actually you might have already seen the

standup that it came from, but the topic was, uh, standardized testing and whether it should exist. Okay. And what side were you on? Uh, on the side of, uh, no, it should not. Did you win this debate? I did. I produce a show for Humble and Fred and, uh, and Howard Glassman who's the humble and humble and Fred

He's done the debaters a couple of times and he's still kind of irked that he lost both times Like this is still bothering him. So good on you. It's actually very funny There's a show in Toronto called your hoods a joke, which is a territorial roast So it's like India versus Canada Pakistan versus India and then there's two comics on stage and the Indian guy roasts Pakistan and the Pakistani guy and vice versa. And so I have lost every roast that I have ever been a part of, but I have won the debate. Like this is, and I'm like, so people are, I basically am better at debating than I am at being funny. Well, I'll be the judge of this. Okay.

So, born and raised in India, so why do you move to Canada? I got my university degree from Waterloo. I got a computer science degree. And then immediately after I got it, I quit to pursue stand-up. So I, because I'm also interested in when you decided that you wanted to be a stand-up comedian. It's not for the faint of heart this this decision. So did you have family here or was it like why Waterloo? No it was honestly I applied to university in I think four countries. I did America, India

here and I believe the UK, we applied to a few. I got into one or two in the UK, I got into another three or four in the States, and then we just kind of did a cost benefit analysis, but the cooperative program from Waterloo meant that I could kind of pay off some of my tuition myself while in the middle of my degree,

so then that was the best option. Okay, so it wasn't because you decided I'd rather live in Canada than the United States? No, I do think in retrospect that I made the right decision though. The Canadian democracy has not crumbled to the same degree. Well, what time is it? So far so good here, but stay tuned, stay tuned.

So you come here, so is it computer sciences? Is that what you're studying? Yes. Okay, you're at Waterloo, so is it computer sciences? Is that what you're studying? Yes. Okay, you're at Waterloo, you're studying computer sciences. So where's the moment? What makes you decide, you know, screw this, I'm gonna tell jokes for a living.

I was working in California at Apple for eight months as part of the co-op program. I had a bunch of time off. I've done music for most of my life. Like I grew up singing in choir and then even during my university degree I was doing open mics all the time. So then I was doing this open mic for music in California and I went on the wrong day. It turned out to be a comedy open mic. That's funny. And I just kind of like ranted for five minutes. I had seen

stand-up before but I had never done stand up So the only comics I saw were like george carlin dave chapelle and like maybe one or two others And so that's all I knew of what stand up was so I just kind of Yelled for five minutes and I got one laugh, but that was enough That imagine you had if you had zero laughs. I feel like you might have found a way to justify continuing. I feel like it was the yelling that I enjoyed. By the way, I have it. So thank you to Jeremy Hopkins, who's on the live stream and would like to share that the Lisa you're talking about is an FOTM as well. I've had her on the show. She came out of Darren Frost, Lisa Baker.

Yes, Lisa Baker. Sorry, Lisa. She's lovely.'s got the the maritime accent right yeah it was it was funny because I was the Indian dude on the debate and my accent was still the more understandable one fill your boots Lisa and she said that herself okay too funny and welcome Casey to the live stream too who Casey, I think she's shaming you for not knowing the spoons. She says everybody should know the spoons. But you're a young man. Maybe you don't know new wave music from the early to mid 80s. It's okay. You can send me a playlist and I'll listen to it and I will send you a playlist of all Hindi songs and accuse you of not knowing any of them either. I'm going to. You know, you mentioned music.

So we obviously when you're wild, that Waterloo sent you to work for Apple. That's kind of cool, too. But you're in California working for Apple. You accidentally are at a like open mic for stand up. But prior to that, can I ask you about the music? So we're going to play you singing. You got a beautiful singing voice. But so you've just always been a

singer like was this something you would do professionally or just as like a hobby like tell me about you and singing. I did both I've I also grew up playing piano and playing guitar so then I had those and so then half during some of my university degree I was playing music just at open mics and I found some friends that became my roommates that then became my band mates So then we would play together. I think we did a few gigs together we used to be called the jaded students and Then we realized very quickly that that kind of had an expiration date because we were only going to be students for so long So then we switched to calling ourselves the little Berlin band,

because Kitchener, where we were used to be called Berlin. And then we just kind of, uh, and then the other two guys, what I attended one of their weddings this past weekend, I was a groomsman. And then the other two guys, they started a production company together that still works out of Kitchener called good company. And they are doing like production contracts with the city of Kitchener and the city of Waterloo right now. Very, very cool. By the way, the new kids on the block didn't drop the kids when they became, you know, 40, 50 year old men.

They're still kids. So I feel like you could just be the students or whatever. But that's true. So I feel like you could just be the students or whatever, but that's true. I'm just thinking out loud Okay, I'm gonna play I want to play a minute of something I pulled from your YouTube channel and it has you singing so let's listen to this You know when you send somebody you like a text message and then you spend the night waiting for them to text back But it doesn't look like it's happening in English people say she's ghosting me, but in the end who are over there like many kissy co do they kick early it's happening. In English people say she's ghosting me but Hindi and Urdu are over there like Oh Shanti Shanti Om Om Shanti Om

Shanti Shanti Om Now of course there's subtitles on the video, no subtitles here on the podcast, but tell the listenership, give us a vibe of what you were singing there. The lyrics kind of mean I, because I have messaged you and not received a response, I have essentially ruined my own night because now I'm going to sit at home thinking about why there has been a lack of response and then it goes, if I could have you, if I don't have you, I'll die of sadness, but if I do have you, I'll kill myself of pleasure. So I'm dead either way. And then the rest of it is just a chorus of the song. But that's essentially like a translation of what's going on. Okay. So first and foremost, I got to compliment you on your singing voice. Beautiful.

