Friday, May 8, 2015

TGIF FEATURE: Meet funny man Joe Wong. Joe who?

Joe Wong appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
THE WHITE HOUSE Correspondents' Dinner recently held in Washington reminded me of another dinner held for journalists. Instead of President Obama, it was Vice President Joe Biden presiding. 

A few years ago, a relative unknown took the stage at the Radio and TV Correspondents Dinner and stole the limelight as Joe Wong roasted the vice president.

Joe who? Not "Woo," Wong! (That's one of his jokes.) 

At first, the audience didn't know whether to laugh or not because of his deadpan delivery. Eventually they caught on and the 10 minutes of Joe Wong launched his career all the way ... to China? 

Yeah, China. The Chinese immigrant returned to his homeland to cohost a television show there and to make Chinese people laugh. Since he hasn't come back, I guess he's been pretty successful at that. 

In his own words he said his life has been very boring except two surprises in 2010. He went to the Great American Comedy Festival and won the competition there. Then he became Boston Comedian of the Year, after failing to become Boise Idaho comedian of the year.

Enjoy his routine and watch out for his return to the U.S. Read more about him.



Asked to name his biggest comedic influences, Wong mentioned Woody Allen and Steven Wright, among others. He added that he thinks Korean-American comedian Margaret Cho is "great," but was critical of some Asian Americans who perform standup. "There are too many Asian guys talking about their mothers' accents," he said.

Wong said he hopes to create an American sitcom in which he plays a public cable access television talk show host who caters to immigrants. He also said he's been in talks with U.S. producers who want to pair him with an American writer to create a storyline for a comedy, based loosely on Wong's experience in America.

"I'm trying to see if we can come up with a film that is popular in both countries and has nothing to do with Kung Fu, moms or accents," Wong said.


Have a great weekend!
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