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Comic Frank Hong: He’s ‘Hot’ ‘Coz He’s Cool

By: Ying-Ju Lai

"My friend set me up on a date with his sister, but he didn’t tell her that I’m Asian because he wanted to see if she could figure it out," began Frank Hong at a recent performance at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery. With his baggy T-shirt and shaggy hair, the soft-spoken 29-year-old standup comic looked like an awkward teenager who nevertheless commanded the packed auditorium with his cool demeanor.

            "On the day she met me in person, as soon as she saw me, she went back to her car and drove away."

            Complete silence. Then the punchline: "Guess I shouldn’t have dressed up as a Ninja." The audience’s reaction was mixed. Some laughed their heads off. Others laughed but then turned to each other with puzzled looks. Some simply looked baffled.

            It is a reaction not unfamiliar to Hong, who has made a name for himself in the East Coast with his offbeat and silly jokes since he began his stand-up career four years ago. During a interview in New York City, where he has recently moved, Hong characterized his comedy as “silly” and “outside of reality.” Most of his jokes are related to daily experiences, which he then tweaks into tales of absurd, childlike fantasy. His much-performed “New Year’s Eve murder” joke is one of those “everyday observations” on LSD.

“I don’t think I could ever kill a person, but if I had to, I’d do it on New Year’s Eve. Everyone’s happy on New Years Eve, and that’s when the person would least expect it. Five, four, three, two…” He would stop for a millisecond here. Then: “And during that person’s funeral, there going to be a big argument on the tombstone which year that person died.”

It is hard to know whether he is joking or being serious. Any questions could be met with a string of answers that are part fantasy and part parody on clichés.

“Usually before the show, I’d bake chocolate chip cookies, and I like to hand them out to everybody,” Hong replied when asked how he managed to win his audience’s heart. “So when I’m up there [on the stage], I’d be like, ‘I’m the chocolate chip cookie guy,’ and they’d be like, ‘Yeah.’ That’s the easiest way.”

Just as his jokes are everyday experiences infused with a shot of surrealism, his onstage persona is an exaggerated version of his personality. Off stage, he was a fidgeter and sometimes mumbled in a not unpleasant way that reminded one of the slightly nerdy guys behind the computer help desk in high school. On stage, Hong is laid-back and personable. More often than not, he would be looking down at his own feet as he performs and smiling sheepishly from time to time, all the while maintaining a confident stage presence.

His chocolate chip cookies gimmick turned out to be a joke, after all, but Hong has his own philosophy about the relationship with a performer and his audience.

“You got to present yourself like you’ve been there before and you’re not nervous” he said. “When people see that you are nervous, they [think], ‘I don’t want to be like this guy.’ But when people think, ‘I can do what he does’ and ‘Oh, this guys is good,’ then they’ll warm up to you a bit easier.”

A native of Northern Virginia, Hong began his stand-up career while attending the University of Arizona , where he entered a talent show and performed occasionally at local clubs. He moved to Baltimore after graduating from college, working as a software engineer and attending open-mike, contests and auditions during the weekends, and soon become a regular at DC Improv, Baltimore’s Laugh Factory, some of the premiere comedy clubs in New York City and a darling with university campuses.

For now, he is still holding a full-time job in New York City as a software engineer for a company that designs road. While he finds plenty of joke material from his day job, he tends to keep a low profile among co-workers and acquaintances. None of his co-workers knows about his other life as a stand-up comic. “When people know, they want you to prove that you are funny,” he said.

As an Asian American comedian, Hong conceded that it is a continuous concern for him not to be typecast as an “Asian” comedian. When he first began performing, his Asian-themed jokes were some of the biggest hits with the audience, but he soon found them limiting.

“It seems like when I started out, [Asian joke] was my backup,” Hong said. When things didn’t go well, I’d say something Asian, and people would start to laugh. I’d get a good reaction, but I didn’t feel good about it. I felt like I wouldn’t joke about that off-stage. So when I’m on-stage, I want to be closer to myself.”

For a while he stopped telling Asian jokes altogether, resisting the temptation to resort to the easy jokes. “If I’ going to bring my comedy to the next level, I am going to be funny about the content,” he said. “Race jokes are easy, but if you can make people laugh on their terms, it’s a more rewarding experience.”

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