SEASON 2 EPISODE 4
I come from a place worse than Kenya... I'm from Adelaide.Paul Ndungu, Comedian
Aditya Gautam
I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land I'm recording from. I pay my respect to the Cammaraygal people and their elders, past and present. I also acknowledge the traditional owners from all Aboriginal and Torres State Islander lands. You're listening from coming up in this
episode.
Paul Dongo
In that past, we didn't choose chiefs like that. We had tribal elders. And so, like, my family was actually in trouble when the British left. so there was infighting between them.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah, I had my first third world country experience in this country.
Paul Dongo
Yes.
Aditya Gautam
Like, you know what I mean?
Paul Dongo
Yes, yes, I know exactly what you mean. People ask me, oh, your English is your second language. You're doing it so well. For me, literally, it's my first language. It's what I've spoken my entire life. So, like, I started when I was three, remember, like, the first month I got to Australia, like,
after I settled down, I'm finally like, okay, now let me go look for the comedy club. So I went and I saw it like, I know where it is. M and then I walked away.
Aditya Gautam
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Comedy Karma season two. I'm, Aditya Gautam, your host. In this podcast, I talk to comedians from all over the world who now live and perform stand up comedy in Australia. today's podcast, I'm talking to the one and only Paul Dongo from Kenya. He's a Kenyan Australian
comedian. he's been performing comedy, all over Australia in sellout shows for the last few years. Today's show, I'm going to talk to him about a lot of things connected to, Kenya and Australia and comedy. Let's start the show with one of his jokes.
Paul Dongo
There's other shit. I don't understand what you guys say. Like, the other day I was at work and a friend of a friend of mine asked me, hey, Paul, you're from Kenya. From Kenya. Is it muggy in Kenya? Like, I didn't know what they meant. I was like, I get mugged like once or twice a year. Wouldn't
describe it as muggy, you know, just a tiny bit thieving, just.
Aditya Gautam
Hello, Paul. Welcome to the podcast, man.
Paul Dongo
I'M teacher. Good to be here. Good to be here, man.
Aditya Gautam
The one. I'll tell you the one. I struggled with the word, the English language, word that I struggled with the word polythene. in Delhi and stuff. We call plastic bags polythenes. It's such a weird thing that we do it. I only realised how weird that is when I first asked for a polythene hair and
they obviously didn't get it. and then I thought about it, I was like, man, polythene is a. Like, it's weird to call something by its chemical formula, like, name. how come
Paul Ndungu
We also call it that?
Aditya Gautam
You also call it polythene?
Paul Dongo
Yes, it's polythene bags. Because I. I guess maybe because the Indians sell it to us. Maybe they just give us the name. But yeah, it's. It's pretty common, I think, apart from here. polythene.
Aditya Gautam
I thought it's only an Indian thing.
Paul Dongo
No, no, no, it's everywhere.
Aditya Gautam
Again, I do this joke about why I can speak good English. Yeah, but I. How come you can speak good English?
Paul Dongo
I keep getting asked this, but, you know, it's probably the same reason as you. Because the British were in Kenya for many, many years. I think they got there in, like, the 1800s. They left. They still haven't left. They're still there. So, like.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah, they're still there.
Paul Dongo
Yeah, there's people, like, still with their families there. Like people who've been there for probably four generations or something.
Aditya Gautam
Ah.
Paul Dongo
And so they're like. They're white generational Kenyans. Like, they've never. They've never lived anywhere else. Or maybe they visited, but, like, yeah, Kenya is their home. And they're like, oh, yeah, they speak the language and everything, but the entire family has just been there. Yeah, that's
it.
Aditya Gautam
So. So when you got your independence, wasn't it. Was it like a bit, Like, was it like a bloody thing where there was a fight, there was fighting and they were forced to leave? Was it that kind of situation or.
Paul Dongo
you'd like to think so. But, the problem with us was, Because it was a divide and conquer thing. So they, like, They. They put some Africans under. Or there's some Kenyans, under their wing. And so they elevated them. Like, I come from one of those families where I. Our family was elevated by the
British. So you were like, My grandfather was a chief and, by British standards. But, like, in my community in that past, we didn't choose chiefs like that. We had tribal Elders. And so, like, this is controversial, but I think because, like, they still had those colonies, like right after World War
II. And they were like, oh, I don't think we should still be doing this, especially after what we just went through. Yeah. In Germany, I think they just left.
Aditya Gautam
okay, so. So was it weird? Like, they divided. Kenya is in the division. Like in India, the whole India, Pakistan thing happened. because they just decided that this is going to be two, three countries now.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
And. And they just drew the border out of thin air.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
There was no logical reasons for the way they drew the border.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
did something like that happen in Kenya too?
Paul Dongo
I think for us was, Yeah, because Kenya is. It's a. It's a British fiction. Like.
Aditya Gautam
Sure.
