MRSOE! (The Most RACES Show on Earth!)

MRSOE! stopped by Boone, NC @ The Boone Saloon on a Wednesday night to perform in front of a packed Appalachian State University audience. Here is what they had to say about the show! - YouTube

Lee Shainis, Executive Director for Non-Profit organization, Intercambio Uniting Communities gives his post-show reaction after MRSOE! (The Most RACES Show on Earth!) headlines their annual fundraising gala and helps raise well over $25,000 in donor contributions! - YouTube

View an endorsement from Mark Lavaway, former General Manager of the 710 seat Panasonic Theatre in Toronto, Canada. - Panasonic Theatre

View an endorsement from Mark Lavaway, former General Manager of the 710 seat Panasonic Theatre in Toronto, Canada. - Panasonic Theatre

MRSOE! performed in front of Georgia State Students and here is what they had to say... - YouTube

MRSOE! performed in front of Georgia State Students and here is what they had to say... - YouTube

YouTube Clips from all of our previous shows. - Youtube

To view all articles written on MRSOE! click the URL. - Multiple Publishers

Even though comics like Russell Peters and Margaret Cho regularly pack out huge theatres, you can still find comedy lineups that are lily white.

Neil Bansil’s Most Races Show On Earth! (say it quickly for a little in-joke) is doing a lot to change that. Now in its fifth year, the always sold-out event features the funniest comics from across the multicultural landscape. This year’s two-show stand at the Panasonic includes solid talents like Dana Alexander, Massimo Cann, Arthur Simeon and KT Tatara. See Comedy Listings, this page.

You’ve been living in Atlanta. Apart from the weather, how does it compare to T.O.?

It’s not as diverse as Toronto. Here, most people know I’m Filipino; in Atlanta I’m Mexican.

What Filipino stereotypes are you sickest of?

Three. We eat a lot of rice. (Okay, that one’s true.) We’re addicted to karaoke. (Yeah, that’s true, too.) And we can’t create and produce a multicultural stand-up comedy show.

What ethnic group do you want to see represented on the show but never have?

To date, we’ve featured 22 different ethnicities, but I’m still waiting to receive a DVD from a comedian from Turkmenistan.

Good to see more women on the lineup this year. Why so difficult to find?

The difficulty isn’t finding female comedians; it’s finding really funny female comedians who can hold their own.

Some comics tell me the economic downturn hasn’t affected them because they’ve always been strapped for money. Thoughts?

No comedian has ever said to me after a show, “I better take 10 per cent of this cheque and contribute to my RRSP before the deadline.” It’s more like, “Hey, thanks for the cheque! Let’s get shit-faced!”

Any backstage brawls in the past four years?

In four years, not one race war has ever transpired backstage. Everyone has respect for each other and their comedy – until the sandwich tray comes. Then it’s survival of the fittest.

Funniest heckle during a MRSOE! show?

People are too afraid to heckle for fear of looking racist.

Where would you like the show to be in another five?

I want us touring major cities in both Canada and the U.S., and of course, Turkmenistan. - Now Toronto

OK, so a Filipino, a black guy and a white guy walk into a bar…

No. This isn’t going to end well. Let’s leave the jokes to the professionals.

Like Neil Bansil. He may “sound white” on the radio (which people always told him), but he’s not. He’s Filipino-Canadian-American and he’s going to change how you feel about race.

But first he’s going to make you laugh and, apparently, laughter can end racism. Or at least that’s the hope of Bansil—the funny bone behind The Most RACES Show on Earth.

Racism is the pink elephant in the room that gets treated differently for being pink. Diversity exists in our beloved South, but it’s latent and divided. “I was giving out flyers on King Street,” Bansil describes. “That night at Tasty Thai it was all Black people. Every other bar? All White. There’s no animosity, they just don’t relate to each other yet.”

Enter Bansil stage left—and seven of his friends with backgrounds from everywhere (ex: a Polish-Peruvian-Canadian)—ready to get them to relate. Every comedian will be doing 8-10 minute sets about their culture(s) from their perspectives, and also jokes that have nothing to do with race at all. “That’d be a boring set,” adds Bansil. “Everyone’s doing their best stuff. It’s the funniest show because it’s non-stop laughter from everybody. It’s an ab workout, and you’re learning at the same time.”

Making the show hilarious was Bansil’s only objective when he created the show in Toronto seven years ago. Soon, he was selling out 2100-seat theaters and getting interest from famous comedians and television networks. He took it to New York, and then to Atlanta. After getting married and moving to Charleston last June, Bansil decided to take a risk and pitch his show to Charleston’s 9th Annual Comedy Festival. “Who needs this show more?” said Bansil. “A place that’s already multi-cultural, or the South, where there are cultures, but they’re not together?”

They will be together two nights this weekend in, ironically, The American Theater. Playing in Charleston is a new risk for Bansil, who doesn’t know: which theater, the number of tickets sold, or who’s coming. “I’m nervous!” laughs Bansil. But he’s confident in his production. “I’m good at bringing people together. That’s my job. And if no one comes, I’ll just take really close-up pictures.”

Bansil isn’t a stranger to racism; he’s had some cruel things done to him. But he chooses to make light of it by turning it into material for his stand-up: “Everywhere I go, people think I’m Chinese. I went to Chinatown in Toronto with a white friend. They brought our order and gave my friend a fork and knife, but they gave me chopsticks. That’s ignorant, just because I’m Asian, doesn’t mean I know how to use chopsticks. Frickin’ Pizza Hut. And I just ordered a soda.”

Bansil just wishes he could see a more direct benefit, so he donates to anti-racism charities. “I want to help,” says a momentarily serious Bansil. “Maybe we’re indirectly ending racism, but we don’t say that. It’s about getting everyone in the same room. They look around, realize they’re all laughing at the same things, and say, ‘Wow, this is really cool.’”

OK, got it: What do you get when Filipino-Vietnamese-African-Jamaican-Polish-Peruvian-Jewish-Canadian-Americans walk into the American Theater?

A damn funny show. - Charlie Magazine

At the recent bris of his nephew, comedian Noah Gardenswartz stood and recited a poem to his family. "Not exactly a fair trade as I lay on this table," he read. "I lose part of my penis and you all get free bagels."

If it wasn't obvious by his name, Gardenswartz is Jewish. He's used his heritage to comedic advantage, even adopting the moniker "WanderJew" and filming videos about his world travels. In one, filmed in Israel, he shows off his extensive yarmulke collection (one for "showing off and getting money," another to "get bitches," and even one that looks like a basketball for when he hits the courts).

Gardenswartz and the five other comedians participating in The Most RACES Show on Earth! openly joke about their ethnicity, using stereotypes that garner laughs. But the show isn't about capitalizing on racial misconceptions; it's about tearing them down.

"It's like an equal opportunity show. It makes it OK for people to laugh, because we're joking about our own nationality and culture," says host and producer Neil Bansil, a Filipino-Canadian-American. "No one is attacking another race. It's never malicious. That would just defeat the purpose of the show. We're trying to bring everyone together."

Bansil founded RACES in Toronto back in 2005, drawing on that city's wealth of multi-cultural comedians to design a mixed-bag evening of fast-firing stand-up. Held annually in Ontario on March 21, the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the show expanded into Buffalo and Ottawa in 2008 and Atlanta in 2010. Several RACES veterans have gone on to greater fame, including Cory Fernandez (Cop Out with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan), Debra DiGiovanni (Last Comic Standing), and Sheng Wang (Live at Gotham).

"Everyone is so new and different that when people watch (RACES), they're like, 'Where are you getting these guys?'" Bansil says. "For Charleston, we've got the best of the best of the Southeast."

The Comedy Fest lineup includes a few rising stars. Atlanta's Clayton English plays a recurring character, Peanut, on the TBS show Tyler Perry's House of Payne, while Jamaican-Canadian Landry (also Atlanta based) recently won the 2011 Boston Comedy Festival competition.

"It wasn't easy growing up a negro redneck," jokes Landry in one of his stand-up routines. "I had a dreadlock mullet until I was 12."

Rounding out the lineup are Gardenswartz, Polish-Peruvian Daniel Tirado ("That makes me cheap and slow," he quips), and Goose Creek native Viet Huynh.

RACES' design plays out like a "best of the best" from the individual comedians, offering each about 10 to 12 minutes to deliver the material of their choice. Bansil plays emcee, kicking off the evening and introducing each performer.

"I come out as the ringleader to make sure everything goes smoothly, but these guys are the ones who knock it out of the park," Bansil says. "It's a home run every single time, and it's designed that way. People have short attention spans, so you want to have the best 10 minutes of comedy without going too long."

The jokes aren't all about race, although most of the performers will at least fall back on their best ethnic material.

"As long as it's funny, I'm cool with it," Bansil says. "I don't censor them. There's some racy, edgy material, but people have to realize that it's coming from their own perspective. It's how they grew up that shapes their jokes."

Landry, for example, shows his understanding for his "redneck mom's" affection for black men.

"Who can blame her?" he asks. "You know the saying: 'Once you go black, you're a single mom.'"

Gardenswartz gets laughs recalling the difficulty of his lengthy last name when attending a new school.

"I do think that if you too have an equally difficult long ethnic name, then maybe you should show compassion rather than making fun," Gardenswartz says. "First day of class, reading off roll, and some smartass in the back says, 'What kind of a name is Gardenswartz?' I'm like, 'Really, Quantavius?' Interesting factoid: In Germany, my last name means 'black garden,' and in America, your first name means 'black parents.'"

