Ronny Chieng on "Crazy Rich Asians" and Representation in Hollywood | Amanpour and Company

so let's now seamlessly sail into some comedy with stand-up comedian and Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chang he had his breakthrough last year as Eddie Chang in crazy rich Asians a fictional portrait of the glitz and drama of the Singapore elite today he's making his debut on Netflix with Asian comedian destroys America where he explores the United States from his unique vantage point as a Chinese immigrant and our hari Sreenivasan gets a preview your ethnic Chinese born in Malaysia grew up in Singapore and New Hampshire you started your comedy career in Australia you studied to be a lawyer this all sounds like a LinkedIn profile of like a super-secret agent doing a good job yeah this is this thing down there yeah so I mean how did that from Law School turn into comedy global financial crisis in 2010 meant a lack of high-paying corporate job can I get a job and then I was I started doing style comedy and that worked out a lot better as in terms of even in the moment was getting more work you know from snap comedy now was from loss oh yeah how'd that go over with the Asian parents the conversation no I'm not I'm not practicing law mom yeah I didn't tell them really I didn't I just did it because we were in separate countries I was in Australia at a time and they were living in Singapore so they think you're billing like $500 an hour equivalent and yet you're really at 1:00 a.m. trying to make for people that are really drunk laughs for like not only am I not making money eyes you lost money doing that yeah just trying to go out there so they don't know even not to know they still don't know it's really it's just a secret there's a secret they don't know I'm hoping they don't watch this special Netflix you know most Americans are probably gonna be familiar with you from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah sure and I think if they've seen that the the thing that might have put you on the map for them is your sort of response to a story pretty horrible story where someone goes down to Chinatown basically to make fun of Chinese people [Applause] and seriously mr. Miyagi update your reference material that's like me making fun of Americans for Saturday Night Fever and mr. t yeah real topical stuff buddy if you want to come at Chinese people make fun of China's high pollution or the fact that they send some most of the Internet which in this case might actually be a good thing since no person with China will ever have to watch your garbage attempt at comedy you came here and in what 2016 2015 2015 2015 were you surprised that in 2015 2016 that something like that was actually happening in the United States yeah I was and guess what everyone else was surprised as well that's why the clip I did kind of went so viral because everyone was like oh this is unacceptable you know I mean yeah so yeah it is you know we can point to the fact that they did that as like proof of something bad happening but I also see the popularity of the response as a sign that way more people thought that was acceptable than acceptable yeah yeah we have you talked about in your special we have access now to more information than we ever had before the Internet is in our pockets but and you can talk about this in your standup that that's not necessarily making us smarter we have a clip here what's going on in America in 2019 measles is coming back right bringing back measles why not why not at this point how much worse can it get let's bring back measles every year America becomes more and more hipster it's time to bring back organic small-batch diseases because all these stupid anti-vaccination idiots reading some poll on the internet getting brainwashed not vaccinating their children no the Internet is making people so stupid who knew all of human knowledge can make people dumber like in 50 years we're gonna look at the internet the same way we look at smoking right now it's gonna be like man I can't believe 50 years ago we just let pregnant people use the Internet what were we thinking pregnant people were just using the Internet we use the Internet in front of babies we let babies use the internet in 50 years we're gonna have special areas outside buildings where you can use the internet internet designated zones 50 feet from every entrance don't bring that internet indoors secondhand stupidity is the real killer big chunk of this special that you have and a lot of the work that you do is from observations by someone with a fresh set of eyes whether you were doing the stand-up in Australia coming from another part of Asia or here in the United States you like to say it's just information no judgment you know just solutions determine stuff one of the things you think should happen is that there should be more Asians in the US and that if you get a chance to vote for an Asian do it why I love how you're analyzing this like I gave a speech at the UN so you said that you in a comedy show that's right that's right so you're totally supportive of Andrew yang he's the oldest running right yeah I guess so this is an endorsement you're endorsing him right now Joey well I got money what will this make me money yeah I won't take whatever position makes me money I think if Andrew yang gets elected he'd like to give everybody a thousand dollars well then you're in I'm in okay that was that was easy there another place people might recognize you is crazy rotations you know if you move it would look more natural no this way you get our optimal angles there we're done [Music] Russell thank you so much isn't honored to be photographed by you my pleasure people will love it in the next Hong Kong boat Thank You Russell Hong Kong volg I knew it your dress is a disaster if