Paul Dongo
If you look at all the tribes in there, we have 50 tribes in there. And like, some of the tribes had beef against each other. So they're infighting in between those tribes until this day. Like, they'll be like, oh, we don't like this tribe. We don't like the other tribe because we were literally
fighting. And then all of a sudden these guys come and put you in one location. and then you have your allies, but you like your allies, so you're there together. And so I think that's, even to this day, why Africa is struggling so much. Because there's just so much history there. Like a country,
basically, you need a national identity for you guys to work. But if you have 20 individual national identities.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
Then getting those people to work together is just. It's almost impossible. You have to like, mix and remix them so that they can.
Aditya Gautam
So did this like all over Africa. Like, is almost every country similar story country.
Paul Dongo
Almost every country. Because, like, yeah, there were. We were just individual tribes and like 40, different tribes and like 40 different languages spoken and 40 different cultures individually. And so you find these people, like, if your cultures are close, you'd like, probably share the same
cultural. Yeah. some similar cultural, heritages and all that. But then you go further on and like, people are way different. Like, you know, they do. Like, we have rights of passes, so some people do a rite of passage in a different way. Like, so my tribe could look down on your tribe on how they
do the right of passages. Like, you guys are not real people, you're not real adults or, stuff like that. Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
So you went to an English medium school as well. Is that a similar setup or.
Paul Dongo
No, not really. Because us, for us there was. I guess it just depended on the, on the. On the school you went to, like, the private schools, those spoke mainly English. Public schools as well. So there's a huge. There's a very big understanding of English. So, like, yeah, so, like, people ask me,
oh, yo, yo, English is your second language. You're doing it so well. For me, literally, it's my first language. It's what I've spoken my entire life. So, like, I started when I was three. Like, my. My, my. What do you call it? Kindy preschool. Yeah. Was run by a white lady. and so when we went
there, we, like, started speaking English. Like, even the songs were singing. We're singing some of them in Swahili, which is our. Another national language, but we're singing in. In. In Indian. Ah. not in English. Yeah, I think you're influencing me a bit too much.
Aditya Gautam
We'll do that soon. Yeah, we'll take over and change everything to India.
Paul Dongo
Yeah. Then I, went to, like, primary school, and it was, it was a Catholic school, and it was run by Spanish people. Opus dei. Do you know the Opus Dei?
Aditya Gautam
No, Catholic.
Paul Dongo
Have you seen Da Vinci Code? Yes, the bad guys in Da Vinci Code.
Aditya Gautam
Oh, okay.
Paul Dongo
So the bad guys in Da Vinci Code were. Run my school. They were pretty nice. So it was run by Spanish people and then, But they were, Yeah, but they communicated in English and all that. Because that's Spanish people teaching African kids English English.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
So it was. It was just pure English all through and through.
Aditya Gautam
And so every subject was being taught in English, like history, geography, everything except the
Paul Ndungu
Kiswahili.
Aditya Gautam
everything else was in English.
Paul Dongo
Everything else was in English. Yeah, but, like, we have our own, like, form of, you know, pigeon English. You know, when you mix English with other languages, we m. Call it Sheng back home. So we also have that, but that's spoken now, majority outside. So the language you'll hear, like, in shops
and everything is a mixture of Swahili and English. Ah.
Aditya Gautam
what do you call it again? Yeah, so that's. Again, mixture of Swahili and English.
Paul Dongo
Yeah. Mix of Swahili and English. So, it will be English words with Swahili words.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
Up in there. So it's like, you'd have to be.
Aditya Gautam
You have to be Kenyan to understand.
Paul Dongo
Yeah, you have to be Kenyan to understand. Like, Are you going, Are you going to watch a movie on a movie? So it's like. Are you going? Yeah, yeah. So you just put in the English and all that?
Aditya Gautam
Yeah, yeah, we do that too. We call it Hinglish with a Hindi and English mixer.
Paul Dongo
But I think those will be like the major languages in the future. Like all those. Because now, and now we have like a dictionary on like chat GPT and everything. We have a sheng dictionary.
Aditya Gautam
You do?
Paul Dongo
Yeah, man, that's.
Aditya Gautam
I don't think we have a Hinglish dictionary. We should. That's great.
Paul Dongo
Yeah, man. Yeah. You have to. You have to.
Aditya Gautam
That's great. Yeah. okay, so that's, that's why. Because you actually studied English all your life, in English school, but at home you were speaking in Swahili, English as well.
Paul Dongo
So, my family, I don't know because we all went to like, proper, like, uptight English speaking schools. We all spoke English and they like, our schools are pretty involved with the parents. Our parents would come all the time. They'd speak in English. So it just became like it took over. My
parents, like, they speak our, traditional language, Kikuyu, a lot.
Aditya Gautam
Do you speak Kikuy as well?
Paul Dongo
Yeah, I.
Aditya Gautam
Or Swahili. Which one do you speak more fluently?
Paul Dongo
Swahili. But my, Swahili isn't even that good anymore. I can understand it, but now it's just taken over by Shang. Yeah, like, like proper Swahili. Very few people speak proper Swahili.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah, same, same.
