That guy is hilarious. I cracked up during his Letterman appearance. His bit about telemarketers and Jehovah's Witnesses is amazing.

Oh sweet, a Chinese-American comedian. I have to check him out and LOL at his funny jokes about an overbearing mother.

All they know is pee in coke.

Chinese dont play joke. They just go pee pee in your coke.

Bonanza Jellybean: All they know is pee in coke.

Damn it. Three seconds.

fark yeah, we have our own Russell Peters.

And if you want to hear what a PRC-English accent sounds like, this is precisely it. Forget whatever the hell Hollywood taught you, this is the genuine article.

From what I understand the Chinese have a great sense of humor, just make sure to keep an eye on your Coke.

Being Irish is hilarious.

A minute thirteen late to the party.

I dunno, I found it kind of interesting how visual stereotypes "I'm Irish" went over the heads of the Chinese and it really kind of makes you thankful for the plethora of cultures contained within The American Melting Pot which is what makes the jokes funny to us.
Cross-Talk sounds very much like a militaristic form of comedy that it also fits in with China's cultural history and the fact that it's losing audience with the younger people who are starting to embrace Western style Stand - Up is also telling as the culture there does seem to be shifting some. The only disturbing thing I found in the article was that some Cross-Talk shows were banned by the Government, but then again, when the Chi-Com's are banning their own version of comedy in favor of Western, who's going to complain?

Meh, interesting article.

Joe Wong is great. Most comedy in English does not translate well. We are a very inefficiently complicated language with very nuanced idioms... most of which are the source of our humor.

Also, a majority of humor these days is derived from absurdism, which rarely translates well.

Chinese. What's up with their fire drills?

CanisNoir: I dunno, I found it kind of interesting how visual stereotypes "I'm Irish" went over the heads of the Chinese and it really kind of makes you thankful for the plethora of cultures contained within The American Melting Pot which is what makes the jokes funny to us.
Cross-Talk sounds very much like a militaristic form of comedy that it also fits in with China's cultural history and the fact that it's losing audience with the younger people who are starting to embrace Western style Stand - Up is also telling as the culture there does seem to be shifting some. The only disturbing thing I found in the article was that some Cross-Talk shows were banned by the Government, but then again, when the Chi-Com's are banning their own version of comedy in favor of Western, who's going to complain?

Before I went to Japan, I was told by a wise person that the mark of success in understanding a foreign culture is if you come to understand 1) their humour and 2) their sense of time. I still feel it's a fascinating way of looking at the problem.

Japan doesn't really do sarcasm, as an example, or british-style deadpan. Chinese culture is similar in that respect.

I've watched a fair bit of Hong Kong comedy television with my wife, and I do have to say that the sense of humour is a little difficult to pierce. My experience with mainland Chinese is that it's more alien than either HK or Japanese humour, though.

I work in a lab with several Chinese people who have recently discovered this guy, so I'm getting a kick, etc.

It is funny, though, they really do have a hard time with his comedy. One of them had me watch and explain nearly every joke in this guy's stand-up in order to understand why it was funny. It was interesting, he really wanted to like the guy, and after I explained why it was funny he would laugh and get the joke, but he just didn't understand it on his own. I should have him show me some Chinese comedy...

The Chinese will laugh when their officials instruct them to do so.

MIU: Japan doesn't really do sarcasm, as an example, or british-style deadpan.

sarcasm is deadpan without the snottiness

Seth'n'Spectrum: And if you want to hear what a PRC-English accent sounds like, this is precisely it. Forget whatever the hell Hollywood taught you, this is the genuine article.

This, although with a slight caveat that people from different parts of China will have different accents.

I liked his RTCA performance. It's a pretty good collection of his jokes.

Link (new window)

ROR

FTA: Mr. Wong came to the U.S. in 1994, at 24, and earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Rice University.

Snicker.

