Chinatown 2.0

Ep. 24: Comedian Olivia Xing discusses her Party School special, ESL comics and how to handle bombing on stage

Olivia Xing is an actress, standup comedian, artist and student based in LA, and she recently did a one-hour comedy special called Party School where she told jokes about China, the US, politics in both countries, and the immigrant experience. 00:00 Teaser 00:44 Intro 02:48 How Olivia got started with her Party School comedy special 08:19 Chinese debate show 奇葩说 12:12 How Chinese comics and rappers deal with censorship 16:26 Olivia's biggest takeaways from her comedy special 18:38 Richard's favorite jokes from Olivia's comedy special 23:29 ESL comics: English-as-a-Second-Language comics 25:13 Minority comics shouldn't pander to stereotypes just to get laughs 30:02 Fellow professional comics she admires 32:36 Cultural outlets for the Chinese diaspora 35:25 Why there are so few male ESL comics 37:33 Recommendations of ESL comics to follow 42:45 How Olivia deals with bombing on stage

Ep. 23: (Mandarin) Weibo co-founder Indigo on China's startup scene, NFTs, life in Japan/Vancouver

Indigo was co-founder of Sina Weibo, or China’s Twitter. After Weibo, he started doing angel investments and incubating new projects. One of his main investments included the largest off-line art selling platform in China. Recently he got into the world of web3 and NFT. He writes a blog about frontier tech, and teaches online courses on stock investments in these areas. He is based in Vancouver. I spoke to him about China’s startup environment since 2009, his takeaways from doing angel investments, his views on web3 especially NFTs, and his observations of target countries of Chinese immigration. 02:24 Indigo's work at Weibo, post-Weibo investments, and classes on Web3 & investing 08:35 Phases of development of China's internet sector 11:08 Streaming commerce 17:14 Exit of venture capital from China 19:06 How young people in China today are evaluating a career in entrepreneurship 22:12 Out-migration from China: Evaluating Singapore, Japan, Vancouver 29:28 Indigo’s advice for making angel investments: sourcing via personal connections, working on a platform full of entrepreneurs 32:23 Why streaming commerce is popular in China and not in the US 35:39 Three uses for NFTs: digital collectibles, creator royalty, soulbound tokens 46:08 Indigo’s life vision includes continually getting involved in businesses with young people

Ep. 22: Comic Peng Dang tells American jokes like a native, learned English from listening to rock

Peng Dang is a standup comedian based in Texas. Peng moved to the US from China in his twenties, speaks absolutely impeccable English, and more importantly, tells jokes like a local pro. I find his sets funny, educational, and wholesome. I’m not sure if a comedian wants to hear their jokes described as “wholesome,” but I mean that as a compliment. We talked about how his English got to be so good, what life was like for him in Alabama, Atlanta and Dallas, how he honed his comedic skills, his views on "freedom of safety" on China's streets, the infamous Tony Hinchcliffe incident, and more. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode. Feel free to like, share and subscribe! 0:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=0s] Peng’s standup about Chinese builders 1:52 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=112s] Blue material 5:54 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=354s] How Peng got started in standups 6:39 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=399s] Standup about Chinese railroad builders in the US 8:15 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=495s] Peng learned to speak English by listening to punk rock while in China 14:37 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=877s] Standup about kung-fu 15:23 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=923s] Spending time in Alabama and Atlanta 21:37 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=1297s] Standup about the Chinese language 23:39 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=1419s] Gun safety and crimes in America 27:30 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=1650s] Standup comedy TV shows in China 29:30 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=1770s] Overrated comedians https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTk0yQIjg68&t=1954s

Ep. 21: Bilingual comedian Amy Yu sees stand-up as life-changing, discusses role of AI in art

Amy Yu is a bilingual standup comedian based in Canada. We talked about how standup comedy changed her life, how she thinks about telling jokes in Chinese vs telling in English, and how to properly tell a dirty joke. I also had a pretty serious debate with her about the role of artificial intelligence in comedy. 0:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzXhohcgmW4&t=0s] Amy’s standup set 01:04 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzXhohcgmW4&t=64s] Debating the role of AI in art creation 22:31 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzXhohcgmW4&t=1351s] How comedy helped Amy with mental health 28:17 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzXhohcgmW4&t=1697s] How to deal with bombing on stage 31:48 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzXhohcgmW4&t=1908s] Amy’s (and Richard’s) comedic influences 37:02 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzXhohcgmW4&t=2222s] Telling jokes in Chinese vs English 38:32 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzXhohcgmW4&t=2312s] Jokes about going on a date with a Chinese American 39:40 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzXhohcgmW4&t=2380s] Blue material

Ep. 20: Magician Dan Chan Performed for Elon Musk, Plans to Build Magic Mansion in the Bay Area

Dan Chan is a magician that has performed at corporate events at fortune 100 companies and lavish parties hosted by celebrities. He recently got to perform for Elon Musk at the PayPal 20-year reunion party, hosted by Peter Thiel. Prior to his illusionist career, he was an employee at PayPal, where he met Thiel. Dan has also been grooming his 14-year old son to become a magician, who has been doing his own $1000 shows in the San Francisco Bay Area. We talked about how Dan decided to become a magician, how he received his training, his experience of tiger-parenting his son to learn magic tricks, how he found success in Zoom-based magic shows after Covid dropped all his bookings, his plans to build a private VIP magic mansion in the bay area, and his plans beyond magic. 0:00 Dan's magic 2:24 Dan at Paypal 05:13 Starting out performing magic at local libraries 08:47 Dan studied at a clown conservatory 09:24 Dan disliked studying but enjoyed magic 11:58 Teaching his son to reverse-engineer his success 13:49 Dealing with flops 14:42 How Covid made him pivot into Zoom magic 16:28 Plans to make a private magic club in the Bay Area 20:42 Tiger-parenting his son for the career of a magician 23:15 Plans to become a better speaker, do a TED talk and write a book