 Leroy Chin as Martin Yan and Kristina Sheryl Wong as Maggie in the comedy sketch “Yancanmack.” Photo courtesy of OPM.
Me No Laugh Long
By May Chow
AsianWeek Staff Writer
A Korean grocer trying to marry off his ugly daughter, a fast-talking Oriental masseuse with a case of carpal tunnel syndrome not from massages, a Chinese mother’s quest to be a “banana.”
No, not sketches from MADtv, but a sampling of the fare you get at Me Laugh You Long Time, OPM’s (Opening People’s Minds) Asian Pacific American sketch comedy show at the 11th annual San Francisco Fringe Festival.
The Fringe Festival began its run last Wednesday featuring a troupe of independent theater groups performing madcap plays, serious dramas and modern-day takes on such classics as Samuel Beckett’s Rough for Theatre I and the Hindu epic, The Ramayana.
I decided to check out Los Angeles-based OPM’s late show on Saturday night at The Exit Theatre in the city’s Tenderloin district. I’m never one to pass on titles, especially when this one conjures up images of an Asian woman speaking broken English. Being familiar with Margaret Cho’s comedic style, I was curious to watch how lesser known APA performers tackled comedy that made fun of, well, themselves.
A quick glance at the program and I knew that the show was going to have to do with something that I hadn’t already seen or heard before. My experience with comedy that deals with Asian stereotypes is that it gets pointed out, but that’s about as far as it goes; it doesn’t try to provide a glimpse as to why some Asians have these characteristics. Before an APA audience, the reasons may be understood because of self-experience, but in front of a non-APA audience, I don’t think the comprehension is always there.
The handful of Asian stereotypes that are out there have already been satirized or brought to the big screen. Bad drivers, smart children, provocative Asian women. Been there, done that. Got the T-shirt. What I was looking for was something different.
The show consists of eight comedy sketches, each addressing or representing Asian characteristics and stereotypes. Hearing the reaction from the crowd, I surmised that some of the sketches evoked flashbacks of growing up with overbearing parents who pushed their sons and daughters to become doctors or APA guys at school who drove around in tinted Acura Integras listening to hip hop while overgesticulating.
One skit features an angry, racist white guy who clumps all Asians together during a job interview. The punch line, if you will, is when he gets hired and the audience finds out at the end to which company he’s applying. Then there’s the almost required Oriental massage parlor. The catch? Oversight by a group of concerned mothers—whose organization is named MAO, or “Moms Against Oriental”— angry not because of the existence of the parlor, but because of the use of the word “Oriental.”
OPM’s founder and producer Leroy Chin admits that though “a lot of it is offensive, it’s also depicting a certain aspect of reality.” Chin says that the show’s goal is not to offend.
By doing this show, OPM addresses Asian stereotypes in our society via APA actors. Stereotypes exist because they’re based on elements of truth that people see or experience all the time. But it was hard for me to swallow some of the jokes or sketches that poked fun of other Asian cultures, such as the “Korean Grocer’s Ugly Daughter” and “Wossop!” a sketch about Korean “gangstas.”
There were moments during the show that I felt pushed the envelope a bit, but there wasn’t anything in the show that I hadn’t seen or heard before. Some of the performances were funny, but most of the time I found myself thinking, “Yeah, and …?” I guess with stereotype comedy sketches, there is always the safety net of familiarity. You can never go wrong with the same set of stereotypes, especially those of Asians. That leaves me thinking, Will sketches like these perpetuate these stereotypes, or incite change in people to look at APAs as just everyday people who happen to have cultures and beliefs that in mainstream America are a little bit quirky? I’m thinking the former.
The San Francisco Fringe Festival runs daily through Sept. 15. Showing at the Exit Theatre stages at 156 Eddy St. and 277 Taylor St., San Francisco. Shows of various lengths play at seven other venues in the Mission, SoMa and downtown. Tickets: $8. Call 415-673-3847 for show times or visit www.sffringe.org.
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