Sly as in, not owning up to the fact that he is Wilbur, and creating a whole fake persona. I know Borat did it, but he doesn’t (try to) sing on the side.

It must be hard to see someone take a subculture (language, accent) that has been looked down upon for a long while, embrace it, play with it, present it in a loveable way and make a name for himself, all while seemingly having some fun himself.

In my books, you will never be a loser for having the guts to try something different.

Agree, so I will retract my “loser” comment, that was a bit too strong.

However, I will qualify that: just trying something different, and then putting it out there without credits to see if it flies, and (potentially) taking credit if it does, doesn’t show a lot of guts. So in my book, not only does he need a new career, he needs a lot more lower-body fortitude.

As for the niche, it depends on whether what he has found is a barber-like niche. Maybe what he has found is a bum-like niche, in which case, your teacher’s exhortation would map as: ‘Even if you become a bum, be the best bum in town.’ Not sure what that would mean, maybe making observations that get you into overheardinnewyork.com? Or SM, in this case.

Sure, live and let live. As long as the niche-builder stays in his space and I stay in mine, and there are no overlaps. Unfortunately public spaces overlap, and if you are building your niche in the public space, you should be ready to get bounced around a little. (Being sly about it doesn’t help much, as you can see. Nor does it get respect.) Whatever he is getting comes with his public niche — “let live” is not the same as “let go”. If he is not ready to face people’s views, he should have kept his singing to the bathroom.

But if your background is the only thing thing you can capitalize on, and if this realization dawns after trying to capitalize on non-background things AND yet, you do a poor job at capitalizing on your background, then you need a new career. (In my books, you will never be a loser for having the guts to try something different.)

But if your background is the only thing thing you can capitalize on, and if this realization dawns after trying to capitalize on non-background things, AND you do it well, then hats off to you that you have figured out your niche in life. You’ve understood my old teacher’s advice, ‘Even if you become a barber, be the best barber in town.’ May you have all the time and opportunity in this world to perfect your art. Don’t pay attention to your detractors and especially don’t pay attention to those detractors who resent that you have found your niche.

And I stay away from arguements over ‘good, art; bad art’ dichotomy. That arguement is as old as the class/caste system and only becomes more subjective with each additional social classification. Live and let live.

The emphasis should be on good comedy, not the background. This is yet another unfunny unoriginal take on a desi situation.