Paul Dongo
Like you have it on, on, on the news and you're like, what did he say? It's like, it's too complex and complicated. You, like, simplify it down. Just mix it up. So like African societies, didn't have written language. It, was all, it was all, verbal.
Aditya Gautam
Ah.
Paul Dongo
okay, so even stories used to be told. Like these people who had, who had actual jobs of just listening to stories and memorising them and like passing them down, like using just your, your memory. And like a lot of people say like that that's how, community. That's how everything was passed down.
That's how I learned.
Aditya Gautam
Oh, I had no idea. That's interesting.
Paul Dongo
there is no concept of writing before the game. You just like, you just get educated just by storytelling and storytelling.
Aditya Gautam
Ah, interesting.
Paul Dongo
That's why it's such good comedians. Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
Ah, fair. Okay, we'll play the second joke, which is.
Paul Dongo
As you can tell from the face, the hands, the everything. I'm not from here. I'm from a place.
Audience member
Kenya.
Paul Dongo
Much, much worse. Much worse than Kenya. I'm, from Adelaide. Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
Man. People outside Adelaide love that joke, don't they? Lose their.
Paul Dongo
They love it so much. And it's Oh, my God. It, makes them feel. Yeah. I was. I was even thinking about expounding it more. It's like, why are you laughing like that? It's like. Yeah. You just think Adelaide is the worst place in Australia.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah. People. I think any from any city. If you make fun of a different city, people love it.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
especially if you make fun of cities which people usually don't make fun of. Yeah, people love it. Like. Yeah, screw that place. so I've lived in Adelaide, too, for one year. that's where we met. Yeah, that's where we met. Great. Like one of the best cities in the world for one month.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
And then just shit boring for the rest of the year. Why did you. Why did you end up m. Going to Adelaide? Was it for the same reason why we all go for the extra points?
Paul Dongo
Yeah. I just couldn't get into a university in Melbourne, so that was the next best place. But I was. I came with this, education agency. We have those. Do you have them?
Aditya Gautam
Yeah, of course.
Paul Dongo
To come here to study.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
And, what I didn't know is that this place, that agency had like, ties.
Aditya Gautam
Yes. I also had the similar experience. I also didn't know they have these ties and they. They send you there because of those ties.
Paul Dongo
They're trying to. They'll funnel you in there. I don't know if they're getting anything back, but, we seem to be a lot in those universities, so you just end up there and you're like, This is, so very, very, very many people from Kenya. It's like, why is this.
Aditya Gautam
From that one agency?
Paul Dongo
From that one agency. Yeah. But, yeah, so actually, they. They're very prominent in the Kenyan community and they were. We do all this like, when. When we have our. Our public holidays in Kenya. So we have them and we do them in Australia. And the agency has their. The agency like, sponsors them.
And you'll see all this agency in conjunction with blah, blah, blah, university, blah, blah, blah university, blah, blah, blah. And you're like, oh, that's why. That's why we all ended up here.
Aditya Gautam
Sure.
Paul Dongo
So I don't even think that I could. I couldn't get into Melbourne. I just think they were like, just.
Aditya Gautam
You just got, coerced into going to Adelaide.
Paul Dongo
They just sent a dodgy application letter to Melbourne. Yeah, yeah. And then they worked hard on the one here.
Aditya Gautam
Did you have other people you knew in Adelaide when you moved there?
Paul Dongo
No, no, no. actually, I met somebody. Oh, and something you realise when you get out of your or out of your home countries, like the world is so small and tiny. Like yeah, I, I didn't know anybody until I moved there. And then one of my friends back home, one of my oldest friends is like, oh, my
sister is there. M. Like, oh really? Like I know his sister. So I went and I met his sister.
Aditya Gautam
Ah, okay. So, but, but when you were coming in your head, you did not know anybody in Adelaide?
Paul Dongo
I did not know anybody then. I, the weirdest thing is like I sat my first uni class. I sat down and I sat next to this guy and he was Kenyan as well. I just looked in class and I saw, oh, this is a black guy. So I just went and sat next to him. It turns out he's Kenyan as well. Yeah, we just hung
out there for a bit. we just chatted for that class. Like, yeah, I'll see you later. And then later when my friend tells me, turns out this guy who I was sitting with is my friend's brother in law.
Aditya Gautam
Your friend from Kenya? He's his brother.
Paul Dongo
That's his brother in law.
Aditya Gautam
What the hell man?
Paul Dongo
And he's like so tiny. I'm like, what? It's like I've known, I've known them for probably 12 years and then I.
Aditya Gautam
I sister and yeah, from the same agency.
Paul Dongo
probably in the same unit, so probably same agency.
Aditya Gautam
It's a beautiful thing that agency is doing is bringing people together in different countries. Oh man, that's crazy. So you did end up meeting people even though you didn't, when you came here, you didn't know anybody. is how, how was it moving? So was, so this was first time you live, you were
living ah, away from home when you came to Adelaide. And so how was the experience? How was the first few years living away from home and you know, living in like a different country? How was it?
