[drumming] [captioning made possible by kcet television] [horn honks] >> we live in the greatest country in the world. isn't that safe to say? we're so lucky to be here. like, you guys live in the only country in the world where people die from food. that's fucking gangster, you know what i mean? like that stuff they don't have enough of in africa, we just stuff too much of that in our faces, then we keel over and just die. you know, like, you can never have an argument with a kid in nicaragua about your problems, you know. he'd be like, "hey, man, how'd your dad die?" "oh, my dad? yeah, pringles. like, once he popped, he couldn't stop." you can tell a lot about people by the jokes they tell. i've been doing stand-up about 8 1/2

years. and for the majority of my comedy career, i would just kind of just tell jokes. people always have, like, really vague status updates to make it sound like whatever they're doings really important. so i'm like, let me tell a joke about facebook. you guys like facebook. i like facebook. look how relatable i am. it was a lot of hiding behind jokes and not kiling nearlas hard as i thought should be. so i opped tryingo be funny and just started telling my sto. i never even knew how my family got to this country. this is what happened. 30 years ago in this village in india called aligarh--anyone here from aligarh? got any aligarians? yo, i'm trying to relate, y'all. any aligarians in here? uttar pradesh, stand up. no? ok. and the funny thing is, i got funnier. we go camping for fun. i cannot explain that to my cousin in pakistan, you understand that? hasan, man, what's camping? oh, camping. well, see, camping's this thing where you set up tents in the woods, you shit outside, the mosquitoes bite you. oh, you mean pakistan? yeah, it's like pakistan except you get smores instead of

malaria. oh, you're gonna die soon, sahil. my story had power. my struggle as a kid growing up between two worlds mattered to people. and that got me thinking, the world is full of struggle, comedy comes from adversity. this must be one hilarious planet. what if there were young comics out there just like mkilling it in places i never imagined? who are the pryors or the carlins of this new global comic spring? what stories were they teing? what truth bombs were they dropping? what sacred cows were they slaying? and more importantly, how could i get in on the joke? i decided to find out. i have a bunch of friends that are also comics, and i perform with them all the time. but they have a veryiffere perspective, each of them. >> when i tell people i'm jamaican and haitian, they're like, oh, my god, girl, shut up. what part of puerto rico is that? i'm like what? >> so i grew up here. i'm also

gay. so sorry, ladies, and you're welcome, fellas. >> i'm from tennessee. i didn't learn abo countries in school. i learned about tennessee, and then i learned about the states that touched us in case they attacked. >> this is the situation. i've just been reading about a these different comics arnd the world, and from what i hear, they're doing incredible things. they're these trailblazers that are creating a scene and an industry where it otherwise didn't exist. >> i don't believe it. >> ok, so this is how i want to present it to the posse. these are the comics that i've looked into in india and south africa. they have these cracking comedy scenes, and these comics over there are talking about some stuff. like, serious, serious stuff. now, which one of these comics should we bring back to share their story with the rest of the world? >> could i name an international comedian? uh. could they name me? have we asked them if they can name me? >> i don't know if it's going to work. i don't know if they're going to be funny, like, i go over there. i'm honesty scared

about doing stand-up there. that's their home turf. i know they're going to crush, but my thing, number one, am i going to understand what they're talking about. and number two, when i go up, are they going to get anything? >> there's something universal about comedy, but there's also the way it's done is sort of specific to not only a language, but a specific culturei do impreions of people that no one over knows overseas, like jesse ventura. like [as jesse ventura] let me tell you something, it's all about truth. [normal voice] and, like, absolutely no one anywhere besides the united states knows or case who that is. >> why do you want to do this? >> i think-- >> no, but seriously. >> to me, following the joke, following people's narrative, that would be the coolest thing about this project. oh, this stuff isn't just contrived in a joke book. these aren't just witty one-liners that i thought of. this is real life. [line rings] i'm calling the laugh factory. we're trying to save the world through comedy. hello? hello? my mission was set. check out

the comic uprising in india and south africa, perform wi my comrades in stand-up over there, see what they're talking about, then i'llring one comic from each of those countries back here to perform with me and my friends at the world-famous laugh factory in l.a. if there was a comedy revolution going on, i wasn't gonna miss it. ok, this is a test here. i'm in newark airport. most times i travel for stand-up, at the max it'll be like a 5 hour flight somewhere across the country. but now i'm going across the world 'cause i'm going to the motherland. ok, so i just arrived in mumbai and i was dumb enough to wear a hoodie. i know so little about cricket. i don't even know if i'm in the middle of the game right

now. am i blocking--i'm blocking. oh, my god. >> [shouting] >> imagine the entire population of australia crammed inside columbus, ohio. mumbai has some of the world's most expensive real estate, yet 40% of its people live in slums. india's the world's largest democracy, but was ranked behind libya and afghanistan in a recent report on media censorship. into this clash of new freedoms and ancient limits, a new generation of stand-up artists are making their voices heard. >> ladies and gentlemen, introducing one of india's funniest stand-up comics, tanmay bhat! [cheers and applause] >> good evening. >> tanmay bhat is a rising star in the indian comedy scene who hosts his country's first and only comedy podcast. it hit number one on itunes india until it was banned for being too explicit. >> what's up? >> hey, what's up, man? oh, dude, no, no, let's do it.

