So I reiterate here, the bill is dead.
The story of this great city is about the years before this
night. Hey everybody, it's a new
episode of Hong Kong. I forgot how any of this.
One exactly we are. Talking and you're still.
Done clap. Why give me a round of applause?
No one applause. Just give me one clap.
Back together, back again. Exactly.
Longer breakup. Exactly.
We went for therapy. He we had a distance
relationship. Yes.
He decided I'm staying right here.
I decide I want to be here. Yeah.
And then we came. Yeah, we took a break, came back
and said, you know what? This is stupid, man.
What are we doing? You know we.
Belong together, we belong in this room.
This is what it should happen. This room is not being used for.
It's being wasted. The chi is not right.
And ultimately we're like, OK, you know what?
We don't just need the chi, we need the electrostatic energy
here. That's why all the equipment as
well. That they can't really see.
Yeah, they can't see that. It's what the kids call LDR.
LDR. Sense relationship?
Oh I thought it was a TTLDTLDR LDR.
I'm like, wait, why wait? Too long distance of a
relationship that actually. Works too.
That could be LDR so I guess maybe like OK what would be a
TLDR versus an LDR? Like LDR would be what?
How many hours flight would be considered long distance?
I think OH would be considered long distance.
Anything above like 4 hours. Anything beyond Singapore I.
Think yeah, yeah, that's too far now.
Yeah, that's too far. So yeah, I would say if I had to
be at TLDR versus LDR is it's more to do with the time zone
than the distance. True.
So I will give you an equation. So the time difference as a
multiplier. Yeah, from the the, the hours of
flight. Yeah.
So if it's four hours to Singapore, but there's no time
difference, I'm like, we can live with that.
Yes. But if it's like, let's say
you're in India, that's like a 2 hour difference, let's say,
yeah, and we have to fly 8 hours, that's like 16 hours.
Not happening. Yes.
However, if I had to fly down all the way to let's say
Auckland for 10 hours, but the difference is 4 hours, I'm like,
I live with that, OK, yeah. So the point is that one of
those. It depends on like how much you
do of like the, the calls and stuff like that versus how you
actually how much, how much time you see each other.
Yeah, I would say that, yeah. I would say again, this is all a
matter of efficiency. Yeah.
And of course, like if you were to be in a relationship where
you have to stay laid up at 2:00 in the morning just to make that
call and be like good morning, Yes, I think maybe that might be
a problem in the long. Or if you're like, yeah, if
you're like some with someone in like North America, like that's
like exactly. The update flipped all the time,
but then yeah, I mean. South.
America. But North America is actually
better than, let's say UK because it's like a 7 hour
difference where it's kind of like your evening, but their
morning, Yeah. And then you kind of go like I
won't bother you in the morning, like call in the afternoon.
Yeah, right in with your long distance stories.
We obviously have done some long distance stuff before.
Yeah, but you probably you listener slash viewer have have
some. Hey, we forgot to even introduce
our I mean you're tuned in, you already know.
Yeah, who we are. But hopefully Vivek is back.
Exactly. My name is Vivek Mahubani.
You can find me online at Funny Vivek along with this person
next to me. I am Muhammad Magdi at the other
Muhammad on the things. Yeah.
I mean, we actually forgot that this being on Spotify now, yes.
So maybe like randomly clicking on it's one of those
recommendation things, yes, yes. So we're listen to.
Obviously if you're listening now, you either know about the
change or you didn't even notice, but it's still working.
So in case you're watching, you're like, hey, I didn't catch
the audio episode for a while. We have moved all the what we
call the RSS feed to Spotify. So that basically means that
Spotify is the main source and then they outsource it basically
to Apple and whatever the other things.
So that the the agent basically. They are the agent for the last,
like since we started a podcast, it was on Pod Bean and we moved
it. I mean, Spotify is just like,
you know, swallowing everything basically.
And also they can take the video feed as is and then you can just
put the video feed on Spotify as well, so people can actually
watch it Spotify as well as YouTube and.
Stuff like that. Now what's those of you who are
the new kids on the block who are like, what's this, What's
this? RSS and APIs and everything.
Just in case you don't know RSS Real Simple Syndication, It's
information you would like to have if you were at the water
cooler. Or yeah, or if you are at the
pop quiz next. Time pop quiz?
Yeah, you have that. I didn't know what it stands.
For yeah, you just looked it up because I remember.
So RSS feeds used to be how you would subscribe to news websites
and get the headlines only. Right?
Right. So I knew I knew about the
concept, but I was like, what's the name again?
I forget. I remember ours is for.
Yeah. I was like, ours is pretty
silly, Like, oh, yeah, real simple syndication.
Like, of course, no creativity from the IT engineers.
Really simple. Yeah, it's real simple.
Yeah, yeah, it's right over. There, Yeah.
OK. So we, yeah, now it's being kind
of like if you're listening to a podcast that is based in Hong
Kong, a lot of the times we get recommended and the other way
around as well. Yeah.
So that's pretty cool. That's one of the changes that
happened since you left. The other major changes that you
came back with about 35 kilograms of coffee.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So.
Just a reminder, All right? So what happened is that every
year I normally go to Australia to do my tour.
And this year, all as usual, we start in Melbourne, right?
Yeah. Now the If everyone's ever paid
attention to the podcast, you'll know that my girlfriend likes
coffee a lot. Yes, and she works in coffee.
She works in the world in coffee industry and stuff like that so
it was inevitable that Melbourne was going to be coffee thing.
Now in the previous episodes, while Mohammed would mock my.
Are you weighing your USB cable? Are you stupid right.
Well let me remind you again, thanks to my wing of USB cables,
I could include three more packets of those you know ready
made drip coffee yeah that came to 75 grams yeah right.
However, however, I have to admit though, I did get screwed
and stopped at which we're going, I think Brisbane to
Sydney and I got domestic flying.
Yeah, domestic fly. You got stopped because there's
too much coffee. You.
No, I don't know. I got stopped because of
overweight in my hand. OK, so let me exactly.
I guess those cables didn't help, you know what I mean?
All right, so I came back to Hong Kong with a whole bunch of
coffee beans. Now what we did is we had to
organize because from Melbourne to back to Hong Kong, there were
stops of going to Sydney, Brisbane in all places.
So I had domestic over there and the problem is I would go to
Auckland as well as much as. That's like a different country.
Exactly. So that's another twist where,
OK, technically I can't really take half of this stuff out and
come back in with it. But my girlfriend was staying in
Australia, so we had to organize a suitcase where I started
taking her clothes in my suitcase.
Yeah, she kept some of the food in her suitcase while she did.
Really. Yes.
Yes, yes. So I was more worried about
getting checked. Like, why do you have like a
skirt? Yeah.
In your. In your.
Suitcase, right? However, why are you not
progressive? Maybe I wear a skirt for my
show. Now, I was overthinking that
little I I forgot that I was like, wait a second, I'm going
back to Australia. Yeah.
Where they were like, oh, skirt, right.
You come with us in this green channel, Sir.
Yeah, you know, we, we respect you.
I'm like, oh, wait a second. Yeah.
So.