Paul Dongo
I, I had moved out of my parents house. So I was like living on my own back home in Kenya.
Aditya Gautam
Oh, okay.
Paul Dongo
Okay. Before I moved. So it wasn't really a big, it wasn't really a big thing like moving, moving out of their parents house. But like moving countries, that was pretty, that was something else. I was in a hostel for two months before I started living outside of the hostel. And that was, that was
that was a trip because I don't think I'd ever been in such a hostel because we're like in this former hospital.
Aditya Gautam
Oh.
Paul Dongo
And so I was living in basically like a ward or a Tiny bedroom.
Aditya Gautam
Damn.
Paul Dongo
Like a, single bed. And like I'm 6 foot 4. So that was a struggle. And then there's like 60 rooms on one floor.
Aditya Gautam
Oh, wow.
Paul Dongo
Yeah. And there's like. Oh, the sharing bathrooms is probably like six or seven, seven bathrooms. And all of you are just going in there and when you're, all of you are leaving probably at the same time because you're all going to uni or something. So just huge queues there. Then is a shared, there
was a shared living room with a shared kitchen, like six burners. But then if all 60 of you are deciding to cook, there's another line there. So it was. Oh, it was, it was quite interesting. But, isn't it weird that we.
Aditya Gautam
You, you have, you have your. Because it happened to me too. Yeah. I had my first third world country experience in this country.
Paul Dongo
Yes.
Aditya Gautam
Like, you know what I mean? What point did you start doing comedy? Where did comedy come to the picture?
Paul Dongo
I'd actually started thinking about it just before I came. Before I came, to Australia.
Aditya Gautam
Okay.
Paul Dongo
I was, I was, I didn't like my job back home. I was thinking about moving and I was like, when I'm coming to Australia, what do I want to do? I'd always been interested in stand up comedy.
Aditya Gautam
Okay.
Paul Dongo
Like, I remember watching my first, my first ever stand up comedian was Indian. The first guy I ever saw, Russell Peters. Russell Peters, Yeah. Red, White and brown. That was a killer. That was a killer. I remember getting it on a, on a VCD. I don't know if you remember VCDs and DVDs. Yeah, I
remember getting his special on there and I watched it. I watched it probably like 10, like 10 times and that's how good it was. And so I was watching, I was like, that's when I started getting into it.
Aditya Gautam
Like that's when, you know, it's so weird that, that, that stand up special from Russell Peters.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
Is, is so many people's first stand up special.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
I, I was speaking to Joe White. Yeah. he, he didn't even. He grew up in Australia mostly. Yeah. And even for him, the first stand up special was Russell Peters stand up special. I spoke to Chinese people, their first stand up special. Russell Peters, Indians. Obviously it was, it was just a
generational, like it was just.
Paul Dongo
I think it went viral.
Aditya Gautam
It went viral and it blew everybody's mind. I think it went viral more in our countries, like in, in Asia, Africa, than it did in Canada and America. I think more we, There were more fans Here than they were in America.
Paul Dongo
Most definitely.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
Because like, yeah, that's how it spread. Because my sister was in uni at the time and like she got it from her friend and then she brought it home and I got it and I spread it to other people and I just gave it and everybody was talking about, it's like, oh, look at this guy. It's like, be a man.
[Quoting comedy special]
Aditya Gautam
So you got into it and then what, what happened? What, what, what other, what other comedy.
Paul Dongo
After, after seeing that, that's when like, you know, I knew Dave Chappelle. I'd seen this, the Chappelle Show. That's, that's when I was like, oh, he's a stand up comedian. That's when I started like now going into the law.
Aditya Gautam
Okay.
Paul Dongo
And like finding people who I liked finding up. they're finding Patrice O'. Neill.
Aditya Gautam
Sure.
Paul Dongo
Norm MacDonald. probably my top like favourite comedians of all time. Yeah, yeah. Because they say whatever they want and they get away with murder.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
Get away with murder Yeah. And so I just see them and like I, I, I just loved them and loved what they did. I was like, this could be something I could do because I used to do like plays in school.
Aditya Gautam
okay.
Paul Dongo
I used to do like, I was class clowns making be trying to make people laugh and all that. I do enjoy doing that. So if I could get paid for that, that would be pretty good. So when I decided that I'm leaving, I was like, yeah, maybe I'll start. So even started, I googled like always, the comedy
club. This is like two months even before I got my visa.
Aditya Gautam
Ah, interesting.
Paul Dongo
Like two months. I'm like, oh, where's it? Where's the comedy club in Adelaide? Oh, what do I have to do is like, oh, you have to bring in one person and they have to pay 10 bucks for you to get on for the open mic. I was like, okay, Ah, now I have to find a friend to take. And so, yeah, when I got
here and I waited nine months to do it, it was very scary. I couldn't think.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
I couldn't get myself to go there.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
I remember like the first month I go to Australia, like after I'd settled down, I'm m finally like, okay, now let me go look for the comedy club. So I went and I saw it like, I know where it is. And then I walked away.