>> 'cause you can't say anything on television 'cause it's heavily censored. you can't say anything in film 'cause we have very strict rules. like, politics plays a huge part in our arts. >> is there this, like, uprising of artists coming up and creating stuff? >> yes. actually, you know what, yes, in a way. especially in stand-up, even though the stand-up scene is very new. sometimes comics are saying stuff on stage just because they want to and because they can. >> after the censorship stuff, did you ever fear? did you ever have any fear where you were like, oh, i could get caught up? >> they only way to get the idea of free speech across to the government is by getting caught up, is by going to jail.

like, i was watching tv the other day, and i was watching one of these english channels. and there was a sitcom playing. and on the sitcom, this dude sarli said something. and he said "condom," and it was beeped out. and i'm like, we're in india. should we be beeping "condom" on tv? we have a billion people. we should be saying "condom" all the time. we ould just have ram kapoor on tv saying, "condom, condom, condom" from 8 to 10 pm every night. that is all our programming should be. >> i tnk i'gonna bom like, i believe i'm going to bomb. >> really? >> absolutely. >> no, man. i think you'll have a very good time. the indian audiences are great. we have, like, people that come to watch stand-up, they're ready to laugh. they're a great audience. >> so if i do bomb, it's all on me. >> it's probably your fault. if you bomb, that means you suck. [applause] >> guys, we have something special for you tonight. we have

someone who has traveled to india and is doing stand-up in india for the first time. please give it up for mr. hasan minhaj. [cheers and applause] more bombay love, please. more bombay love. >> oh, man. ok. this is--this is gonna--this is interesting. do you understand don't know what i'm doing here? [laughter] i got off the plane, they said, hey, there's a guy, his name is raj, he'll pick you up. i'm in fucking india, man. how many rajs are there? i come out, there's 97 brown dudes. "sir, sir, sir, sir." no! i can't-- i'm gonna believe all of you. [laughter] oh, my god. the amount of love that i got from the crowd was 180 degrees

away from the amount of fear that i had. even for certain jokes, they'd be like ha ha ha, applause break time. >> yeah. yeah. the comedy now is so new, there's nothing that the audience will listen to and go, "that's been done." >> you guys are doing everything for the first time. >> yeah, everything is fresh for them. there are bits that work great in some places and not in other places. >> like your bit about the 54%. >> yeah. >> does it always crush? >> bombay's a shitty, shitty smelling city. that's because 54% of all indians shit outside. do you guys know this? 54%, man. this number's been going up since 1947. did you guys know in the forties it was 34%, in the fifties it's 44%. this number's been going up. basically, the british left and we started shitting outside a lot more. like, i think this is the best defense strategy any country can adopt. like, make the country smell so shitty that no one will want to invade us. [laughter] >> when you were writing that joke, were you like, oh, i want

you guys to think about this? 'cause i can hear it in your voice. you keep saying it. you're like, 54%. >> yeah. 54% is a number that would shock the average guy on the street. >> 54% is more than shocking. it's off the charts. when you consider the number of people in india defecating outside, it's more than twice the size of the entire u.s. population. i decided to follow the joke, which led tanmay and me to shivaji nagar, one of the largest slums in mumbai. you didn't have to be an observational comic to notice the problem. >> you'll actually see it as we walk. just look in there. just right there. it's on the streets. >> uh-huh. doing it right here. holy. but i don't know. is that human or animal? i don't even know. >> that's human. >> we went to visit the sheik family. like most people who live in a slum, they had no indoor plumbing. 8 people, one room, no toilet. so back then people were just

doing it out there. >> yeah, they used to make their own temporary toilets. >> what the sheiks did have was kids. and the good news from where i was sitting, india had no shortage of human potential. >> these kids are sharp, man. >> that's what i'm saying. >> yeah, theskids are very sharp. >> computer engineer. he's doing better than me. but here's the bad news. all the potential amounts to nothing when 1,600 kids die every day in india from sanitation related diseases. most before the age of 5. tanmay and i met a local sanitation officer whose solution to the problem seemed logical enough: build more toilets. you know what's great about taking a dump here right now is that you can just hear this great hindi music while you go number two. what are the benefits that this sanitation block has given the community? >> but despite these toilets, i still saw that a lot of people

where, you know, doing the toilet on the street. >> it was obvious more toilets were needed, but it was also clear there must be more to the story. we went to meet deval sanghavi, one of a new generation of thought leaders looking at old problems from totally new angles. >> we realized it actually wasn't the toilet itself that needed shift or change. it was actually behavioral change. in mumbai, for example, the ocean is probably our biggest toilet. people would rather go there versus a small confined room with very little lighting. >> that has to be a tough sell because you're like, look, i get it, it's very liberating. when you told me they shit in the ocean, i'm like, that would be really nice. >> exactly. >> because just to be like, you know what, yolo. i mean, it doesn't look like a-- >> toilet? >> yeah, it doesn't look like a toilet. >> it smells like it, though. >> yeah. >> we have 1,600 children dying every single day in india

because of lack of sanitation. >> ok. >> 24% of our girls drop out of schools because schools don't have adequate toilets for them. >> wow. >> 30% of the women get sexually harassed or humiliated when using the toilet. so when you look at just the rootause of the problem. and i think a lot of our conversations have been with philanthropists who would never think that toilets is something that they want to give money to. >> yeah. when i first heard tanmay's joke about the 54%, it made me laugh. but it also made me listen. as a child of india once removed, it led me to a deeper understanding of the problem and the possibilities for change. all in all, that's not bad for a poop joke. >> in our top story, angelina jolie adopted yet another baby today, making her home the fifth most populated country in the world.

>> aditi mittal is another up and comer of the india stand-up scene. it's not easy for women comedians anywhere, but until recently, women in india weren't supposed to say much of anything, let alone jokes. how does that joke go? you have that joke about the tampon that you did the other night. >> you have heard about don't worry? i like that they've stopped attempting to name themselves and just tell you how to fl. like, i'm a pad. i got this. don't worry. there's such stigma. you're not allowed to cook when you have your period. you're not supposed to go into a temple when you have your period. you're not supposed to like--you are supposed to actually just sit at home. you're called an untchable when you have your period. >> so how--where do you draw the line of how hard you're going to push? because with the tampon thing, you're like, i don't care, i'll push. >> if it's the truth, then i will defend it till the day i die.

even as a woman, you're a woman first, then a comedian. whereas the male comedians are just comedians. >> i'm a comic. yeah, yeah, yeah. >> why am i known as a feminist comic? why am i not political, observational? why aren't they known as penal comics? >> right, right. they're dick comics. >> yeah, why aren't they known as that? >> right, right, right. aditi wanted me to meet her mom, raju, a pioneer in her own right as one of the first women in india to work in tv production. it didn't take long for me to see where aditi got her moxie, not to mention her sense of humor. you were probably one of the few females working in television and film production, right? >> ye >> there must have been push back, and it must have been your passion that allowed you to push thrgh that. >> i did facenitial opposition, but i fought it. i rolled up my sleeves and said, come, baby. now i'll speak your language.

>> ok, so then you had to just get rough with some people. >> yes, i had to. >> 'cause aditi told me that, i mean, you know how to curse like a sailor and get what you want. >> yes. i used a lot of bad language. that's the only language people here understand. >> were there ever any moments when you were just like, i just want to quit? >> no. i'm not a quitter, basically. i make other people qui i won't quit. >> nice. right now i'm thinking about aditi because she has no one to look up to, to be like, oh, that's my tina fey or that's my kristen wiig or that's my amy poehler. >> when you don't have colleagues and you're working 12 hours a day, it's very lonely. >> thpower of hope, like it just inspires you and it allows you to just keep preserving and going through it. >> i just want to tell jokes. i want to be in rooms where people laugh and i want to tell truths. >> she's going to have to be the trailblazer. she's going to be the first one to pop. [computer chimes] >> hello.

>> how's it going, man? >> hi, hasan. how are you, miter? >> the sce here is incredible. there's this small group of comics that are just kind of blazing the way. [cheers and applause] you are guys are part of a comedy boom and i'm so excited to see what you guys do. it's going to be incredible. my trip to india proved one thing for sure. nothing is funnier than the truth. and the young comics i met were making sure people knew it. >> part of the magic of comedy is that you can force people who disagree with you or even hate you, you can force them to listen.