you want to go take a gown like I told you to we'd be in the American Vogue you can wear that gown to hell Eddie it seems like it was a part written for you you're a guy that grew up in these places you might not have been that sort of income strata in Singapore or wherever you're growing up but did you know these kind of people um yeah actually I got correct I like she wasn't in that movie oh you weren't there's a different guy yeah - totally different Asian guy okay I got you for one second I didn't know you knew okay yeah shake I usually throw that up I felt a little racist but then it but one sec I got you for one second I know I'm not even went okay yeah yeah it essentially was I that's actually how I got the role I just I I told my agent like listen man this is it's a single it's a story saying Singapore they're looking for authentic accents because there was a newspaper article I think in variety that came out where the director Jon Chu said he was having trouble casting because he was looking for authentic accents so I'm told my agent like listen that is only set in Singapore I know this world this is the only accent I can do this is literally the only accent I can do it this is it man this is now or never like if you get me an audition for this I will book this and if you can't get me this job really like a guy who was built for this job yeah I'm getting the representation about well yeah I mean that you know that there's a lot of talented people there who public have done this wrong I'm lucky that Jeonju asked me to do it yeah so you know there's supposed to be sequels to the the movie did you and the other actors did you guys have a sense of what was happening how significant it was to have a good question for me I think authenticity and storytelling is what resonates you could tell the authenticity on said because it was a cast of people who live that story ya know that that Asian background we're filming it in Singapore it was a single post story someone like I grew up in Singapore my show your understands the region about Malaysia and Singapore so there was all of authenticity on set that I think you could feel you know to watch a film full of Asian people in a screen in the United States is very different than obviously huge chunks of Asia watch all your gas India whatever but it's it's it was still a little new here yeah in America I think it's it's interesting to see that I think that's ultimate legacy of the movie is a baseline level of storytelling for Asian stories in America so so that movie will I think established like the idea of oh there's Asian leads is a man in a leading role Asian characters who are not one-dimensional yeah who span the entire spectrum of the human condition in that movie and I think that gets people used to the idea and from there you can build on to other stories I think previously before that movie the idea of having an Asian man lead it people would be like romantically yeah yeah they even they I don't think they could wrap their heads around that idea do you find it strange that when you're on stage and you're talking to different audiences whether you're making fun of Australians in Australia or making fun of Americans in America what is it about us that we like to watch ourselves sort of getting made fun of it's a strange thing because your observations on the United States are funny to America again I guess I never thought about it that way right when I first moved to America I actually met with John Oliver to ask him how to be a non-american correspondent on The Daily Show uh-huh and he was extremely sincere and generous at this time I may have been his office and he told me that it took him two years to relearn how to do comedy in America because he came from he was a comedian in the UK and he said it took him two years to relearn how to do comedy in America and he was spot on to the day because I think if you come from overseas to America you can joke about being a foreigner you're being the foreigner joke the novelty for oh this guy's almost rated that this guy's from China right but after about six to nine months I think the crowd can sense the ball in the sense of like you're making fun of us as outsider but you live here now right so you can't be making this surface-level jokes right because the the crowd is like you're not a foreigner anymore yeah yeah one of us right so after two years it takes about two years to actually learn the nuances of the country enough that you can make fun of them in a way which they respect you for understanding like understanding the actual point of view yeah you can't just make fun of you know why is there ten flavors of coca-cola because Americans like we don't even care about that right no but if you can jump all things which Americans actually care about you still have beat outsider but I think the audience will give you the respect of like oh he actually gets what it is and yeah is ridiculous right by the same time he's taken the time to actually learn opposition yeah as opposed to just kind of you know crapping on us from outside point of you know this thing this is terrible this terrible is terrible one of the observations you're making in this new stand-up is our general impatience let's play a clip fifty million boxes flying across America at all times the airspace above America is as Amazon Prime packaging just knocking into each other like satellite debris more and more prime can't get enough prime here need it probably need prime harder faster stronger faster prime prime now right now two-hour delivery from now give it to me now when I press by put the item in my hand [Applause] [Music] in America does Reno lag zero lag between when I press the button and when the item is gently placed into my hand so I can use it now Oh same-day delivery an American