Asia's Funniest Comedian (Dr. Jason Leong)

Chinese people are the best Asians there's a bunch of Asians behind us and we the best Asians are known to be you know me kung fu movie he's like abing smart I think is that a Chinese Malaysian thing cuz or what is that is that what is that he's a doctor why he's such a waste oh he great he he became was a doctor now he TR to become this ComEd yo what's going on guys welcome to a very special episode of the hot pop boys today joining me on the podcast we have an interview with Malaysia's most famous comedian not named Ronnie Ching yes yes that is the most perfect intro thank you so much Dr Jason Leon hello hello thank thanks for having me man thanks for being here then his cap swerves to the right blocking the car behind so the car behind Furious he honks it's my cap driver's fault okay my cap driver swerves back to the left allows the car behind to pull up now we are parallel and my C driver winds down his window sticks up his head and goes then he remembers that I don't speak canones so he translates to English for my [Applause] benefit you your mother your mother smelly vagina your whole family your whole family [Applause] die this is the Hong Kong Parliament so uh we had a show I mean I had a stand up com show in Bangkok last night and David was kind enough to come and watch show so thanks for coming yeah yeah yeah and that was your first time performing in Bangkok yes yes first time yeah so I've been in Bangkok many times before but that was the first my first time doing a show here and it was like I said it was great because like we I get to see oh I have a market here I have there's a city here that I can perform so the next time I have a new show then I can you know like the my tour will become bigger like I've added cities on the tour so I I was very happy with show last night I guess real quick just to get into like something local what was your feeling about like being able to perform comedy in Bangkok like cuz that's like maybe in the past that wouldn't be something you would think would happen right yes exactly so many years ago when I first started doing comedy I never thought that I'll do a show in Bangkok but as the years progressed uh you know like uh we were talking about R Peters so Ras Peters started the whole comedy Revolution right in Asia in Asia so a lot of cities popped up comedy clubs comedy shows and the more established uh comedians would yes please yeah yeah yeah yeah it reort it we got to get get into that real quick because people might not know that Russell Peters was probably the first North American act to open up the asiia market for English standup comedy yes yes so uh he really doesn't get enough credit but uh he started the whole wave so if you look at markets like say Hong Kong Indonesia Philippines qualo Singapore Bangkok we in India right we all started our scenes at roughly the same time mutally exclusive of each other right after that the C that went viral you know the 3450 you know so yeah it's it's been great and now there's a whole circuit where comedians can come to perform including Bangkok right right right and obviously we're talking about Western stand of Comedy probably in the East they've always had like comedic storytelling you're right exactly you know your ComEd yeah yeah yeah but they didn't they never had like setup setup punch tag call back this type of like I guess if for people who like want to get scientific about comedy it can be that you see that is that so uh for example in many countries there were other types of entertainment that were pseudo standup comedy it looked like standup comedy but they didn't even know that that stand up comedy for example like in the Philippines there's a tradition of uh drag queen comedy drag queen comedians where uh they they come on stage and they'll tell jokes maybe from uh you know back in the day the internet jokes or jokes that were written before or joke books right and they would do this to entertain the crowd right so that's a form of stand up comedy before they even knew what would it almost be comparable to what was around in Vaudeville era yes yes so so exactly that so there were a lot of things going on but it was just not how to say codified you know codified into standup comedy so no like there was no like 5 minute bit 10 minute bit there was no opener you're right you're right so give an example so nowadays as you know if you go to cities like uh straight New York and you do an open mic right so it's just you know uh a cheap show and each comic has like 3 minutes or 5 minutes so back in my day when we first started there was no this concept of 3 minutes 5 minutes because there was not enough of us comedians to do 3 minutes 5 minutes right so my first spot was 5 minutes and my second spot was 20 minutes right yeah because there's no no one else is going to fill up the time right right right like almost the structure was not even that advanced but now is the structure at that point because it's all very natural it's a natural progression suddenly we have more comedians who want to come on stage than we have stage time and what will happen is that then they'll be you know we to cut down to 3 minutes 5 minutes per person it's very natural right right right so I guess like where is comedy at in Malaysia Singapore or like right so great question so Malaysia I would say we had our uh the golden