S02E16 Samira Banks, [Unnamed language]/German/English speaker - From an unidentified country in the Middle East

Winner of the prestigious So You Think You Are Funny competition in 2023, Samira Banks is a bright new star making waves on the UK comedy circuit. Her trademark jokes include her family’s journey fleeing their homeland as refugees. The crowd’s laughters are often raucous but some sensitive souls amongst them also pull their faces wondering. “Are we supposed to joke about refugees?”On stage, Samira refers to her heritage as a broad “from the Middle East.” She never specifies which specific country that is. This question thus forms the central discussion of this episode and explains why in the episode title, both her mother tongue and her native country remain unspecified.Growing up in Germany and moving to the UK for work, Samira is another guest with an international accent that is hard for others to associate it with a specific place. Samira shares her family’s stories and why a reunion of her extended family would turn into a mishmash of accents.---------------------------------Follow Samira on InstagramFollow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram---------------------------------If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]:58 Intro03:58 An international accent that is hard to pin down06:58 Picking up multiple languages growing up08:31 Why Samira chooses not to specify her home country when performing13:09 Family history of fleeing and becoming refugees settling in different western countries16:51 A closely-knit family and the elders’ funny views on romance and marriage18:39 Between the English language, the German language and her mother tongue19:48 German speakers refusing to see Samira as German20:50 Some other complaints about German speakers23:50 German v.s. British25:22 Samira’s past naive assumption of anyone with accents from the north of England27:04 Middle class refugees’ “privileges”29:29 Difficulties of handling refugee experiences as comedy materials31:52 What does Samira think about her position telling her parents’ life experiences?35:59 Samira’s social media--------------------------------Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe