Review – Occupy White People

Michael Hing isn’t saying that all white people are ‘pedos’. And he isn’t saying that all ‘pedos’ are white people. But if you run through the list of people who have been prosecuted for having hard-drives full of child pornography then, well, you start to notice a pattern. “All I’m saying is, if I reverse into a fire hydrant people say, ‘All Asians are bad drivers.’ When are we going to start stereotyping white people?”

Occupy White People, as you might have guessed, touches on racism and Michael’s experiences with it growing up in Sydney where, for example, he was one of three Asian students in his high school. It does what stand-up is best positioned to do: trek new paths through knotty, intimidating territory. And Michael makes for an affable guide as he relates how racist stereotypes have affected him, both positively and negatively. His observations are clever, funny and bold, and Michael is not afraid to reveal how easily he himself can have fun with racist stereotypes (working in a bottle shop, he used to give customers advice through a Mexican sock-puppet sommelier).

Michael Hing is no one-trick pony, though, and he finds plenty else to laugh about. His story of a man’s unfortunate first meeting with a Dyson hand-drier is hands-down one of the funniest things I’ve heard this year. Occupy White People is an illuminating exploration of issues of race in Australia, told through a very funny and talented comedian.