S02E02 Jamie Wang, Mandarin / Shanghainese speaker - From Shanghai, China 🇨🇳

How do you perform stand up comedy when half of the audience sees you as the enemy at worst, or not knowing what to think of you at best, in a language that is neither your or the majority audience’s mother tongue?Given the complex relationship between China and Taiwan, how does one position herself when they are known as “The Chinese comedian” in Taiwan?Jamie Wang is a student from Shanghai, China, who came to Taiwan for her master degree but became the rising star of the relatively small English stand up comedy scene on the predominantly Mandarin- and Taiwanese-speaking island. She opened for Atsuko Okatsuka when the latter paid Taiwan a surprising visit in May 2023.Jamie talks about audience lowering their expectation on the performer’s language fluency in a non English-speaking country. She also shares why she is determined to give voices to two otherwise two-dimensional groups - Chinese people in the eyes of Taiwanese (even though she does not want to be pigeon-holed as the comedian who bangs on about politics between China and Taiwan); Asian women in the eyes of caucasian male expats. If those white expats can be so demeaning to Asian women when they tell English jokes in Asian countries, why can't Asian women return the favour?*For Mandarin speakers, there will be an additional episode recorded in Mandarin to be released on Tuesday 2 April---------------------------------Follow Jamie on InstagramFollow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram and Twitter---------------------------------If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]:41 Intro01:59 How Jamie learned English through an (French langugage) exchange programme in Belgium03:34 How different types of audiences perceive Jamie’s English and her accent06:45 Whether Jamie reveals her Chinese identity at an English stand up comedy show in Taiwan08:57 Taiwanese audience’s mixed attitude/hostility towards Jamie as a Chinese performer11:00 Jamie’s stage persona and the real-life Jamie16:24 “You are the ONLY Chinese person I like!”17:21 Jamie joking about the white male expats in Asia19:44 “Is my **** bigger than the Asian ****s?”22:02 Taiwanese people’s ability to laugh at themselves25:39 One trick pony - if a comedian is only known for a “thing”27:31 Where does Jamie go from performing English stand up comedy in Taiwan?29:09 The comfort of performing in a second language; free from judgment30:56 Jamie v.s. her social media--------------------------------Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe