INTERVIEW: Raul Kohli

Image by Amelia Read

Raul Kohli has been amusing and thrilling audiences in the North East and beyond for the last decade or so. The Newcastle-based comedian won the Hackney Empire New Act Of The Year Award in 2017 and has since found national and international acclaim. His intensely charismatic brand of politicised comedy covers race, class and uncomfortable truths in British society, and his new show Raul Britannia (The Full Inglish) is on its way to Edinburgh Fringe (via Newcastle’s Stand Comedy Club).

When I speak to Raul, he muses on what has changed culturally in the last ten years or so:

“I started my comedy journey 12 years ago. There was this wave of British pride with the Olympics and then in four short years it was Brexit, and since then the country and the world has got increasingly divided, and people are dehumanizing each other in such blind ways. It’s a dangerous place we find ourselves in, and reminds me of a lot of the way that the older generations in my family felt about Pakistanis. But growing up, I was best friends with a lot of Pakistanis whose grandparents felt the same as mine, but about Indians.”

Despite the immediate bleakness, Raul remains defiantly positive: “I think there’s hope to be found in that life experience of generational healing. I don’t particularly think there’s any use in telling British and white people to be ashamed of their very humanity and that there is nothing to be proud of in Britain and the West, but I also don’t think ‘multiculturalism has failed’ as Suella Braverman put it. I believe there’s lots to be proud of in Britain and being the most successful multiracial democracy in the world is one of those things we should be proud of. This show is just my attempt to try and find a nuanced middle ground between all the shouting… if that still exists.”

This show is my attempt to try and find a nuanced middle ground between all the shouting… if that still exists

Raul’s talent combines incisive social commentary with relatable personal anecdotes and observations; he finds a beautiful middle ground of celebrating British tradition while being critical of the societal norms we encounter on a daily basis. His take on the narrative around immigration in the United Kingdom is thoughtful: “After the Manchester Arena bombings, I remember papers saying Didsbury was a Muslim no-go zone. I lived in Manchester at the time, and it was literally one of the poshest hipster areas I’ve ever been to. The only brown thing there was yoga gyms… and they were all run by white women. But I do think people should be allowed to have a sensible discussion about the numbers. The first thing you learn in economics is a proportional increase in the population swallows up a proportional increase in economic growth. The UK has had low growth for pretty much most of my adult life and public services are heavily strained. Yes, there are bigger reasons for that: 11 years of underinvestment, private sectors crowding out public services but still: increased numbers maybe aren’t helping and grown up people should be allowed to have grown up discussions about that. It’s just that often (but not always) these people who are really keen on having this discussion usually have darker motives.”

The show, and its eventual progress, was born from Raul’s frustration with these polarising narratives. “I’m very happy with how it’s progressed. I always need to know where the show ends before I even begin writing it. And how I’m going to get there from the beginning, so I can tie all the various themes together. It’s been about two years in the making, some in my opinion very original thinking which I think will impress critics but has also been working in the clubs, which is what I always aim for in an Edinburgh show. There were some jokes that were relevant last year that have been removed this year. I have a director giving me an outside eye looking at the structure and I’m really excited for it. I mean, it’s kind of fucked now, because all the government satire may be irrelevant thanks to Rishi’s decision to hold an election on 4^th July. I have enough previews to adapt! And I think current affairs stuff aside, it’s still funny, poignant, personal, political and downright inspirational. The responses to previews seem to suggest the same, and I’m just hoping people at Edinburgh feel the same way.”

The ongoing gentrification of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival has been a pressing concern for many, and acts without PR or big backing are increasingly struggling to justify the outlay. Raul pontificates: “In the past I’ve made lots of money and had a grand old time. This year, I’m not so sure. I’ve spent more than I’ve ever spent beforehand. Accommodation has gone up 50% from last year which given how much I spent last year is insane. I’ve got PR, directors, my agent producing it, I’m doing a paid venue, and I’m not doing my compilation so I can put all my focus into the solo show. I think at Edinburgh, you either make money or risk losing a lot of money in the hopes that you’ll climb to that next level of success, and hopefully I’ll get to that next level. I think the team behind me are brilliant at what they do, I trust them, I trust my commitment to this piece and my abilities as a comedian and I believe this show is very politically salient…depending on the election!”

Raul Kohli performs Raul Britannia (The Full Inglish) at The Stand, Newcastle on Monday 22^nd July before moving the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Just The Tonic, Cabaret Voltaire from 1^st-25^th August.