Aditya Gautam
The Great Rhino Room.
Paul Dongo
Yeah, the Great Rhino Room.
Aditya Gautam
Oh, wow. And Then nine months into it, you were like, shit, I gotta do like.
Paul Dongo
oh, I've been looking at this for so long and I, I actually told a friend and he laughed in my face. He's like, what the hell? What the hell do you think you're doing? Yeah, he's like, just take me, just take me. It's like, okay, fine, yeah, I'll take you. So then we went together and like. Yeah,
that's how it started.
Aditya Gautam
Did you how did the first set go?
Paul Dongo
I think you were there. Were you there?
Aditya Gautam
I don't think so.
Paul Dongo
No, I was. It was good. I have it saved. I have it on online. I have it on my YouTube channel.
Aditya Gautam
Did you prepare the jokes?
Paul Dongo
Yes, I'd prepared for probably six months. No, no, even longer. One and a half years.
Aditya Gautam
Oh, wow.
Paul Dongo
Because it's like from the period where I started thinking that coming to Australia to the point that I got here, then like nine months later.
Aditya Gautam
Interesting.
Paul Dongo
So I think I that five minutes for like probably one, one and a half years.
Aditya Gautam
No bad. I think I first saw you in Cranker. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, that's a prodigy. Yeah, no, I was like, no, no, I didn't think he was. I thought, I thought it was. Adelaide does, doesn't have many good comedians, let's face it.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
so you did stand out amongst. But that does not saying much. It's Adelaide.
Paul Dongo
I'm going to show this to everybody. They're going to fight you.
Aditya Gautam
Okay, I'm going to play the third joke. Oh, no, before that. I wanted to ask you, what, growing up in Kenya, what was your sort of exposure to comedy before you started seeing stand up comedy, just growing up young, what were your exposure to comedy? What kind of comedy was there in schools or homes
or in tv?
Paul Dongo
So they had a mix, so they had a mix of like you'd have like some Kenyan TV shows for a bit, then at prime time they'd bring in like some big like American TV shows. Then at late night they'd Yeah, they do like movies. So yeah, we'd have like Kenyan TV and then some of them like had Telemundos on
there.
Aditya Gautam
What's that?
Paul Dongo
This is like the, the, the Mexican soap operas. Oh, Spanish soap operas. So you watched a lot of those as well?
Aditya Gautam
Oh, I've never seen them.
Paul Dongo
Oh man, those, those will change. Have you seen like days, of your lives?
Aditya Gautam
Yes, I've seen that.
Paul Dongo
Yeah. Yeah, I' now it's like a Mexican version.
Aditya Gautam
Oh, so you were saying with subtitles.
Paul Dongo
Yeah, with subtitles, yeah. People used to, like, learn Spanish from that, Eduardo, like, because they're, like, certain lines where they'd repeat it and people catch on that.
Aditya Gautam
So funny to me, that f. Like, Kenyans growing up watching Mexican soap operas.
Paul Dongo
That's so absurd, dude. Yeah, so we. We had a variety. Like, We had Home and Away. We had, neighbours.
Aditya Gautam
Ah, you did have,
Paul Dongo
We had, like, Australian, TV going on for me. Mr. Bean. And I remember watching Mr. M. Bean and then watching Johnny English. Yeah. Like, I was. I was into that, and I was like, ah. Ah, this guy is so hilarious.
Aditya Gautam
He's so funny.
Paul Dongo
And then somehow I found out that he's an. He's an engineer. And I was like, oh, my God, this is the greatest human being ever to live like that. That guy was, What's his name?
Paul Dongo
What's his name?
Aditya Gautam
Rowan Atkinson.
Paul Dongo
I remember, like, in, In my year five English, Year five English, test, we were told for an assignment, we're like, oh, write a composition about your. Your. Your. Your hero, who you'd like to be. And I, like, put it down as, like, I want to be Rowan Atkinson.
Aditya Gautam
That's so funny, dude.
Paul Dongo
Mr. Bean, he says nothing. It's so hilarious. Then you go watch Johnny English, and it's just so. It's just so funny. It's like the. The whole parody thing of, like, James, Bond. I found. I love that movie.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
And then to find out, as well, he's an engineer, because I was smart as well, because I'm an engineer. Right. As well. So I was like, how he can, like, move through all those things and, like, be all those things are like, this is, like the. The greatest man ever. Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
So, was there. Was there any Kenyan actor or comedian which you kind of, looked up to?
