Pipe Dream interviewed Abby Govindan, a comedian and aspiring television writer who has been performing stand-up since 2017. Govindan’s TEDxBinghamtonUniversity talk focused on how media representation affects self-perception. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Pipe Dream: How did you enter into comedy? What is it like to be a South Asian comedian in an industry with such little representation?

Abby Govindan: I had a very “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”-like story for that in the fact that I got into stand-up comedy after a bad breakup. I got out of a relationship and I was heartbroken. I really thought he was the love of my life. I had asked my parents for years if they would pay for stand-up classes and they would tell me to wait until after I finish college for that. After this breakup, they could see that I was miserable and gave in. I learned stand-up from a veteran comedian and fell in love with it from there. They always tell you, your first show is going to be bad. My first show, which was like a “graduation” from this, was a hit. I felt like I found myself.

PD: When did you go “viral” and how did that affect your life?

AG: I went viral from a tweet that did really well in 2018. I made a joke about PTSD when my therapist said we should talk about my use of humor as a coping mechanism. That was based on a real conversation I had with my therapist. I kind of use therapy as like stage time. Does that make sense? Every time I talk to my therapist, I try to make her laugh. It just blew up. I literally got like 10,000 followers overnight and my life has just gone upward from there. I got a lot of opportunities I wouldn’t otherwise get. It grew my platform and let me work with a lot of really cool people.

PD: How has South Asian media representation affected you growing up? Who were some of your comedic inspirations?

AG: I still remember the first time I saw Russell Peters. I was nine years old and I fell in love with him. I always had kind of a fascination with comedy. My parents used to yell at me for watching him. I would sneak a laptop up to my room in the middle of the night and watch clips of him and Andy Samberg and Bill Hader. I barely understood any of the jokes, but it was just his delivery that made it great. I have a distinct memory of watching the Donald Glover special so often that I could recite it word for word, beat by beat. Mindy Kaling was also such an inspiration to me. She was the first person I saw on television that actually looked like me. And she was hooking up with the hottest guy in “The Office!” I’d say one of my biggest comedic inspirations was Aparna Nancherla. She’s so charming and charismatic. Comedy looked so effortless from her. She was the first person I saw who made me think I can do comedy too. Also here, I should mention that my friend who edited my TEDx Talk video was the former digital director of Hasan Minhaj’s show, “Patriot Act.”

PD: This year’s TEDxBinghamtonUniversity theme is “UNEARTHED.” How does your talk fit into this theme?

AG: I feel most things that are unearthed are discovered if that makes sense. Like dinosaur bones and treasure, most things that are unearthed are being discovered. And in that sense, I feel like my [TEDx Talk] ties into that theme because I kind of unearthed my true self through the course of switching my major in college six times, starting stand-up, going viral on Twitter and like, realizing that I wanted to do comedy as a career. I really discovered myself.