What would comedy be without the potential for ... humiliating defeat?

May 24, 2015 7:06 PM

Can China take a joke? The NYT Magazine examines the growing standup comedy scene in China, and its complicated relationship with traditional Chinese "cross-talk" performances, and modern Chinese society. [previously on metafilter]
posted by firechicago (2 comments total)

I'm sad that Joe Wong went back to China, but it looks like there's advantages to being there. Even a few artistically:

“I would not sing a song in America,” he told me later. “It’s so uncool.” Just as Wong had to learn what American audiences wanted — brevity, clarity, unexpected truths about American pieties — he was now learning how to perform for the Chinese.

posted by ignignokt at 7:38 PM on May 24, 2015

I saw Joe Wong a dozen times or so in his home club in Cambridge, MA, from about 2010-2012. Always a great set, and always different from the last. A few times, he was honing a set for a Letterman. He was always one of my favorites to see on the bill.
posted by msbrauer at 11:52 AM on May 25, 2015