years of standup comedy where at one point uh I could confidently say that we have the best standup comedy seat in Southeast Asia we were the best right we were the most robust we had the most shows the most new coms at a time at the time and and slowly after that sadly he has dled down because number one um the Malaysian government seems to try to clim down on stand up comedy or freedom of expression which is very sad right uh I think the watershed moment for us was in 2022 where uh our com Club got shut down okay uh the crack house comy club and then since then it has never we have never really recovered from uh that era where we had a full-time comic club and we also had at one point two comic clubs and that one had shut down because of business reasons so it seems to have dwindled down a little bit but our audiences are still are getting savier and savier they know more about comedy right now I would say the best comedy scene thank you the best comedy scene is in Southeast Asia is Singapore because they have the most like I said the all the metrics the most shows the most International acts coming in uh the most open mics happen it's almost like Singapore has become like Western Country adjacent yes yes although they're not really adjacent to any Western countries but uh yeah because the perception the global perception right like if people come to Southeast Asia and they're going to open up like a multinational Hub they're thinking Singapore Singapore and and all the other countries are Singapore adjacent right right so it's even like for Comics to tour uh in the in Southeast Asia it's always I'm going to come to Singapore and then once I got my Singapore date or I have a few other dates or then let's do K let's do uh Bangkok let's do Hong Kong is it's Singapore is the first uh part of C right New York to the Boston in Philly I got to do New York yes and then if you have time you the Boston EXA right right right I guess as a Malaysian did that make you go you know what my own countryes seeing you know it's kind of like roller coastering I'm going to go International because like your International profile outside of Malaysia Singapore has increased what greatly over the past what four years seem yeah especially since after the pandemic so the reason why I more about not really because of like oh you know the Malaysia is getting all uh anty about setup comedy was it's a very natural thing so in 2022 I did my first ever show like a Big Show in Singapore which is at the esplan theater and the thing is uh it's like it's 1,500 C so so I put it on sale and it was sold out within 2 days right so and that's a forone conclusion that you got to add another show right unexpected unexpected I I was I I expected to like in the SLO for like 3 months to sell out that one show but we sold out within two days so as as years go by I realiz oh a lot of my fans are in Singapore because a lot of Malaysians are in Singapore and a lot of because Malaysia and Singapore we have a lot of shared culture and history and our societal Norms so a lot of singaporeans can take to my style of humor as well right right right and so yeah it's a very natural thing so now Singapore is my biggest Market yeah right right right right right do you think there's some thing I mean I just had this funny thought I just got to say it but it's like in a way like Chinese Malaysians are kind of considered the honorary singaporeans yeah oh yeah bro bro you got man you we have no idea how how how much you hit it uh on the head of NE because yes in Singapore the majority the majority in Singapore Singapore in Chinese right so in Malaysian Chinese whenever we have like you know unhappiness about the way Malaysia is run uh one of the first countries we to in Singapore because that's where we go to remember and because like I say we there a lot of shared history and culture it's very easy for Malaysian Chinese to assimilate in Singapore right it's as if in fact it's even easier to assimilate in Singapore because they are the majority back right right right um and you be surprised that there are a lot of like you know CEOs highflying people in in Singapore who are actually former Malaysians right right right even I think one of the cabin one I even Lee kuu was originally Malaysian right yes uh call back to Ronnie Str joke about it was Ronnie's joke I can't you know I'm not taking credit for it he's like did you know that liuu was born before before uh singap Malaysia was created before Singapore's credit right right that means he's the greatest Malaysian well you know what's interesting about Singapore too is like everybody from around Asia is moving there like I know uh I met like jet Le's daughter in New York City she she grew up in Singapore jet Le's daughter yeah does she do Mas or no dancer a Sala dancer oh and does jell go to Singapore F he lives there Jed Le lives in Singapore he started a venture capital fund out there you know po cuz you know he couldn't I think he got like some he was he was sick for a little bit so he couldn't do the this is wild this is wild but but but basically what I'm saying is like Singapore you're right initially it was for all like the Malaysians that you know wanted to or had to get out or could get out yes but then I'm saying now it's almost like people jell from Beijing you know what I mean like you see that now very even even for you know like