Thank you. We might hear a little more later. And if you ever like just want to burst into song, just feel free. There is English music on my YouTube as well. Just letting you know. It's actually old music too. It's Sam Cooke. I did a cover of Bring It On Home. Oh, beautiful. Okay. So I have some, pardon me for my ignorance because I am mildly stupid, which listeners know that. But so because I am mildly stupid, which listeners know that. But so you were singing in Hindi? Yes, that was Hindi slash Urdu, but Hindi. Hindi, Urdu.

Okay, and you call these, is this part of your Desi translation series? Yes, that is, yeah. Okay, so help me. So what exactly does that mean, Desi translations? So, I, so when I was working at Apple, I was working at one as working for the, as a production manager for the software localization, which means what does this piece of software look like in another country? For example, if you pick up a phone call in China, the red is actually supposed to signify positive, not negative, right? Because the colors change.

Or think about like when text is supposed to scroll on your Apple Watch or something, if you're in a country where the script is not left to right, it's right to left and has to scroll the other direction. Right? So it's like you're localizing that software to that particular place. But it's not about translating the text, it's about translating the context.

So this series is similar in that vein. It's not about translating the lyrics, it's about translating the context within which the lyrics are placed. So then they're in a way where other people can also understand. And it's great for Indians because these are like older songs, a lot of them, and so it's a bit of a throwback and they never really know what the song is going to be. But then also it's like when you translate verbatim,

word for word, what the song is, it sounds really silly because the language is more poetic, so the words sound a little too colorful. But so then you have to introduce the context within which those words are placed So then the whole thing becomes a translation. Well, I went down the desi translations a rabbit hole the other night Okay, so if you're okay, I'm gonna play another one now I'm not gonna play all of this because it goes about six minutes, but yeah, there's 80 of them. There's a lot so Tell people where online they could find this great

material so on my instagram would be the easiest place because they're all labeled one to 82 it's at ashwin singh on instagram and my first name is spelled a s h w y and does any idiot out there see your first name and assume you are a woman? I don't know. The WYN? No? It's possible, but I feel like as soon as they see me the assumption dies, so it never really gets to me that they made that assumption. Gotcha.

Okay, let's play a little bit of, I think this is actually volume one. In Hindi you can blackmail your friends out of their sadness. In English, all you can do if your friend is sad is, Oh my God, I'm so sorry. If you need anything, you let me know. I'm here for you. In Hindi, you can go think about how sad I would be if you are sad. Thereby blackmailing them out of their sadness because what kind of friend lets their other

friend be sad, which is the whole reason you started this blackmail to begin with. Just walk up to your sad friend like, soch zara jaane jaan tujko hum kitna chaate hain roate hum bhi agar teri aakhome aasu aate hain and the audacity of this man that is singing in full key to be like, gaana to aata nahi hai magar phir bhi hum gaate hai Ke adhi mana kabhi-kabhi saare jaha mein dhera hota hai Lekin raat ke baad hi toh savera hota hai Hey, good job, guys. Okay, so I have a question about that.

So are these crowds, are they typically Indian Canadians? Like how is it that the crowd knows the words to these songs? Is something playing in the background? I still hear it. Yeah, it was still there. Oh, nicely done. Only after rejection are you like, oh, wrong cards. You could be like the conductor here.

No, no, you don't have to play it. I was just like, I just still hear it. Can you ask me the question again? Oh, okay, yes, my apologies. So your crowd, is it typically Indian-Canadians? Because I noticed the whole crowd seems to know the words to your songs. So that show was in Bangalore, India. Okay, well that explains it. But there is a whole other video on my YouTube, Volume 2 on YouTube. That one was recorded at Comedy Bar Danforth in Toronto.

Okay. And that one is like 50-50, like half Indian slash Pakistani slash brown people and the other half is like white people. And then they just kind of sit back and they're like, oh my God, what's happening? Right. And then they see it. Like on the, the thing is I posted that, the thing that you just played, which is, I think that's translation number 54, which is one of my favorites. I posted it on TikTok andtok and tik-tok is banned in India

So Indians couldn't really see it But there were so many white people in the comments like I always thought it was a myth that India just randomly break out into Song but I see this happening like in a Bollywood movie Yeah And it's like it's because so these these these songs are from a time Yeah, and it's like it's because so these these these songs are from a time Where our version of pop culture was watching the movie and then talking about the movie the next day And you're the uncool kid in school if you haven't seen the movie

It's not like today where there's like a trillion or like a billion zetabytes of Content generated every day and you can't possibly all be consuming the same thing We all didn't have different algorithms and so there is a nostalgia involved with these songs for Indians where they will not only are they like listening to figure out what song it is but then they sing along. So the live version of the translations for me is actually a lot more fun because it allows me to mesh just this like online content with stand-up where like it brings in a different audience to watch my stand-up that hasn't seen

stand-up comedy before like I'll get a lot of people at my shows especially in India going I've never seen stand-up comedy before I just saw you and so now I've come to this is what I mean about that's cool the kind of links to the JFL question which is like JFL knows what we know but these Indians that came to see those shows they still don't know about JFL right so it's like it's like I'm happy like there is like there is industry acceptance and then there is the acceptance of people just like watching you and they are almost always mutually exclusive. So if you have a successful show on September 24th at Comedy Bar and that's September 24 2025 if you're listening in the far off future which happens quite a bit. So if you have a successful show just just for laughs then is there more

headlining appearances like Like, does Yuck Yuck say, hey, we want you to headline? Like, where do you go from there? Assuming it will be a successful show for you and there's no reason to think it won't be. So this is something that, there's a favor that Mr. Breslin, the owner of Yuck Yucks did for me, where comedy is a very rebellious profession and then as soon as you get successful for being rebellious the industry expects you to fall in line and you're like that is not how I got here. Right. So why do you think that that's what I'm going to do? So I had been

sending these emails to do Yuck Yucks' amateur night this is like years ago and I really wasn't getting any responses back. And so one day I just got really annoyed and I was like, what could Mr. Breslin's email possibly be? And it's mark at yakyaks.com. It's like the easiest email to just happen upon. So I just kind of tried it and I said, Mr. Breslin, this is my five minute set.

