The first Creator First pilot show gives a powerful voice to women comics while combatting tokenism.
Clubhouse Convos May 9
Congratulations to Fizaa Dosani for being the first pilot airing in the inaugural Creator First pilot season. She’s the creator of Facial Recognition Comedy, which is one of my favorite clubs to hang out in during my off time.
I even fell asleep in their “What’s Your Starbucks Name?” room last month listening to people share the hilarious ways Starbucks employees misspell and mispronounce their names. The problem is a common one that anybody can understand, immigrant or not. Even with a name as easy as Brian, they rarely get it right.
It’s one of the most accepting and inclusive communities on the platform.
Facial Recognition Comedy predates Clubhouse – it’s a weekly podcast, nationally touring show, and a venerable comedy brand. Dosani created it with Zahra Ali and Pallavi Gunalan as a show of solidarity for each other and any other underrepresented communities in comedy, specifically those of Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian (MENASA) descent.
They’re combatting the tokenism that comes with being labeled as a certain ethnicity and having your career options bottlenecked. With so few roles available for the demographic, they often found themselves competing for spots or confused with each other.
But each of these women (and the growing membership of the club) have their own voices. And thanks to the grind Dosani put in, they a stage to amplify their voices (along with those of other underrepresented demographics).
Let’s dive into what makes the club so special, why Clubhouse chose Dosani as a Creator First finalist, and what to expect from tonight’s pilot launch.
Terrestrial Extras
Immigrants account for about 13.7 percent of the United States population, with about 45 million foreign-born people living in the country according to Pew Research. That’s about triple the population in 1970, and most (77 percent) are living in the country legally.
Next to Mexico – which accounts for about 25 percent of all immigrants), China, India, and the Philippines are the top countries of origin. Yet with these nations accounting for such a large immigrant group, their representation in traditional Hollywood, advertising, and other media is painfully low.
And immigrants from all nations share commonalities, which is something that comes up often in Facial Recognition Comedy rooms. It’s also a common thread we explored during the Persian New Year celebration I attended back in March.
Anti-immigrant hate grew over the past decade, some of it being fueled by rhetoric from the Trump Administration. This created a lot of obstacles for every immigrant, and comedians can be on the front lines of these problems when performing in clubs around the country.
Throughout the turmoil, there’s still plenty of love and humor to be found. That’s the focus of the FRC rooms, which elevates the podcast vibe with live crowd interactions. Although they have great material themselves, the focus Dosani and her crew have is on shining a spotlight on everyone else with the same problems.
That’s where the magic formula happens that caught the attention of Clubhouse programming. Because there are so many people sharing common experiences, it turns out there’s a lot of comedic gold to be mined in the situations everyone’s living in. And as the rooms go on, they often transform from hilarious to truly poignant and back in the blink of an eye.
It’s all due to the effort of the club’s mod squad.
Transcending Brain Candy
If you follow the club, you’ll find a variety of rooms opened by Facial Recognition Comedy. Each one has a different theme that’s meant to act as a talking point for people, like the aforementioned Starbucks room or rooms discussing how to disappoint your parents by not becoming a doctor, issues older generations have adjusting to new cultures, and embarrassing things your family does.
The premises are simple and have been used to create a deep arsenal of comedic bits by the wide range of comedians on stage. This allows them to riff, pull out crowd-tested material, and invite audience members on stage to share their similar experiences.
The rooms tend to walk a line between comedy club, skit, and support group, as each story adds another flavor to the conversational melting pot. And the trio is often joined by comedians, musicians, and entertainers who lend a hand with concepts of their own, like Ashwyn Singh.
Each show brings a different blend of people to create its own unique experience and ensures the rooms remain fresh. After attending a variety of rooms over the course of several months, I’ve never found them to be repetitive.
And Dosani isn’t afraid to tackle social issues, mental health, and anything else. No topic in the human experience is too taboo to dissect the differences between immigrants and native-born citizens in perceiving and interacting with them.
FRC consistently brings high-quality entertainment that also boldly addresses social issues to ensure Clubhouse is a place to hold necessary conversations in an inclusive way. There aren’t always solutions to everyone’s individual problems, but the bonding experienced over the way people treat each other can be its own therapy.
She’s also a hard worker who is constantly helping support and promote the overall Clubhouse comedy scene.
You’ll see her regularly providing sound effects, moderating, and hosting assistance to Leah Lamarr in her Afternoon Delight Comedy Show. She comes through the Laugh Factory Comedy Workshop to help out. She’s always hosting rooms to help creatives with mental health and create safe spaces for people to speak.
But she also regularly joins others’ rooms to support their clubs – this is what makes Dosani a comedian for the people.
Of course, no show goes on alone, and the three comedians at the helm of FRC will be joined by an exciting slate of comedians for their pilot show, including Kiran Deol, Subhah Agarwal, Ayanna Dookie, Grace N., Shanni Suissa, Singh, Solmaz, and Laura Laham.
The pilot show is likely to replicate Afternoon Delight’s overall format more so than a normal FRC show would. That’s because it’s a pilot competition in which only one out of every three shows can win. They need to put on the best show possible, and that means they’ll be depending on trusted members of the community to lend a hand.
You can bet I’ll be there to support and maybe even fall asleep in the afterparty to see what I wake up to.
Final Thoughts on Facial Recognition Comedy
Facial Recognition Comedy was born out of necessity – the entertainment industry simply doesn’t have enough roles for MENASA women to succeed. The shortage of roles could have led to a cutthroat business that pitted the demographic against each other in a Hunger Games-style battle royal.
But Fizaa Dosani and her crew took a different route.
Instead of fighting each other, they banded together and forged a path of their own. You don’t have to wait for the pilot to air, and you don’t have to stop listening when it’s over. There are over 150 episodes of the FRC podcast available on all major platforms.
Get started right now getting to know the three women who are redefining comedy for a new generation. They’re pioneering a new lane in the industry and making sure everybody remembers their face moving forward.
That’s the true spirit of Clubhouse.
Join the Facial Recognition Pilot Season Premiere on Clubhouse tonight!