After years of appearances in Canada (and two in Georgia), Bansil says he's excited to bring the show to Charleston, where it will likely play to its whitest audience yet. Bansil's wife is an Irmo, S.C. native, and the couple recently relocated to Charleston from Atlanta. Apart from a few solo gigs at Bushido Japanese Restaurant and an appearance in last year's Comedy Fest stand-up competition, RACES will be Bansil's big debut in his new hometown.

"I don't think people here have even come close to seeing something like this before," Bansil says. "We're not preaching. We just want to have a funny show. It's a culture-building initiative." - Charleston City Paper

At the recent bris of his nephew, comedian Noah Gardenswartz stood and recited a poem to his family. "Not exactly a fair trade as I lay on this table," he read. "I lose part of my penis and you all get free bagels."

If it wasn't obvious by his name, Gardenswartz is Jewish. He's used his heritage to comedic advantage, even adopting the moniker "WanderJew" and filming videos about his world travels. In one, filmed in Israel, he shows off his extensive yarmulke collection (one for "showing off and getting money," another to "get bitches," and even one that looks like a basketball for when he hits the courts).

Gardenswartz and the five other comedians participating in The Most RACES Show on Earth! openly joke about their ethnicity, using stereotypes that garner laughs. But the show isn't about capitalizing on racial misconceptions; it's about tearing them down.

"It's like an equal opportunity show. It makes it OK for people to laugh, because we're joking about our own nationality and culture," says host and producer Neil Bansil, a Filipino-Canadian-American. "No one is attacking another race. It's never malicious. That would just defeat the purpose of the show. We're trying to bring everyone together."

Bansil founded RACES in Toronto back in 2005, drawing on that city's wealth of multi-cultural comedians to design a mixed-bag evening of fast-firing stand-up. Held annually in Ontario on March 21, the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the show expanded into Buffalo and Ottawa in 2008 and Atlanta in 2010. Several RACES veterans have gone on to greater fame, including Cory Fernandez (Cop Out with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan), Debra DiGiovanni (Last Comic Standing), and Sheng Wang (Live at Gotham).

"Everyone is so new and different that when people watch (RACES), they're like, 'Where are you getting these guys?'" Bansil says. "For Charleston, we've got the best of the best of the Southeast."

The Comedy Fest lineup includes a few rising stars. Atlanta's Clayton English plays a recurring character, Peanut, on the TBS show Tyler Perry's House of Payne, while Jamaican-Canadian Landry (also Atlanta based) recently won the 2011 Boston Comedy Festival competition.

"It wasn't easy growing up a negro redneck," jokes Landry in one of his stand-up routines. "I had a dreadlock mullet until I was 12."

Rounding out the lineup are Gardenswartz, Polish-Peruvian Daniel Tirado ("That makes me cheap and slow," he quips), and Goose Creek native Viet Huynh.

RACES' design plays out like a "best of the best" from the individual comedians, offering each about 10 to 12 minutes to deliver the material of their choice. Bansil plays emcee, kicking off the evening and introducing each performer.

"I come out as the ringleader to make sure everything goes smoothly, but these guys are the ones who knock it out of the park," Bansil says. "It's a home run every single time, and it's designed that way. People have short attention spans, so you want to have the best 10 minutes of comedy without going too long."

The jokes aren't all about race, although most of the performers will at least fall back on their best ethnic material.

"As long as it's funny, I'm cool with it," Bansil says. "I don't censor them. There's some racy, edgy material, but people have to realize that it's coming from their own perspective. It's how they grew up that shapes their jokes."

Landry, for example, shows his understanding for his "redneck mom's" affection for black men.

"Who can blame her?" he asks. "You know the saying: 'Once you go black, you're a single mom.'"

Gardenswartz gets laughs recalling the difficulty of his lengthy last name when attending a new school.

"I do think that if you too have an equally difficult long ethnic name, then maybe you should show compassion rather than making fun," Gardenswartz says. "First day of class, reading off roll, and some smartass in the back says, 'What kind of a name is Gardenswartz?' I'm like, 'Really, Quantavius?' Interesting factoid: In Germany, my last name means 'black garden,' and in America, your first name means 'black parents.'"

After years of appearances in Canada (and two in Georgia), Bansil says he's excited to bring the show to Charleston, where it will likely play to its whitest audience yet. Bansil's wife is an Irmo, S.C. native, and the couple recently relocated to Charleston from Atlanta. Apart from a few solo gigs at Bushido Japanese Restaurant and an appearance in last year's Comedy Fest stand-up competition, RACES will be Bansil's big debut in his new hometown.

"I don't think people here have even come close to seeing something like this before," Bansil says. "We're not preaching. We just want to have a funny show. It's a culture-building initiative." - Charleston City Paper