Standing Up for the Truth

A sign in the back of the comedy club boasted that many of the comics who performed there had also appeared on Letterman and Leno. It was "new talent" night, and I watched people quickly fill the seats. As the show progressed, I was worried that I might be heckled— especially by a group of rowdy boys who laughed sarcastically when jokes failed. When their comedian friend took the stage, some of them got up and roared. I wasn't sure how I would handle the crowd if they shouted over me. When the comic stepped down from the stage, his friends kept yelling his name, even when the emcee tried to tell a joke.

The emcee didn't command any authority. He waited for them to calm down before he introduced me: "Our next comic is very funny. He's a regular American, a slice of Middle America, someone who came right out of 'Leave It to Beaver'."

I tried to take the mike off the stand, but pulled it so hard that the stand toppled over. I caught it just in time and began right away: "Let me explain the turban." I pointed to my head, paused for a second, and widened my eyes and let them roam around the room. "I just came back from an extreme makeover! "When they laughed, I quickly added, "And maaaaan, do I look sexy!"

It didn't go at all smoothly when I began performing stand-up comedy. The slicing sounds of silence in response to my jokes felt emasculating. Afterward, my friends told me that I had rushed my material, and that I was too mild, defanged almost.

I began doing stand-up to educate my fellow Americans about my religion. I wanted to show that Sikhs were not fanatical Muslims. I laced jokes with facts conveying that 99 percent of people with turbans in America were Sikhs, that Sikhism started in India 500 years ago and was now the fifth largest religion in the world. We believed in one God and equality for all, regardless of race, color, gender, religion and caste. But I was not funny.

I started reading books on stand-up comedy. After performing on each new-talent night, I stayed till the end to watch other comics and studied the audience to see how each age group reacted differently. At home I watched professional comedians on Comedy Central for hours and changed my material, making it more biting and provocative.