same day [Music] now crime now break into my house I mean we have gotten to pretty close to that point where we want it before we even know we want it yeah I that's that's what algorithm is yeah it just predicts us better than do the algorithms right now out of control yeah even this video right now it's probably someone got pushed you through algorithm right right they probably saw it because you already liked X and you already liked Y if you like Trevor no you might like this conversation if you like Harold and Kumar you might like this interview I'll talk on that so is there something that you are still looking forward to doing you've done some movies now you've done this kind of stand-up world you've done you got a steady job what do you like the most out of it you know stand-up is kind of my my I think I consider myself a stand-up comic first it's always been my and The Daily Show pays the bills - okay so that the Daily Show okay so so like stam comedies what got me The Daily Show I mean and I still do it every night in New York on weekends I still tour stand-up comedy so that's kind of my primary creative profession and let me put it this way you can't fire yourself or you could fight you could quit but you can't fire yourself from static comedy meaning he's always there for you to express yourself in the daily show has helped me with stand-up not just by you know increasing my profiles that people will want to come and watch me but it just taught me a lot about comedy right I learned a lot of things like for example in The Daily Show we always talk about what is this joke what you're trying to say what you're trying to say with this joke and before the Daily Show is probably a lot more casual with that in terms of like I'm just trying me people laugh right by The Daily Show kind of drills into us like okay this is a funny joke but what are you ultimately trying to say with it are people gonna laugh for the right reasons you know is the point you're making the point you want to make and if so do it and if it's actually making the point that opposite point to what you actually feel maybe you don't do it so are you do you think that right now given this political climate that shows like The Daily Show or Saturn at live have maybe almost a different responsibility or are they trying for something specific if they're saying why are people why are we writing this joke in I think there is a responsibility but ultimately when we're making the show we can't be thinking about that when we're making a show or think about is is this funny and is it accurate you know and that's it we're not thinking about like our place in history or how important is this to changing minds yeah yeah because we're functioning on a very limited time cycle here you know we start the show we started in the morning we have to have a show by night time mm-hmm the only way to accomplish that is to be New England Patriots just in the moment focus in the moment you know is very Buddhist yeah focus yeah you can't be think about all the other stuff now that you have figured out comedy at least some level of success yeah was there a line for you that you figured you wouldn't cross did you ever get close to it did you cross it is that how you learn I think comedy is an art form not a science meaning there's no equation you can plug in to determine what's funny and so being an art form you just gotta feel it out you know you feel it out and you you don't always get it right yeah but I think great comedy pushes the boundaries pushes the edge and sometimes it crosses the line and sometimes that's the point of it to cross the line but it you know what hypotheticals is impossible to tell how far is too far you have to be very specific with what are you saying and what is the example you're talking about you ever feel like you crossed any lines in your own head my own head 100 percent every day I cross mine as a professional sound comedian anything you tell me I'm trying to think of a joke about it even if it's wrong in fact if you tell me that you shouldn't joke about this topic I'm like I see that as a challenge like how do I solve this puzzle I might not always express the joke but I might hit that's just how my brain works is I'm trying to figure out how to make this funny I asked that partly because we're in a culture where it's more difficult I think there are a lot more people who are a lot more sensitive about different topics there's a way for them to express themselves and say that's not funny anymore or that person shouldn't be working there anymore there's seems that there's more consequence to a comic if they cross the line sure sure yes and no yeah yes and no but I can't tell how much of an exaggerated and how much where it's true but I will say that like I said I'm a professional stamp comedian if you tell me a topic I'm gonna try to give a joke about it now if you're gonna express it if you're gonna express a joke about something controversial you're playing with dynamite and you better be spot-on you know and you can play of dynamite and people have successfully done jokes about all kinds of topics but I'm just saying if you're gonna express that you barely spot-on you're gonna blow yourself up you can blow up people around you so but this you know this you can't tell jokes all this and this is I I just as a professional comedian I can't buy into that Ronny Chang thanks for joining us thank you thanks for having me appreciate [Music] you

Channel: Amanpour and Company

Views: 571,693

Keywords: Ronny Chieng, Hari Sreenivasan, Crazy Rich Asians, Eddie Cheng, Asian Comedian Destroys America, Netflix, comedy, comedian

Id: zn38sRXDNUg

Length: 17min 56sec (1076 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 17 2019

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