Getting Your Yucks
Stand up comedy has become a "big thing" all over the U.S. and Europe. It is now invading Asia, particularly Hong Kong.
There are two main ways to get your comedy fix here in Hong Kong. One is to go to Hong Kong's newest full-time comedy club, located in the Soho Area, the TakeOut Comedy Club HK. Shows are scheduled for every Friday and Saturday night. There are also open mike nights, Monday in Chinese, Tuesday in English. Additionally, The People's Liberation Improv Troupe performs every first and third Friday of the month. There are also surprise guest performers on an unscheduled basis. Much of the comedy is in English, some in Chinese and some of the comedians switch back and forth between Chinese and English.
Jami Gong, TakeOut's owner and founder has also organized the Second HK International Comedy Festival, October 9-18, 2008. All performances will be at the TakeOut venue.
The second way to get your fix is to catch the traveling acts that are imported for one or two nights. Two of the most popular venues for these are Grappa's Cellar in Jardine House, Central and the Viceroy Indian Restaurant in Wan Chai. Most of these shows are sponsored by the Punchline Comedy Club. Many of the acts originate in the U.K. with some from the U.S., Canada and Ireland.
I attended just such a show last night, Friday, July 4, brought to Hong Kong by someone, who I was introduced to as Shanghai Dave but is actually a Hong Kong native. It was somehow affirming to attend a performance by U.S. based comedians on the Fourth of July.
The two headliners were Jesse Joyce, originally from Pittsburgh PA and Keith Alberstadt from Nashville, Tennessee. Joyce has a more traditional stand-up act where he goes from topic to topic, more or less, as the spirit moves him but without a lot of ad-libbing, at least as far as I could determine. Alberstadt (not a stage name as you might guess) did more interaction with the audience and does not put out as fast paced a delivery as Joyce.
Both were good dealing with a pretty tough audience. Most of the guests were Chinese with a bunch of Aussies, Brits and Canucks thrown in. Many of the Chinese, I suspect, were educated overseas and/or carry dual HK/Canadian citizenship. There were some Americans but not a lot of them and I'm sure more than a few of the jokes went unappreciated because of the subtle connections to U.S. culture. I have a similar problem when I see a British stand-up comedian.
Comedians, some stand-up, some improvisational, some rehearsed, also appear at the Fringe Club in Central District from time to time. Click on the link for information.
While Hong Kong has a long way to go before it could be considered a comedy destination, it's actually quite easy to find comedy shows and I suspect it will get easier in the future, especially with Jami Gong priming the pump.