A work-in-progress tribute to Japan and romance
Sam Joseph is an English up-and-coming comedian who has spent the past thirty years alternating between life in Britain and Japan. In his 50-minute set, which he says is a preview of something greater, he talks about his first experiences in Japan in 1998, overcoming the language barrier, meeting the love of his life, and raising their three children.
Joseph speaks with immense earnestness and delight. While other stand-up comedians have used their spaces to express mockery and dissent, exposing the strangeness of their new experiences (which may or may not have happened), Joseph conveys his stories and facts with such clear respect and appreciation. With a tone of self-deprecation, he covers several aspects of Japanese life, such as his hilarious misinterpretations of conversations in Japanese, e.g. “go back to where you came from” actually meant, “go and stand where you were initially standing, you’ll find the service you need”! He is funny and relatable, allowing us to unite in the embarrassment of being hapless British tourists while also describing a country most of us are unfamiliar with.
Joseph also has a great deal of energy – and as lovely as it is to see people genuinely enjoy what they do, it unfortunately detracted from quite a few of his jokes. He speaks a little too fast for people to keep up or even hear some of the words. He pauses awkwardly to fidget (which he at least referenced, saying that “half the set would just be weird noises”), and he leaves a couple of his lines unfinished. But where his set may have lacked in good jokes (though there definitely were a couple of brilliant zingers!), he compensated with his sweet, shining personality. He lit up the room, making it easy for us all to say that we had a wonderful time.
His joy and kindness especially came out when he talked about his wife, whom he met in Japan. It’s refreshing to listen to a comedian speaking positively about their spouse for once! 25 years on, and their love still burns bright, eliciting a lot of “aww”s from the audience. I Think I’m Turning Japanese is a show chock-full of positivity, and Joseph is like an eager child, frantically yet passionately telling us about all the things, and people, he loves. Being in the room with him was such a wonderful experience.
As well as making us all laugh, Sam Joseph wants us to walk away ‘having learned a little something’. And I absolutely did! Not only do I now know more about Japan, I also know that Joseph is an infectiously happy person. If he channelled his hyper energy into making his jokes brilliant, then I Think I’m Turning Japanese could go very far.