I've been emailing and I haven't been getting a response. If you like it, I would love to come do a set at Yuck Yucks. And whoever, like, I wasn't getting a response from the amateur email, but like a day later, Mr. Breslin was like, hey, I like the yoga instructor joke. You're on the next showcase in January or something. And I did like eight minutes for him. And then he usually, I don't know if he does it with everybody

But that day he was doing it with everybody He was talking to all of us one by one in his office and he asked me So what do you have going on and I said well, I have this tour planned and I'm going to be selling my own tickets and I'm using social media and advertising and and I like it's all like self-funded and self-produced advertising and I like it's all like self-funded and self-produced and I'm going on a Canadian tour and then I'm going to India for a tour and Mr. Breslin said uh-huh uh-huh so what is it that you wanted from me and I had not thought about that it's like oh I he's like what can I do for you because you're actually doing I think you're doing it and I talked to Darren Frost

and Lisa Baker and these kind of people and Kenny Robinson for example. I think you got to roll your own. And I think that's what it is. I think I'm very happy to see that I now have friends that are in the industry that are of the industry that understand what I'm trying to do that believe in what I'm trying to do because honestly anything that I'm doing from here on out especially a lot of the bigger stuff that I have planned for me that I want for me I'm I cannot be expected to do alone I just I just can't do it alone and the truth is even if I turned back and tried to say with some arrogance like oh I did the rest by myself didn't. I had family members that supported me

and friends that told me which jokes were bad. It takes a village. Yeah. And I'll never admit it to them. And I'm not naming names or anything. They're not listening. Yeah. God.

This is a safe space. So there is that part of it. I do think more comedians today, many more comedians today are having a go at it just by themselves using social media than the industry would let in like 10 years ago. And I think that's a good thing. So what I'm gonna do now, if you're cool with this,

I'm gonna bring you back to, we're going back to California. What's that, going to California, it's a Led Zeppelin song. And it's just, it's just, I just think I just remembered on the Led Zeppelin four, which was the only the old and again, I got many, many years on you. People don't know, but the only Led Zeppelin anything I ever owned in my entire life was I own the CD of the Led Zeppelin, the album known as Led Zeppelin four. And I had that one because I had stairway to Heaven on it

and had a Black Dog and Rock and Roll. But it also had a song in it called Going to California, anyway. I thankfully do know Led Zeppelin. You'll be surprised if you try to guess what my favorite song was in eighth grade growing up in New Delhi, India. Okay, I'm gonna guess it's Back in Black by ACDC.

Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N' Roses. I fucking love Guns N' Roses. So it's weird, like I have this weird, like my dad brought home this CD called The Great College Classics, and that he used to listen to, and it had like the Scorpions, like Rock You Like a Hurricane, and it had-

It's a German band. Yeah, and like Mony Mony and Led Zeppelin Stairway and then Pink Floyd and all of and my favorite song to play on piano is Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye so like I like I like blues and I like I like old music I don't know all of it I think I skew a little bit older than most people my age but but I also like consume a lot more music than most people. So there is that. But I had this weird connection to the English language for that reason too. Like when I was doing open mics my first few years in university, people would come up

to me afterwards and they would exclaim in surprise, your accent vanishes when you're singing. And I'm like, no, that's a different language dummy it's music is the language this is it's not the same thing like even today people will come up to me after a show and they'll go oh you know your Indian accent is far more pronounced when you are on stage then when you are off stage is that is it an act and I'm like no I'm just not talking to you specifically when I'm on stage this is the act that is the that is what I sound like. And it's just like, language is for communication. So when I'm talking to one specific person, I become... And unconsciously, I'm not trying to do it.

No, you adopt the cadence maybe of the person you're talking to. And I honestly try not to, because it makes me feel like I'm leaving myself behind sometimes. But on stage, it's like 100% self-expression that is not being censored or changed for anyone. You know what I find this very interesting because I notice if my mother is speaking to a new Canadian who is from let's say from Italy let's say and my mom born and raised in Toronto as well as was her parents and her grandparents like I think I don't know how many generations back but but they're all from Ontario, Canada here,

but she'll start to have a little bit of an Italian accent. Like I can hear it. And I always say to her, I said, and I don't think she's conscious of it all there, but she starts to adopt the accent of the person she's talking to. Like this is the thing she does. And I'll be like, like, where does that Italian accent come

from when you're talking to somebody with a strong Italian accent? I think it'd be very funny if we caught your mom in a conversation with like a black dude from Harlem. She's trying to like she's talking jive like June Cleaver in airplane. Yeah, you suddenly just like switch to like what maybe Chris Tucker sounds like in one of the Jackie Chan movies. Like it would be hilarious. Oh my god. Speaking of airplane, I was speaking of airplane, I just got invited to see a like a free preview of the new naked gun and I'm which I'm going to do this like this is Thursday morning at like 10 a.m. a perfect time for popcorn and I'm going to

bike over and watch the naked gun but I have and again again much older than you but I have such fond memories of seeing the original nakedaked Gun in theaters and basically laughing harder than I'd ever laughed in a theater before. I'm a little bit like, worried about them trying to reboot this thing, not that it really matters, except I have the great comedic memories of the original Naked Gun. You want them not to ruin. Yeah, just, I don't know, it just feels like, and I'm hoping it's good,

and Liam Neeson sounds like a good choice and all, but man, what a funny movie I found that original Naked Gun to be. Yeah, it does bring up like a conundrum that I've always had in my head, which is like, George Carlin famously left half of his audience behind with every new special, because he would offend the exact other type of people.

Right? Like it's like, it's like, Bill Burr went on a podcast recently and not podcast. He, I think he was on Fallon and he was like, you know, you can always offend one group of people very easily. The art is in how to offend people together. So he was like, like you have to craft a statement that offends both parties. Like I would go on Twitter and say, you know, Donald Trump is such a bad president. He's almost going to make me vote for a woman Like I said, you just sit and watch back as everybody as everybody burns in a fire of your making and

And I think and I think it's important a little bit because you don't And I think it's important a little bit because the audience, they know what they want, but that doesn't mean that that's what you needed to say. And it's like, and the audience, it's the same thing as industry. Industry is great at doing something a second time, but not the first, because there's no trust. So they want something that works and makes money

and you wanna make something you're excited about and those are sometimes mutually exclusive. Like you wanna do something new, they wanna do something just that they think. It's like new faces, okay? They're not actually new faces. They're the oldest of the new faces that you can get. And so it's like, I know what my audience loves

and then I write a new show and I'm like, I don't think they're gonna like this one. Yeah, because they want you to broaden, right? Yeah, but they just want more of what they've already seen. So sometimes I will get people going like, you know, I loved your joke about the English test when you immigrated and I was like, yes, but that was five years ago.

I have permanent residence now and acceptance from people and I don't really need to talk about, I mean, I talk about, yes, but that was five years ago. I have permanent residence now and acceptance from people. And I don't really need to talk about, I mean, I talk about immigration still, but I don't have to talk about the test of English anymore. That's true, cause yeah, cause you're writing about what you know, what your lived experiences. I'm writing about what annoys me. And that keeps changing.

And that changes. Yeah. It makes sense to me. It's just saying like, how much control going forward, like if you'll be, you know, hey, and I'm making this up, of course, but like, oh, we like that you're Indian Canadian. Can you be a little less Indian or a little less Canadian? Like, it'd be interesting if they try to like turn like play of these gears or something and kind of steer you and how strong you are that you can remain, you know, loyal to yourself

and true to yourself. Well, and the answer is yes, but not for you, for me. Right. If I do a show in Prince George or something, I know what material I'm going to drop and what material I'm going to start with to get them on my side and what I'm saying to challenge them. I'm reading the room. I know what's the challenging idea for them, but it's like I'm doing it because I want to do it if somebody asked me to do it It would like like it's very like, you know

I was in Dubai and they were like don't do jokes about Islam and I was like I wasn't going to but now I have to I can I totally relate to that. Yeah, like once you tell me not to do something I guess what I'm gonna do like like a like a five-year-old Yeah, and it's like I I love and hate this about comedians, but I also love and hate this about society, which is like people will disagree with you just to make you feel like just to make themselves feel like they're having an impact. Like you walk into a room going, I think I'm ugly. And people are like, why would you say that? You're beautiful. You walk into the same room, like I am handsome. And they're like, you're

not that handsome. It's got nothing to do with how handsome you are. It's just like, they just want to go the other way. Right. Oh, that's amazing. So I think an hour ago, I said I was going to California and I am going to California with you here. Can I shout out a couple of partners here and then we'll get you back to California.

I just want to ask some questions about this. This career of yours, and I like that you're calling me sir. But I'm not exactly comfortable. Like I hear it and I notice, I feel myself, like my back gets up, like, it's like a cop pulled me over for speeding or something. You know what I mean? That's when you hear sir.

I'm a little old school. Okay, well, call me sir if you wish. I won't take offense there, but we'll get back to California. But a couple of little things. One is, do you find yourself, Ashwin, spending time during the summer particularly, but spending time at Harborfront on Toronto's waterfront? Do you ever get out to the Toronto Island or Trillium Park?

And just curious about any time you've spent on. I've done all of these things exactly once. And I did the Habafront once because one of my friends wanted to go and so I went. I went to Toronto Island for my best friend's bachelor party and we went to the nude beach. Oh, Hanlon's Point, yeah the nude beach. During Pride Month this boy took us. I was like this is part of my, I haven't really said it because I don't have the video yet. I did a speech at his wedding where I was like,

yeah, he took us to a nude beach during Pride Month. And after sampling the variety that Toronto had to offer, we were convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that his fiance is the best he was ever going to do. Ah! Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! I'm not very-

That's an interesting idea though, for like a bachelor party or whatever to go to a nude beach. And that's the only one I know of in the 416. Well, it's like, it's like if you wanted to go to a strip club, but only use your eyes. Right. That's what it is.

It's funny you mentioned, so when was this? The most recent pride parade? Was this this? Yeah, this year. And so then, but yeah, that was also the wedding that made me feel Canadian. Because I was telling, I said this at the wedding tour, I was like, I've never, after 10 years of living in Canada, never stopped and said to myself that the last thing I did,

that was very Canadian of me. But then I, I was a groomsman at my friend's wedding and I asked him, what's the dress code? And he said, the, he said, we're doing a tan suit and cognac shoes and a beige tie. And I was like, uh-huh, uh-huh. Anything that doesn't violently clash with my skin color. And I was like, so now I'm standing in front of a

hundred people that all look like they're at war with the sun while wearing different shades of myself. I was like, this is very Canadian of me. Well, welcome to Canada. Okay. Well, I was actually just this past Friday, I spent some time on Toronto Island. I had a really cool tour of Toronto Island. Quick aside though, is there's this, I guess it's near Hanlin's Point. It's called Mugs Island and there's Snake Island. There's like 15 islands. There's a few islands.

