0:00 for example you know I remember my first show at the sports bar it went horrible you know just five minutes later yeah and one guy came up to me and said hey I think you're probably funny but I don't understand what you're saying oh damn I know but yeah he was an Asian guy too [Laughter] [Music] welcome back everybody to another amazing episode of the careful boys and today we have a special guest Mr Joe Wong so much it's a good pleasure to be here and thank you so much for having me and uh yeah I just feel very special today you know I was I was pretty excited when you were on the roster and then I messaged Bart and I was like hey is that
0:51 the stand-up comedian Joe Wong and then he's like yeah that's him and I'm like oh my God because I first saw you I think you're at the White House or something oh yeah yeah the White House yeah but I didn't leave the bag of cocaine some other guy that had to be like 2016 20 actually that's 2010. 2010 I know yeah yeah okay wow yeah because I remember watching that and going oh dude like he's funny clean comedy but he's able to like hit all the the stuff and I was just like that's a really good well-rounded comedian and then um yeah I would see your videos pop up once in a while yeah yeah yeah that's some people get confused they saw the video they were like is this Joe Biden why is it so young
1:41 yeah that's what I thought when I saw it a real yeah because because there is a conspiracy theory going around saying that the Biden we see right now is a clone of himself you heard about this yeah I know it sounds ridiculous but well it's kind of a s█████ clone they're still working out the Kinks oh yeah I know uh 20 years wow I know I know yeah what got you into it oh I I just you know I'm just interested in humor and I used to work in biotech you know I never got the promotion and stuff I figured oh I should try something else probably how did you go from biotech to Comedy same thing yeah you just gradually get into it you know I I oh actually I took
2:31 a stand-up comedy class yeah what even got you because that that to me still so comedy's here standard comedy class is still here there's still a lot of gaps up there yeah wait a minute your hand gesture is the opposite from a lot of Asian parents please prepare us like about chemistry comedy not in this room yeah how did you even take a class or even like know to look for a class especially 20 years ago yeah basically uh one of one of my co-workers took me to a stand-up comedy show it was uh the first comedian I saw was Seymour Phillips and uh I don't know if you guys know him he's no he's really good comic you know he does a lot of uh really weird humor that he used to no actually he just toured with uh weird
3:22 owl this year oh okay yeah oh that's that style yes I love his similar sense of humor you know they got along really well they used to have a TV show together and they just toured Europe this year but anyway but he somehow he does this weird voice and he has this uh hair that's dyed white you know hanging from one side but when I saw him in Houston he wasn't doing any of those he just sits on stage in his normal voice and tell jokes you know one after another it was just so good you know I was like wow I was like oh I wish I could stand the punch lines you know you didn't know English that well back then or well that's the thing I know English quite well but then I don't understand the punch lines because I hear every word fine and I I understand all the setup but none of the punches
4:14 yeah the and but I still I understand some of it so I was like wow this is great and then my company is folded in Houston so I moved to Boston when you're in a new city you just want to try something new I figure oh you know I tried you know some golf some you know shooting you know but then none of them stuck you know he's like it's not for me so I just looked into some I saw an Advertiser before a comedy class so I just use other curiosity I went there and that's the first time I learned that humor can be learned and trained you know yeah because I always assume all
5:04 the funny people were born that way Chris is ridiculous no no baby came out that woman they're just really happy yeah everyone just made his son oh really natural comedian from a baby more like a prankster yeah oh I see he's developing he's developing natural go-to thing just by himself in the corner his favorite thing it was like he has this plastic Pizza yeah and he would go like this yeah whoa whoa whoa it didn't fall he put the pizza on his face and like it was just already just doing like three stooges physical comedy just by himself and he's just practicing yeah like you're not performing for anyone or I'm just watching him like what the heck is he doing but you should do your tape it I have it oh yeah wow that's amazing so many times I wish I taped my son
5:56 doing stuff you know but you know he's already 16 too late you can start taping them now oh yeah but he's a teenager now you know he got really annoyed so the comedy class was actually good yeah I learned a lot of Basics you know I didn't even know you know like a joke has a setup and punchline before that so it was a stand-up comedy course yeah and then they helped you with structure and oh yeah yeah and also uh from the chorus I know a bunch of people who start around the same time so there's some camaraderie there you know like for example you know I remember my first show at the sports bar it went horrible you know it's just five minutes later yeah and one guy came up to me and said hey I think you're probably funny but I don't understand what you're saying
6:47 I know but and he was an Asian guy too he's like sorry but still yeah because uh but then I really noticed that none of my other classmates are doing well so I feel slightly better that's why you need someone to start around the same time you know and also uh they came from different walks of life it's that's kind of interesting to me too you know we have you know lawyers uh uh patent guy advertisement people and one guy who runs a uh a hardware store yeah he's just everyone that just hates their job you're a biotech
7:38 engulfing and shooting didn't work but you know but looking back some of the guys even though they're really new I just remember some of them are really good right off the bat and I was just I remember one guy he told this joke I could we still remember the guy basically said oh I went to my grandma's place this Sunday uh I think she was using her vibrator because he was dry so horrible but then you think of myself well that kind of makes sense did you after after you didn't do so well what
