Today on the podcast we talk to Sunanda who is a Punjabi-Thai writer, comedian, radio host, and producer raised in Bangkok, matured in New York City and Los Angeles, and has since moved to Melbourne for love. This year, they were nominated for the highly coveted Best Newcomer award from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for their solo show, "Sunanda Loves Britney." Sunanda is a core collaborator of the award-winning Melbourne queer clowning troupe, Po Po Mo Co, and in 2022 their children’s short film series “Once Upon a Drag Storytime” is the official selection at several worldwide film festivals with screenings. They have performed stand up in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, Manila, Hyderabad, Singapore, Bangkok and Melbourne among other cities. Sunanda also created, curated, and hosted the groundbreaking show, "Indian Wedding," a South Asian variety show that was called one of the fifteen best things to do in Los Angeles by LA Weekly. They produced Broad City's "I Heart NY" webisode, the feature film “How To Follow Strangers” (Prix D’or of L.E.S. Festival) and countless other shorts where they’ve worked with Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation), Ilana Glazer (Broad City), Lucia Aniello (Emmy-award winning director and writer of Hacks, Broad City), Reggie Watts, Horatio Sanz (Saturday Night Live), Michael Che (Saturday Night Live), Ego Nowdim (Saturday Night Live), Jena Friedman (The Daily Show), and Chioke Nassor (High Fidelity) among others. I’m sorry, but please, these collabs. Needless to say, this conversation was funny, frank and you’re going to love it. As usual, we hit Sunanda up with the important Qs: Last meal: Gai Pad Krapow Currently reading: Instagram captions Currently watching: We are lady parts Listening to: Spotify playlist - ‘Back at Mine’; plus Dua Lipa x Elton John collab Cold Heart Favourite unwind: Alternative weird comedy, smoke some pot and then dancing at a queer bar What advice would Sunanda give to someone who's wondering about the next step in their career? If you can, just go after it. As long as it’s fun, try to waste as little time as possible anxious about if you’ve made the right move. The less time you wait, the more time you have to improve on the thing you just did. A little about your co-hosts: Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity. And don't forget to join our 9 to 5 community on IG, FB and TW, and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review!