People only talk about the same. Like it's Wards Island, Centre Island, Hanlin's Point, whatever. But there are these birds called cormorants. They've been invading this part of the Toronto Islands. And there's like literally thousands of these things and they kind of go on these trees but they eat seafood and they're what's the proper word for this guano but I'll call it shit okay their shit is acidic and not only is their shit destroying the trees I took photos like completely destroying these, the canopy of trees on the island. But it is the most rancid smell. Like I'm telling you, you're like, okay, and then there's like a yacht club. And I'm like, Oh, they have to smell this the whole time. But these

cormorants and I was talking to my tour guide who happens to be known as Professor prickle thorn. He's an arborist. So he's a big tree guy. And he's like, we have to do something. He's telling me, we need to do something. You can't obviously, you're not going to get away with killing these birds. No one wants you to hurt the birds, but you need to do something to make them so uncomfortable. They go back to the Leslie spit where they were kind of coexisting fine. But the cormorants are becoming a huge issue on Toronto Island. You think the trees that have already been on the island look at the birds like, oh, these immigrants, they don't respect the culture,

they don't speak the language. Except they're not immigrants because apparently they're indigenous to the region, but they just never were on the island till a couple of years ago. So- I love that you said indigenous is part of this analogy. They're indigenous, that's the term. So OK, so obviously the

cormorants, they smell it's they're ruining the trees. But, you know, don't hurt the cormorants. But I'm here to tell you that on the the main shore on the Toronto, I guess what do you call that? The main the main the real I don't know,

the non island Toronto. What's that called? The mainland? Yes, the mainland will call the mainland. There is a festival happening August 8th to the 10th called the Habari Africa Festival. You can celebrate African culture in Toronto. It's an incredible cultural experience, a vibrant, multidisciplinary African arts festival returning to Toronto. It's free.

It's all ages. It offers a fantastic weekend of rich art, tastes and sounds from the African continent. So if you're looking for something to do Ashwin, August 8th to 10th, the Havari Africa Festival at Harborfront, maybe you can make a return trip so you can jot that down. Something to do in the big city. Have you ever been to a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball game at Christie Pitts? I have not. Shame on you. Get out of my basement. No, I'm just letting you know the free event.

I was there Saturday night at 730. There's a game next Saturday as well. And it was really thrilling game. We had a big third inning. I think we put seven runs on the board. We won a great baseball. The price is perfect because it costs you nothing. Get a beer, get a hot dog, enjoy the game on the hill. I want all the listeners to know what's going on at

Christie Pitts this month. You think they'll appreciate my maple leaves joke? Tell me your maple leaves joke. Why just as like, I think it's very funny what people are like, this is the political party I have always voted for. This is the political party I will continue to vote for. And I'm like, it's politics. There's no brand loyalty. You don't have to keep supporting the same people, even if they keep failing you.

It's not the Maple Leafs. So, sorry. No, listen, I'm, again, I'm 51 years old and I've never seen the hockey team, the Leafs hockey team, I've never seen the hockey team, the Leafs hockey team, I've never seen them make the finals and I come back every spring again. So you're right, this loyalty is unnecessary,

but here we are. Okay, I want to welcome a new sponsor to the program, Blue Sky Agency. They forged partnerships with established office furniture brands like Silent and Green Furniture Concept and Rulliard and Doug Mills from Blue Sky Agency. He's eager to chat with any and all Toronto Mic listeners who are

looking for dynamic and creative work environments. So write Doug at dougatbluskyagency.ca. Thank him for partnering with Toronto Mic and sponsoring the program and let them know you're an FOTM and start the conversation so thank you to blue sky agency thank you to Ridley funeral home I have a measuring tape for you Ashwin by the way not only do I have that measuring tape for you from Ridley funeral home I mentioned the Leafs I have a history book on the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team if you want to catch up on what you've missed there at Christie Pitts and you drink beer I do drink. I have fresh craft beer for you from Great Lakes Brewery. One of these is not a beer because the hot pop is actually a non-alcoholic beverage but

take that home and let me know what you think of Great Lakes beer. I think it's the most delicious craft beer in this country. Thank you for the zero sugar, zero calorie. This is going to help. It's going to help you out. That's the the hop-hop everybody. I would, I guess they can't make a zero calorie beer. I can't, they try to, they did, they're probably working on it right now. They have a couple zero calorie vodka sodas. I don't think they have a zero calorie. I think they have a vodka soda at Great Lakes Brewery actually. So you're good at this. Okay, good on this. All right, let's get back to California here I'm just curious. So you accidentally are at a Yes open mic for comedy you do your thing and then somebody laughs

So what happens you just have a moment of like I want to do this. I It was more like I could do this. See, this is the weird thing I never had like a coming coming moment where I was like, this is what I meant to do with my life. It was just like I started one day and then I just never stopped. And for me, stand-up has always been like, people go, where does it come from? And I was like, I identify as annoyed.