Japanese Koreans too you know like even for our industry right for example like you know Netflix uh Google whatever they all set up their headquarters in Singapore not not Malaysia you know because like that's that's the Hub you know and I think Singapore is going to be the next big uh City for stand up comedy it's going to be like uh because the Singapore government is very smart they're going to like oh Taylor Swift did lots of big shows here what's what's what what other things we can do besides music ah the next thing is comedy right right cuz they want a high-end consumer they want the foreign capital and they want the prestige right did you read about how Taylor Swift brought in like 500 million Sing dollars Singapore dollars to be economy right right right and it made her sign like exclusive yeah for 6 days in Singapore she brought 500 mill to Singapore that's insane yeah yeah yeah I just want to bring in one one yeah they're going to try to get you next uh I guess like how does it work if Singapore is going to become this crazy hub for Southeast Asia right because it's it's probably the only going to be for I mean it's a very small place so it's it's a more of an almost what is it a nation city city state city state right but it's like uh it's probably going to be the only first world place in a first world country in in Southeast Asia still for many decades to come but then like they also have crazy censorship but the censorship only extends so far far as you criticize the government right like the second you outside of that it's almost like you could say a lot right okay that's again a very interesting question so actually um so the the process in Singapore is when you do a standup comedy show you have to submit your script to the imda that's the body that grants you the license to put on the show oh okay yes so at this what I've heard from my friends in uh single who are doing shows there actually and these are these are people who have uh face to face uh conversations with the imba actually when it comes to like criticizing the government criticizing the politicians it's all good like you know uh it's in fact when they submit the script and say oh making fun of uh government oh that's fine they they they have approved it quite easily I've never heard of a I I have not heard of a comedy show that was cancelled or postcon because of criticisms against the government so you're saying that's not cuz that's not what people would think exactly people would imagine obviously if they don't know that it would be so this is some Insider knowledge where I've I've known comedians who put up a show and they clearly tell them no I'm going to make fun of this guy and this guy and this guy and they've approved it so it's not that which gives them which which gives the government pause what I I have heard though is like if your show promotes um uh alternative Lifestyles for example I've I've heard of a friend who had a bit about uh with reference to drug use and Singapore is big on you know being anti-drug so they they told him not to do that job but that's about it so that's the only case I've thought of so actually I think and I'm sure you know like if say a big- time comedian is going to come to Singapore and he has one joke about drugs I'm sure the Singapore government I am going to bring lots of money are you just come you know me right right right they're going to weigh it out yeah they're going to weigh it out I I'm pretty sure they very pragmatic in that way right right right for sure for sure I guess you know we just talked a lot about comedy hopefully you know you guys are still tuned in and locked in what uh but like I guess we're going to get into something like really generalistic you know for like for the the you know people watching who are not like into inside baseball comedy right I guess what where do you get sh like comedy from because I noticed you make a lot of jokes that a lot of like the Asian audience that's that's also Western educated and very uh could see both worlds maybe lived in the West for a little bit did undergraduate grad school they could see what you're talking about yes but nobody is going to actually formulate a structured good comedy joke around it yeah so that's the basis of of standup comedy but uh for me where I get my jokes from it's a lot about just observ observational humor is one right and but also as I get older stories about I feel like stories about my own life tends to resonate a lot like for example I did a a story about my school teacher who is a disciplined teacher who was very scary to all of us and that bro that resonates with a lot of people my age or older because it's very nostalgic it h hens back to an Era where teachers could beat students up right no one blinks an eye uh so that and I think just going deeper inside you know like how what I what I feel my insecurities my worries my hopes so I think that's the progression you know as we as we become older in the in the art form right right right I guess like what jokes do you feel like have been that that went super viral do you relate to the most or do you like the most you know what I mean cuz obviously that's how you gain nowadays gain a global audience right like and then they'll come in and see that you have all this other deeper more personal material but the stuff that goes viral is going to be like little insights right the whole