Yet in China, where Mr. Wong grew up, people were puzzled from the start. "How come the first sentence, 'I'm Irish,' can make Americans laugh?" one viewer asked in the comments on a subtitled video circulating in China. Because everybody in America is from Ireland, someone theorized. "It has nothing to do with that," said a third. It's because being "Irish itself is hilarious."

It's funny because Wong is not wite.

/try the veal!

TomServo24: ROR

discospinster: FTA: Mr. Wong came to the U.S. in 1994, at 24, and earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Rice University.

Snicker.

icanhazstapler: Yet in China, where Mr. Wong grew up, people were puzzled from the start. "How come the first sentence, 'I'm Irish,' can make Americans laugh?" one viewer asked in the comments on a subtitled video circulating in China. Because everybody in America is from Ireland, someone theorized. "It has nothing to do with that," said a third. It's because being "Irish itself is hilarious."

It's funny because Wong is not wite.

/try the veal!

LOFR!!

JollyMagistrate: We are a very inefficiently complicated language with very nuanced idioms.

So complicated and nuanced that it has become a sentient, Fark-posting being.

FTFA: To prepare, he read Mr. Biden's biography, he told the crowd, and, after meeting him, declared: "I think the book is much better."

This is funny and so is his 'I'm Irish' comment.

Saw him Letterman, too, and yeah he was funny and the audience was on his side.

Quantum Apostrophe: Irish people are pretty funny. (new window)

Wow, I haven't seen that in ages.

/look what I almost stepped in!
//the Chinese don't know why that's funny

Quantum Apostrophe: Irish people are pretty funny. (new window)

That they are.

Obscure Login
Oh sweet, a Chinese-American comedian. I have to check him out and LOL at his funny jokes about an overbearing mother.

Weirdly enough, no. Chinese guy from China, for one thing, and his being a Chinese guy doesn't really play into his act. AgentOrangeDrink up there referenced a bit about telemarketers and Witnesses that I can't find a clip of, but it's a good example of what he does: tell a couple jokes, diverge a bit, call back, diverge a bit, call back again. (The recurring 'Benjamin Franklin' in the Letterman clip is another good example.) His delivery is odd and interesting -- okay, I suppose that's at least in part a side effect of his being a Chinese guy -- but mostly (imho) it works because the bits are legitimately well-structured, which is (again imho) something one simply does not see enough of these days.

/Dane Cook, I am looking directly at you, you unbelievably lazy talentless bastard.

Gunny Highway: Being Irish is hilarious.

Twenty years ago, my sister was married to a Jewish stand up comic. His fave opening line was this:

"Hi, I'm Joel and I'm from San Francisco. Now, I know what half of you are thinking. 'Oh, he's from San Francisco. I know what kinda people come from San Francisco'. But I want you to know it's just not true. I'm not Chinese."

That got big laughs. More power to Joe Wong for turning that joke around.

some_beer_drinker: because being "Irish itself is hilarious."

This belongs on a t-shirt.

Before a recent show in Hong Kong, Ms. Carter's hosts gave her a few rules of thumb: no physical comedy-it's not ladylike; no joking about the economy-too depressing; no riffs on marriage-too personal. And absolutely no dog jokes, lest she cast aspersions on Chinese eating habits.

Nonsense, contrived by the journalist. Hong Kong isn't as conservative as the rest of China, and people here (at least, the ones who go and see comedians) are westernised and would have no problem with any of the above material.

Oh ho! He say he Irish, but he not really Irish! Is funny!!

Observational humour doesn't work in a country that prohibits observing your surroundings.

Your mother is so fat. That when she jump for joy...she get stuck.

icanhazstapler: Yet in China, where Mr. Wong grew up, people were puzzled from the start. "How come the first sentence, 'I'm Irish,' can make Americans laugh?" one viewer asked in the comments on a subtitled video circulating in China. Because everybody in America is from Ireland, someone theorized. "It has nothing to do with that," said a third. It's because being "Irish itself is hilarious."

It's funny because Wong is not wite.

/try the veal dog!

FTFY