Yeah, you can work it to your advantage.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you can play over there.
Obviously that'd be smart in which airport you're at and
which country you're at, because not every country will
understand that as well. Yeah.
So the whole thing was I came back with a whole bunch of
coffee beans and now it's just a matter of like fighting the
clock where? So where we are now, I can just
like you can see me. I can just put my hand down
right there. Anything.
Yeah. And I would just grab a bag of
coffee. Right there.
Yeah, this one is decaf. I can go like this and then look
at the more this one and this is owner owner's.
Great, Actually, yeah. Yeah.
So there is too much of them. So what are you guys going to do
with all? Of this we can't drink at all.
Yeah, no, there is no way you can.
Drink at all. Wait, hold on a second.
Are you holding up a sign that says you can't drink it all?
I can't drink it all and. Then I will respond by saying
why not? Why not?
It was. Why is that?
It was why? It was just why?
Yeah, I thought it was why not. Now, if anybody over here is
thinking like, I don't, I don't get that.
Why are you guys laughing? This is why you need to go to a
live comedy show, Correct? And you may get to enjoy certain
bits that have inside joke quality to them.
Yes. And the best way to do that,
just to go to the backstage HK, follow that on Instagram and
you'll find out what all the shows are happening.
And you go, oh, I get that reference now.
Yeah, where you can't drink it all.
I get it now. You can't drink it.
All yeah, you can't drink it all and you.
Actually have since you left. One of the big updates is that
we have a full on website now. Oh.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you told me.
Yeah. Yeah, so the web backstage is
finally graduated from just a link tree.
Yeah, the full website and the website is live and you can
check it out. The backstage.
It's actually both backstage com dot com and the backstage
hk.com. So you can just look up
backstage comedy and you will find us.
So we have profiles for all the comedians and we have also
dedicated page for the podcast as well.
Yeah. So you can even listen to the
podcast on the website. Yeah, so it's embedded each.
Yeah, yeah, each. Each episode has its own page,
but. How have been shows going on
over here like the regular shows again, just to remind everybody,
we there is English shows happening every Saturday night,
correct? Yeah, yeah.
So that's been keeping everyone busy, so.
You left. You left like beginning of
April. Right.
I left basically 29 March, Yeah, I was out of the Saturday.
I flew out and since then I've been back since 6th of May.
Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
So actually, since you left for our regular shows, the whole
month of April has been centered around the jogging summer shows
in. The middle of the month?
Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, yeah.
So that's pretty much all we did because there were four shows
back-to-back and two nights. And that was just that took up
the whole month before. And also Hong Kong did this
weird thing where there's too many holidays together to get
not just together like the Buddhist birthday.
And the everyday, that was very. Weird.
That was crazy because that was right after the weekend of, not
after. Like it was like following the
weekend of the other big holiday, whatever it was like.
The Easter so. There was Easter holidays which
was like 5 days and then the good Easter or good.
Bunny, Good Friday and then. Friday.
Yeah, I have no idea. Easter Monday I think.
Yeah, yeah. And then after that, and then
there was like, it happens to be that the Thursday is a public
holiday, which is the Labor Day, Yeah.
And then Friday is working day, but the Mondays off, which is
Buddha's birthday. So obviously no one worked on
Friday and everyone just peace out on like Wednesday, Yeah,
after work. So that ended up we ended up
having to move a bunch of shows because we have regulars that go
like bro, we're not in town. Yeah, but we honestly, I
personally didn't even want to work after the jawing shows.
She's just a a little bit of back story here and I think it's
going to have to take a full episode.
But if you're on the Patreon, you're probably know more than
other people because I went on Patreon and then an hour by
myself. Telling this story.
Oh yeah, and a full hours and you can listen to it on
patreonpatreon.com/overpod. Now for everyone, disclaimer
that means it's an hour of that voice you just heard.
Correct. Yeah, yes, yeah.
Well, you can speed it up to 1.5 or two.
I, because I was so tired, actually really listened to it.
I was so tired that I was speaking much slower than you.
Oh, I was really slow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I, I I heard, I heard. OK.
But you edit it like you you did.
I did the front and the back. I did.
I did listen to the episode. However, true to my efficiency
thing, it wasn't a let me sit down and just enjoy this or
listen to this. It was a out because I remember,
I believe I was in Auckland at that time and I was alone in my
hotel room. So I had that playing and I'm
like moving around, packing stuff up and everything.
Yeah, So I did listen the whole episode.
I heard glimpses of here and there and yeah, most of it I
pretty much got the whole just. But again, for everyone, if you
want to hear what he talked about, buy himself for an hour
with a of his. Go check out the
patreon.com/hohopod and subscribe and go listen to that
episode. If you want to be really
supportive, subscribe and be like.
We actually should welcome our new patrons.
We have a few since last time we recorded together.
So we have Crystal Tolani is back on.
Crystal jumped in and out. We're very happy to have back.
Crystal has a bunch of stuff going on.
One of the main things for her is the she owns the ride the
minibus. Yeah the game right, fun video
game yeah, video game, fun card game.
So you can actually find it find the God damn yeah, the game ride
the minibus online. Just look up ride the minibus
Hong Kong. We also have Beno Jay Gay who I.
Oh, Beno. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Are you familiar with it? I believe the Swiss Association
of Swiss Chamber of Commerce, something like that, yeah.
Yeah, I didn't. I didn't know.
OK, that's cool. So Beno, thank you so much for
joining us. And also we have Liana Kay
joined us as well. That's a little bit earlier.
And yeah, so you paid Jones. Thank you so much for all the
support. So, yeah, so as I said, like the
jowling shows, I think we're going to have to do them in a
separate episode just because of the amount of details that that
we had to go through. What's actually going to be like
the Patreon one, it still has some details that we're not
going to have. We cannot have on the free
episode. So that's basically just a
disclaimer here. We cannot have everything on the
free episode. But I will tell the full story
with some more details more than the Patreon as well.
But let's leave it for another time.
You are the one who left and left left us all behind.
The blame game begins. The blame game.
You walked away. You were like, I'm making their
money, not your money. And jokes on you bitch, the
Australian dollar went down so. Actually, wait, that means you
made more money in Hong Kong. No, I made yeah, because I, I
would make less money, yes, because the equivalent Hong Kong
dollar was less for the same number of Austrian dollars.
So yes, if I were to stay in Hong Kong, I would have made
more money because I'm making Hong Kong dollars, right.
But Austrian dollars did go down.
However, it did go back up. And so luckily for me, because.
So this is the thing, right? I have this bit for anyone who's
seen the live shows in early this year, I had this whole bit
about like a Mont Blanc pen. Yes.
So I made it into like a good seven minute bit in my, in my
tour in Australia. And so one of the bits is that
I'm trying to buy a new lead for my pen.
And it turns out Mont Blanc, Hong Kong to buy 2 leads.
It's 140 Hong Kong dollars. OK, All right.
So which I was like, Oh my God, this is insane.
But whatever, let's get, we have to get right.
And I was like, oh, you know, I'm going to go Australia.
Let me try the see what the currency exchange is.
So back in February, I was like, oh, $140.00 Hong Kong is $26.