Paul Dongo
Yeah. So, we had, this Phantom group, you know, a Phantom Troupe. Is that what you call them? Like, when there are a couple of people doing. Yeah, they're called the Redykyulass Group. And so they did sketch comedy, and it was the best. That was like. Yeah, we just came out, like, right after
Chappelle Show. and so they were doing sketch comedy, and they were doing, like, comedy, on, On political events. Just making fun of, like, the. The president at the time, which is a pretty huge deal. And they were so hilarious, and they brought up so many other comedians who came up on and, after
them, and they were, like, doing satire. they were doing. It's just Pretty high brow comedy. They're like, doing parodies of, of all the adverts and it was just amazing. And m. Yeah, I enjoyed them and they were so good till this day. Okay. One of them became a, politician. So everybody.
Aditya Gautam
Oh, wow, that's so funny. What's the name of the group again?
Paul Dongo
They're called Redykyulass
Aditya Gautam
They're Redykyulass And they did it in Swahili or English.
Paul Dongo
they did it in Sheng They did in everything. So, yeah, they did it in Swahili. They did in English. So like our, president at the time was with this older man who, who could only speak like slowly and in English. Like the, the most pure English you'll ever heard. He has like top tier vocabulary, but
he's just. The slur and how he would talk that was part of the joke is like, I am here indubitably. He's like saying all these high vocabulary words. You're like, oh my God, it's so good. And then they do. There's this other guy who was like the Minister of Defence and he only had a year for his
education, only went up to year four. And so they'd make fun of him. Speak like the dumbest guy you've ever done, you've ever met. Can't even speak in English, can barely speak in Swahili and he's just like talking rubbish.
Aditya Gautam
Okay, so they were a big influence.
Paul Dongo
To you as well? Yeah, they were so big. Then there was this other show which came up, which is the XYZ show, and that was, was like the Muppet show but also a parody. So they had like those stick figures and they made it into like all the politicians and stuff. So there's a lot of political humour
back home because I guess everything is just so up. It's nothing is.
Aditya Gautam
It's so easy to make fun of politics in, in our countries.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
Because it's so stupid and it's so. It's so all over the place.
Paul Dongo
It's the greed.
Aditya Gautam
The jokes are right there, right?
Paul Dongo
The jokes write themselves.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah. okay, I'll do the last joke.
Paul Dongo
which is like, I follow Kenya on my Instagram and on every day. It's kind of strange. It's like, you know, having a toxic ex. Me and Kenya, when you're inside, you're like, can't stand this. But when you leave, you're like, I missed that thing so soon. stalking Kenya on Instagram all the time. Hey,
Kenya is getting a bit suburb.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah, I'm not gonna play the full joke because we wouldn't get it. The rest of it is very Kenya specific. But that's such a funny joke. So for me, that was really funny. I actually, I've never seen you do it live. yeah. It's because, man, it's such a weird thing that happens to us immigrants who
move to a different country after we've grown. Like after we're, adults, is that you miss your country and you start, for once you've lived overseas, you start forgetting the bad things and you just miss the good things. And you go back and then you're reminded of the problems in the country. And
it's like a loop. It happens every time I stay here for one year and I start missing India, and I start, I only remember all the good things. And then I go back and I'm like, ah, man, this place has problems. And I'm reminded every time I go back. But then I come back and then I miss it again. It's
exactly what your joke is.
Paul Dongo
it is toxic. It is a toxic, toxic relationship because it's, it's so good. Like, I, I, I got, deported last year. Yeah. They sent me and like, you know, everything was so good. Like, when I went back home, like, the food, you just eat the food. You're seeing family, you're having a good time, and
it's so great. And then politics happens and you have to go riot against the government. So what? It's, it's, yeah, it's like a horrible, horrible relationship, where you can't live with it and can't live without. Without it.
Aditya Gautam
It's such a weird relationship. It's so another thing that happens is, I don't know if you felt this. I'm m sure you did. Is that when I came to Australia, I, I started becoming patriotic about India. I was not patriotic at all when I was in India. When I moved, I started, like, feeling love for the
country. Yeah. I. Did that happen to you?
Paul Dongo
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because even now, like, I, live, I live with Kenyans, a few Kenyan housemates. And like, we watch the news, we watch Kenyan news, we'll wake up like, I, I was patriotic. And, I'd say I love my country, but, like, you know, just circumstances just makes it you to live there. And,
But I'd say I was, but like, it gets you feeling more, more homesick. And you're like, oh, you want to keep up. Like, I follow so many investment channels, like on YouTube and stuff. Just looking at. I don't want to See the depressing. I just want to see it getting better. So I look up, like, all
these investment companies. I'm just watching, like, oh, I like it. Seeing things grow and things being better. And speaking of patriotism, I even got. Last, time I was there, I even got. Ended up getting a tattoo.
Aditya Gautam
Oh, nice.
Paul Dongo
I don't know if you can see that, but, yeah, that's like the shield of, Kenya. Because our flag has a shield in between.
Aditya Gautam
Oh, nice. patriotism.
Paul Dongo
Just patriotism. I was really drunk. I was like, I love this country. Put it on me. M. Stamp on me. Put her name on my hand. So much of a toxic ex. It is. Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
Is it? Man? That's news thing is so true. It happens to all Indians, man. We're always watching Indian news when we're here for two reasons. One, obviously, we're missing the country and we want to know what's going on there. And second, Australian news is so boring. So our news is so much more
interesting. Oh, my God, shit's going on.
