For the humor unit at Freestyle Academy, we were tasked with researching two different humorists with a related type of performance, and then create our own humor performance based on what we learned.

For my two humorists, I chose Dave Chappell and Robin Williams, and I specifically researched their stand up acts. Earlier in the year I had done research on Asian stereotypes in Silicone Valley, and since I am an Asian living in Silicone Valley I wanted to make my comedic stand up related to that topic. Many of the jokes I make are related to my family and my travels to Taiwan. Many common stereotypes are used to make my performance funny.

Analyzing:

Doing a Stand up act was difficult for me because I had never done a comedy performance before and I don’t watch comedy often on a normal basis. So coming up with the jokes, ideas, and pacing of my stand up was a tiring process for me that I went into with only what I knew about other comedians.

I analyzed and made sure to watch a lot of stand up acts myself to be able to understand the speech pacing. I made sure my jokes also made sense in a linear fashion so that I could tell somewhat of a narrative when giving my presentation.

Both Dave Chappelle and Robin Williams have amazing stand up comedy acts that have unique spins on them, but also have clear overlap to how they present their jokes. Both of these comedians frequently use anecdotes, short narratives and stories to bring their comedy to a more human standpoint so that the viewers can relate to what they are talking about. Usually Chappelle will provide a strange perspective, or give his stories a wacky twist, especially when it comes to his use of blue humor and politics. Many of his jokes, recently targeting the government, current presidency, and how they affect his life, provide a silly perspective on the issue and then go into further detail into that perspective. This would usually lead to joke after joke all centered around a theme which brings the whole presentation together. He includes a lot of Irony about racism and uses this to his own advantage because he is a person of color. Chappelle correctly utilizes irony and exaggeration to give his own stories humor, but he differs from Robin Williams when he takes a more political standpoint. His own monologues and narratives make jokes about racism and the racial divide in America, and by doing so is able to bring attention to a much darker, and usually unspoken, side of racial disparity. He uses humor not only to make others laugh, but does so in a way that projects his own problems with racism and the American government. Robin Williams on the other hand does a similar thing, but there are small things about his manner that change. One thing I noticed from him was to say one thing that is expected, then two things that are unexpected. For example he would say something like, “I usually don’t drink anymore,” a normal statement, but then would immediately go to say afterwards, “because I would end up laid over your car in the morning naked with my keys in my ass,” which is a very absurd way to apply blue humor to a seemingly normal conversation. Usually he would go even further detail of the event afterward, visibly describing the character with his own actions as well as words. This would drag on the joke and lead to significantly more content. Something else that Robin Williams utilizes correctly is a very very fast pace to his narrative anecdotes. Many of his stand up stories involve him speaking at an increasing speed and in situations, such as his wife giving birth, he would even speak as if he was there in the moment, while not hesitating to play multiple characters and mimic their speaking. His intense use of wit while fluctuating his voice to paint a visual picture is amazing. Many of his descriptions take on forms of Hyperbole, “when you have drunk so much alcohol that people start to have vapor trails.” His stories use many humor and literary devices to give them life, and his presentation is much more lively compared to the work of Chappelle. Both of these people to a phenomenal job of keeping people on stage engaged with their jokes no matter how absurd they get because it started from a common standing point. Although one prefers racist and political satire, the other prefers fast paces stories that take weird and wacky turns. Both of these are tools that i think if utilized properly, can be a huge asset when giving a stand up presentation to make it more engaging and humorous.

Many of the themes that these two stand up artists are able to utilize are useful when considering my own stand up act. Personally I wanted to give my own act a central theme, which would be personal humor about my half Taiwanese and half White family and how those two cultural sides of me can clash. While exaggerating stereotypes that I had to endure while under both sides of my family and in doing so give a short and concise overview of the various funny experiences I have come across in my own life. Even in making fun of relatives actions or how I am treated in society is good use of comedy material. In terms of Chappelle’s work specifically, I enjoy his own use of casual racism and stereotyping to bring a more human standpoint to actual problems in society. His utilization of colored stereotypes in America contrasting white stereotypes is a good way to get everyone in the conversation, but my own target group would be the Asian population contrasting the White population. I want to use exaggerism in my own comedy presentation to make my jokes more humorous, this and the use of short anecdotes are both strategies that I will use. In most of the stand up acts that I researched from these two comedians almost every single one of them was narrative driven, long and short. I mightself have a central point of centering my jokes around Asian stereotypes but also might have miniature short narratives throughout my presentation. I also find the visual cues Chappelle uses with his hands useful when conveying humor. Unlike Robin Williams who goes crazy with the hand motions, I appreciate Chappelle’s more subtle actions because most of my work would only need a touch of presentation, not the slap stick and super exaggerated style that Robin Williams uses. Both comedians in cases also are able to use small props to their advantage, instead of a prop I might consider creating a presentation to have an accompanying visual to what I am saying. The presentation can also add funny visuals that can greatly contrast my words to create a sense of exaggeration. Another technique that both use sparingly but I want to use in a few of my jokes is irony. In a few of my jokes I want to be able to use situational irony which can be satirical of Asian stereotypes. Many of the examples that I will use will be of the idea of “model minority,” and the past history of both the white race and asian race to establish connections. These themes can include the example of the Chinese people being used as underpaid workers in both a modern scenario, and in history when used to build the railroads. Probably one of the best things I can take away from Robert Williams performances is how he structures his own acts as well as the manner of his speaking. He is able to fluidly move from one joke to another because they are all linked one by one. He moves from car keys, to car, to being drunk, to being at parties, to being high, all of which hold loose correlation in his own anecdotal story. The use of narrative storytelling, correlation between jokes, and small movements with hands and props are strategies that both of these comedians use, and strategies that I would like to use in my own presentation to make it the best it can be.

Script:

Below You will find my script, and if you watch the actual video act, you will notice that the script may not match exactly the act. This is because when I made the flashcards and practiced my act, I wanted to also make sure it flowed well so I took away some of the jokes and restructured my act right before preforming it.

Script:

  • See I think I had it pretty good growing up, both my father and mother loved me and I had the perfect balance between a harsh white family and strict asian.
  • One of the many benefits of being both white and Asian is that I don’t have to be a prodigy in both Violin and Piano. Just piano.
  • Even though there are benefits there are also clear lines to which side of my family belongs with which. I’m not sure when I was convinced to try soy sauce on sphaggheti or ketchup on tofu it just happened.
  • It is pretty easy to differentiate between the two, you can’t get two sides more different than owning a Vineyard in livermore  to the Taiwanese worker immigrant. Who knows maybe one of my grandparents made the train tracks to ship the wine for the other.
  • It’s pretty easy to make fun of my different racial backgrounds  because of how distinct they are. The rich white side shows when I have a car ready for me when I get my license, and the Asian side shows when I am excited it is a cheap, recycled, beat up, 2006, crusty prius that I dented in the first week of driving.
  • But don’t worry the only thing that got hurt in that accident was my mothers pride when my driving habits didn’t include tailgating people as much as she does.

pause

  • Also some people might not get it when I say harsh white family. For clarification my dad, both his brothers, and two of my aunts did graduate from Stanford, meaning they expect me to be, “smart.” Although if I did apply to Stanford I wouldn’t have to lie about being on the swim team.
  • Just like this comedy presentation, I may have been over exaggerating on my initial application, but honestly, I think I have a good shot because my parents can cough up the money for a “special counselor.”

Short pause

  • I really am not a religious person, power to all yall who believe in god but I have only found myself ever praying in very few situations. Nine out of ten times it is when I am taking the public transportation in Taiwan.

breathe

  • When I do have to ride the bus I look around and most of the people are looking down at their phones and casually talking away, you know casual bus stuff. Except I am in the back screaming my lungs out as driver makes another two wheeled turn.
  • Like, nobody else cares that he is racing to get to the next stop as if practicing for his next grand prix. Aaaaaaand he scrapes by, barely missing an entire row of elementary school children in their dinky yellow coats going to the local sweatshop as a field trip. Probably just so they can buy a new pair of socks with the twelve cents an hour they make at Amazon’s warehouse.
  • And on the topic of capitalism I would like to point out another thing you should try when going to Taiwan. Definitely check out the night market, you can buy anything you can think of at the Taiwanese night market.
  • Okay, maybe not everything, like you can’t buy people, try China for that one. They really do sell everything from seafood to household pets, you just have to remind them to fry, boil, or just chop it up raw.
  • So when I would go to the Taiwanese night market I would walk up to a random clothing store and ask “oh how much is this hoodie?” and of course I wouldn’t understand them and they wouldn’t understand me cause I never paid attention in Mandarin class, so I would ask my mom “oh how much is this hoodie?” and she would say something like
  • “oh five thousands NT,”
  • English mom, ENGLISH MONEY.
  • “Three bucks.”
  • “SWEET inflation is the BEST!”
  • God I love capitalism. Maybe not most of the world but I sure as hell do and that’s what matters. Although, maybe if capitalism hadn’t have destroyed the Asian economy the busses could have afforded seat belts.

Performance:

Here is the actual performance which I did in class. I think I did overall a good job and was able to conqueror most of my fear standing in front of the crowd by being laid back. I also got some good feedback for future performances.