>> the whole world partied in 1994 when nelson mandela became the first president of a free south africa, ending half a century of racist brutality under the policies of apartheid. it's freedom day again, but 19 years later, the rainbow nation miracle is experiencing turbulence. poverty, violence, and a deadly aids epidemic are not the dream anyone had in mind. so where's the comedy in all of this? it wasn't hard to find. >> this season, we're in the thick of it and we'll bring you the truth and nothing but the truth. >> cut! >> how was that? how was that, guys? was that good? >> everywhere i looked there were signs of a comic uprising. open mic nights, africa's first full-time comedy club, and a new one-man show by one of south africa's biggest comedy stars, loyiso gola, host of the wildly popular satirical news show, "late night news." i met him at the barbershop for a quick course on south african stand-up. let me ask you this. how much has race affected and shaped

your act? >> a lot. i talk about race a lot. i mean, wherever i go, i talk about race. ok, sure, sure. >> do you feel there is some level of responsibility where you're like, man, i'm one of the first people to do it here in this country? >> as a black person for black people, yes. they still own all the big businesses. pretty much everything they accumulated during apartheid they still have. so you can talk about numbers of black people being the majority, but real power is economic power. >> right. to make his point about economic

disparity, loyiso took me to the alexandra township, an area similar to the one where he grew up. a local resident invited us into his home, a squatters shack where his family of 5 lives. >> it brings back some memories. it's tiny. i have this joke about how it's hard to punish a kid in this space. >> when they say go to your room-- >> you're like, go to your room. and the kid's like, yeah, this is the room. where are we going? >> we're going to meet famous comedian loyiso gola. ohh! famous comedian loyiso gola. >> because i roll deep. you got the kitchen over here. i got some snacks. boom, air conditioning. oh, look, you can see a dude outside. ooh, what, mtv? we're going to go to where all the magic happens. the bedroom. right over here.

bam. everybody over here sleeping. all kids, parents, grandparents, everybody over there having a good old sleep. ooh. well, you've seen the house. you've seen the fridge. you've seen the bed. you've seen the toothpaste. you've seen my living space. now get out of here. >> oh, yeah? ok. >> like, i find the american accent so fucking annoying. it's so nasal. nyeoh, meow, maow. >> that is kind of how we sound. >> what's the problem, man? yeah.whereas, like, we articulate.

>> and you guys are like, basi-cally. pro-bab-ly. prac-ti-cally. who lives in a house like this? if i knock on the door, they won't shoot me or something, right? hello? apparently this house has 64 rooms. i can't even count how many greek statues it has in front of it. does one family live here? we're doing a documentary. we're not allowed. not even for an interview? >> you can go. >> ok, ok. what if i had to ask for a cup of sugar? my trips to alexandria and hyde park left my head spinning. what role does comedy play in a culture with so much division? and how do comedians navigate all the landmines that come with it? to dig deeper, loyiso

introduced me to his partner in comedy, kagiso lediga, one of the biggest comedy stars in the country. >> as a black guy, we do kind of blame apartheid a lot. you know, you have a guy with a headache. he'd be like, hey, what's wrong? i think it's apartheid. why are you late? uh, it's apartheid. >> all right, so tell me about this pms show that you guys did. >> yeah, pms. the pure monate show. it was a sketch comedy show. the first season was in 2003. >> hello, chaps. welcome to my ranch. have you ever been hunting before? >> yeah, sure, we go hunting all the time. >> the general sense in the country was that people weren't talking about thins and that there were many elephants in many rooms and so on. and so it was very... >> so there was no such show and this was a groundbreaking show? >> yeah, exactly. this was the first time we made fun of apartheid tv. >> right, this is the first apartheid sketch. >> right, the first. >> this summer when masses of

black people overslept on the day of the elections. apartheid ii. >> are afrikaners like, yo, man, come on, man. stop playing the blame game. or, i don't want to hear this stuff. >> well, yes and no. i mean, south africans really want to laugh at it because it's a release, you know. i think that's part of south--of comedy being kind of growing so much in south africa is because of that. >> by joking about race, kagiso and loyiso are helping heal old wounds through the power of laughter. but what about the other elephant in the room? south africa has the highest hiv infection rate in the world. can comedy help combat a problem that big? >> i really do feel like this is rainbow nation, man. it's like an incredible, thriving, cosmopolitan, metropolitan city. but do you feel like there's this need beyond just race, you gotta talk about certain global poverty issues? do you feel a need to address that stuff? >> is this working? hello? one,

two. hi. i'm kagiso, and shout it now has asked me to talk to you about medical male circumcision. >> so, are you going to introduce me? >> how i do introduce--it's a video about--you're a private part. he's a private part. my member. yes, my penis. >> ok, but like a feyears ago, you did that thing about circumcision where you put on the suit, right? >> yes, yes. let me tell you the facts. south africa has 1% of the world's population. 1%, right. but 12% of the world's hiv positive people. scientists have recently discovered that a circumcised penis prevents the infection of hi up to 6. >> 60% safer? >> here it is. >> this is the suit? >> yeah, i've kind of forgotten how it works. >> i don't know if this is a penis or a goth chef.

