Rising comic Dwayne Perkins on his Kung Fu Komedy show, his upcoming comedy-horror and Asia's growing comedy scene

For their latest international booking, Kung Fu Komedy brings over an ascending Brooklyn comic. With appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and a recurring spot in The Tonight Show’s ‘Great White Moments in Black History,’ Perkins has been turning heads recently. Already with a book out and two comedy CDs to his name, he’s putting the finishing touches on his latest
standup special and an indie comedy-horror film. 

Congratulations on your upcoming comedy film. How was the January taping?
It went really well. I have two CDs but they’re me doing 45 minutes in a club. This is my first hour and it was done in a theater, so it’s a bit more purer. In a club, it’s here’s what’s funny. In a theater, you have more license to ebb and flow and talk about what’s on your mind. It’s basically my best material, but is way more theatrical and more intimate as well. We’re in the editing process now.

Do you regularly perform in theaters now?
I’m like a chihuahua - a big dog stuck in a little dog’s body. I love comedy clubs but I can’t wait for all my shows to be theaters. I prefer my audience to be completely lucid, and I think they’ll still laugh at what I have to say.

This will be your second time performing in Shanghai. How was the last trip?
It was great to see a city so modern but has subtle remnants of a time that’s passed. I came from Hong Kong and although a lot of people speak English in Shanghai, it’s not as ubiquitous, so I played a lot of charades. It was really cool and I’m looking forward to going out to the markets and things of that nature.

When you’re performing overseas, do you have to tailor your material?
I’ve been doing shows overseas so much that it’s happened over time. I have jokes that address my travels that it’s just part of my act. If I do that out front, people get that I understand where I am versus where I’m from, and then I can move onto universal topics.

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Do you find that different overseas audiences relate to different parts of your material?
Definitely. That’s the beauty of it. I don’t know where the laugh is going to come. So they’re teaching me as I’m teaching them. I tell young comics, the key to comedy is not talking, it’s listening - not for acceptance but to hear how they’re listening.

You’ll also be traveling across Asia as part of this tour. Has this market become more important for touring comedians?
It’s super important. More fans means more opportunities for comedy, which benefits everyone. Also, as these new markets emerge, comedy is going to be determined by the first few years. The growing pains can lessen if they bring in people from other places so the young comics can see all types of comedy rather than emulating things they’ve seen on TV. Being a guy coming early in the process, I can hopefully expose people to good comedy and be part of the maturation process of each market for the audience and the comics.

Have you noticed that local comedians have improved in places you’ve visited a lot like Hong Kong?
Definitely. Unfortunately, to get better faster, you have to perform at different settings with different types of audiences. With these markets, guys tend to find one or two venues and hit that up hard. My advice is to get up as much as possible and it’s very important to listen to every set. The tape doesn’t lie and from my experience, no set I’ve listened to has been as bad or good as I thought it was. I have a personal belief that every set you listen to equals doing a set. Everybody that’s great at something evaluate themselves. I don’t even stress writing because I feel the more you perform and listen, writing will naturally occur.

Besides stand-up what other projects do you have?
I have a book Hot Chocolate for the Mind which is a collection of funny blog posts I’ve written. I do The Movie Night with Dwayne and TK podcast where we watch movies and review them. I’m working on a comedy-horror movie that starts shooting in April. It’s called Dying to Kill and is basically Misery meets The King of Comedy. A stand-up is kidnapped and has to make his abductor laugh or bad things will happen. We’re going for intense laughs, but also intense fear.

// Mar 13-14, 8-10pm, RMB170-200. The Camel, tickets.

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