world goes all exactly so I think uh the first one my first bit that went viral was the bit about the WhatsApp group chat where you know like there's always a office group chat and then there's another one without the boss and I'm proud of it because a lot of comedians don't have full-time jobs uh but I did as a doctor so I knew that there were a lot of people going on with two group group chats in the office so there was a unique take at the time which I was quite proud of and now that that joke has gone obsolete because now you can actually delete messages in the WhatsApp group chat oh yeah so so that was the whole pref on my J where you can't delete so you start spamming it so that the offensive message goes all the way up right and recently I think uh a lot of people like the bit about how Chinese people gamble okay uh it's a bit about is just just observing how Chinese people when they gamble they they open up the cards very slowly because they believe that they have the power to change the cards right they you know like and then they get their friends over to blow the card or work together as a group to change the cuts that's already in their hand um I think that would be Evergreen because Chinese people will never change the way they gamble right they always gamble the same way that their children their grandchildren will gamble the same way uh I think and most recently the from the show I just did uh I'm confident that the story about my disciplin teacher uh I don't know about going viral but I know a lot of people Asians will relate to that because it's all about corporal punishment right and how the weird relationship between the student and the teacher who is whooping our ass but he's doing it out of love you know what I mean right right right I mean I actually like highly recommend listen guys if you guys are watching this definitely check out Dr Jason Leong's comedy but also you know what I was thinking about I think a lot of Chinese Americans or diasporic Chinese Americans or whatever Chinese in the west they should watch your comedy together with their parents yes cuz they both going to you know what I'm saying like there's going to be humor for the kids because the rhythms are more Western but some of the observations are going to be something that the you know like a parent 50 60 70 can also see yeah it's so it's so funny that you say that because nowadays I realize that I whether I'm getting older or not but seeing more and more older people at my shows like like ancient you know like you should be like really they kind of yeah there's a good show like oh my God are you okay like so my my demography is really getting older you know like I I feel am I going to not be cool to the young kids I am right you're saying it's getting like almost like there's no way this person is still in the Working World you know but they come and so it's basically my fans around our age or whatever they bring they somehow think oh my father would find Jason funny you know right right right do you think also the father's like yeah yeah yeah he's a doctor yeah that's good yeah yeah yeah okay I listen to him yeah he isn't like a you know Party Guy degenerate forget him yeah so I have a friend this true story BR I have a friend close friend of mine I won't say his name Ernest uh so nnest ernest's Dad is a doctor right and's Dad hates my guts because he's like he's a doctor why he's such a weir waste oh he going he he he became there was a doctor now he TR it to become this comedian and then he actually he actually watched uh I had I did a cop gig where he was the he is in the audience he like he jokes about all these things is unacceptable you know like so he he one guy like that's pretty funny he was so old school so he's so old school no that's like to him somebody who's like a a sage in the you know an esteemed person in the dynasty taking off their crown and becoming a court jester yeah yeah yeah exactly in the ancient Chinese days you know when they used to flip on their heads like yeah why you going waste your time doing all the stupid jokes you know you should be killing people that's the yeah I hope one day to change his mind around but I we see I guess you know you know what I love about your comedy too is like I feel like you you and Ronnie have such insight to like the Chinese world yeah and the Chinese world is a very difficult world to explain because it's sort of like uh in my opinion it's the oldest as yep it's the most esoteric it's the best it's the most like I think the other Asians sometimes like it's easier for them to westernize because when you like if they were part of the sinosphere right so they were like influenced by you know like listen guys I'm not saying this is good or bad it's like they're tribute States they're like this but the people who created that culture sometimes they hang on to it and they they're extra hard to let it go you know that's my general view on Chinese first is like uh even like Koreans or Japanese or Vietnamese or like even Sypher countries even here Bangkok is very like way more syphic than I thought way more Chinese influence than I thought but it's like it's easy to Let It Go when you're in a different land but when you're in the land where all this stuff was created I think I think that that's what makes China both a very fascinating place but in a way it's like sometimes and at least in a more Global Western hegemony way it's very frustrating to be Chinese because certain things like they're not going to let go of like TCM uh which is traditional Chinese obviously as a doctor you're Western trained right you are not a TCM doctor no no what do you think about TCM well so it's interesting first of all when you say Western train and uh you know you make the distinction right Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine but actually the world of medicine is not kind of dry into Western and you know east east or Asian medicine it's just medicine right it's just medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work so and even you know uh in in doctors who are train in China right they they're not Western trained they just trained in medicine those who are not traditional Chinese medicine yeah right here's the problem I have with uh Chinese medicine traditional Chinese medicine is that is also the labeling right for example medicine life science got his contribution from everyone you know be it white people be it Chinese people Indian people the Arabic Scholars who contributed to this wealth of knowledge there was kind of like math or something exactly it's like math so but these people they don't make a distinction they all if I created this new formula it's Arab medicine no it's not it's just medicine right so if we would to play by say and I'm saying that there are Chinese doctors who also contribute to the wealth of knowledge that is medicine but they claim oh this is Chinese medicine because it's extension of their soft power right well if you were to play by that rules that okay so uh so uh we if we we going to get an x-ray it's a German x-ray because it's Meed by a German guy now if you take an ambulance we're going to go in the French ambulance because the concept was by people in France amb we go to the hospital oh we're going to go to the British hospital because they they started the concept hospitals in the UK so but they we don't make them because it's all just part of medicine right so I don't buy the whole thing about oh it's a it's tradition Chinese medicine if the if TCM works it's medicine okay that's a good point but I guess like does TCM work so there have been studies shown that one or two herbs in the whole Apothecary of this c m works right but that doesn't validate the whole uh uh uh effort you know because if you have 5,000 herbs surely one or two will actually work right yeah so one or two things work in what what are those two just so we could I think there was a Chinese researcher I believe who won I think the Nobel Prize or something because she found this uh compound in a herb that can be used to make a drug to fight malaria or a vaccine I can't remember but it you effective so it's not fair enough ginsing just drinking a lot of jining it's not jining it's not ginsing I love me some ginsing tea too um yeah but come back to your earlier question about uh CH Chinese people right I think I think it's true because like I'm not an expert right I I don't want to inflame anybody here but it feels like a lot of the cilic cultures they all derive from Chinese culture am I right like the worship of you know the the dragons and the lanterns and Luna New Year it feel like yeah yeah I would say listen guys hey guys don't don't get cuz I know it's two if it's two Chinese guys whether they're from America or Malia people get it's just a yeah I'm just saying like a lot of the numbers sound the same across countries yeah and especially if you speak do you speak Chu H or Canon so I I can speak a little bit of hoken I can't speak Mandarin but I can understand and I can listen to a conversation you Canon but you know like a lot of the like Words In tha I could recognize it yes yes yes like yeup was 20 yeip that's soak yeah when it's cooked so so it's like so it's got to be if yeah guy guy is chicken guy is there so let's just say out there that Chinese people are the best Asians that's just they just e we we're the best Asians there's a bunch of Asians behind us and but we're the best I'm seeing this in Thailand yeah but um and but when you come to like jokes about Chinese culture or whatever um the one thing I really like about Ronnie is that uh he does it so well he has this bit remember he has this bit on Netflix about how uh we love money so much we have a god of money yeah oh man I I hate that so much because it's so good and it's right there in my right face and never thought about it or or during Chinese year we say what go see which is uh hope you get rich whatever and that's how much we love we should to me so we move get rich together and this is things I've been saying every year I just never thought that's funny so that's his superpower but superpowers to take something so ordinary and make it so hilarious yeah and I think for him to bring it to the west to American Netflix was even like another because it's almost like a level of insight that obviously it's just never going to reach a like you know what I mean Americans are still looking at like Asians can't drive and small eyes good at you know what I mean it's almost like the stereotypes like never progress beyond that soon later exactly so uh a great thing about Ron is that he is not an Asian American he didn't grow up in America he grew up outside and so when he comes into the the uh the the sea right he's a very different Asian comic