Sticking around Guangzhou this weekend? Why not come out for a laugh? On Saturday, June 11, Dr. Panda Comedy Club will invite Joanna Sio – its first female headliner ever – to rock the stage at The Paddy Field Guangzhou.
An improviser and stand-up comedian based in Singapore, Sio's comedy life started in Amsterdam, where she performed with the group Easylaughs. In 2012, she won second place at the HK International Comedy Competition while she was nine months pregnant.
Sio has performed live stand-up in Australia, Canada, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany and the Netherlands and was invited to perform in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2015 as part of the inaugural Comedy Zone Asia, a showcase of established and emerging comedy talents in Asia.
Together with Sharul Channa and Kristel Zweer, Sio is a member of 'Comedy on Heels,' the first all-female touring comedy troup based in Singapore (and yes, they do wear heels when they perform).
This week, we chatted with Sio about how she preps for a show, women in comedy and mad cow disease.
How did you first get into stand-up comedy?
Like everyone else, it began with a misguided belief that one is funny.
What advantages do women have in stand-up?
No advantages whatsoever.
Have you performed in China before? If yes, is there anything different about expats’ sense of humor here?
I have never performed in Chinese mainland before. I have performed many times in Hong Kong however. The expat group there is not a homogenous group, as people are from many different places. The only thing that unites them is that they all have to deal with Chinese people 24/7. I think they all find Chinese people crazy and amazing at the same time.
What’s your pre-routine routine?
I can’t talk to anyone before the show. I need 30 minutes of ME time during which I contemplate the possibilities of the show going really well and going really badly. I also like to look at audience members coming into the room and wonder what they did during the day.
Dr. Panda Comedy Club is organizing a new workshop for beginner comedians in the PRD this month. Any advice for those considering trying stand-up?
Say what you think is funny but not what you think the audience will find funny, people come to listen to your view about the world, so give it to them. Stand-up comics do a lot of soul-searching.
What can audiences expect at your Guangzhou show this weekend?
You will laugh and we will be friends forever.
Chocolate or cheese?
No one looks sexy eating cheese, unless you are a horny mouse, so definitely chocolate.
What’s the craziest thing an audience member has ever shouted out at one of your shows?
“I can kill a chicken” is the craziest thing someone ever shouted at me while I was on stage, but that was because I asked them, “Who can kill a chicken?”
Would you rather eat cow brain in Chinese hot pot three meals a day for a week or lose your sense of taste altogether for seven days?
I would rather eat cow brain, as long as the cow is not mad.
Head to The Paddy Field this Saturday night at 9.30pm to see Sio perform live and learn about Dr. Panda Comedy Club’s new comedy workshop, which is coming to Guangzhou next Saturday, June 18 from 2-5pm at Rebel Rebel and to Shenzhen on Sunday, June 19 from 2-5pm at The Terrace, Sea World!
Tickets for Saturday's show are RMB100 presale and RMB200 at the door. Click here to reserve today before they sell out!
READ MORE: INTERVIEW: Comic Nick Milnes on the PRD, Trump and Cats
[Image via joannasio.com]
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