OK, got it. Right.
First day of Melbourne show, it's no longer 26, it's 28.
Oh, no, right. And I was like, oh, OK, Second
show, 29. And so the running joke was I
was like, man, I'm so worried. By the end of my run I'm like
100 and $4000 is 100 and. 40 yes, yes.
One to one dude, I'm like, what am I doing here?
So their economy is struggling. Yeah, yeah.
Then again, it did bounce back up.
But then again, every economy is struggling right now, right?
And nobody really knows what to. Do, yeah, we haven't caught up
since, yeah, a lot of the a lot of the international kind of
news as well. Yeah.
I mean, I mean the tariffs thing is insane.
I mean, the honestly, at at this point, I really feel the only
thing you could you could trade without a tariff is the insults.
You're fat. Well, you can see that.
Really. You can see that.
There is one thing that I thought was very funny, like it
made me laugh at least where when they were just after the
Pope died and they asked Trump, who do you think the next Pope
is? And without hesitation, it goes.
Me. Yeah.
Which I thought was very funny. That's so on brand, it's so on.
Brand but it's like so ridiculous that made me laugh.
But you don't want to be funny. Is that I would.
Actually, from a purely entertainment point of view, I
would love to see him. Because what would happen is
that he won't be able to do his shenanigans anymore.
No, of course he's the Pope. He's actually just going to go
up and wave. Well, yeah, that's what you
think would happen. But if he does do it, yeah, he's
going to just like he's going to bring his chaotic energy into
the Vatican. And I mean, it took them like a
couple of days and then they have a new Pope American.
Guy, right? Yeah.
And then like, funny enough, like some people like that
online and they're like, he's not the first American.
He's the first like, like United States American.
Like America's so big. I'm like, come on, man.
Oh no, yeah, what that is, Yes, yeah.
It's just being over. Like, you know, whatever.
Mexico or Canada being offended. I was like, we but we all know
what that means. Like it doesn't matter.
Exactly. Yeah, I find.
Come on man. Oh my God, yeah, I don't like
that whole thing happened. And honestly, because with the
tour, I can't, I can barely keep up with it.
OK, first, without the tour, I barely keep up the news.
Yeah, with the tour, even more so the news is not happening.
But I did remember seeing some things about it.
So this is what I find is that when I before I go to sleep,
I'll do scroll a little bit. Yeah.
And and what catches my attention when I get like 5
posts talking about the same thing.
Yeah. And I something happened.
Yes, yes. Let's take a look at this fact.
And then and then funny like 3 days later or five days later,
like, oh, white smoke. I'm like, what does that mean?
Oh, you got a new Pope. Great.
Right. OK, cool.
Yeah, so it's bizarre because like with today's world, there's
so much stuff happening. This guy died, that happened
over here. Trump did this.
Like, I honestly, at this point, I can't even keep track of the
the tariffs come in action. Yeah.
What's being, well, it's also like if it's not directly
affecting you, like you the tariffs affecting everybody,
like things are getting higher, but you're not like in the
export import business, for example.
I mean, yeah. I mean, luckily I'm not getting
tariffs for going overseas to do comedy Exactly.
You know, So like, it doesn't affect me directly, but it's one
of those things where you were like, oh, but should I buy this
stuff now in case? Yeah, I'm like Oh my my God,
dude. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's too much
to pay attention to, but actually, so I was there in the
year before, Yeah, to the the Comedy Festival in Melbourne.
What do? What's the major like?
Explain to me like how different it was this year than last?
Year. So the whole vibe, I have to
admit, is that it wasn't as vibrant as last year.
For example, the number of comedians who, number of
seasoned comedians at the festival were way lower than
before. Yeah, you know, certain people I
love watching, like people like David O'doherty and all that.
I watch him every year because I think he's a genius.
Yes, he's very funny. He's.
Very funny. And I watched him like multiple
times, yeah. But I was like, oh, OK, he's not
there. He didn't go.
Here you go. So all the end of this year has
my lowest rated number of shows I went to watch.
Really. Yeah, just because there wasn't
that there. Wasn't that much to get my
attention. Also my Showtime was awkward.
It was a 7:45 to 8:45. So it's kind of like you eat
dinner before, but when you're done, you're kind of hungry
again and things close early. So do I go quickly, have a meal
or do I watch a show, that kind of stuff.
But there was sufficient shows to still make it a Comedy
Festival. I would say however is
insufficient shows to make it like Oh my God this is a huge
festival. Because when we were there, it
felt really big. It felt like, yeah, yeah, like
the year before, yeah. You were like, I'm watching this
show then. Oh, you got to watch that show.
Yeah, sure. I was like, I'll watch it
tomorrow. Yeah, you know, OK.
Why do you think that is? Is it just economy or is it
because obviously the the festival retro fees, yeah, keep
going up as well? I I feel the rego, rego,
whatever thing they want to call it, yeah, that's gone up.
The cut that the takes gone up yes.
Maybe also venue wise, they had one venue gone called Trade
Hall. Trade Hall that.
Trade Hall is all gone. That's where you were that yeah,
before. That's where they moved me to
the Trade Center. So Trade Hall didn't do any
shows? No, it didn't.
Yeah. Yeah, So there was that as well.
I mean, ironically, I got to the Melbourne Arts Center, which is
like a big deal. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's like Hong Cultural Center, like, OK, I'll take this, you
know, Yeah. So that in the stuff was a cool
thing that now I can say I performing at the Arts Center at
the same time. Like even my like for example,
in Perth, I went to the I keep mixing up the name where I
believe it's like a state state theater center.
Yeah, which is like a big deal. It's like their Cultural Center
as well. That's so cool, you know, And I
was at the Heath Ledger Room. What the Heath Ledger Theater?
They have, they have a theater called after him, Yeah.
Ledger Theater. I was like, Oh my.
That's so cool. So cool.
Yeah, that's awesome. That's why I was especially.
For you being obsessed. With Joker and everything,
absolutely. But when I saw that, I'm like,
dude, this is it, man. This is Oh my goodness.
Right, that's pretty cool. Yeah, so the cool thing is that
this whole whole tour, this time I got to do certain rooms that
I'm like, this is awesome. For example in Brisbane again,
if anybody wants go just check out Funny Vivek my Instagram.
You posted a bunch of. Stuff.
Yeah, a bunch of photos and the idea really to get a feel for
the room and all that through photos.
Now people have told me how man, you should post more videos.
I'm like, I've come to the point in my life where I'm like, I
love that picture that speaks 1000 words kind of thing where
I'm like, I want that one picture that like, oh wow, I can
totally feel the vibe of the mood.
Right. So I remember I did like in
Brisbane, this place called the Triffid.
It's like such a it's a live band show venue, OK.
It's such a proper like I could imagine like a heavy metal man
losing them do. You do something similar like
last. Year actually in Perth.
Oh yeah, yeah. So Perth.
Last year in Perth I did the final show.
I did my Cantonese show in this place.
I forget the name but it's it's also like a three story
industrial style thing. Yes, we, yeah, I remember we
showed like we talked about it and showed the photos.
Yeah. Very cool.
Break a bite this call. Yeah yes.