I am annoyed and I would like to explain to you why I am annoyed and that the reason is you and I want you to enjoy this explanation and let me leave the room with my life intact, right? I think it was Oscar Wilde. It was like if you want to tell people the truth make them laugh while you're doing it Or they'll kill you So it's it comes from that. It's just I want to express and it's something different every year I just I just get annoyed and for, and it's something different every year. I just get annoyed. And for me, it's like the process of editing. So it's like if you went into an argument

with like a friend or a stranger and you left feeling like you lost the argument, not because you weren't right, but because you didn't get out or properly convey what it is that you really wanted to say to them. And so then at home, while you're in the shower, you're like, I could have said this, I would have said this in your dreams. You're like, I would have said this in comedy. You get to say that in comedy. You can go that didn't quite work the way I wanted. And because the

room behaved in this specific way. And so you get to go home and edit and you can go, this is a, you can make it, you can make your explanation perfect. perfect then you can record it cut it into a reel and send it to the friend that annoyed you but do you go you start writing this these thoughts you have you know because I also am annoyed by things and people and now I'm wondering if I should follow your lead here by the way I've been to Oscar Wilde's birthplace in Dublin and I've been to his where he's buried in Paris oh my little Oscar Wilde contribution to the conversation. But like, do you start writing and then you go to open mics to like, how do you start?

Like I don't even know where you begin. You're working for Apple. For me, it usually starts here. It, I mean, it's a, yeah, I have, this is Google keep at Apple. It was Apple notes or whatever and now it's very it's literally just like wedding jokes I think there's they're all just thoughts. Yeah. If anybody opened my like if they ever confiscate my phone at airport security I won't get in trouble for my Google photos I'll get in trouble for my Google keep because it's because it's very like Why do we judge promiscuity loudly but adultery silently?

This is there is right. It's that men will buy queen-sized bed one pillow And it's lazy because the Queen combo has two pillowcases They're like this winner of a Jeffrey Dahmer look-alike contest and it just keeps going like it's just like He you're blowing my mind because, and again, I don't do standup, but I'm now thinking I should start. But I do, I have these shows, like we have a recurring show called Toast,

and I often will talk about how different songs are connected and different things. But this is basically on a bike ride, I have the thought. And then I, because I have a hands-free headset on, I literally say, okay, Google, take a note. Now that I say that, I feel like I'm going to wake her up. In fact, yeah, I was doing right now. So and then I'll Google stuff. So then I'll, I'll leave the note. And then once in a while, once in a while,

I pop into my Google Keep and I see all the notes. And then I started kind of going from there. So you and I are kind of we kind of work the same way. You have the thought you just put it in the Google Keep. And that's where you can make sure you can pull it later and extrapolate. Yeah. Okay, we're the same. We're close, we're the same. Do you like Italian food?

I love Italian food. Do you like lasagna? I do like lasagna. Would you like a frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta? I will take it. Okay, that's a raving endorsement. Okay, so, because I mean, I got to give you something with the beer. So I got to, I want to just make sure you leave with a Palma Pasta lasagna that goes with your beer. And I want you to have a tip here, which is if you have old cables, old electronics,

old, maybe an old iPhone that hasn't worked in seven years, don't throw that in the garbage because the chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca, put in your postal code and find out where you can drop all of that off to be posted. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage.

And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage. And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage.

And if you have a beer that's not working, you can just leave it in the garbage because the chemicals end up in our landfill go to recycle my electronics dot ca Put in your postal code and find out where you can drop all of that off to be properly recycled So the chemicals do not end up in our landfill. You got it. I got it Okay, so you're taking these notes and Google keep and then you're writing your material, but how do you end up like for example? How do you end up on Canada's Got Talent? How do you get to a point where you're on the debaters? Just I know this is a longer but maybe you got a Reader's Digest version of how you go from a guy who accidentally ended up at an open mic for stand-up and now is on you know things like is headlining it just for laughs. I will tell you this I don't know if this is how it goes for

everybody but the debaters emailed me when they saw a joke of mine that went viral on TikTok that I had written. Canada's Got Talent emailed me when they saw a joke of mine that did really well. It might've actually even been the same joke. And so I have reached out to these people before. Like I have emailed people before and they have not responded to me and then

a year later they will see something else of mine and then respond to that email like oh I didn't see this and I was like yeah you did you just ignored it which is fine. So my and I'm not saying this is what works for everybody but the only thing that has ever worked for me is just like keep doing what you're doing doing. It sounds like the role of social media is everything in your career, like social media. And I did see in your bio. And again, I don't know if you're printing the legend or if this is true and you look like a trustworthy guy, but it says in your bio that your Desi Translations series has over 40 million views.

Yes, combined more than that. No. Yes. See. So I think what's happening now is the mainstream, if you will, the old school mainstream, the CBC producers of the debaters, and the people who are behind Canada's Got Talent, and the people at Jesper Laughs, and the people, even at people like Yuck Yuck's to a point. I think now they're now seeing what's getting traction on tiktok and other social media sites and then

they're like we want to leech off that like it's kind of flipped i also just think they wouldn't know what i'm about or how i'm it's like when you're when you're an artist and you're beginning and you're doing something new you you get annoyed that people don't see your vision for what you want to do, but you're doing something new. So if they did, it would already exist in a way and you wouldn't need to do it. So it's just that at some point you hit critical mass and people start... like the people that believe in you at the beginning of your career are very different from the people that believe in you 10 years in. And because the people that believe in you at the beginning of your career are very different from the people that believe in you 10 years in. And because the people that believe in you,

believe in you, the 10 years in people, they just believe in the people that believe in you. Or they believe in the 40 million views. Yeah, like it's, so I'm like, you know, all of the peripherals, they'll go away as easily as they came in. So I try not to put any faith in industry for that reason. But you still need industry.

Like, I guess we did touch on this earlier, but maybe because I'm a fiercely independent guy who leaves, you know, who will leave money on the table just to kind of do it myself or whatever. But like, are you at the point now where you realize, oh, I don't need I don't need CBC. I don't need just for laughs. I don't need yuck yucks. I don't need Canada's Got Talent. Like you don't need CBC, I don't need Just For Laughs, I don't need Yuck Yucks, I don't need Canada's Got Talent. You don't need these people. I am glad all of these places found me or I found them

and we started working together when I was in a position to be able to say no, because now I don't feel beholden and if I have a joke that I really want to tell, somebody tells me I can't tell it, I can still tell it by myself. So it would have been much, much different if I had found them like two years in. I feel like I would have been in a different position.

