Sheng Wang is a Taiwanese Texan who developed and honed his comedy in the thriving standup community of the San Francisco Bay Area. His refreshingly affable stage presence combined with a healthy penchant for absurdity and self-deprecation make his act hilarious and universally accessible. He arrives in town for two shows, tomorrow and Saturday at Kung Fu Komedy. We had a chat with Sheng ahead of his shows.
Tell us how you found growing up as a Taiwanese Texan.
I had a "normal" childhood as far as I could tell. I rode my bicycle all over my neighborhood and caught tadpoles from a bayou surrounding our subdivision. Houston being a pretty big city, I had friends of all races including buddies from a rather large Asian American community. I went to Chinese school on the weekends. And during the weekdays, we learned to square dance in elementary school, and I owned a small pair of cowboy boots.
How did you first get into comedy?
I joined an amateur performing arts group in college that promoted Asian American participation, and I tried to do standup comedy for the first time then.
Any good anecdotes from the early days?
Once I was at an open mic in San Francisco, and a 'comedian' began his set by smoking crack cocaine on stage. After delivering a few minutes of material that got little traction, he closed his set by strapping a homemade 'bomb' to his chest. People started to bolt for the exits but I was too stoned to move quickly. Luckily, it was just part of his act.
You describe yourself as being ‘cultivated’ in the San Francisco Bay area, how old were you when you moved there, tell us about the comedy scene there at the time and how it helped your career?
I moved to the SF Bay Area for college and started standup comedy there after graduating. I had a great experience kicking off my comedy career there. It was a scene full of crazy characters (see above) but also full of ambitious comics who helped to push, support and inspire one another. The general emphasis was originality and good writing.
Lots of comedians have very different strategies for dealing with hecklers. Have you developed your own responses to troublemakers at your gigs?
I try to kill them with kindness. Or just make them look ridiculous, which is usually not too hard because they are probably saying something dumb.
Who would you say are your top comedic inspirations?
Maria Bamford, Mitch Hedberg, Dave Attel, Dave Chapelle, Bill Hicks, Jack Handy, all my friends
Ever met your heroes – if so amazing, disappointing or somewhere in between?
Yes, I've met quite a few of the best comics out there and, generally, they are all so humble/insecure that I'm inspired to continue pushing myself to grow.
// Friday September 19th, 10pm, Saturday September 20th, 8pm & 10pm, For advance tickets, go ahead and send a message to Andy at Kung Fu Komedy on 137-6176-4438, or add him on WeChat and he’ll get you sorted. See Listing Here,
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