8:28 made you want to like keep going well that's the thing that's like telling jokes and then no one laughing is like one of the worst feelings in the world yeah that's why I think my uh experience is uh if you start with a group of 20 you usually have one or two people left after half a year it's just so frustrating yeah including the guy who wrote the joke I just told yeah just doesn't do anymore yeah yeah this is most people just quit but then that's what I'm saying to people if you do something and you you fail but you still want to do it then that might be your calling you know yeah you just have to so you failed but you you still enjoyed it and you wanted to keep going so that's the that's what probably separated you is what you're saying uh yeah I don't enjoy feeling though every time I have bad show I'm like oh I suck you know it just makes me feel bad
9:20 for like days yeah but then couple of days later you still want to climb up and go back to the clubs and tell jokes you know so I guess that's how is the pay change from biochemistry oh my God falling off a cliff [Laughter] you know I got paid fairly what like middle class type of salary when I was in biotech but instead of Comedy I didn't make a dime for the first five years geez what'd you do I just live off savings or whether you're like a waiter or no I just basically go to work during the day and tell jokes at night yeah yeah and you I can't even get stage time because you know it's pretty competitive this business so if the club owner knows
10:11 you're a new guy they just usually don't give you any spot uh so you just sit there and wait yeah you sometimes I go to the comedy club and wait you know that's why sometimes and then you finally get the 12 o'clock crowd when they're all drunk oh yeah you're in the B room yeah or in the basement of a motel you know that kind of thing yeah a lot of those yeah but sometimes yeah that's why people sometimes joke out you're you're not a stand-up comedian you're a standby comedian yeah but you have to put in the time and that's the I still find it very tough here in Los Angeles because um in basically every other City you know it stage time is pretty fairly easy for me even even in Australia you know I just came back from a tour of uh Australia
11:01 New Zealand I go to the city I basically email the booker a hit a day or two a hand you know I can't pretty much get some stage time but not in Los Angeles that's just really there's so many comedians here so many comedians also I'm really new in town and also this town values celebrities way more than standout comedians yeah because you know if you go to like New York it's very different that people still value content more so so you mean that celebrities are getting stand-up comedian stage time oh yeah yeah oh so like at the comedy clubs here like Laugh Factory or any of them Comedy Store if there's a celebrity that wants to do stand-up comedy oh yeah interesting everybody has to cut their time you know the celebrity has to go in
11:51 and do their sense and the celebrity is also standing up comedian too right or no uh it doesn't have to you don't have to be yeah yeah it's like it's like influencers here too oh yeah they let daylight influencers have stage time here like if Logan Paul showed up they're like oh yeah let's give him the mic I mean half as famous as him even wow wow yeah because he makes sense because he's big yeah that's crazy firstly you have to factor in the networking like if you just know somebody oh yeah yeah it's a very yeah especially in in La it's all about you know how you hang with people you know it's very different um because when I started doing stand up I was uh 32. you know I have a you know family I have a mortgage I have to worry about all these stuff yeah basically I go in and do my comedy and just get out you know I don't see the network oh you're not going to the bar after and
12:42 hanging out yeah yeah because that's why you know they used to call me the Comedy Ninja because I just go into myself I know what you haven't heard the most recent part yet okay I can't wait no who really want to hear this oh one one of the racist kid was actually an Asian dude you know we did the show in the basement and I I think he's probably some kind of Asian college kid he's sitting in the front room and he just started to do these awful Asian accent oh just heckling while you were doing yourself I know yeah I was like what if he just talks like that and he's just he just got here from China and you're like you
13:35 I can I can tell a real accent from fake one you know but just oh man and he's also an issue because I was like okay I'm gonna let this go it was just so awful because you know other comedians are like oh man I wish I could go over and beat him up I'm like yeah but then you now we say this word like eternalized racism more now but at the time there's not even a term for it you know that's just like yeah let's I guess the kid thought it was funny I guess not so much did everybody laugh when he did it though oh no everybody just feels so awkward he didn't kill yeah he's killing it I I was there to try to memorize my jokes does your kid think you're funny oh
14:26 probably was it a tough crowd yeah he's a teenager yeah I know every teenager thinks their dad's lame I know yeah yeah I I totally appreciate that I I am lame though because you know I sometimes I just feel that I'm just nothing about me sticks out you know like I remember sometimes like uh you know like newspaper reporter will come to my house they take some pictures of me I feel like there's nothing special I know can you pause oh yeah give me angry face happy face that's her because some like most like celebrities or comedians there's like a
15:18 theme about them oh yeah and they can kind of like hone in on that thing like yeah top yeah but you forget you're just okay alligator yeah yeah are you are you still in BIO uh are you still in that oh no no so when did you make the uh transition into becoming a full-time Entertainer oh uh that was after the the White House gig oh so that one oh really skyrocketed the actually it was before that you know I got a lot of coverage but after that sometimes I go to work and we have a stack of uh Wall Street Journal and I'm on the front page oh wow yeah it's like yeah oh I pretend I didn't see and then walk to my office and and I used to work for this company that's kind of the largest corporation