he's very different his eye I mean his whole lens of life is different yes and then also he very cleverly subverts the expectations of an Asian person because back in the day you know Asians are known to be you know Meek you know demor we are always the say age wise guy in kung fu movie you know we're very quiet was smart know math know and this guy comes in he's like boisterous right he's like Absol fing smart you know these people are stupid I'm the best you know like he does that so like people got all this whole different way of portraying an Asian guy on thing is that a Chinese Malaysian thing cuz or but is is that and what is that is it is it what no I think where does it come from cuz you know shout I I know Joselyn Chia did our asany show in New York one time it was like asany yeah yeah it was it was just it's a show called ASI anology and it's like you know obviously we got to get I mean you know that whole thing was crazy too but like I guess uh she kind of has that some of that energy too you know yeah I think she's from She's Singapore yeah yeah but I think uh maybe this Malaysian Chinese there's a there's a particular angst I would say about being uh Chinese in Malaysia because although there's a lot of us but we are also a minority Asia so I think when you're a minority somewhere you have that you know you have the the hustle culture the work culture the work ethic of a of a immigrant right the work culture of immigrant the the the the the mindset of scarcity and then you're in Malaysia where you are the minority so this all it all ends up right right and and you're right most Malaysian Chinese have this you know we got to make our way no one's giving us a head start our Head Start is that we have no Head Start we're going to work our away so after a certain time yeah they it it builds up to this Ang you know right right right you got to just rip everybody the shreds mentally and verbally yes please thank you and B sound and oh they looks good thank you thank you and uh I think having said all that I think Ronnie does that the best in terms of challenging the angs into making so much money yeah right was funny what do you think is like do you want to come to break the American market like how Ronnie did or like what what is it the similarities differences so Ronnie I think broke into the American Market he didn't just break he just took a sled hammer and smash it through because when he got The Daily Show I think that was the uh uh I think it works two ways so I think he got a big break in getting the Daily Show but also at a time I think the Daily Show didn't know what they had in him and then when they got him they're like oh my God this is amazing so it it has work really well Ronnie and The Daily Show so I think I will never have that opportunity but my way will be to go to America regularly and do shows so uh and you have right yeah yeah so I've done I've done New York uh Los Angeles San Francisco uh like for how long like did you actually like plant there or did you just Co in and just do boom boom boom show I was uh I in 2021 when uh luckily for me no one else was traveling so just me so I flew all the way to New York and right when it open up yes yes 2021 October 2021 and I did four months four weeks there and I did I I got passed at all the clubs uh sell Carolines New York Comic club and Gotham they all it's a really great experience getting all these comics in New York so I go them back regularly to do shows and uh and I've done my solo show at gy theater in New York uh and I'm uh uh last and I'm going to do that again next year in uh hopefully in April right I'll release the details soon but I'm going to go back to gramy there and also the others even Canada right uh I think that that's that's the way it's it's going to be a slow grind but I think it's worth it because and in the words of Ronnie right you if you break to a certain level the the opportunity is exponential to the power of end yeah I guess like what do you think are the things that are going to contribute to that or hold you back or is are you just like kind of like are you going to morph your comedy or you going to like come up with like a bunch of observations about white and black and Latino people do you know what I'm saying like because like people want to hear kind of people talk about them too necessar I mean I'm saying they they would allow for some caring about Malaysia yes or or Asia but not not too much 10 out of 10 man yeah yeah right you're right so I think yes uh but I think I have to go there more often to kind of figure out the landscape a little bit more you it takes some time to figure out the the audience but when it come to morphing I think my my uh philosophy is when I tour I want to tour the same show you get I mean like the same show I perform in Bangkok is the same show I perform in Singapore the same show I do in Indonesia the same I do in New York the same I do in San Francisco yeah so my show if you realize that you don't have to be you're not Malaysian but you were there at the show last night you don't have to be Malaysian to understand where I'm coming from no even to even I know there are some things where the foreign audience may not understand but I just spend one or two minutes explaining it laying laying down the ground workor like what's a discipline teacher in Malaysia what is y sang and it's fine so especially