Indonesian comedian Pandji Pragiwaksono, long known for arena-sized shows and outspoken political satire, has moved to New York to rebuild his career in English. The move matters because it has forced a nationally prominent performer to begin again on small open-mic stages while adapting his material for a very different audience.

Pragiwaksono, who lives in New York with his wife and two children, says he is not yet earning money in the United States and hopes his forthcoming English-language tour will change that. The tour begins in Australia on 26 August before travelling to the US and Canada; he says American audiences favour quicker punchlines than Indonesian audiences, whose comedy often relies on longer storytelling, and he is increasingly drawing on his Indonesian background to find his new voice.