Sep 23 2024 35 mins 1
How do you perform and progress on the comedy circuit, when you as a native English speaker already moved to an Asian country where the population does not speak English as their mother tongue (and there really isn’t much stand up comedy going on)?
Such is the story of Sam Yarb, co-founder of the leading comedy club in Taiwan - Two Three Comedy Club 二三喜劇. Sam started by arranging road trips to cities and towns of all sizes on the East Asian island to target the scattered English-speaking expats. Gradually, along came the Taiwanese people.
As stand up comedy becomes more popular and the Mandarin scene outgrows the English scene, Sam becomes the instrumental figure in bringing international acts to the island and connecting the English performers with neighbouring Asian countries.
We hear from Sam how he manages a comedy club in a foreign land and Sam’s observations on the local Taiwanese v.s. expat audience
The Firelight Chat podcast episode with Sam quoted in this episode:
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Follow Sam on Instagram
Two Three Comedy Club on Facebook
Two Three Comedy Club on Instagram
Follow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram
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00:44 Intro
02:51 Sam’s accent
05:03 How Sam started performing comedy in Southern Taiwan (a short Northern v.s. Southern Taiwan debate)
06:36 Comedy road trips in Taiwan
08:51 Audience make-ups in small Taiwanese towns and tailoring materials
10:57 A self-deprecating American comic in front of a Taiwanese audience
15:50 Expat v.s. Taiwanese audiences
19:56 Taiwanese approaching stand up comedy shows with curiosity
23:07 Taiwan - China relations as comedy material?
26:12 Expat audience in Taiwan v.s. US audience
26:57 Nationality comparison based comedy materials
28:34 Being a comedy promoter/producer in Asia
30:31 How the small town gigs are organised and promoted
31:31 Writing all funny ideas that come to mind and making selections later
35:03 Sam’s Social Media and 23 Comedy Club in Taipei
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Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe
