Why I prefer to be called "Bradshaw" off-stage
The short story is that "Curry" is giving racist, lol.
When I first started stand up comedy, I thought I was so clever coming up with a stage name. But I didn’t fully think through the fact that nobody would call me by a first name and last name basis. I don’t know why I thought I’d be treated like I was James Bond or something. So, naturally, when I came off the stage, people started calling me what they think is my first name, Curry.
At the beginning I was like, oh yeah, that makes total sense. But eventually, I started feeling weird about it.
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I realized I don’t actually like being called “Curry”, lol!
The first thing I noticed was that I didn’t really like being called Curry. Sure, curry is a fucking delicious dish from all regions IDGAF, but I didn’t really want to be called a delicious dish, you know? I wanted my stage name to be a play on the name Carrie Bradshaw that made sense to my taste in fashion and my identity, and that differentiated me clearly from this rich white lady from this TV show who I otherwise had nothing else in common with. It was between curry and curly but I settled for curry because it rolled off the tongue way better, and immediately made it known that I was for sure Asian. I was like, “Damn, I’m so frigging clever and funny with this stage name!” I wasn’t…I didn’t think it all the way through.
Many South Asian comics refuse to call me “Curry”
Because the second thing I noticed was that a couple of South Asian comics told me they’d refuse to call me Curry because of the racially charged undertone. And I got to thinking…if I allow people to call me Curry, then aren’t I giving people permission to call me what has been a historically racial slur against all South Asian diasporas? I have to admit, at the beginning, it was kinda fun for me to watch white people battle their internal demons to call me Curry out loud, but after the initial fun was gone, I realized I had to do something about it.
So I asked people to call me “Bradshaw” off-stage
So after a year into doing stand up comedy, I started asking comedians to call me Bradshaw. I started with my co-workers because they’re really the ones I’m seeing most frequently at comedy bars anyway. I’m sure most of them are rolling their eyes at me. I know it’s also been an annoying adjustment to my friends, too, who know my government name, and never know how to introduce me to new people anymore.
Honestly, it has been a journey. So here’s the thing. If people call me Curry, I don’t get mad. Even if people call me by my government name, I don’t get mad. I’m slowly starting to feel less precious about revealing my government name to people lately.
That being said, as I slowly make my way to the Big Apple every once in a while to try out stand up there, I know that I’ll have to build from scratch using the same principle: use the name and get recognized by that alone, then eventually people will hear what I have to say on stage and realize I can make them laugh, and hopefully follow along on the journey. On a recent trip there, it already got attention and interest, so I know I’m doing something right by using the name.
Nobody created a guidebook on how to navigate life using an artist name. So I look at it like this - when new people enter my life, depending on how I feel, I tell them my real name. I don’t when I can sense the energy is off. Now, I feel like if you know, you know. And for those that don’t, it can be earned. It’s kind of a way I self-preserve.
Regardless of what I decide, Bradshaw is the main takeaway, anyway. It’s about this relationship to this iconic show centred around sex, dating, and relationships, and spinning the idea of the lead character to be a South Asian Muslim woman talking about those things instead.
And, NGL, using this very colonial ass name almost makes me feel like I’m taking back the power of what normally belongs to someone that doesn’t look anything like me. It makes me feel powerful as fuck. I feel like it’s very much my drag persona, if I had one…like I’ve got mad assets and property all over the world. (I do not.)
It’s also kind of another mind trip because whenever South Asians get cast in movies and TV shows, they always have these white sounding names instead of a name that is realistic to their backstory. That being said, there are also so many South Asian Christians in particular that have colonial ass names to begin with. So it’s about challenging all of these ideas and, ultimately, laughing about it.
Some South Asians have challenged me, telling me that using a colonial sounding name can come off as self-hate. And sure, if you’ve never seen me perform, I can see why you’d think that. But if you have seen me perform, I wear my identities on my sleeve. Being Muslim and Bengali is a huge part of my life story and, therefore, naturally what I talk about in my sets. I don’t have an ounce of self-hate, and I can say that confidently because I definitely went through a phase where I did hate myself. But that phase has been over.
Oftentimes when I introduce myself as “Bradshaw” now, people immediately say, “Like Carrie Bradshaw?”. And every time that happens, I’m so glad they get the association right away. It feels like maybe I’ve made the right choice.