Asian Fortune Your source for all things Asian American
By Jenny Chen
“The truth is funny. Honest discovery, observation, and reaction is better than contrived invention,” wrote Del Close and Charna Halpern in their book Truth in Comedy. On June 6, 2014, Dis/oriented Comedy presented an uproariously funny, honest, and thought-provoking show about being Asian American to a full house at The Burke Theater and the U.S. Navy Memorial.
Dis/orient/ed Comedy is the first nationally-touring stand-up comedy showcase featuring female Asian American comics. Dis/orient/ed Comedy travels to cities across the country and produces shows with national as well as local talent. This year, Dis/orient/ed toured in Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, and Washington D.C with more tour dates to be announced. The traveling tour group was co-founded by comedians Jenny Yang, Atsuko Okatsuka and Yola Lu in 2012. Their first show at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Los Angeles, CA was sold out to an audience of nearly 300.
At The Burke Theater in D.C., Dis/orient/ed showcased nationally recognized talent including D’Lo, Regie Cabico, and local talent including Elahe Izadi and Aparna Nancheria.
While Dis/orient/ed’s focus was initially to showcase Asian American female comics, the tour has gradually included other comics of diverse race, sexuality and gender not often seen on mainstream comedy club stages. The entire show touched upon the fundamental issues of racism and alienation familiar to most in the audience.
Comedian Jenny Yang opened the act speaking in Mandarin – highlighting for non-Mandarin speakers what it feels like to be a minority and alienated from the joke. Yang said later in the show that she was tired of being in mainstream comedy halls and having the (white and male) comedian point her out and make her the butt of the joke.
Yang was followed by Elahe Izadi. A D.C. based journalist by day and comedian by night, Izadi has performed at DC Improv, Lincoln Theater, State Theatre, Women in Comedy Festival and Bentzen Ball. An Iranian-American, Izadi talked about how boys made fun of her in fifth grade for being Chinese. “What do I do with your inaccurate racism?” Izadi said.
Izadi was followed by Regie Cabico. Cabico is a poet and spoken word artist rather than a comedian but he had the audience laughing at his impressions of his Filipino mother and her love affair with Lysol and Christianity. After the show, Cabico called the show a “historic moment” for being so inclusive of gender, race, and sexuality.
D’Lo, a nationally touring artist, director, comedian, and music producer followed up with a story of being pulled over for biking in Los Angeles without a bike light when a white male biked by without incident.
The show closed with D.C. native Aparna Nancherla who currently resides in New York City and has performed at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, Comedy Bang Bang at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade (LA), and Whiplash at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade (NYC). Nancherla delivered many of her lines with skilled deadpan, touching on everything from naps to race. Nancherla related an experience she had taking an acting class in Los Angeles where students were supposed to say what actor/actress their fellow students reminded them of. Nancherla said that her fellow students looked at her and yelled “science!” “That’s not even a person,” Nancherla lamented. “That’s a field of study!”
After the show, Nancherla said that Dis/orient/ed was unique compared to other comedy houses she has performed in because “each person could feel free to be their own voice.”
Dis/orient/ed packed up and traveled to New York City for a sold out show on June 7th.