>> [speaking native language] >> now we're here to help you get more people circumcised. >> so this is our pamphlet that we usually distribute to the community and around. it has even got some pictures. >> i am a penis here as well. circumcised. >> yeah, i see. yeah, in fact, i see the resemblance. >> yes. >> oh, yeah, i see. oh, yeah, mr. penis man. let me introduce you to the group. >> yeah, let's hit it. >> ok. >> are you guys circumcised? >> because you can do it at any time. >> the pain is minimal. it's something you can endure. >> snip, snip, you guys. >> this is our center in orange farm. these are the guys that we have just transported back from different sections of our community. >> so what happens to the foreskin after you guys cut it? because when i got my teeth pulled, they put it in a little jar and i could-- >> not with a foreskin. with a foreskin, we keep it-- >> keep it? >> yeah, we keep it. >> whoa!

>> people come and take them-- >> illicit foreskin dealers of, like, the world. they sell them off to, like-- >> no, no, no. >> the chinese. with rhino horns. >> welcome, my gents, to our center for circumcision. the is a one-day operation. we are going to give you a group information session telling you more about the importance of doing circumcision. >> you still do things the same way you're doing. that means you are still being careful. that means you are still using a condom. >> with regards to the anesthetic, the amount that you use, what is it based on? on the size and weight of your manhood, or what is it based on? do you kind of go, ok, two kilograms. it's going to take this much or? >> it goes different with different people.

>> they use elephant tranquilizer. >> welcome to the surgery. i'm dr. mabela. i'm going to do your procedure for you today. >> wait. before you go. >> yeah, yeah. >> no screaming, dude. >> be strong, man. >> be strong. >> is it weird that i'm eating a banana at a circumcision clinic? >> yeah, a bit. unsavory. >> a new man. >> i kept hearing about this new comic on the scene, mpho popps modikoane. unlike loyiso and kagiso, mpho grew up after apartheid, a part of a new generation of south africans who call themselves born frees. >> our parents were just happy that we were going to a predominantly white school. they didn't prepare us. like, you're going to meet indian friends and this is how they talk. you're going to meet--they were just happy we were going. ok, bye. come back and talk

english, ok? don't come--if you can't talk, don't come back. don't. >> we decided to meet at freedom square in soweto township, home of the freedom movement. it's where mpho grew up and a lot of his family still lives. >> my biggest focus is motivation, you know. i realized when i was growing up that i didn't have a lot of heroes. and if you look at my parents and my grandparents, they used to look up to struggle icons, you know? ♪ if you're blacklisted you won't be able to gain any form of credit this means you can't get a cell phone or a home loan or a student loan even if ♪ but you see, with that video, it's a rap i did for smart bucks, which is a movie that teaches young kids how to save money, how to invest money. and because it was in a rap, i mean, after the movie, kids would be singing tracks. >> that's dope. >> yeah, but they didn't realize they were being educated. >> i don't have the look for hip-hop. you know what i mean? >> you've got that bruno mars.

>> all of my verses would just be like, yeah, girl, if you talk, i'll listen. i'll love you unconditionally. i'll respect you and never degrade you. yeah. you know what i mean? [indistinct hip-hop playing] >> yeah, man. so there's a couple of rules. gran's kind of strict, you know? i wasn't allowed out of the house till i was 24. macoco, this is hasan. >> yes. >> all the way from india, but then america got involved. >> nice to meet you. >> ok. thank you. >> my gran's biggest, biggest, biggest dream back in apartheid days was for all her kids to grow up and earn a good living, get good jobs, get a good education. the first thing that made her happy about apartheid ending, stuff like that, was that i got to go to an english school where we spoke english. they made me stand there and go, ok, so tell us what-- >> speak english. >> speak english! speak! and then i'd have to do, like,

january, february, march, april. >> so back then, with apartheid, there's a political inequality, but do you feel like there's still some social inequality in terms of like, you know, even hiv and aids? these are things that are still affecting south africa. >> yeah. >> like, you lost your uncle to that. >> y yes, yes, yes. >> [speaking native language] >> in our country, hiv is a very sensitive topic. you don't want to be socially outcasted. people will act weird around you. they don't want to touch you. if you sneeze, just taking cover.

hence, my uncle didn't want people to see him. he didn't want to explain what's going on, that he's got this disease, you know. and it's because we don't want to talk about things like this that things like this will keep happening. >> i mean, that's--that's kind of what we're doing today, right? we're going to something that's gonna--we're kind of getting involved in a project, or you're involved with a project that encourages that type of dialogue. >> i like to get involved in programs that help reach the kids while they're still young, you know. >> as south africa strives to be hiv-free, it's organizations like grassroots soccer that find young role models like mpho to spread the safe sex message. >> just by a show of hands, who here is close to someone with hiv and aids? same here. judging by the hands that went up, it's more than 50% of us here. these people around us are people that we love and we care

about, ok. so please, guys, let's talk about it, let's condomize, let's abstain. the brother, two condoms for you, my brother. [laughter] [beatboxing] >> i'm gonna let you go first. >> go. >> now, you go first. ha ha. >> [rapping in native language] [all cheering] >> i don't even know what he said. that's not fair. that's not fair. >> we're warming up. we're warming up. >> all right. i'm gonna go once. that's it. you guys just get it once. i got to make it count. unh, unh, unh, unh. ♪ the name's hasan i ain't from the taliban best thing out of india since pakistan yo, when i stand on stage i don't wear a blazer i rock so much rubber you can call me an eraser unh! ♪

[cheers and applause] chop, chop. chop, chop. chop, chop. chop, chop. there's a lot in south africa that's black and white, but the reality is way more complicated. is it a country falling short of its rainbow nation dream? or a place that's made more progress in 20 years of freedom than some countries have in centuries? here's what i think. they're lucky to have amazing young comics turning problems into punch lines. young, gifted, and funny are good natural resources to have. call me a believer. >> my family were immigrants, and whenever i go back, i go back to the village, i feel like the rapper that made it. like, i show up. i'm like, yo, this is how you guys are living? what--yo, when hasan's here, everybody eats, son. everybody eats. yeah. capri sun's on me, fam. gushers on me, fam. fruit

rollups on me. you're welcome. like, they're losing their minds, you guys. they're losing--they're making me their king. they're like, hasan is here. hasan is our king. they're shitting their pants over stale oreos. they're like, oh, my god, hasan, it's one cookie, but now it's two. i'm like, i'm not even gonna give you a samoa. you can't handle this, son. this green box, it changes everything. strap in. in india and south africa, i got to hang with some of the most talented comics i had ever met. we could only invite one back from each country. after some serious deliberations, i gathered my friends to tell them what i was thinking. this dude right here, mpho. he's from soweto. his story's incredible. like, where he grew up is right where everything went down. he's telling jokes about these--he's bringing out, like, real kind of comedy from this incredibly painful-- >> right. >> painful things. and then aditi, she has this whole kind of mission, especially in india where women's rights is a

growing, emerging thing. >> she's like the harriet tubman for other females in mumbai. she's paving that path. >> i think i'm gonna call aditi and mpho, tell them to do a show with us. >> i'm sold. like, their stories sound amazing. like, oprah type shit. [line rings] >> hey, aditi, what's up? >> hey, what's up? >> hey, mpho, what's up, man? >> i'm good. how are you? >> how was your flight? >> it was long, but i'm back here in the states. listen, i don't know if you're free, but you guys did such a great job of showing me around and making the new kid at school feel welcome, so i think it'd be really cool if you maybe wanted to come perfo with me and my friends here in l.a. >> don't joke. >> oh, dude. yeah, i think that would be awesome. >> [laughs] i'd love to do it. >> [squeals] >> imani, can daddy go? >> no. she said no. >> imani, please? >> no. >> let's do this. >> thank you so much, dude. i'm looking forward to it, man.

>> it's gonna be great. i'super eited ok, here we go. >> oh, my god, what's up? >> hi! >> dude, this is so dope, right? come on in, man. >> i can't wait to perform with you guys. >> i'm so terrified, dude. >> so do you want to go meet mpho? >> yeah. >> ok. hey! what's up, man? good to see you, dude. this is aditi. >> hi. >> aditi, this is mpho. >> i've heard such great things about you. >> you too, actually. >> man, america. >> man, oh, man. oh, yeah?

it's all lion king money, and then there's mandela. >> ohh. >> [laughs] >> you guys showed me the good and bad, so i'm kind of gonna--i'm gonna show you the good and bad of l.a. >> so yeah, man, so we're gonna get a map? >> yeah. so i'm gonna take you to the spot where you can get star maps so you can kind of see where all the celebrities live and stuff like that. >> i just want to find eddie murphy's house. >> you know we don't have currency like this, right? >> michael jackson's not old. >> i thought you were gonna say he's not white. a police car without a back seat. every black man's dream. >> you know what we need to do? we need to get the star map. do you have the star map? >> i like that there's so many crime scenes on here. it really says a lot about l.a. >> crime scene. superman death. >> manson murders. >> do you have a map ofust crime scenes? >> you can find a guy who can help you to gang tour. >> so he'll take you to south

central and east l.a. and all that? >> anywhere. >> is he a gangster himself? >> yeah. >> what? [hip-hop music playing] >> south central los angeles, where we're from, is about 6 miles away from beverly hills. los angeles not only is the gang capital of the world, but we're looking at several generations of gang involved issues in los angeles. the hispanic gangs have been here since the early 1900s. >> you'd be surprised, especially south africanids, how much they pick up on just music videos. and a lot of the graffiti you will see back home, back in south africa, is a lot like what you guys would do. >> i've traveled all over the world. i was very disturbed to see children trying to mimic the l.a. gangster lifestyle without having a clue of what the consequences are. there's only two choices and two ways out. it's either a life in prison or being dead. those are the realities. >> after hanging with alfred and