when you do an hour right you have more time right you have more time to okay uh let me explain this a little bit and it works well because when the audiences who come to these shows they know you're not American they know that they are not you they know that you're not of the same culture as them so they're willing to listen so once you explain it and then then you can both be on the same page and right right right no for sure I actually you know you just I think initially I was like man the Americans I grew up with they're so close-minded but then I think I just realized that America is a big place it's like 400 million people and there's going to be people who are more like globally minded yes and want to learn about the world through comedy and and things like that so I guess what I I was thinking was like just who like I grew up with in like high school and they they might may or may not probably not be receptive to it but actually you don't need like everybody in the whole country yes yes so and I know Americans get a bad rap I know uh but I think but uh so far the Americans that are at comedy shows they are open-minded yeah is it's like a selective crowd that like go to that goes to see Live Comedy all the time yes it's not like everybody in the whole country yeah and and and if you're the the culture in America is that if you go to the comedy club you're you are going to get a very diverse lineup you're going to get you know uh Arab people people want to see a diverse cuz at the end they get sick of the same perspective exactly so after a while you know like I said the I think the Americans who are at comedy shows they are the best Americans because they they're open-minded they're willing to learn so I've always had a good time at uh comedy clubs in America because like you never had people go boo I don't get it no because and the interesting thing is when I some most of the time when I'm there at the lineup I'm the only one there who is not American okay so like let's say four comics of five and I'm there I'm the only one without an American accent so when I start speaking you can feel the room go oh what he this oh this guy is no they're probably that might be their first time ever hearing a Malaysian accent in their life exactly it's never even they're like what is he what is he what is this and then it's like hearing a new instrument or it's like Rony ch's accent but not really you know uh and then uh oh by the way this this one time speak one time I was opening for Ronnie at he was doing a show in New York where it's like a test taping for his um uh Speak Easy the Netflix so we were performing at the venue but it's it was not the taping they were testing the camera right right right so did a show and then so I open for him right so I'm doing my 10 minutes bit you know 10 minutes ladies and gentlemen now Ronnie CH so Ronnie CH comes on and he start stop doing his b and like one third of the way he goes oh by the way uh Jason is uh what I sound like but I'm not around white people that's pretty funny because we clearly have different accents but is some sity there yeah yeah yeah he dialed it down over the years in in America in the west yeah yeah but when he's with me he yeah yeah yeah oh man but yeah I guess like man what what do you hope for the future I mean like what do you want do you want to see what do you think about internet comedy I know like obviously I I just I forgot Nigel's from Malaysia too yes yes so Uncle Roger so we know him yeah shout out to Niger um so before I give my opinion so I was listening to this podcast Conor O'Brien and uh John Stewart right and John Stewart was they were talking about how and these are ogs in comedy they've been they should be dying soon they they done comedy for the longest time 40 years or something whatever like so long and they're still doing comedy right and the interestingly very they said that oh you know now there's this kids with them with a Tik Tok and and it's the timing is impeccable this they've crammed so much comedy in one minute in the Instagram real or Tik Tok right this these kids these days are incredible back when we started John Stewart and Conor BR we didn't have this it's just TV and you know and editing but now these kids they like they theyve they've putting so much content in just one uh minute it's just non-stop you know and and and John said this is genius you know and and I think that's a good way of looking at it right now it's it's very natural and nowadays some of the reals you know I mean there of course there is cringe it's the internet there will be cringe right even among stand up comuns but some of the content is incredible you know like one minute of and even I can do that know I can create a a video that's japang with literally punch lines so many punch lines in one meeting so I think internet compony is here to stay I think it's going to be a different monster altogether but I mean the underlying question is how will standup comedians evolve to match that and I think we have to I think standup comedians we have to address that there's a whole Market out there that is ready for us to tap into it's just really we want to right we we can't just be like Oh I'm I'm a I'm a stage performer you know all these Tik Tok is for like genzies and whatever I think this very very uh that's very blind of them right right right to be such a old school