For the Ugandan-born comedian, fitting in to Australian society was no laughing matter.
Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we’re told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they’re given.
This week, he talks toand as the Gen Z captain onAnisa Nandaula: “I was drawn to the people who didn’t fit in. I was like, ‘You don’t fit in … I don’t fit in …’ ”You come from a Muslim family who migrated to Australia from Uganda. Tell me about the rhythms of Islam in your life growing up. Well, it’s changed a lot from when I lived in Uganda.
There, it was heavily cultural. On Fridays, we’d go to the mosque and pray four times a day. At the time, I didn’t have any family here except for my mum and my brother. So you don’t really have that day-to-day flow.
This was in Queensland, specifically – initially – Rockhampton. What were the big culture clashes that you encountered? Well, whenever I saw my friends drinking, I was like, “Yo, you’re going to hell! ” It was difficult for me to find the confidence to be like, “This is what I believe, but you can believe whatever you want, and we can still hang out, be friends and go to parties.
” It took time. One of my favourite jokes of yours is about how your boyfriend is going to convert to Islam … except he doesn’t know it yet. Discuss! ] That is a real thing.
We’re working on it. We’ve given him a Muslim name! We have deep conversations about it, me and my mother. He doesn’t know .
I would love to be trapped in one and the only way I can save myself is by eating my way out of it. Comedians talk about “killing” and “dying”. When was the last time you died on stage? Two weeks ago, I was doing this show, which had been getting massive laughs every day.
Then I had one show where I wasn’t getting that response. Then I had another gig and bombed. And another. And I was just like, “This is too much failure for my body.
” I got offstage and started crying. I didn’t want to keep going, but you have to because people have bought tickets. It’s your job. But it’s funny: I watched the video back and I didn’t die …You died and you were resurrected!
When my grandma – my mum’s mum – passed in 2020, that was probably the biggest loss. Of course. She loved her family. Every weekend in Kampala, we would all go to her place and you wouldn’t even get to talk to her because she was constantly cooking: “You got a plate?
You’ve finished your plate? You want some more? Come! Get some more.
” She represented home for me. So when she passed, I was like, “What’s there to go back to? ” To me, sheI think about the matriarchy a lot, and what it means to me. I think about how her decisions – and my mum’s decisions – impacted my life.
To have that living connection while she was here was really beautiful. I feel so lucky. I really want to do stand-up in America. I want to be around other black people and make them laugh.
What was sex education like for you growing up? The extent of the talk I had was, “You can’t get pregnant … so don’t. ” That was it, really! Everything else you just had to figure out from friends.
I remember in primary school, my friends were like, “To have a child, you need to have sex. ” And I was like, “No, no, no, NO … my mum’s never done that. She did it another way. She’s different to yours.
Yours is a slut. ”Was it good advice? Robust? Medically sound?
AdvertisementI was drawn to the people who didn’t fit in. I was like, “You don’t fit in …don’t fit in …” We all just formed a kind of gang. Also, I just can’t imagine being best friends with straight people! What are we going to talk about?
I don’t know if trauma makes you funny, but all my queer friends are hilarious. Not at all. No. When I first came here, I used to try to find ways to bleach my skin, lighten my eyes using honey, straighten my hair. And yeah, again, it goes back to that thing of desperately wanting to fit in.
There was a period where dark-skinned black women were seen as the ugliest people on earth … then something switched. All of a sudden, the way we talk about race and colour shifted. And I just found myself thinking, “
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