For Chinese diaspora comedians, be careful with the punchline

Chinese-born Australian Xi performs in Melbourne, and he doesn’t plan to stop kidding about his famous namesake. Photo: AP

Comedian Xi Diao says he knows he should avoid talking politics on stage, but sharing a family name with Chinese president Xi Jinping makes it hard to resist.

Even his name is politically sensitive, the Melbourne, Australia-based comedian tells audiences, setting up a joke about a group chat on the Chinese messaging service WeChat being shut down as soon as he joined it.