‘My mother is German-Jewish and my father is Arab-Israeli which makes me Sri Lankan’

After October 7, stand-up comedian Rapha Manajem felt the understandable urge to withdraw and stop doing shows. The Melbourne-based comic was particularly disturbed by the scenes of protesters in Sydney celebrating the deaths of innocent people in Israel.

After some time a Muslim friend got in touch asking Manajem where he’d been. Manajem told him he had been feeling fear and shame and did not want to be out. 

“And he messaged me back and said ‘Look I’ve seen your act, fear and shame shouldn’t be anything new to you. You should’ve been feeling that the whole time. Don’t be stupid, come tell jokes,” Manajem says. 

For the most part, he says, fellow comedians have been supportive. 

“I don't think they take themselves seriously enough to feel like they can solve the world's problems.” 

Manajem is Jewish and describes his heritage as German, Israeli, Arab and Yemenite. His first solo comedy show, The Salmon Was Good, will deal with the divergent pieces of identity, including his own.

The show is loosely based on his German grandfather as well as a friend who had German grandparents who were both Jewish and gentile. Although he will be performing over Yom Kippur, Manajem insists he will be fasting.

“I don't want to talk about the [October 7] war or conflict or anything. I don't even necessarily want to talk about being Jewish. That's not the actual point of it. The point is to talk about being human and how confusing and frustrating it is, but also it's wonderful and funny.”

Manajem lived in Melbourne until he was eight-years-old when his parents moved the family to Brisbane. Manajem and his brother were the only Jewish children at their Brisbane school. 

“And my identity as an Essendon supporter also made me different, because people didn't like AFL, which hurt even more, because the year I moved there Essendon lost in the grand final to the Brisbane Lions.”

At school Manajem was called the n-word because of the colour of his skin. As an adult he has been mistaken for Muslim and also subjected to Islamophobic slurs. Now, comedy provides the chance to satire the absurdity of the expectations people place on him because of his identity or appearance. 

“The broader point about being technically German and Jewish and Arab and Yeminite and Israeli is that people really want you to play one character. You’re not,” he says. “It’s all the same absurd feeling of being trapped in this idea of what you are when you’re just another idiot walking around trying to figure it out.” 

At 23, Manajem moved back to Melbourne where he now lives in the northern suburbs. In 2014, he was a Queensland finalist in the National Spoken Word Competition. 

But about two years ago he turned his hand to stand-up comedy. Last year he was a Raw Comedy Final runner-up and this year was selected for the Comedy Zone as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. 

Manajem believes a sense of humour has helped Jewish people cope with a history of persecution and pain. He says comedy routines and rabbinical sermons also share many similarities – there is often a likeness in form and structure. 

“If you watch a rabbi do a drasha (sermon), it follows so many rules of comedy and comedy storytelling. Things happen in threes. There's a big circle at the end of it. A lot of time they're doing it with no notes. Their comic timing is really good.” 

Comedy might not yet pay all the bills for Manajem, but it has helped him grapple with the heaviness of big existential questions. 

“It’s a healthy way to process it,” he says. “I think when it’s done well it leaves you feeling lighter.” 

The Salmon Was Good will run from October 11 to 13 at the Provincial Hotel, 299 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.