They would have had more power over me than I would have wanted them to have. And I would have not enjoyed it. Now it's like I'm working with all of these people and they are okay with me doing what I want to do. So I'm happier this way. Well, I'm happy for you. And that's an inspiring story to be honest,

from where I sit over here. But now I realize here, I know I said I'd take an hour, I'm taking a little longer, is that okay? Yeah. You don't have like a dentist appointment or something in 15 minutes. I just have to be a comedy bar for 1 p.m. Okay. Was that right? Okay. Well we don't have long to go here except I realize I now have a very funny stand-up in my

basement here in the TMDS studio making his Toronto mic debut. Welcome to the club, Ashwin. And now I realize you're from India. You're an Indian Canadian. So are you now a citizen of Canada? I'm an indesident. Okay. So it's the next step is citizenship. Is that something on your radar? It's on the radar. I was still testing the waters.

I'm hesitant to give away any degree of my identity for any something else. So I did the philosophical idea of like giving away an Indian passport, it just, I don't know if it feels just right for me yet, but it might happen. Is that the deal? Like can you, you can't keep both? Yeah, I can't have a dual citizenship. I think Canada allows it, but India doesn't.

It just, I feel too connected to both people. And right now permanent residence just feels like this is the way in which I'm connected to, like I get to be connected to both Canadians and Indians the way I have it right now. At some point it will change because quite honestly it is easier to go to a lot of places with the Canadian passport so it will be a decision. I believe I am already eligible for the citizenship but also if Canadians think and say that I am Canadian, that is all the verification I need.

A permanent resident sounds like enough of a commitment. It's like, oh, we're going steady here. We're engaged. I mean, I tell the jokes and I'm like, you know what the word permanent and permanent resident means? It means if you don't like this, I stay. The big P there. So, the reason I bring up the fact that you're Indian is because listeners of this show know how much I have loved The Simpsons since I saw them on the Tracy Ullman show.

So we're going back to like 87. Are you gonna ask me an apple question? I'm gonna ask you, yeah. Like what are you gonna do? You can storm out here. That's also a little fantasy I have by the way. This is episode what? 1700 I gotta go check the notes

But it's 17 something at some point a guest is gonna be pissed off enough to storm out of here, right? Right because that that will happen eventually right like I'm not I don't treat my I always treat all my guests with respect And I don't want you to do it for show like it's got to be a sincere authentic storm out But one day I'm gonna say something or we're gonna have a conversation where the guest will storm, like it's got to be a sincere, authentic storm out. But one day, I'm going to say something or we're going to have a conversation where the guest will storm out. Like that's a numbers game, right? I think so, but I don't think it'll be a comedian. It won't be you and it won't be now, but I'm going to play a bit of a poo. And then we're going to talk about that poo and you'll say whatever you want. But I have a couple of questions.

Okay. So here's my, I think this might be my favorite, actually, of all the, the poo any things on the history of the Simpsons. I think this is my favorite. You see, whether igloo, heart, tolintu, or a geodesic dome, there's no structure I have been to, which I'd rather call my home. Hello! When I first arrived, you were all such jerks, but now I've come to love!

Your quirks, Maggie with her eyes so bright, March with hair by Frank Lloyd Wright, Lisa can't be lost of eyes, but the depth that spinning lies, Oh, Mercedes, delightful fella, sorry about the Salmonella. Heh heh, that's okay. Ah! Who needs the Quickie Mart? Now here's the tricky part. Oh, won't you rhyme with me?

Who needs the Quickie Mart? There goes our Sticky Mart. They made that Sticky Mart. Let's hurl a Bricky Mart. The Quickie Mart is real dope! Who needs the Quickie Mart? Not me. Forget the Quickie Mart.

Goodbye the Quickie Mart. Who needs the Quickie Mart? Not me. Everything really wrapped up nicely. Much quicker than usual. I guess we learned that happiness is wherever you find it. And we've all found happiness. Every one of us.

Hey, what's that sound? Who needs the quickie Mart? Hey, he's not happy at all he lied to us through song I hate when people do that Ashwin you're a better singer than Apu. I've heard you both today. That's just my call. My my personal opinion on that. I appreciate that. And Apu, of course, voiced there

by Hank Azaria, the only person who's ever voiced Apu on The Simpsons. Hank Azaria is a white guy. What are your thoughts on Apu considering they don't he doesn't talk at all anymore? There is no more Appu on The Simpsons. I'm curious how you feel as an Indian stand-up comic.

Vir Das is another Indian comic that had a joke about Appu. He's talking specifically to children of immigrants or people like Indians that live abroad with accents of not Indians. He goes, Appu, whose accent isn't weird to me? Yours is. You are the weird. Because Akash Singh had to think about,

this guy is a doctor or like he like the character like Moved to America like typical immigrant story made something of himself. Why is this a racist character? It's like the most positive image of an immigrant you could have I think and then Hank Azaria himself was like I think that guy think his take was that the character is okay But maybe I shouldn't have been the one to voice it. Right. And then, then the accent itself was a little bit stronger. I think, I don't, I don't think my accent is as strong as whatever that was. So I think there's, um, I was literally,

mimicry is an art form, right? It's part of comedy. I was just watching like a great Indian comic talk about mimicry. And his thing was if you go to people and you mimic their accent perfectly they don't get mad at you, they appreciate you for what you just did it's when you get like 50% of the way or 70% of the way but not all the way there then it sounds like a... the thing is an imperfect impression of somebody

sounds like a caricature of that person, right? So that upsets them. It's like, are you, cause they go, this is not what I am. Do you think this is what I am? And sometimes the answer is no, I don't think that's what you are. I'm just not doing it well enough, right? So like, I don't think we should

like conflate imperfection or like somebody being bad at their job or somebody being racist at their job. That being said, I think it's not as great of an accent. So if this character were voiced by a person of Indian descent, it would be okay? I think the accent would be closer and then the character itself. I haven't seen that much of the Simpsons, but the backstory of the character, I don't find particularly offensive.