So I did the Cantonese show at I think 5:00 killed and did right.
Like if I want to have a good yeah thing, right?
And I did the Perth Best of Fest show and that's when I
completely died at night and I was like, OK.
And that's the one where the techies and everybody
understands. Yeah, and they kind of like, OK,
this guy wasn't that good. Has the same techie.
Yes, Yeah, but the room is yourself, man.
Again, you go to funny Vivek and go check out, Scroll down.
You'll see the last year's photos.
That room to me was like, that was an epic room, man, that was
badass. So this year as well, Brisbane,
the Triffid. Just Scroll down to the Triffid
and you'll see me standing outside the entrance.
Dude, their doors are like the size of three of us.
That the height really metal doors.
That's a rusty metal doors. Yeah, Yeah, yeah.
I mean like so they're like, it's one of those.
It's like a couple. Of people, yeah.
Yeah, you know, and it's one of those things where you're like,
Oh my God, this itself is just cool.
And like when you walk in like, Oh my God, this is this is
badass, man. Yeah.
So I think those kinds of things all add it where I'm like, this
is pretty cool for me. I'm like, oh, this is a special
experience. Of course.
Yeah, yeah, you're documented as well, dude.
Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah.
So you can show it to the camera.
As well I'll do it over here and see if I get it's probably good
yeah we'll blurry and. Chuck it on the screen.
Yeah, that's so cool. Look how crazy big that door is.
And it's such a beautiful photo too, right?
Yeah. Yeah.
Very centered. Yeah, all that stuff.
So this was another thing that I'll put it this way, like this
tour for me is a comedy tour, all that stuff.
Whatever. Yes.
But my challenge for me was like, all right, I'm gonna take
this tour as a challenge of taking photos.
However, if you go look at my Instagram, I'll have photos of
the shows. Yeah, this was unmanned photos.
Yeah. No photographer.
Just me with my cameras all over the place taking photos and I
have to. And then you have to pick the
good. Ones, yeah, good ones, yeah.
So that in the stuff was pretty cool Which angle is good with
that? And you only have let's say 20
minutes to decide yeah. So it was, it was legit on brand
to the way I work, which is like crunch time, of course, get it
done. Yeah, but yeah, I'll be.
I mean, it's still crazy that you're going to all of these
places and it's just all in Cantonese.
I know you have done it many times.
But it's still like, it's still, it's still ridiculous.
It's still ridiculous, like. You're going to forget about
Auckland. Auckland's a big city, but like
Adelaide, for example. Yeah, I didn't do.
I didn't. Go close to the Gold Coast and
and even Perth. Yeah, those places are small.
Yeah, small. And also the Cantonese community
is also small as well. So you really are really pulling
from a small bus of people. Yeah.
However, the cool thing is that it's so people that came to the
show were extremely appreciative of it.
Yeah, because they're like, dude, nobody comes here and.
Nobody comes here. Like is there any other
Cantonese entertainment in these cities?
Rarely, Yeah, very rarely. Because like, I mean, why would
you just go to Sydney, Go to Melbourne?
Yeah. You know, why would you do these
small cities? Yeah.
So from a cost value point of view, yes, if you were live
band, it's unlikely you'd go there because you have so many
instruments and dances and stuff.
Of course, comedy I have the benefit and flexibility of like,
it's just me technically, right? Yeah.
So if I want to be a bit, you know, adventurous, I can.
Now, if I were purely business person minded, I'd be like, why
would I kill my just do it only in Sydney, Yes, let them come to
you. You know, you save your cost and
they have no choice. They're going to do it.
And I'm like, yeah, but the fun is to go to these different
places, get the vibe of that place.
And after this tour, I'd say I've, when I was growing up, a
lot of the American comedians from the United States of
America, yes. And.
Then they're like, oh man, I do the show in, you know, Indiana
and let me just say, hold on, you know?
And I'm like, really? You can't be that bad.
No, because again, you grew up in Hong Kong, you know, the
furthest place, let's say Tune Moon or whatever, right.
So it's not such an extreme jump.
Yeah. This trip, though, every every
city I went to, every place I went to, I was like, whoa, I can
feel the difference in vibe. Really.
Yeah. Yeah, I.
Haven't performed outside of Melbourne and Sydney.
I went to like a couple of like whatever they call them, the
regional. Gigs like Oh yeah, yeah yeah or.
Whatever, but not nothing. I would like the other big
cities, Yeah. So yeah, I don't know what the
vibe is like. I was.
Like for example, like Perth itself is such a slow city in
general. OK, so I'll give you the the
Auckland was a good example now and the people in Auckland, this
is my second year going there. Last year I went there and I
only stayed there for 20-3 hours.
I literally flew down from Hong Kong, did the show overnight,
flew down, got the show, I flew out.
That's. True, because New Zealand is
like known to be like the farthest country.
Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's.
Goofy, don't do that, OK? So this year I had a few days,
yes. And I had met people last year
so I could hang out with him this year.
So again, there's a guy in Auckland who owns a Hong Kong
taxi replica. Amazing, right?
And last year he picked me up, this year he picked me up.
We drove around the street. He drives it as a private car,
not as a. Taxi.
No, not as a taxi. Yeah, he does get hailed by
people. Can we fit four people as they
know this is that This is not a taxi, you know.
And so the joke was he was, he was picking me up outside my
hotel. And while waiting for me, this
Singaporean tourists came up to him like, oh, can you take 4?
He's like, he's like, no, this is not a operating taxi.
And the Singaporean guys like. Then why?
Yeah, exactly. Then why do you have a taxi?
Yeah. Why do you have a?
Taxi. Say taxi on it as.
Well dude, it is full on Hong. Replica.
But wait, wait, does he have like many phones on the
dashboard? Phones he doesn't have, but he
has every. To add the touch.
Of them the same how? How like I remember seeing a
photo. It is, it is crazy.
It's like a full on taxi, like how is there a taxi from Hong
Kong here? Yes he this also how how illegal
is having the word taxi on top of your car.
It's fully legal. Yeah, it's illegal.
Like, you can drive around like that.
He's been featured on magazines. Yeah.
And I'm like I guess.
It's like, yeah, such a cool like looking thing that they
probably look the other way about some.
And, like, maybe it's so obvious that it has Chinese words on it.
Yeah. Like the interior.
He has these stickers. Like no smoking.
Oh yeah, yeah, Call this number prices with.
Bird. Yeah, Bird.
Cage and dogs and and suitcases. Not so much of those, but I know
it's exactly how about like he had like it's got the like the
sticker is he has like the meter.
Yeah, that runs OK. The meter runs, dude.
Like actually tell how much it would cost?
Yeah. Is it like, does it run in Hong
Kong dollars? Too, I believe so, yeah.
Yeah. This is from Hong Kong, anyway.
Yeah. So I was like, that's just
crazy. Itself, so how?
And he just like has the car for fun.
Yeah, It was just, he just loved the Hong Kong culture thing.
And like, I think he grew up when he was young.
He was in Hong Kong for a while. He loved it.
So he and his some friends decided to put some money
together. Yeah.
And he was like, can I actually bring this car in?