Paul Dongo
Yeah, there's this action. There's actually things happening. Like, I watched the 7 news. Like, oh, there's been three cats missing this week.
Aditya Gautam
Traffic jams. that's their news. Like, we've had a traffic jam.
Paul Dongo
Oh, my God. It's so basic. It's very basic. Basically. Yeah. This is the new boring girlfriend, who. She's stable, but yeah.
Aditya Gautam
What do you miss the most about Kenya? Like, obviously, apart from the family. We all miss our families. Apart from family, what do you m. Most miss about it?
Paul Dongo
It's the nightlife. The nightlife is. I think it's. It's the most insane nightlife days in the world.
Aditya Gautam
So firstly, you're from Nairobi.
Paul Dongo
From Nairobi, yeah. I think we're borderline alcoholics. We do enjoy. We do enjoy a beverage every now and then. And, basically it's the ease of. Of getting. Of getting. We were even talking about this yesterday, like, you know, the. The relationships here. Like business, like, you know, you have to
make. You have to make plans, you have to make reservations. You have to like, pretty think meeting your friends. But back home, like, you'd leave work at 5pm and you'd. You'd have a day, and you just call your friend. You're like, hey, I had a bad one. Can we meet at the bar? It's like, I had a bad
one too. Let's go.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
And it's just a matter of, a phone call, just going to meet people, and then you end up just like having some of the craziest and wildest nights out. It's just so good. I think, yeah, the social life is. Is what I miss the most.
Aditya Gautam
Okay, nice. Because, Because you were obviously, you were living alone anyway before you came. So you must have had like, lots of friends and lots of social life when you came. And then you came to Adelaide.
Paul Dongo
Yeah, man. So, yeah. Don't get me started.
Aditya Gautam
After 7pm everything shut down.
Paul Dongo
Oh my God. You have to get to the restaurants before. Before nine, otherwise it's a problem. Yeah. Oh, shopping on Sunday. Oh, you're not able to.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah, man, it's so. Yeah, the nightlife is definitely. Yeah. Ah, it's really vibrant, in India too. I don't think it's as white like it sounds like. It's even more vibrant in Nairobi, to be honest, the nightlife. But, I think what, for me, what I miss is just that. Just that idea. Even if it's not
going out and drinking is just that idea that if you wanted to, even at 1am you could go out and eat out.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
It's. You don't have to think about it. There will be places open at 1am you can eat good food. So.
Paul Dongo
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Aditya Gautam
So there's always something open.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
In Delhi. You know what I mean? At any time, you just have to know where it's open and there's always something open. m. And that's just like. It's a different kind of feeling when you're living in a place like that. It's kind of more liberating. Where do you, Would you ever consider moving back?
Paul Dongo
yeah, definitely. Definitely. but I would. That would be not. Not now, but definitely. I don't see myself, especially when I get to retirement age, I don't see myself being in Australia. Okay. Yeah. You know, first of all, family. Yeah. Family is really important. Like, Yeah. I think a lot about
moving back was like, even my parents are getting up there and like you're thinking you want to be there for them.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah, man. That's a tricky one, isn't it? Yeah, it's a tricky one. All first people who move.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
Because it's a parent part. Because they, they want to live. They don't want to move to freaking Adelaide at that age. That's their whole life is there. Their whole family is there. Their whole friend circle is there there. They're there. So it's your choice. Do you. When they're old and they need
You. Because they will.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
Do you go there or what do you do? It's such a very big problem in. In everyone's head.
Paul Dongo
Yeah. No, nobody talks about it, but, like.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
Especially when. When. Yeah. Then when they're up there, just starting to get there. Up there in age, like. Yeah. Like, Yeah, I went back last year and my dad was, like, sick and everything, and I was taking him to hospital every. Every week and everything. And you're just sitting there, like, in
the. You're thinking, when I leave, like, who's gonna be doing this? And who's. Who's gonna. I have brothers and sisters there. But as well, it's like, I want to be there.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
If this happens again, I want to be able to, like, come m. To the hospital rather than just talk to somebody on the phone.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
Yeah. I want to be present. And then also, kids growing up, like, I have nephews and nieces, and you're just seeing them hitting milestones, just hitting them, hitting birthdays, and you're like, ah, yeah. No, ah, you want to be there as well.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
Yeah. So it's, just trying to see what you can do. And, you know, Because, to be fair, we are economic immigrants.
Aditya Gautam
Yes.
Paul Dongo
We're here for the. For the economics of the country.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
You know, we're here to help the hunter the country. We're here to work. Yeah. But other than that, it's like, you know, back home is where everything is. Yeah. And like, we. We're having eastern and like, you just see pictures in the group chat, in the family group chat, and you do feel sad.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
That's a very important point you're making, that we're economic immigrants. It's a very big difference to being an economic immigrant versus being an immigrant from a place where there's. There's war or there's. There's, like. Because, like, in our countries, it's fine. Like, we. We can live there.
