This week I’m in Taiwan for a Fulbright conference, and myself and most of the other scholars are taking advantage of the non-censored internet to catch up on the world by reading the New York Times. One morning at breakfast I found myself bombarded by about ten of my colleagues, each recommending I read the article that just appeared in the New York Times about first-generation cross-cultural comedians in New York City.
Joe Wong, with whom I appeared on a TV show last month, was cited heavily in the article, alongside a lot of other interesting comedians. There was even a link to a very interesting English-language Xiangsheng piece put together by some students at the University of Michigan.
I want to share this piece and also add to it that I am always impressed by the courage of the Chinese people who I see do stand-up in Beijing, that go out and try to be funny in another language and culture than their own, because if going onstage for an open mic is going out on a limb, then doing so without your own culture to brace you as the trunk the limb is shooting off from is doubly brave.