He's like I can. Oh, so he imported it from
important? Yeah, you don't get that model
over there. Yeah, yeah, that same model and
everything. So it's not just a car that
that's got red colour and it's like the proper legit model.
You're like, Oh my God, this is the proper.
I mean, outside of like doing something cool like with the
Hong Kong artist, what else do you do with it?
You just drive around and be like.
I mean, like there's a lot of things. 1 is a hobby thing, you
know, like I just like to have it there.
It's a school thing. The other one that we had
discussed is that it could be like a Hong Kong iconic if, if
the Hong Kong government decided, hey, we have like let's
say Chambers of Commerce or whatever over there or our
business offices, like we could have you pick up.
Yes, yes, that. Would be cool, right?
So I was like, there's a lot of things to do, but again, it
depends on if people can make it all happen.
Right. You can also do, like, a version
of Hong Kong comedians in car. Oh, yeah.
Anything, anyone in cars. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
If you do that instead of like just Jerry Seinfeld being nice,
it's just cursing. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, just driving like move faster.
Exactly. The funny thing though, is like
when I was in Auckland, actually a lot of the Canton speakers
there have kind of gotten used to life over there.
Yeah, where they're like, yeah, people are slow.
And Austin is the one place I met people that were proudly
slow. Really.
So there's, there's a difference of like some of the, Oh yeah,
it's a bit slow over here, you know, like.
Define slow. Does that mean like when you're
sitting down for a coffee, you're taking like an hour, an
hour and a half to drink your coffee?
No, no, no. Like what slow is like from a
society point of view. I think they were joking about
how they had a train station that was supposed to be like
done in a few years. Oh I see.
Has it been 10 years? It's not been done.
Right, right. And they're like.
And they're like, it's not gonna get done, dude.
And I was like, yeah, just forget it.
Just forget it. It's one of those things where,
like, I think the government did something and happened to like,
you know what? It's a bit too late now.
Even if it gets done, this is. Right.
So just leave it half. The way done, yeah, stuff like
that, you know, And I was like, wow.
And the joke that I remember when I was doing the Auckland
show and halfway through, because I rarely do too much
local stuff because I'm like, that's my show, I'm bringing you
the show. And in the middle, I was like,
you know, because I have this little bit where I'm talking
about how if I use my set of rules of judgement of what makes
me happy as the way that you should be doing that as well to
be happy doesn't really work, right.
And I was like, yeah, it's like often like, you guys are slow.
Yeah. Like if I use my speed, I, I
will kill myself. Yeah, but you are.
And they were like, clapping and laughing.
And I'm like, I'm like, no, because like, I'm a patient guy.
Yes, but this is slow. This is yeah, this is
ridiculous. Yeah.
And then they were laughing. And I'm like, you are not.
You are proudly slow. You are like, we're slow.
Yeah. I was like, the way you say it,
it's kind of like, I suck. But you know what?
I'm happy about that. And I respect that.
I'm like, dude, you are able to be happy about man.
I, I, I respect that now. Yeah, OK.
You own it, man. Yeah, Yeah, a lot of those
things, but. Like, especially for your
audience there who are obviously from Hong Kong, whether, like,
they grew up here or, like, moved.
Yeah. Like when they were adults.
Yeah. How did I'm fascinated by how
did they adjust? Because this is probably the
fastest city in the world. Yeah.
And then you go to probably what is the.
Oh yeah. So there's two types.
Crazy adjustment. Yeah, there's two types, right?
There's talk. To them about it.
Yeah, For example, one of the old Cantonese comedians called
Seamus, he used to live in Hong Kong, right?
He's Tanya Yims cousin, I believe.
And so he lives there now and he was, he was explained to me.
He's like actually all along I've been a an Auckland pace guy
who happened to live in Hong Kong.
Yeah. So when I came to Auckland I'm
like this is it, this is what I want.
So you. Have to see that's version one.
Yes, that's version 1. And he's like, I found my spot.
Like Hong Kong was too crazy for me.
Exactly. This is the pace I'm talking to.
Yeah, you have that. Number 2 is obviously the ones
that just have to adapt because of time.
Now, a lot of people are there for many reasons.
One could be work, the others just to get out, you know, a
family, whatever. And what I find is that some of
them also have a weather like this is kind of like I need to
immigrate here to maybe then eventually after a few years
time, go to Australia. Sure, sure.
So the running joke has always been like, if anybody had any
ambition, they would be an Australian.
Not an option. Yeah.
And they would, it would say probably I'm like, Oh yeah, if
you had any, you wouldn't. Be here.
I'm like, OK, but you live here. Like what is your ambition?
They're like, but no, no, it's like, I know that would be kind
of like, yeah, but I have a different aim in life.
I don't want to be ambitious like that.
I just want to sit and chill. But right.
As long as you owned it, man. Yeah, I think I think you're
right, Like, because maybe for us, like here, we're going,
going, going that you don't have the idea of sit and chill.
And to a lot of people here, it sounds like you're wasting your
time or you're just like kind of give up on something.
But like, why not? Like, yeah, if you just want to
sit and chill, yeah, there's nothing wrong with it.
Yeah. So I mean like, there's nothing
wrong with it as long as it's truly what you want and not
exactly not a totally convenient.
Yes, yes, yeah. It's not like, oh, I don't
wanna. Yeah, I can't be bothered.
It's like, well, nobody can, exactly.
We have to. Yeah, I do.
Like, so there's a lot of that because like even when I travel
and do these shows, I always do a lot of community outreach.
Like when I was in Auckland, I connected with a bunch of
university students. Yeah.
And I was talking about the behind the scenes of comedy and
stuff like that. And it was fun because like you
could see a lot of them were unsure about their life and that
I don't want to want to do and everything.
And I was explaining to them like, look, man, you know what
I'm doing? It seems fun, but everything you
do is going to have that behind the scenes thing that's going to
suck, right? Yes.
However, even with the tour, I was like, man, this tour is
exhausting. You get to see the show, like,
oh, you got to go perform here and there.
And I'll be honest with you, man, it's, it's a truly an
honor. Where like, for example, the Q
Theater in Auckland, that's like a big deal.
And I'm like, dude, I'm performing there, man, you know?
Yeah, yeah. But the the lead up to it is
like, Oh my God, I got to travel here.
I got to be in this hotel. I got to rush this thing.
I can connect with that. I got to go there, do the sound
check. Oh my God, Tickets are not
selling. How do I promote some more?
Sure. I mean, The funny thing is
actually people in Auckland even asked me is it is the content
new? And I'm like, yeah, everything,
the whole show, the poster, everything.
I feel like why would you question me?
Well, yeah, they think like, yeah, if they saw you last year,
they're like, I mean, some, some artists do for more than one
year, right. So they might think like.
But of. Course, he's still.
Yeah, but The thing is like it's, it's a full different
poster title, everything right now.
What I found is, though, is that because they have had people
come back and claim to do a new show where maybe like 30% same.
Yeah. And that's what they're like,
suspicious about. Yes.
Yeah, that's just one of those with.
I'll come to the show. OK.
Oh, wait, I heard this stuff. Yeah.