his crew, it was time for mpho and aditi to meet my crew. here are my friends. here from the states. hey, guys. >> hi. >> i totally have been where aditi and mpho have been. you're like a little brown chicken nugget of love. i remember performing in alabama for the first time, and i was the first female for, like, women's htory. i felt like obama with titties. >> it's my first time in america. it's huge, you know. >> when i moved to chicago, my accent was much thicker. people would not understan i mean, they probably still can't now. >> you know what's scaring the bejeezus out of me is that american audiences are just--like, they've seen everything. >> i was on tv for the first time 8 years ago. terrified. you have a voice in the back of your head that goes like, "you better really figure outow to do this." >> hey, guys, i don't mean to interrupt, but our special guests are here, so if you guys want to join them outside, we can go talk to them. >> great. >> yeah, let's do it. i'd like you guys to meet our

advisors on the project, mr. norman lear and mr. carl reiner, you guys. norman lear and carl reiner are two of comedy's biggest legends. they've been pioneers of boundary pushing humor in films and sitcoms for over a century between them. i heard that "all in the family," they didn't want it on the air. >> it took 3 times to get it on the air. they laughed at it. you know, the people who think for your country or my country or any country always underrate the general audience. >> i want to hear an example of a joke coming from these two worlds. >> one of my favorite jokes of all time is where i talk about the fact that we wouldn't necessarily have suicide bombers in africai'm going to press this button and then? so how will i know the money is in the account if i... >> what would be better, sort of go for the laugh or go for the point that they're trying to make? >> here's a very good rule of thumb. i'm going to give it to you all and remember it. you can say anything you want, but make

sure you're making somebody laugh. >> the favorite people that you guys love watching are the comics that say something. and the comics in mumbai and the comics in south africa, when they get on the stage, the comedy had a purpose. >> i get great hope from you guys. you nourish me enormously. >> i say a couple of funny things and you guys laughed. i'm going to be sleeping happy tonight. >> thank you for that. thank you from the bottom of my heart. can we get a still? after meetingwo dudes who bot have stars on the walk of fame, what better time for a cruise down hollywood boulevard? >> love you, jesus. jesus waved at us. we might be saved. >> jesus waved, we got saved. oh, wow. getting married? wedding packages99. we do funeral flowers. >> till death do you part. >> life is so good that a hobo can just make a sign that says

"go fuck yourself." ok, over here. right here, you guys, this is the laugh factory. check it out. >> aw, hell no. >> oh, dude, look at the people lining up. >> so that's where we're going to be performing on thursday, you guys. look, tonight' >> holy balls. >> what! >> oh, my god, dude, i have to tweet this. this is amazing. >> and the spelling is correct and everything. >> yeah. that's what. >> this is you? >> yeah, we're going to be performing tonight. >> oh, fantastic. >> come by if you can. >> ok. >> do you think people driving past can pronounce this? who's on tonight? uh... >> the guy with no syllables in his name?

>> what's up? >> hey, what's up? how's it going? >> hi. >> what's going on? >> dude, this is so cool. >> congrats on the marquee. >> dude, dude. >> this is the world famous laugh factory lobby. this is all the famous memorabilia. and this is just kind of the lower level where all the audience sits. this is cool, right? this is where you guys are going to be performing tonight. >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen. whoo! >> that's why the chicken crossed the road. >> [laughs] >> so over there, this is the vip lounge where the comics hang out. >> how's it going? >> right here.

>> two minutes away, hasan. let's have you go downstairs. >> ok. >> thank you, sir. >> please welcome your host of "stand up planet," let's give a round of applause to hasan minhaj. [cheers and apause] >> what's up, you guys? hey! we did it. we have an incredible, incredible show for you guys tonight. we've bn around the world, now we're here. we got to meet some amazing comics, and i brought them back here perform with me and my friends. theyhowed me lot of love being an american going over there, so we now we got to kind of put on a gooface and show them a lot of love. so can we do that tonight? [cheers and applause] i put 3 of my really good comedian friends on the show from the states. james adomian, let's hear it for him. [cheers and applause] >> i would love it if sam elliot would step outside of his wheelhouse d do an ad for something that was not cartoonishly masculine. [as sam elliot] hey, friends. next time you're gathered around that vegan campfire. [laughter] take some time to give thanks to

