Something to Declare: Immigrants' Stand Up Comedy in the UK

我是第一代移民，同时也是一名单口相声演员和学者。因此，我的主要研究问题是：英国第一代移民单口喜剧演员如何利用喜剧表演在当代关于移民的话语中定位自己？移民脱口秀如何在讨好和对抗之间取得平衡，这将如何影响英国关于移民的更广泛辩论？这项研究将对当代英国社会中种族和民族边缘化漫画的政治潜力产生重要的见解。它将以现有的学术研究为基础，阐述移民单口喜剧演员运用的具体表演策略，以把握单口喜剧提供的政治机会和陷阱。英国拥有950万移民（Migration Observatory 2020）。尽管14%的英国人口出生在国外，但移民问题仍然是英国政治辩论的前沿。在英国脱欧即将生效之际，新冠肺炎疫情也加剧了反移民情绪（Gamlen 2020）。这个项目将记录和分析移民单口喜剧演员在这种背景下的复杂角色，考虑表演者的目的和意图，以及他们与观众的对话。继第二代移民喜剧演员如奥米德·贾利利和罗梅什·兰甘纳坦的成功之后，移民喜剧演员在英国的知名度在过去的二十年中得到了提高。这一趋势与少数族裔、女性和LGBTQ+演员在喜剧舞台上的更多参与相吻合。但是，当有关移民在英国的权利的紧张局势日益加剧时，这些移民喜剧演员将自己置于英国霸权移民话语的何处？

I am a first-generation immigrant who is also a working stand-up comedian and academic.As such, my primary research question is: how do first generation immigrant stand-ups in the UK use comedic performance to position themselves within contemporary discourses about migration? How do immigrant stand-ups strike a balance between ingratiation and confrontation, and how might this impact broader debates about migration in the UK? This research will result in significant insights into the political potential of racially and ethnically marginalised comics in contemporary British society. It will build on existing scholarship by explicating the specific performance tactics employed by immigrant stand-ups to navigate the political opportunities and pitfalls that stand-up comedy provides.The UK is home to 9.5 million migrants (Migration Observatory 2020). Although 14% of the UK population was born abroad, migration remains at the forefront of British political debate. At the very moment when Brexit is coming into effect, anti-immigrant sentiment has also intensified due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Gamlen 2020). This project will document and analyse the complex role of immigrant stand-up comedians within this context, considering the aims and intentions of the performers, as well as the their dialogue with audiences. Following the success of secondgeneration immigrant comedians like Omid Djalili and Romesh Ranganathan, migrant comedians in the UK have gained visibility in the last two decades. This trend matches the greater inclusion of minorities, women and LGBTQ+ performers within the comedy scene. But where do these immigrant comedians place themselves in relation to the UK's hegemonic migration discourse when the tension concerning their very right to be in the country is on the rise?