SANDEEP IS RE ADY TO HAVE A LA UGH
THE Gold Coast’s biggest comedy festival is back with one local funnyman saying the city isn’t ready for what they have in store.
GC Laughs Festival will return to Home of the Arts for seven nights from March 17 to 25 and April 4.
Gold Coast talent Sandeep Totlani said the festival was a move in the right direction for the city to nurture local comedians.
Mr Totlani said he moved to Australian from India eight years ago to study and soon found his love for comedy. He said he began his comedic journey seven years ago by writing short poetries in Hindi, in a bid to tick it off his bucket list.
Mr Totlani now performs as show called ‘Brown Privilege’ which follows his story of trying to get permanent residency in Australia.
“It follows the experiences I had, the challenges I faced and the privileges I discovered about being an immigrant and looking different to the majority of the population here,” he said.
“I also tell the audiences how I use those privileges to my advantage.
“For an example as an immigrant you have to prove every two years that you can still speak English by giving an exam, because apparently your language skills expire if you’re not from certain countries or backgrounds.
“These experiences taught me about my privilege and now if I get caught speeding or anything, I pretend to not know English and a lot of the times the officer would just let me go with a warning instead of wasting their time trying to figure out my level of proficiency of the language,” Mr Totlani said.
Mr Totlani will perform his show on March 25 at 7pm.
GC Laughs Festival director Josh Armstrong said they were “thrilled” to bring the event back for its fifth year.
“There are so many sensational acts that we’ve managed to bring together for seven days worth of belly-laughs from big-name acts, upand-coming sensations and laughter legends,” he said.
“There’s something for everyone. Think ridiculous skits, absurd stories, complete nonsense and lewd humour, all wrapped up in one epic festival.”