And this is. Happening so hard with comedy,
obviously. Yeah, that doesn't apply to any
other. Yeah.
Like same song. Yeah, a lot of the times people
want the same. Yeah, exactly.
Encore. It's like I just did that.
Yeah. Yeah.
So there's a bunch of that, but I'll put it this way.
Ultimately, the coolest thing about the whole trip is that I
got to see different vibes in different paces, different
people's reactions. Where do they laugh?
Where do they not laugh? Which place likes a bit more
visuals? Which place like with more
thinking like for example, classic doing like Sydney being
a city, the major city people are a bit more cocky and they're
trying to find opportunities. So I'll give you an example,
right? So Sydney, I did Chatswood on
Saturday and the Comedy Store on Sunday.
So Chatswood think of it like Mong KOK over here, right?
OK, you got that type of vibe now, a lot of hunger people, a
lot of Chinese people, a lot of Asians, I should say.
And so Chatswood shows setting out with guarantee.
So we added another show. OK, so I added the 3:15 PM show
on top of the original 5:00 PM show.
OK, so I do the 3:15 PM show. We go outside in the in the
lounge area to take photos. Yeah, now the 5:00 PM show
people are already there waiting to get in to watch the show.
And So what happened is that some of the 5:00 PM people lined
up as well to take the photo seeing.
That they can save time at the end, yes.
Because I'm here anyway that's making that picture.
It's such a Hong Kong thing, Hong.
Thing right and I love it. I didn't I didn't realize it
until the guy finished. I'm like, oh, I'm actually here.
So the 5:00 PM, like, wait, what?
You took a photo first. I appreciate your confidence
that you still want to have that photo, right?
Because you might watch them. It's like this.
This sucks, yes, but he's thinking of it, of the
efficiency. Yeah, yeah.
And I was like, I respect that, man.
And I was like, that's so. Get out first, out of the car
park first, I'm sure. Anyway, I'm waiting, doing
nothing. How can I increase my
efficiency, get this out of the way.
Later on, I'll have to line up and be done with it.
All right, That was awesome. Right.
So the crazy thing is like when that happened in Sydney, I'm
like, that's So yes, I would expect that in Sydney.
Yeah, reversed it in Perth. The theater, first of all, I
want to say the theater did such a magnificent job of signage of
like meet and greet in that area.
They had the ropes, everything ready.
They had a corner, they had a. Picture of me and a meet and
greet this way people lined up patiently, right?
And then when it came time to take photos, what happened is
that Gloria had to go pick up my camera real quick and bring it
over this and that, right? And then people waited happily.
They were chit chatting with me. I'm like, OK, you guys are not,
you know, rushing. Hey, could we take the photo?
They would take a photo and like one or two people might want to
talk a little bit more and I'll give them like 10 seconds time
to talk of course. And then the people behind them
won't be like. Excuse me.
Yeah, Excuse me. None of that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're like, oh, let me finish,
You know, I was like, wow, there's such a.
Difference. Everyone is just like, chilling.
They're chilling. I mean, it was a Saturday night,
I'll give you that. But then again, the chats would
show finished at around 6:30. So it's like not.
And this is Saturday as well. Yes.
So it's even earlier. Yeah.
So it's a rush, you know, So like the city.
As you said, it's a city versus like, yeah, the people are
chilling, even if Perth is also a city.
Exactly. Exactly.
Yeah. Now it's very slow.
Exactly. Now that was another cool thing
where chats would you have people like, you know, do the
show and get out kind of thing. I fair enough and why I say it's
Mong cock because the next day on Sunday I did the Comedy
Store. It was full of hookers.
Highway, but apparently not. You know they didn't offer
anything to me, right? Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, Yeah. No, but the Comedy Store is more
in the city center area, right? Yes.
So you could consider that place
as maybe Shen Wan. Yeah.
OK. All right.
So the vibe of the Comedy Store was way different.
It wasn't like, I'm here to watch the show, get my photo and
get out. Yeah.
People came to watch the show. Yeah.
You know, I'll take a photo as well.
Yeah. And they were lining up without
finally feeling like. Come on, come on, let's go,
let's go. However, the Comedy Store thing
is pretty cool. Where it's such tight timing.
Yeah, I did my show. My show ends at I believe.
Oh, my God, I can't remember. Like I think it was 6:00 PM,
Yeah. 6:00 PM Show the next show 720.
Yeah. So.
So they have to clear out everybody.
Yeah, yeah. You know and it's so crazy cuz
like 705 is the latest I could end my show get out get everyone
tell them to go downstairs go downstairs yes so the next show
can already start setting up and bring.
Them I I like that. Like, I've performed there as
well. And I like how efficient.
Yeah. Same for Comedy Republic back in
Melbourne. It's like, because it's it's a
business, right. But it's also like the show is
just everything is run on such a tight schedule, which is the
opposite of what you think most shows are here, for example,
because the, you know, comedy's supposed to be fun.
Yeah, but people don't understand that it's also work
for people. Yeah.
So at the end of the day, you're like, oh, yeah, you have the
next show. If you don't, if you fuck
around, you're just messing up everything.
I mean that that happens to us when we do the laugh Festival in
Hong Kong. Yeah, because that we have
back-to-back half an hour. Exactly.
And the thank yous, the goodbyes and everything.
I go, you gotta go. So I totally understand.
I respect that. But I didn't expect it to be
that tight. I'm like, wow, that's a 15
minute turnover. That's crazy.
Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah, but I have to say, The
Comedy Store was a cool venue. It's iconic #1 yeah.
And also the the idea, Look, I'll be honest with you, man,
this tour, the coolest thing of it is that I the idea of me
having my show in these venues, of course, that was a different
thing. Yeah, you're doing Cantonese
show. That's crazy.
Forget, forget even being Cantonese.
Just the idea that I got to do my solo show in this venue, I'm
like, wow, that is already a milestone tick.
Yeah, of course. So in that sense, that was the
coolest part of the whole tour. The exhaustion is there, you
know, the frustrations of like, Oh my God, I got to do this.
I got to talk to this person. Yeah.
What was the like the the lowest part for you for the whole tour?
I would say, OK, so with the Chatswood show, we added an just
a week before. It's a 300 seat room.
We added an extra show at 3:15 just a week before.
Yeah, Yeah. Right.
So that's obviously very late addition.
Yeah. You know, so selling 306 is like
that I didn't think was possible.
We didn't. However, the lowest point really
was like going to that venue and going like, OK, so I know this
room right now is going not going to be full, right, But in
two hours time it's going to be packed Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it's like so. You're just getting through the
1st show and that. Way you can have a bit of like
oh man, you know why I could have just skipped the show and
filled up the other show, right? Yes, yes.
But then like a lot of the moments where I would compare
last year's numbers and additions I'm like huh, OK,
what's going on? Why is this not setting as fast
as last year? And it turns out there's so many
factors where number one last year this was like maybe the
first time I've been going there and the first time factor oh, we
gotta go. We gotta watch this.
We. Gotta go see this guy.
