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Kylie Knott

Joe Wong did everything in his power to achieve the American dream.
In 1994, aged 24, he moved from the Chinese province of Jilin to the United States, where he completed a doctorate in biochemistry at Rice University in Texas in 2000.
“I came to America to study, and I did get a PhD in biochemistry, even though nobody calls me a doctor,” says Wong via Zoom from Los Angeles, where he is mostly based, splitting his time between the US city and Shanghai.
After graduation, Wong worked a few jobs, including at a pharmaceutical company in Boston, where he screened cancer drugs.
Then, he had another dream, one that was a far cry from his days spent in a sterile lab: he wanted to be a stand-up comedian.
“I had just watched a show by [US comedian] Emo Philips, and even though I couldn’t understand half the jokes, I was like, ‘Wow, this is great.’ After that one show, I was happy for days.”

Wong was hooked. “I wanted to try it, and even if I didn’t do it professionally, I thought at least I could do it as a hobby.”
In 2001, he took stand-up classes. A year later, he performed his first show at an open mic event at a sports bar in Boston, a city where big names in comedy, including Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and Louis CK, cut their comedy teeth.
“The city of Boston has this attitude,” he says. “There’s no BS in Boston.”
His debut, however, did not go so well.
“The venue had sports on TV, a pool table in the middle of the room and on one side there was a bowling alley, so it was really noisy,” he recalls. Inebriated guests also made for a tough crowd.

It was not just a combination of nerves and noise that proved challenging – Wong’s thick accent back then also made communication difficult. Luckily, the other comedians that night did not do great either, he adds.
But Wong persevered, and eight-and-a-half years later, he landed television appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
His biggest break was in 2010 when he performed at the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Dinner at the White House, where he roasted the then vice-president Joe Biden.
Today, he is a regular on the comedy circuit, and this month he returns to Hong Kong – he last performed in the city in 2019 – with a show on August 13 in Mandarin, and a show in English on August 14, at the Kitty Woo Stadium in Kowloon’s San Po Kong neighbourhood.


Titled “Joe Wong: The Twin Tariff Show”, the performances will cover topics such as trade wars, cultural clashes and immigration debates. Wong will also perform one show in Macau on August 17.
It has been a bumpy ride to stand-up success in China for Wong, particularly in the early days of his performing, when stand-up was a relatively unknown form of entertainment in the country.
“In 2013, I was doing a show in a back alley in Beijing and, at the end, a lady raised her hand. I was like, OK, finally, someone who is curious about stand-up comedy.
“When I asked what her question was, she replied: ‘Do you think my grandson should go to America to study?’”
The cultural differences were glaring. In China, the popular form of comedy is crosstalk, or xiangsheng, where two performers banter and talk on stage.
But Wong was determined to adapt. For 10 years, he hosted a television show on China Central Television (CCTV) called Is This True?, and he set up Joe’s Club in Beijing to give budding comedians live comedy-show training.

Today, Wong is happy to report that China has a thriving stand-up scene, one boosted by the success of shows such as Tencent’s Rock & Roast comedy competition series.
Being a bilingual stand-up is one of Wong’s superpowers. Bridging cultural gaps is another.
“Growing up in the 1970s in the northeast part of China, where the temperature could drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius [68 degrees Fahrenheit] to minus 30 in winter, was very different to life in America,” he says.
“There was no heat in the classroom, so we had to bring coal to heat it. One day, I suppose I was about 11, I forgot to bring my coal. As punishment, the teacher made me stand outside the classroom without a hat or gloves,” he says.
“The school didn’t have a road, so the students had to bring bricks and cement to school. We worked for almost two months to finish the road.
“I only found out later that there was a thing called child labour,” he says, deadpan.

Americans, he says, always feel bad when Wong shares these anecdotes.
“They were like, ‘Oh, that’s horrible.’ But the Chinese, they just laugh and say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s exactly what it was like.’”
He is not fazed about being cancelled and says, in America, some comedians – usually white and male – see cancel culture as a potential marketing tool.
Whether Wong’s 18-year-old son, who is studying physics and likes to dabble in impro, will follow in his father’s funny footsteps is yet to be seen.
As for Wong’s parents, his mother still worries about his career pivot.
“I call my parents every week. One time, I told them that I was going to be on the Letterman show. They had no idea what that was,” says Wong, adding that, back then, he refrained from telling his parents too much about his comedy life in the US.
“Then one day, around 2011, they heard about one of my comedy shows on the radio, and they were like, ‘Oh, that’s our son.’
“I explained it to my dad, and he was OK – he has let me make my own decisions since I was 15. But my mum, well, she still worries about me to this day.”
“Joe Wong: The Twin Tariff Show”, August 13 (Mandarin), 8pm; August 14 (English), 8pm; Kitty Woo Stadium, 2 Tsat Po Street, San Po Kong. Tickets: HK$580/HK$480/HK$380, available from the Ticketflap website


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Entertainment

Joe Wong, who swapped lab work for live stand-up shows, is now bringing his blend of sharp wit and relatable humour to Hong Kong


Joe Wong, who swapped lab work for live stand-up shows, is now bringing his blend of sharp wit and relatable humour to Hong Kong.


Chinese-American comedian Joe Wong on his journey from laboratories to Letterman

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Joe Wong, who swapped lab work for live stand-up shows, is now bringing his blend of sharp wit and relatable humour to Hong Kong

Joe Wong, who swapped lab work for live stand-up shows, is now bringing his blend of sharp wit and relatable humour to Hong Kong