I am also the wrong person to ask, I don't find anything particularly offensive. Nothing offends you. So of course that poo is not good with anything. Yeah, like we could go into the like the philosophical ramifications of this happening, but if I saw the TV show, would I leave going like this? I don't care. Okay, so let me ask you a different question because like as I mentioned this character has been deleted basically

Simpsons made a decision as a show that they weren't gonna have people of color voiced by people who are by white people basically So they did recast a bunch of the roles like dr. Hibbert, for example, is now voiced by a black man They didn't recast a poo. They just sort of deleted a poo and I guess i'm wondering if if you were in if you were king for a day king of the simpsons here disney says you're in charge Now, okay, there are your dreams coming true here, uh ushwin But like would it be better to just keep a poo retired? here, Ashwin, but like, would it be better to just keep a poo retired because we no longer want a poo voiced by Hank Azaria, or would you rather they resurrect a poo, but just let somebody of Indian descent voice the character?

I don't know. Those are your two options. We would have to... You're on the hot seat here. I would poll all the Indians that watch The Simpsons and ask them because I don't you don't watch Yeah, so like it would be a business decision and like philosophically speaking a I would I would tell Hank to do a better accent. Honestly, I just be like go learn the accent If you can do it perfectly, I care about the skill more than I care about the

representation of it all, at least in this case. Do you care at all about, forget Simpsons for a moment, put it aside, but do you care about representation of, you mentioned, I think you made a joke earlier about how if Indian people aren't here now, they're coming or something? Like there is, basically I made a crack that in Toronto, you'd think there'd be less racism.

And I made it, I think my joke was, if you don't like brown people, you're going to have a bad time. Like, and then you're like, well, you're going to have a bad time anywhere. Do you care if there is representation of people of South Asian descent on other shows, like non-cartoon shows but just on television in movies. Yes, but I don't think the solution is to stop people from doing something. I think the solution is to do it. I get to be the representation.

I get to be the representation. I get to be Indian on stage in Canada and be Indian when I am doing so. Nobody can take my position, right? But I wouldn't go up to like a like a white comic doing an impression like an or like a like an Indian accent and go you shouldn't do that. Especially if they're doing it well. If they're doing it badly I would say you didn't do that, you shouldn't do that, but only because they're doing it badly. So it's like whoever wants representation, their solution is like build the

thing, do the thing, become the thing. Right. But to stop other people from pursuing like their creative expression, for me, it ends up falling into the same trap of policing and censoring things. Be the change you want to see in the world. Write that in Google Keep. That's a good one. I absolutely will not. You made me sound like Obama. There's worse people to sound like. Good point. Oh I miss Obama in his tan suit. Remember that was the big Obama controversy. Fox News didn't like the fact he wore a tan suit. Yeah, he violently clashed with the skin color of the country he lived in. Ashwin, this was a great chat and I'm just like really happy for you that you're going

to be headlining at the Comedy Bar on September 24th. That's for just for laughs. That's a big deal, man. You should feel proud. Thank you for having me, man. I appreciate that. And how do people like, are there still tickets? Can people come see you at the Comedy Bar on September 24th?

Yes, they can. Tickets just went live a couple days ago, so they can just go to Comedy Bar's website. It's comedybar.ca. They can just type in my name and they'll find the tickets. And I did, like, I went to your website to see, where else are you going to be? And I see, like, you're heading out west. There's a lot of west Canadian gigs. But then I see the odd like there's a gig in India. So

it's you know, you're you're all over the place. So what is the name of your website where people can see? So my website is ashwin.me, A-S-H-W-Y-N.me. I have a full Canada tour in September and October, every major city, and then a full India tour in November. Are you going to Edmonton? I am. Okay, shout out to Edmonton. My two youngest kids are there right now so I just wanted to shout out Edmonton that's where they are right now. Maybe they'll go back and see you there but it's a shorter trip to see you at the Comedy Bar on September 24th. Thank you for that and thank you for not storming out when I asked you about Apu.

This is bullshit. Was it difficult? No, because you're an easygoing guy. It's going to take a lot to offend you. I'm going to have to work harder. Your second appearance I'll work harder on offending you and see if I can get you to finally storm out. I look forward to it. And that brings us to the end of our 1740th show. Maybe my next guest will storm out. Go to torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery. Ashwin's got his craft beer here. He's taking home with him. Palma Pasta. I've got a lasagna in the freezer. Toronto's Waterfront BIA.

There's so much to do on the waterfront this summer. Recyclemyelectronics.ca. Blue Sky Agency, our newest sponsor. Welcome to the team. And Redleaf Funeral Home. I see you using your measuring tape. What are you measuring over there? I just wanted to see what four inches looks like. Ha ha ha ha ha. See you all tomorrow. When Jeremy Hopkins drops by, we're going to talk about Sunnyside, the Pavilion and more.

A lot of great Toronto history is going to be dumped on the program tomorrow. Don't you dare miss it. See you then. Music I'm gonna be a star, I'm gonna be a star I'm gonna be a star, I'm gonna be a star I'm gonna be a star, I'm gonna be a star I'm gonna be a star, I'm gonna be a star I'm gonna be a star, I'm gonna be a star You