those transgendered folks up in oregon. 'cause they're yanking hot soy beans out of an unforgiving cooperative fa. and it's all so you can eny that slice of tofurkey served so rare. soy. it's what's for brunch. [laughter] >> put your hands together for the one, the only, michelle buteau, you guys. let her hear it. [cheers and applause] >> i get questions, too. the most popular question is like, oh, my god, you're black, but how did you get so light? like it's a recipe or something. let me break it down. black and i got soight. it's very easy. it's called colonialism. the most popular thg i'm getting now is moroccan. people think i look moroccan. i don't think i look moroccan at all because i'm alloweto read and i still have my clit. >> ooh >> yeah, that shit got al. >> put your hands together for

the one, the only nate bargatze. give it up. [cheers and applause] >> i've been married for 7 years, and we have a 10 month old. and we had to go take her to the doctor. it's extremely nerve wracking when a baby gets a shot. she gets the shot, right so we go to grab her because we think she's gonna start crying and we want to comfort her. but she doesn't cry at all. she's just fine with it. and my wife is, like, emotional. she's like maybe this is a sign, like, she's going to be a strong girl. and i was like, yeah, maybe, and we should also look to see if she's going to be a psycho. i mean, like, who doesn't cry when they get a shot? maybe we should get that looked at. like in 20 years, i'm either going to be telling her, we love you and we're so happy you've accomplished everything you wanted olike i'll be on the news. like, we love you, but you need to turn yourself in right now. turn yourself in. you all were great. [cheers and applause] >> this next comic coming to the stage, when i got to mumbai, she was not only one of the coolest people that i met, but one of the funniest comics in the game over there right now. she's one of only 3 female

comedians in all of india. she's doing her thing. and she's tearing it up. and i was like, we've got to bring her back here, we have to do that because what she's doing is absolutely incredible. so i want you guys to really give it up for her. all the way from mumbai, put your hands together for aditi mittal, you ys. give it up. show her some love. [cheers and applause] >> my name is aditi mittal. i talk like this. [laughter] i'm at the laugh factory. this is so cool. 'cause you know the last time the americans put an indian in a factory, we were sewing buttons on a shirt. so mother got excited and started calling all her friends. she's like, "aditi is going to be the first indian to perform at l.a.'s laugh factory." i just didn't have the heart to tell her, you know what, with 1.2 billion of us, you'll never be

the first to do anything in the world. in 1492, even when christopher columbus showed up, he was like, oh, well, the indians are already here. this is...thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen. you have been amazing. my name is aditi mittal. [cheers and applause] >> all right, this next comic is from south africa. he's from soweto, the home of where the whole freedom movement started. so this dude's story is incredible. as soon as i got there, man, this guy is like a brother to me. we just connected like this. he's one of the bigges comics in johannesburg. put your hands together for the one and the only mpho popps, you guys. give it up for him. give him a warm welcome. [cheers and applause] >> i grew up in a small town called soweto, right? in '94, suddenly black kids could go to model "c" schools, which were predominantly white schools, right? idioms used to confuse the shit out of me. i thought skating on thin ice was a compliment for years. but

the cool thing about being a kid from the township was that i had more excuses for not being at school for a couple of days. there's a tribe in south africa called the xhosa people. and what the xhosas do at the age of 14, you have to go up a mountain to get circumcised. the foreskin is out and there's a jagged blade, and ahh! and if you come ck alive, you're a man. so it's called going to the mountain. problem with that excuse is you can only use it? >> once. >> exactly. so i forgot that i'd used it. man, i came to school confident. and the teacher was like, so where have you been for the past 3 days? yeah, ma'am, you see, i went to the mountain. again? this is when i tried to be technical. yeah, ma'am, this thing is called a foreskin. so they cut two the last time and they're just finishing off the other two. >> so i guess this is the point

in the story when i tell you what i've learned along my journey, how i've changed, what it all means. the last thing a comic wants is to be taken seriously. but i can tell you this--you hear people say, oh, there's not much suffering in the world, jokes are inappropriate. i say hunger is inappropriate. poverty is inappropriate. lies and hypocrisy from governments, that's inappropriate. >> politics is not going to save this world that requires a lot of saving. >> what will save the world is the comics. >> all over the world, people are taking up microphones. it's a comic spring. an uprising of punch lines. and i'm telling you, man, the revolution will be hilarious. [captioning made possible by kcet television] [captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

we think we're progressive here, but in india, like, straight guys hold hands in the street. it's just a normal thing. and when i got over there, my cousin sahil, he just was like, hasan! you're home. you're my brother. [laughter] and my first reaction was pull away, get away. get away. but if you let it sit for a minute, right, doesn't it feel right? [laughter]

- [on cassette tape] this is louis satchmo armstrong, ready to send a beautiful letter to a fi young lady by the name of miss sweets preston. - my mother was in love with the most famous black man in the world and carrying his child. there were even rumors he was impotent. the truth isi am louis armstrong's daughter. [ambient music] - major funding for real south is provided by etv endowment, the national endowment for the arts, south arts,