Yeah, and. A lot of those were like, Oh
yeah, of course I forget this little psychology into this as
well. So yeah, the downtime, the down
factors were and I was like, OK, I mean, I sold way more tickets
last year. Like for example, Perth, I sold
like 300 something tickets. This year I just sold a little
under 200. And I'm like, huh, how can I
drop a whole? Yeah, yeah, yeah, You know, I'm
like, that's a big drop. Yeah.
But the cool thing though, 80%, yeah, yeah, but but however, at
at every show or pretty much every show, I would ask how many
people came to last year's show. Honestly, not more than 1520%.
Oh wow. OK, so it's like new people.
As well. And I was like, whoa, that's
actually a good sign, showing me that there is such a large
population. Yeah.
But there is also like, you know, many factors, like some
people who came last year might have just like, left the city,
right, like came back to Hong Kong or whatever.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that also means that the
shows are getting to new people, which is a good thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Would you do it again the same
way, or would you structure it a bit differently?
No, I would do the same way. Yeah, I may, I may take a little
time off to rethink and also maybe give it a little space
with it like, oh, we haven't seen him.
Let's go check him out. But yeah, I think the whole
tour, I have to give all props like, Bom over there, They did a
good job with the scheduling. Yeah.
And I I told them my my rule of thumb was simple, like once I
finished my show in the city. Yeah, I'm ready to fly to the
next one immediately. Right.
And obviously let me sleep one
night. Sure, Sure.
Yeah, Because the idea is that as much as I would love to stay
behind and like, enjoy the city, find me.
I have to remember this is a work trip, so I've got to go to
the next city and see whatever connection I can make.
So for example, the Brisbane, I flew down to Brisbane that night
itself. I would do like a JCI workshop.
Next morning I did the elderly home.
Then I had the show at night, went to sleep.
The next morning we went to Gold Coast, did the show there, took
a train back and I was like, Oh my God, did I even see Brisbane?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Elderly home.
That's crazy. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, look, this is the the coolest part of when you're
travelling, do elderly homes and stuff like that.
It's just another world. Yeah, of course it's like and
that's when you like so. Elderly Cantonese guys, like
just hanging out in the elderly home, Yeah.
So they have the Gold Coast or yeah in prison.
Yeah. And so I did it last year as
well. Yeah.
And so they were like, hey, could you come back this year
again? I'm like, yeah, let's do it.
Let's walk the wall. You know, for me, I always put
it this way. Is that it may not be the ideal
situation to do a show of course.
However, just the idea that hey, I did an elderly home in
Brisbane in Cantonese, I'm like, that's insane.
That's awesome. And they must be so appreciative
as well. Like what do they get?
Like in terms of yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They don't probably get any entertainer from Hong.
Kong absolutely coming through, yeah, that's amazing.
Yeah. So that's the fun part of.
My last question in this tour post tour interview, what what
shows did you watch at the Melbourne Festival that you
enjoy? Alright, so anybody if you when
you go to Melbourne Comedy Festival, I highly recommend go
watch shows you think will never come to Hong Kong, right?
Become like this guy called Josh Glanz.
You you remember he's the guy with the moustache and he does
he's like a clownish kind of, but not your not your classical
clown with the Red Nose, but like a clowny kind of goofy
character. OK, so funny.
Yeah, he had this whole bit about how, OK, so he has this
thing where he breaks into Psalm.
Yeah. He's like, he pretends he's 2
characters. He's like, uh huh, I drive a
truck, right? And then he's like, I drive a
truck. He's like two different
characters. Cool, cool.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the whole song merges
where, like, this guy's really Manny.
This guy's kind of like, feminine.
Yeah. Yeah.
And then after while they're like, well, actually, we both
drive a truck. Yeah.
Wait a second. I like you.
Yeah. And then the Manny goes, wait,
no, it's so funny. He does it, man.
Nice. So I saw that.
I saw this group called Bear Pack, Steen Ristopoulos, his
name, He's one of the best improvisers I've seen in my
life, really. Every year they have a show
called Bear Pack, which is a long form comedy called a yarn
that they kind of created. Yeah.
Where it's one hour 1. Hour of improv like 1 scene 1
scene. Wow, that's not.
The audience gives them two suggestions. 1 is a place.
Yeah. For example, like the second
show we went to the the idea was a lighthouse.
Yeah. All right.
And then give me an object that goes on a wall, a clock.
That's it. That's it.
One hour. Yeah.
Hilarious. Amazing.
Dude. That's so impressive.
It was my, it was like every year I I make sure I try to
watch it. Yeah, we watched the first show.
We was actually with our complimentary passes.
Yeah, we can go watch shows if they're not sold out.
Sure. We were the last two to get in,
right. Really then?
It was like. Pretty busy too.
Very busy, very busy. Right.
And then so the next Saturday I'm like, dude, we are buying
tickets. First of all, give some support.
Yeah #2 I need to watch the show probably really.
And watch like every year. It's so insanely good.
Yeah. I, I, if anyone's in Sydney,
Steen Roscopolis, yes I believe. Are they based in Sydney?
I believe seen based in Sydney right, so they do shows all the
place. It's called the bear pack.
If you're in Australia. I'm gonna again remember how I
was like. Result.
Then Gaze was arrested. Show it.
Was by the way, it was fantastic.
Yeah. You were there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 10 out of 10.
It's actually it's still probably so far is that our
highest rated show? Yeah, in terms of like audience
feedback so far this year. Yeah, exactly.
So very, very good. Yeah.
So yeah. OK, another strong.
Recommendation. Oh, my goodness.
Like, their stuff is insane. Just like the way they have that
they can bounce off ideas of each other.
Yeah. It's so smooth.
They just know how. Like, I know where you're going
with this. I'll play with that, of course.
Oh my. Goodness, Yeah.
So it's like a well oiled machine.
Very good. That's the thing with improv,
right? It's like it when it works, it's
like fantastic. That's gold.
When it doesn't work, it's really cringy.
Yeah, but these guys, I've never seen them fail.
Really. Never, man.
Wow. Yeah, that's amazing.
Any like pure stand up show that you enjoyed like last year we're
all enjoyed. Canam Gill, for example, he was
like the talk of the town anything this year.
This year I didn't watch much straight stand up simply because
the timings didn't work out for me.
Who I wanted to watch weren't there and yeah, I didn't watch
much straight stand up. I did do like the Festival club,
Yeah, I got a spot on. That's fun, Max Watts one.
Yeah, the Max. OK, how was that?
That's pretty cool to the audience.
So basically Festival Club or Max Watts is a venue that they
give shows that, let's say, 11:00 PM every night.
And the idea is that for comedians who finish their shows
can go down there, have a drink and watch a show themselves.
Yeah. And every now and then they'll
have like, lineup shows. For example, they have, let's
say, 10 bucks for 10 comedians, right?
So I was on the Tuesday show and they had like, let's say 10
comedians. Yeah.
So, you know, go do that thing. You get 5 minutes, you know, do
that. Obviously in English for.
English. Yeah, this was in English, Yeah,
Yeah. And the cool thing was, I
remember I was saying something like, I wanted to say thank you
to Melbourne for making sure I don't get culture shock and
making sure the city looks like Hong Kong.
Right. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it does. It does, you know, Yeah, Yeah.
