Nazeem Hussain impersonates a drunk "white person" talking about the connection between being Australian and loving footy at the Darwin Festival.
Fear of a Brown Planet explores racism through comedy in a way that both ridicules and rings true. It targets both "white people" and "brown people" with its provocative humour, leaving only the real racists unable to laugh.
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Nazeem Hussain comes at issues in racism by taking notorious racial stereotypes and exposing their absurdity by extending them to a new level.
"Just because I’m a Muslim doesn’t mean I like the Taliban," he says. "I mean, some of us like Al Queada."
His stomach-achingly hilarious impersonations of drunken "white people" making attempts to connect with him over footy are a highlight.
"It doesn’t matter where you come from mate, you’re Australian if you can talk about footy," he slurs in impersonation, stumbling over the mic stand. "Come on mate, come on mate, come on mate…" The audience cheers.
Nazeem moves quickly through themes of burning Korans, banning the burqa, women’s oppression and abuse of Indian taxi drivers and students.
His frequent referrals to "white people" turn racism on its head and provide a cheeky means of connecting with the audience.
"There are so many of you white people out there tonight…it’s so bright," he says.
Aamer Rahmen takes a different approach during his half of the show.
He approaches serious themes with more opinion. Instead of capitalising on the absurdity of racism by reinforcing it comedically, as Nazeem does, he ridicules real-life racist moments.
He reveals how the reasons for racism, laughable as they are, succeed in having a strong effect on the victims.
Being screened at airports, for example, is an obvious source of frustration for Aamed, who repeats that the exercise "ruins your day".
His jokes rely more on hyperbole – comparing the Liberal Party to the Ku Klux Klan, for example – and he acknowledges several times he is dealing with "heavy stuff".
While still drawing laughs from the audience, the confronting truth behind the jokes portrays a sense of bitterness that perhaps doesn’t belong so well in stand-up comedy.
All in all, Fear of a Brown Planet is a great show – a welcome relief of laughter directed at a dark issue.
