Ha Ha

Went to TakeOut Comedy last Friday for their standup. As what founder Jami Gong called a “comedy virgin” I didn’t know what to expect, and ended up having a good laugh and found the $150 well spent for the 90 minutes of entertainment.

The show featured quite a few comedians, some less funny than others. They are clearly amateurs with no good reason to quit their day jobs, with the exception of the only Chinese comedian featured who claimed he’d been unemployed for 24 months. Andrew Chu looked like your typical loser Chinese kid who if not for his caveman dimensions would get stuffed in the locker in highschool at least four times a day. But man, I think I speak for the entire audience when I say he was the single funniest comedian featured that night. No doubt his Chinky accent, low-budget props and personal loser stories all added to the humor meter. But more importantly he was the only one with material truly localized for the Hong Kong experience, which really stood out from the other, more-or-less-the-same expat encounters in Asian communities.

The show would’ve been much better if Jami Gong himself would have spent more time on stage than the 20 seconds between each act. I reckon he’s the only real deal in the whole comedy club, and I’d be the first in line to see him in a solo show.

Went to TakeOut Comedy again this past Friday for their improv show, which they associate with Whose Line in their market materials. How dare they. If anything, it resembled a first rehearsal for a school play by a bunch of obnoxious 14-year-olds. Couldn't figure out if it was a bigger waste of money or time. I laughed twice the whole show.