Our third ever guest from England hails from Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire. For listeners interested in the numerous accents that exist in the UK, the Hull accent is considered one of the most distinct accents.

Louise Atkinson has provided the tour support for Live at the Apollo stars Sarah Keyworth and Esther Manito and her solo show “Mates” won the Amused Moose Best Debut Show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023.

A proud northerner, Louise talks about what makes the Hull accent distinct, which has been named as the sexiest accent by Timothée Chalet. As the podcast now boasts more listeners outside the UK, the conversation goes into great length explaining the North v.s. South divide in England and the relevant but not entirely identical class divide in the society.

Louise talks about the local pride - Hull was selected as UK City of Culture in 2017 and has widely been seen as a tremendous success story.

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Follow Louise on Instagram

Louise’s podcast Be Fairy Afraid on Spotify; Be Fair Afraid on Apple Podcast

Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram

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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email comedywithanaccent@gmail.com

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01:05 Intro

03:57 Louise hates it when people from south of England question her accent

05:20 Fellow. Comedians mocking Louise’s accent

07:45 Adjusting her accent overseas in a corporate job

08:45 Accents and classism in the UK

11:20 North vs South divide in the UK

13:40 A world famous actor from Yorkshire

15:33 Northern England vs South England is not always working class vs middle class

16:52 Proud of being from Hull

18:44 “I HATE people” but perceived as “affable” because of a northern accent

21:25 The Hull accent is the sexiest accent per Timothée Chalamet in the UK; what influence makes the Hull accent distinct?

26:25 Who gets to joke about Hull being the backwater?

26:50 UK City of Culture 2017

28:54 Self-deprecating a British trait, not necessarily just for the Northerners

29:34 Performing across the UK and knowing audience from different parts of the country

32:40 The “Waitrose” audience

36:10 A few more random facts about Yorkshire and Hull

37:52 Louise’s social media

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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe

Donatas Kveselys is the second Lithuanian comedian featured on this podcast. This episode, however, feels half-dedicated to the Kingdom and the people of Sweden, for Gothenburg, Sweden is where Donatas currently lives and where he started performing stand up comedy (in English).

Donatas is a London Comedy Store Gong Show winner. He also secured the 3rd spot in the Roast Battles’ 2024 International Western Division League table.

Having already left his Eastern European homeland Lithuania to move to Sweden for work, Donatas gave stand up comedy a go in his adopted country where the majority of population do not speak English as their mother tongues (but are known to proficient English speakers). Talking about layers of cultural and linguistic code switching!

Donatas discusses how he got to understand the reserved Swedish folks inside out from a foreigner’s perspective. He talks about doing Swedish jokes for Swedish crowds - If you don’t know already, you should definitely google “SNUS” and “SWEDEN” - but also explains why he is now travelling and gigging elsewhere in Europe for a broader reach.

Content warning - from 34:47 onwards there's a brief mention of suicidal feelings as part of a discussion on anxieties

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Follow Donatas on Instagram

Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram

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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email comedywithanaccent@gmail.com

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01:02 Intro

04:12 A Lithuanian comedian performing English stand up comedy in Sweden

05:18 An East European accent

07:13 The odd foreign performer who performs in English at Swedish comedy shows

10:18 Lithuania in Swedish people’s eyes

12:57 Dissecting the “Chernobyl Survivor” joke and Lithuanian stereotypes

16:21 Lithuanians’ views of HBO’s series Chernobyl being shot in Vilnius

19:20 A white comedian with a foreign accent vs a Swedish comedian from ethnic minority backgrounds

23:45 Lithuanian as an East European language but not a Slavic language - it’s a Baltic language

25:11 Swedish people in Donatas’ words

28:30 Jokes for Swedish audience only; “SNUS” in Sweden

30:41 Travelling around to perform to difference audiences

32:03 What does Donatas like about performing for the Swedish audience

33:10 Bad at imitating his comedy idols, finding his own voice

34:47 Penchant for dark humour

37:35 Returning to his home country to perform in Lithuanian?

40:09 Donatas’ social media

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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe

Winner of the prestigious So You Think You Are Funny competition in 2023, Samira Banks is a bright new star making waves on the UK comedy circuit. Her trademark jokes include her family’s journey fleeing their homeland as refugees. The crowd’s laughters are often raucous but some sensitive souls amongst them also pull their faces wondering. “Are we supposed to joke about refugees?”

On stage, Samira refers to her heritage as a broad “from the Middle East.” She never specifies which specific country that is. This question thus forms the central discussion of this episode and explains why in the episode title, both her mother tongue and her native country remain unspecified.

Growing up in Germany and moving to the UK for work, Samira is another guest with an international accent that is hard for others to associate it with a specific place. Samira shares her family’s stories and why a reunion of her extended family would turn into a mishmash of accents.

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Follow Samira on Instagram

Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram

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If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email comedywithanaccent@gmail.com

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00:58 Intro

03:58 An international accent that is hard to pin down

06:58 Picking up multiple languages growing up

08:31 Why Samira chooses not to specify her home country when performing

13:09 Family history of fleeing and becoming refugees settling in different western countries

16:51 A closely-knit family and the elders’ funny views on romance and marriage

18:39 Between the English language, the German language and her mother tongue

19:48 German speakers refusing to see Samira as German

20:50 Some other complaints about German speakers

23:50 German v.s. British

25:22 Samira’s past naive assumption of anyone with accents from the north of England

27:04 Middle class refugees’ “privileges”

29:29 Difficulties of handling refugee experiences as comedy materials

31:52 What does Samira think about her position telling her parents’ life experiences?

35:59 Samira’s social media

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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe