Rolling in the aisles: Jenny Yang tours US grocery stores with comedy show
The ‘Good Egg Immigrant Grocery Store Stand-up Comedy Tour’ is Yang’s way of giving back to beleaguered immigrant communities in the US
Stand-up comedians are used to tuning out the din of clinking glasses from two-drink minimums and patrons walking in and out during sets. But what about rolling shopping trolleys or the smell of fried fish?
That kind of ambience is what you will find on comic Jenny Yang’s nationwide summer comedy tour, where she has been turning cultural grocery stores into comedy clubs for a night.
“I got to buy a bunch of small snacks and shrimp chips and throw it into the audience every time I felt like a joke didn’t land,” Yang says. “I mean, this is my dream.”
The “Good Egg Immigrant Grocery Store Stand-up Comedy Tour” is partly her reaction to the immigration policies of President Donald Trump’s administration affecting Asian, Latino and black communities. She wanted to entertain in cities with immigrant enclaves where she could give back. So Yang and her team chose grocery store stops and non-profits to donate to based on recommendations from local organisations.
The unorthodox tour has grown from five performances to nearly 20. It started on June 5 in Los Angeles, where Yang lives, and has taken her to Minneapolis, Phoenix and other US cities. After stops in New York and San Francisco, the tour will end on September 26 back in LA with Yang filming a performance for a proposed comedy special.