Page 15 - Lamplight Magazine (1)

&K

WHAT DREW YOU TO STAND-UP COMEDY WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE B IT TO PER F ORM
AND HOW DID YO U START YOUR C AREER IN IT? AND WHAT TYPIC ALLY GETS THE MOST LAUG HS?
Hone stly, I fe ll i n t o c om edy by ac c iden t. It w as no t My f avourit e bi t t o p e rform is a lw ay s the ne w e st one
some thi ng I ha d though t a bout in the sli gh t e st un til I I’ve wri tt en tha t’s g oing w ell (I wri t e c onstan tly and
m ove d t o I re land on a whim i n 2017. T hrough a se ri e s m ost of it ends up in the tr a sh; as any writ er kno w s,
of r a ndom even ts, I g o t involved in the G a lw ay A rts you’re c onstan tly swi m ming i n a p ile of your o wn
Festival whe re, in the m iddle of or ga ni si ng a c omedy crea tive ma nure). I j us t wro t e a bit a bout

sho w c ase , I w a s ca sua lly enc our a g ed t o p erform. I str ai gh t-ac ross bangs. W h en a fri end of mine g o t them
agree d, as sug g est e d, t o ‘g o hom
Q e , writ e three m inut e s and a ske d if she looke d li ke Zooey D esch ane l, I sa i d
of p e r sonal ma t e ri al, and p r a ctic e a t an op e n m ic ’, no t no. S he asked i f the h a irdre ss er mes sed up and I t old
thi nking t oo much of i t. T hre e day s la t e r, I w as on her, ‘no, you’re Chine se and i t’s a hai rdresse r, no t a
stag e i n fron t of ove r a hun dred p eople , w i th a level of p la stic sur g e on’. I the n e xp and on the j oke a bi t m ore ,
c on fidenc e I di d no t re aliz e I ha d. I be cam e obsessed and bui ld a cha r ac t er around a w oma n wi th ba ngs: ho w
with wri ting ma t e ri al and w ould lose slee p over c r a fting she look s quirky, p robably sec re tly p ai n ts or some -
j oke s. S udde nly, I found my se lf in the I rish c om edy thing, has w a t ched all of the Q ue n tin Ta r an tino movi e s,
sc ene , g e tting on three -h our bus rides from G alw ay t o eve n the ba d ones. T he n I fini sh with, ‘just bec ause you
C ork t o do a five -mi nut e begi nner se t and g oing t o have ba ngs doe sn’t mea n you have a p e r sonality.’ It’s
D ubli n on w e eke nds t o do unpai d seve n -m inut e slo ts. hard t o de scri be a bit, but you g e t the ide a . O ne of my
By the time I had t o le ave the c oun try, a ll of this big g est laughs i s a j oke I w ro t e about ha ting be ing
nonse nse ha d pai d off: I had perform e d a t most of the m ixe d r ac e, with a whi t e dad a nd a m i xed Asi an m o ther.
m aj or c ome dy clubs in I reland and c om mi tt ed my se lf t o I ta lk about whi t e me n fe tishi sing A si an w ome n a nd
givi ng a ca ree r in c om e dy a re al sho t. sayi ng things like , ‘G od, I j ust love Asian w om e n’, an d
I’m like, ‘shut up , da d’. T ha t w ould have be en my fir st

‘bi g laugh’ joke . I thi nk whe n I’m tired of a bi t i t sho w s;
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YO UR STYLE/MATERIAL?
as in, i f I have n’t found w ay s t o sp i c e up old m a t e ri al,
C on fe ssi ona l, a bsurd, obse rva tiona l, r aunchy a t time s ,
i t ca n be ha rd t o e nj oy p e rform in g it in the m om en t. At
with p len ty of im p ressi ons and a c c e n ts. I have t ouche d
tha t p oin t I be c om e an actre ss w i th a sc ri p t I’ve wri tt en
on a nything from my r ac e (I am a quart e r Korean, a
my se lf, som e thing a sta nd-up c om edia n i s susc ep tible
q ua rt er P uert o R ica n, half Norw egian, a f a ct I rish
t o over tim e, when the ir stag e tim e e xc ee ds thei r
A
p eop le w ere endlessly – a nd op enly – curious about),
w ri ting time .
t o my as sh ole, t o my f ami ly, t o p eop le w ho say
‘avan t-garde’ on da t es and should be e xe cut e d for i t
MOST DIFFICULT PARTS OF PURSUING
(why you g o tta j ustif y your film de gre e on a da t e?). I AN ARTISTIC C AREER?
like hitting sp ec ific ne rves tha t a re no t obvi ous. I use a T hings tha t are out of your c on trol. T he unc ertain ty of
lo t of me ta p hor s t o tag the j oke s I’m w riting, t oo; for
the future is a big one, t oo. Having t o be my o wn
e xa m p le , I say: ‘i nsta n t c offe e tast e s like single pare n t - num ber one f an, my o wn unp ai d in t ern, a dm in
hood’. To take tw o unli ke ly subj ects and re la t e the m i s
assistan t, f undr aiser, bart e nder, e t c. can be e xhausting.
one of the c orner st one s of c omedy a nd i s part of the T ha t’s w ha t make s a n artistic c are e r di fficult: you have
surprise i n a p unchli ne. O ne of my grea t est strengths
t o be one h undred perc e n t invest e d in your se lf, in all
i n writing so f a r is tha t I c an do thi s p re tty e asily and i t
of your mom e n ts of strug gle and doub t, be fore anyone
help s m e c re a t e a visual whe n bui lding a joke onstag e . e lse de cide s they’re on board with you and are

i nve st ed i n you t oo.

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