Allez les standups! Are French comics gutsier than their British rivals?

They’re inspired by Charlie Hedbo and tell jokes that would get British comedians cancelled. Our writer spends a week watching French standupsHow Greece’s theatre staged triumph from tragedyLast dance for Berlin’s 56-hour party people?Poland’s world-be…

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Empire state of mind: the comedian untangling India’s identity crisis

With his persona of a Raj-revering Indian, Anuvab Pal dons a Beefeater jacket and judge’s wig to trace colonial legacy in the standup show The Empire

Reckoning with colonialism is on the minds of third-generation diaspora kids. Projects such as the Crimes of Britain website are monitoring Britain’s imperial legacy for today’s youth and interrogating Britain’s claim to greatness. Now, the Indian standup Anuvab Pal anatomises the same subject matter in his touring comedy show, The Empire, which he performs at Soho theatre in London this week.

A Bengali native, Pal offers an Indian perspective on the armies who turned up uninvited on India’s shores. But he also uses his routines to inform audiences of a subset of Indians who yearn for the return of the Raj.

Related: India’s new wave of comedians laugh in the face of taboos

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