16:08 in Europe and from this second or third largest in the world is the pharmaceutical company nobody knows me and it's a big hierarchy but after that you know when they have board meetings they will come to my office to the first and chat and chat a little bit so all the executives executive and then I I of course you know I'm gonna chat a little bit but I have no idea who they are I got more out of town gigs so I just have to uh quit the day job in them what what brought you to the West Coast oh because that's where you stay now right yeah yeah it's a complicated you know yeah my son's going to school here you know and my manager is here too you know so I figured I'd give this place a try you know yeah also you're new to this
16:59 area oh it's very new I just moved here you know like January this year whoa sweet yeah yeah how do you like all the Asian food the proximity to all the Asian food oh I can't complain where are you moving from uh Beijing yeah from China oh damn yeah I just I did like comedy for 10 years there oh you started there oh no no I started in Boston oh I was gonna say because I was like 10 years of Beijing jokes yeah it's hard being a comedian out there huh in Chinese can you do stand-up comedy in Chinese too oh yeah yeah wow so do you have like separate sets or is it just like translated into no it's a separate sense because it's hard to translate you know I mean the a basically rule basic rules and techniques are the same yeah but you
17:50 know the sensitivity and culture is so different you know yeah detour there too oh yeah yeah it's over there too yeah is the comedy culture the same that like people go to uh like oh yeah yeah oh it's the same thing there's a comedy clubs and all of that yes because that of Comedy is probably the biggest uh phenomenon in entertainment for the past 10 years in China wow I thought it was just like an American or English speaking thing it was there there isn't stand-up there wasn't stand-up comedy uh and then when I when I went to China back in 2012 2013 yeah and I still remember I tried to promote it so sometimes I would do these small shows in alleys in Beijing you know it's a little uh little yard
18:41 you know we just I'll just do some sets and there's some younger kids do something afterwards finally this lady who raised her hand I was so happy I was finally they're interested you know I said uh what kind of question do you have she was like do you think my son should go to America to study it's so practical comedy genius it's like do you like Tylenol too oh my God what was your answer I'm like sure you should go go there and do a stand-up comedy but but then when I was first there
19:34 there's one comedy club in the city of 24 million people and uh I I went there uh after a show uh basically there were like five or six guys very interested it was basically forming a little circle right next to a dumpster I still remember that and they just asked me you know how the comedy clubs have won in America what are the open mics uh what are the professional shows I don't like you know but now there are at least 20 comedy clubs just in Beijing itself wow I think it shows every night you know it was amazing and it's all in Chinese all in Chinese and there's also English stand up there too because there's a big expat Community there and I I do English stand up there as well but the uh crowds are so diverse
20:27 you know all the same night you have people from South Africa England and Netherlands and sometimes you will see like Americans sitting right next to an Iranian and they're laughing together I was like wow I wish I could see this at the U.N except they're falling asleep at those yeah yeah so it's a it's a very uh it's really but right now there's like hundreds of clubs all over the country here and it's really amazing damn that's tight I didn't know it was like that who who's the Chinese like Dave Chappelle Chinese Dave Chappelle yeah probably you are oh no I'll say it for you yeah yeah but there are a couple of guys who made a really big day um just and but it didn't become a thing until 20 I would say 2020 after pandemic
21:20 started so it's just really just the newest budding scene out but they just put the girls that fast yeah but it it took like years just for people to you know hone their skills in smaller comedy clubs wow yeah and when I was actually I went to China and hosted the TV show there uh and all the TVs you have to tell us some jokes and there was no Comedy Club to practice my jokes so at the time I have to go to a college or or a company and use their conference room and just try some jokes and that's it you know it was really tough at the beginning but now it's just it's blossoming you know it's quite interesting when did you come to the states uh 1994. oh okay yeah his timeline is like
22:11 what the I know I know yeah yeah yeah so that must have been a big change because you're here yeah while everything is developing there and then you go back and you're like what uh I know yeah because I just looking back you know the couple of times I feel that I'm starting from zero you know Coming to America to study is one you know because I I was a pretty good student when I was in China you know like uh but then I came to America I really because when I was in China I sometimes I got full score on in organic chemistry tests I came here people thought I don't know anything about getting the chemistry because I didn't learn it in English I can't express myself oh it was so painful damn that must be yes and then gradually I got used to that in God I actually got a PhD in Biochemistry and
23:03 then and then I started to stand up comedy it was like starting over again yeah it's all starting you're the startup master I know yeah I know this must have been so proud well fortunately they weren't around to know this because [Laughter] yeah then I moved to China it's you start from scratch again I still remember you know sitting at the Starbucks in Beijing writing jokes from the first word you know it's just and then yeah it's just always something like this but you know it's kind of thrilling too you know I feel I'm a stand-up comedian in America but in China I feel I'm part of a movement you know just like oh yeah that's true yeah yeah you're International man yeah
23:55 yeah you're pioneering a whole genre in China because they're just doing it oh yeah yeah that's it because 2020 is like the birth of stand-up comedy in China well I know probably the boom you know the birth is about 10 years already yeah but that's still very recently oh yeah yeah what if the movement becomes biochem people everywhere quitting to become Joe [Laughter] [Music]
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