There's no problems.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
It's just the economics of it has made us want to come here. We can earn more money, get better pays and stuff.
Paul Dongo
Stuff. Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
But things aren't that bad back home. no.
Paul Dongo
like, there's people living. Well, like, good lives back home.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
Like, if I. If I had their jobs, I would. I would not think of coming here. Yeah. So it's like, It's. It's. It's a tricky one. It's a tricky one because, like, you know, you come here because essentially my thoughts coming here is like, ah, I'm gonna come and like, like just get the skills and the
knowledge and just go back home. But then you get a job, you start getting your roots here and you know, it just becomes, you know, a bigger and bigger deal.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
And you're like, ah, you know, just might stay. Yeah, you just might stay. Every age, stay longer and longer and longer.
Aditya Gautam
I think, I think a lot of it will depend on once you get married.
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
And does your wife want to move back? or is she even from Kenya if she's not Kenyan? Maybe, she want to move at all and things get more complicated then, so. Yeah. Because I've seen that happen to a lot of people once they get married, it gets more complicated. But obviously Kenya has dual
citizenship, so even you become a citizen, you'll always be a Kenyan citizen. So that's, I guess, a good thing. So I'll ask this question I've asked every guest is, what do you think is your favourite thing about Australia? And then your least favourite thing about Australia?
Paul Dongo
Favourite thing about Australia? The salary.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah. Good answer.
Paul Dongo
Yeah, it's good. yeah, just basically, I think it's, it's the, it's the appreciation of labour and appreciation of you doing your work because that's not something you can get everywhere. Like, you, you do, you do your work, you get appreciated for that and you get paid, obviously. But this is the,
the working conditions here are probably some of the best. Yeah. You'll ever find anywhere in the world. So I appreciate that a lot. I like the cities. I like the way you're able to travel around. Yeah. Moving around, that's pretty fun. what I dislike most is probably the social life. The social
life isn't, She isn't conducive to Africans. Like. Yeah, you, you have a lot of, you know, you have, In speaking about the working conditions, you also have a lot in such that like, people are working at all times and like there's people doing shift work. So I have a lot of friends doing shift work.
So like you're. And they have to have to go to work. so their, their, their timetables get a bit harder, but I guess it's the same anywhere else. But like, if you want to see your friend, it's like, oh, when are you free? When, when I shift opening up, when I shift opener. It's a whole process.
Aditya Gautam
Yeah.
Paul Dongo
Which is, I don't think we don't have that in case, like, are you free? Yeah. Yes or no? I'm free in Two hours. I'll see you in two hours. Where? Here? It's like, oh, I have this and this and this and then. Yeah, yeah.
Aditya Gautam
you. Do you plan to move to any other city in Australia?
Paul Dongo
Yeah, honestly, if. Yeah, I wish. I, I'd like to move. I'd like to get out there, get to a big city. Yeah, yeah. Or coastal city. All the coast. All the cities are coastal. Yeah, but like east coast. I've thought about moving to the east coast quite a bit. Also. I like Perth. Perth is probably, one
of my favourite cities. I like Perth and maybe Sydney. I just might follow you.
Aditya Gautam
Okay. Yeah, fair. cool, man. That was, that's it. That was the whole conversation, man. Thanks for having a chat. do you have, have any, like social media handles you want to give shout out to that people can follow you and see where you're doing shows and check out your clips that you post?
Paul Dongo
Yeah, you could check me out, Paul. the Black on Instagram.
Aditya Gautam
That's the name of your Instagram?
Paul Dongo
Yeah.
Aditya Gautam
Oh my God, man. I don't know if we can say that on sbs, but we'll do it.
Paul Dongo
I'm on Tik Tok. I'm on everywhere. Yeah, you can check me out.
Aditya Gautam
It's at Paul the Black. Yeah, well, fair man. If anyone can have that handle, you can.
Paul Dongo
Somebody actually sent me a picture. They got a comment on, TikTok today and it's like, oh, Paul Black commented on it and it's just a different white guy. It's like, I found the guy who you stole your identity from.
Aditya Gautam
Damn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you can have it. That's fine. cool, man. thanks for doing it. Okay, thanks everybody. Thanks for watching Comedy Karma season two with Paul Ndungu Go watch other episodes. I have other comedians from different parts of the world and we talk about, about fun stuff. Ah, I'm
M. Aditya Gautam, your host. you can follow me on, Aditya. I try. otherwise, have a good life. Thank you. Comedy Karma is an SBS original podcast. It was created and produced by me, Aditya Gautam, with editing help from Tarun Tiagi. I would like to give a huge thanks to the SBS teams at the
Melbourne and Sydney offices and to Joel Supple for her guidance. You can find Comedy Karma on SBS or on any other platform where you get your podcasts. Go listen to more episodes and listen to more jokes. Go do it.