So I did a bitch of that, a bunch of that.
And it was, it was fun because this was iconic again, where
like you're used to sitting in the audience like, oh, wow, OK,
you see all these big names do it and now you're on that.
Figure on it. Yeah, Yeah, yeah.
That's. Amazing, that was very cool as.
Well, yeah, yeah, that's, that's a cool spot.
Like that's one thing I enjoyed, like going to after our shows,
as you said, like you're just like seeing other comedians
sometimes, like someone is jumping on stage and come back
to sit down and stuff like that. So.
Crazy, man. You came back and right away
you're preparing for a couple of big things, yeah.
So yeah, end of June I have my solo Cantonese show here in Hong
Kong with this time LCSD. Let me let me realize that the
LCS is the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong
Kong. Sound funny?
There you go. It's part of the Culture Fest
2025, the Hong Kong Pop Culture Fest 2025 festival, right?
So actually they reached out to me though, like, hey, we'd love
to do some stand up comedy at the festival making it.
You could probably say it's the first time the Hong Kong
government run, not the Hong government like, more like a
government organization. Like actually sponsors like or
like runs? Kind of really as part of their
program. Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, so they were like, we want to try some standard comedy.
And initially I told them to make like a lineup, show a bunch
of these comedians. Like no, we want you.
I'll just. You just me.
So that's the big thing. I'm actually going to be
performing at the Shergaman Civic Center, All right.
Theatre. It's right above the cooked food
center, so you can go, I guess. A deal.
Yeah, exactly. However, it's a Cantonese show
I'll be performing on the 27th, 28 and 29th of June.
Yeah, giving me a month and a half to finish selling out
tickets. So far, 1:30, the tickets are
gone. Wow.
Yeah, so far so good. You know, I got it's.
Basically like the first week of May, yeah, like 10th of May
today. Exactly.
Yeah. So it's basically the theatre is
a 480 seater. Yeah, I sold around the 400 50
tickets, I think. All right.
So far, Yeah, So far so good. Amazing.
So if you have any Cantonese friends that you think would
like a good laugh, this will This show will be part of the
Australian Comedy Tour content. Yeah, and it will be a lot of I.
Don't imagine people who watched you in Australia will come here.
Yeah, I doubt it. But then there's a lot of
content because like this is the Hong Kong Pop Culture Festival,
so they want a bit like about Hong Kong related stuff.
Yeah. And I'm like that I got a Yeah,
of course. I'm not worried about that man,
you know? Yeah.
So you have. In fact, you probably have to
worry about how which bits. Which bits to keep?
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Which ones you put aside? So a lot of that show in
Cantonese, we'll be joking about all the silly things we do in
Hong Kong from, you know, like my classic thing.
I'm not going to do the bit, but like the classic of like press
the doe close button and lip. Yes, yes to like, let's say when
you're on the escalator and someone stands in front of you
on the left side, you breathe heavily.
You don't say excuse me, you just.
Go right, Stuff like that. So.
Silly things like that, we'll be all in that show.
So yeah, come on down. If you have a friend or a loved
one or an enemy that speaks Cantonese, send them over
lcsd.funnyvivac.com. I will send my previous
landlady. Yeah, Tell us.
Go laugh. God, you know, just do that.
Yeah. And on top of that, dude, this
is the other thing. They I talked with them.
They I said, you know, instead of just doing a show, we can do
a workshop as well. So I'm actually doing like
Cantonese comedy workshops. Yeah.
What does that mean? So basically I'll be teaching a
lot of time. They go to universities and
different organizations that teach workshops, right?
This is going to be the one rare time I do it publicly where I
will be teaching the techniques I use in.
Comedy. That's so cool.
Yeah, so you have that and a lot of these things.
So again, if you aren't interested in comedy, come watch
the show. If you want interested in
learning how to do comedy yourself, come to the workshop.
It's honestly because it's like an LCSD sponsor thing.
The prices are way cheaper. Like these are like, I actually
told them I was like, guys, this is a little bit ridiculous now.
Yeah, like my most expensive ticket is $388.
Yeah, that's very. Cheap right?
For like a full on 90 minute solo kind of, but they were
like, no, it's a government thing.
We want to and I told them I I appreciate it, I get it and I
know what your objective is and I agree with you.
Let's open it up so more people can experience this yes, rather
than like it's all about the money and everything.
I'm like, fair. I just said as long as it's not
too low where people are like what's wrong with this show?
You know, so it's the middle. Yeah, exactly.
You can price it too low and. They're like something, yeah,
something's awful about this show, right?
So we found the middle ground about this and everyone's happy.
And yeah, it's a foreign seat room.
Come on, fill it up. And the best thing is that
technically I've been to the room.
So whether you're sitting in the front row or the middle or even
the end, it's pretty damn clear, man.
Oh, nice. Yeah.
So still, it's still good. Amazing.
Yeah, at Backstage comedy we have a bunch of stuff coming up
as you're listening to this this Saturday we have a May 17th.
We have a stand up showcase. I'm hosting it and there's a
bunch of comics May 23rd. That's I believe that's another
strong it's gonna Vivek is gonna get behind this one.
Daniel Fernandez. Oh yeah, yeah, Daniel Fernandez
as well. So he's more of the edgy
comedian that is willing to talk about topics and sometimes even
make you feel a bit uncomfortable.
But the idea is that he's willing to go there.
So if you're into the like, let's go there, he will go
there. So that's worth checking out as
well. He's been touring, I believe in
India already so far. Yeah, he was actually just in
Australia. He did Sydney.
Yeah, he didn't miss. Each other, yeah.
Yeah. So Danny is coming on the
Friday, May 23rd, Saturday, May 24th, we have Hong Kong as fuck,
which is super fun if you haven't come before.
Game show created by Garen Chu. And it's like, you know, it's a
panel, kind of like a classic British style panel show in a
way, but with a very Hong Kong flavour.
We have Jackie incoming from Singapore.
He's funny, man. Yeah, Jackie's great.
He's like one of those like fast rising stars in Singapore.
And yeah, he's it will be his first time in, in in Hong Kong.
14th we have June 14th we have Drew Frehler coming back to Hong
Kong after many, many years. Drew is we got him here on the
podcast He. Won the comic competition.
He won in both China and, and Hong Kong.
Actually, he was based in in in Shanghai and he was one of the
top guys in Asia for a long time.
Moved back to Michigan where he's from, and now he's going to
come back and do a show with us. So June 14th.
And you will listen to him here on the podcast as well.
Yeah, we have a bunch of stuff. I don't want to go too long, but
we have shows on all the way up to September.
Just go to the backstage HK or backstage comedy.com and you'll
see the whole schedule. One last thing, we actually have
two different theatre shows coming up that we'll announce
very soon with two different big names.
So stay tuned for that. We have not publicly went on CL
yet, so we'll announce them when we can.
So stay tuned. We're doing good things and join
us on the Patreon, which we're about to record the Patreon now.
patreon.com/about $5 a month. You can support some some people
doing cool stuff. In Hong Kong.
Yeah. And thanks for tuning in
everyone. And we'll see you next week.
Music.