Comedian Joe Wong is quite congenial, always has been. But these days, there’s more of an edge to his jokes, as you’ll see if you head out to Laugh Boston on Monday or if you read his book, “Not This [Expletive] Again! A Comedian’s Guide to Tackling Anti-Asian Racism.”
In an unreleased set recorded last year, Wong spoke about how American soldiers couldn’t tell their Chinese allies from their Japanese enemies in the battlefield, so they were given instructions on who was who. “I read one of them,” he says. “It was pretty funny. It says, ‘The Chinese tend to have a smile on their face. The Japanese tend to be very serious, but they laugh at the wrong time.’
Comedian Joe Wong is quite congenial, always has been. But these days, there’s more of an edge to his jokes, as you’ll see if you head out to Laugh Boston on Monday or if you read his book, “Not This [Expletive] Again! A Comedian’s Guide to Tackling Anti-Asian Racism.”
In an unreleased set recorded last year, Wong spoke about how American soldiers couldn’t tell their Chinese allies from their Japanese enemies in the battlefield, so they were given instructions on who was who. “I read one of them,” he says. “It was pretty funny. It says, ‘The Chinese tend to have a smile on their face. The Japanese tend to be very serious, but they laugh at the wrong time.’
“I was like, how tough is this going to be on the US soldiers, you know? They go to the front and they have to tell a joke.”
There are still plenty of jokes in Wong’s act about everyday misunderstandings, but there is also material detailing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers once the nation’s railroad system had been built. After the spike in hate crimes directed at Asians during the pandemic, Wong felt he had to move his act forward.
“I think my demeanor is still more or less the same,” he says. “I don’t yell at people or make [hand] gestures. Still the same delivery as before. It’s just the content is edgier, I think.”
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A native of China and an observer of America, Joe Wong brings a new edge to his stand-up act