By Andrew Hamlin
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Kiran Deol
A brutal attack outside a 7-11 store took her two surgeries to fully recover from. Her ophthalmologist told her she narrowly escaped from going blind.
So how did Kiran Deol, a young Indian American performer, respond to her strife? She turned her suffering into funny stuff.
“For me, talking about the experiences was a way to process it and take ownership of what happened,” explained Deol, who’s bringing her one-woman show, “Assault On Comedy,” to the Crocodile on Aug. 29. “It was a way to make it my story instead of something that happened to me. It changed my brain from feeling sad to figuring out how to take everything, crazy, and ridiculous, and infuriating about the experience and make it funny. Being able to share that with people now is one of the great gifts of comedy.
Deol was born in England, but raised in South Florida.
“I can remember moving and feeling like getting the kid’s pack with crayons on the plane, was wildly cosmopolitan. That was when I thought, ‘Ahhhh, this is the life. Travel.’”
As for being funny, that seems to run in the family.
“My Dad is hilarious. He would prank call the zoo asking for Mr. G. Raffe. He’d walk into an empty restaurant and say, ‘Lucky we got a table.’ And he had a huge laugh. Just the best.”
Still, her path to performing wasn’t entirely straightforward.
“As a kid, my sweet grandad tried to brainwash me into believing I wanted to be a doctor. After watching medical shows on TV, I was like I don’t want to be a doctor—but I wouldn’t mind pretending to be a doctor like those fine people on TV. I am still waiting for ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ to call!”
She’s lived in England, Florida, Boston, Kathmandu, New Delhi, and Los Angeles.
“They’re all so different! I love traveling because it helps you see how your normal is so dictated by place. Like, the amount I know about tarot from living in Los Angeles? Embarrassing. The Boston version of me would never!”
She put “Assault On Comedy” together by giving herself successive deadlines, which kept her going even through the tougher parts of processing the experience. She admits, though, that she doesn’t have complete control over what will happen each night.
“I can’t say the venue, but I was performing part of this show and a fellow broke in from backstage, got onstage, screamed to the audience, and then ran through the audience and out the front of the theater screaming. In hindsight, I don’t think he was well. But at the time, I had no idea what was going on, so I flipped my hair and said, ‘Another adoring fan.’
“It went over great with the audience and was only scary afterwards! A win!”
She’s also made a few changes of her own volition.
“After seeing an acupuncturist who said ‘my courage was very less’ post assault, I’ve decided to try a new thing—each city I go to, I am going to try something brave. I’m going to ask the audience at the live show to text in what they do to ‘be brave’ as well. Seattle is the very first city I’m going to try this in—so let’s see how it goes!”
She isn’t sure what the future will bring.
“All I know is that I want to continue to do creative work. Hopefully I’ll get to take the show to many cities—and keep getting to be a part of cool film and TV projects, too! ‘Make cool shit with cool people,’ has always been the goal/dream!”
Kiran Deol presents “Assault On Comedy” on Aug. 29 at the Crocodile, 2505 1st Avenue in Seattle. For prices, showtime, and more information, visit https://www.ticketweb.com/event/kiran-deol-here-after-tickets/14402153.