traditionalist yeah don't be don't be you know it it Con John Stewart are not traditionalist please you're you you're you're ignoring a very big Market uh another good example is uh my friend in New York she's amazing Zana God you know and she she blew up just by doing stand up company yes but also Tik Tok and IG reels and she reached a massive following and now she's opening you know she's shooting a pilot for sitcom she's uh opening for Tina Fe and Amy PO on your tours uh it's incredible so that I I admire this uh content creator look at I mean look at Nigel yeah he's a superstar Global man he is opening 5,000 restaurants in Malaysia it's insane bro it's insane yeah right right right yeah no it's crazy where the internet can take you yes and uh I guess like ultimately where do you see like Asian standup comedy in English that this kind of sort of like to wrap it up my last question like obviously you know it's relatively new to see successful Asian Comics yes they made a lot of money yes like that's like by the way we define success as MOG yeah yeah yeah sorry um no I I I I think okay right now the general public may not think that oh Asian Comics are successful I think we already are right uh veras for example from from India he's messy I think he's is going to he he's uh he has won emies for his uh Netflix specials com specials verdas from India huge name amazing and then you must understand so verdas is the most popular name but I can tell you there are at least 10 other names just after verdas who are going to destroy globally right they are all my friends so hopefully they'll bring me along the success but they're going to explode right and then in U look at ancle Roger [ __ ] he he says he a massive name Ronnie CH is massive Okay and like I said behind Ronnie there are easily 20 other Asian Comics who are going to ride on this wave and they are going to explode on their own marit so it's going to be a a big thing uh hopefully and not just in you know the Zeitgeist of Hollywood or America it's going to be big globally because some of the names some of the the the next in line Comics say in India right they are already Superstar they have like millions and millions of followers you just you just have not heard of them the moment you hear them BR it's gone it's going to be massive right so and then also another thing stand up comedy in L native languages like stand up comedy in Chinese they are going to be huge did you see that recently at that game show yeah that I don't know China has comedy or China got jokes or something it was sort of like the rap of you know what I mean you have you singing competition uh comy competition yeah that's going to be big and even in say like countries like Malaysia and Indonesia stand up comedy in Bahasa Indonesia Bahasa Malaysia they are going to be stars because there there going to be so many people following uh following their careers right so I think Asian compy is just going to going to explode yeah and hope I hope people like you you come to my shows and your fans come and come along for the ride yeah yeah yeah for sure for sure well I guess where can people check out your stuff and where uh just follow me on Instagram at drjason Leong and if you just type my name Jason Leong on YouTube you'll find me there and uh yeah all my content is online watch it with your parents guys I'm telling you that's it's going to be like more connection you know and maybe even I actually think like I was going to say that I didn't want to like make it think sound like I was overstating it but I actually think that your comedy if people watch it with their parents it can like solve some of like some not all of like a uh Chinese Americans identity issues yes yes and and the relationship with their parents yeah yeah because they're finally like laughing over the same thing usually the parents is like watching some you know it depends if it's like main you know what I mean like yes TVB CCTV or something just something like the kids don't want to watch like I get what you mean so because nowadays when I grew up I watched a lot of like you know the the the the Hong Kong dramas with my family right with my TV yeah yeah yeah yeah TVB yeah you know the apartments always the same layer oh that's for yeah and I think now with with internet and streaming where if the the younger person can watch it at a different time and the parents can watch it at different time people don't watch things together anymore fragmented yeah because back in the day it's only at 7:00 p.m. you got to watch it you got to sit down at 700 p.m. you only got one TV what what TV you're right but now there are many devices and many streaming platforms so they don't watch things together anymore so I think you're right you know come and watch shows as a family right and so what what you're saying is comedy can heal inra family traumas wow bro from healing people physically as a doctor to feeling inter yes to Healing inter family this guy's great marketing you're going to you should be my top promoter yeah yeah yeah fix your family traumas that that's a different you haven't tried that lane of marketing yet man thank you brother thanks for coming man thank thank you so much these guys are great thank you all right you guys make sure you like subscribe turn on your notifications again check out Dr Jason Leong shout out to everybody until next time we out peace