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My Review of "Ronny Chieng: Asian Comedian Destroys America"

Why haven't I heard of this guy before? He's pretty damn funny.

By Brian AnonymousPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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I have to admit, I haven't heard of Ronny Chieng before this comedy special. In fact, I don't think I know too many Asian comedians in general. The handful of Asian comedians that I have heard of I kind of steer clear with the exception of Ali Wong, Russell Peters (back in the day) and Aziz Ansari. This is particularly weird because I am Asian so you'd think I would gravitate to Asian comedians.

The problem that I find with Asian comedians is that they really like to play around with Asian stereotypes and a lot of their jokes tend to get old real fast. Touching on the same stereotype jokes kind of gets played out after a while especially when you hear the same type of jokes from handful of other Asian comedians and non-Asian comedians alike.

This is where Ronny Chieng comes in. It's like a breathe of fresh air for Asian comedians. Yes he talks about some of the stereotypes that Asians have but he flips the script making the joke sound fresh and outside the box. Luckily he doesn't only divulge in these jokes exclusively. He uses those stereotypes to help explain his jokes rather than the joke being purely about stereotypes.

He talks about current issues that we have and specifically focuses on American issues. Well it's in the name of his comedy special, of course he's going to be talking about America. Ronny Chieng seems to be even more aware of social issues that we have today than your average citizen. It helps that he isn't from America. He's traveled around the world and has a better sense of reference to explain to Americans just how good they have it.

A common topic that many comedians talk about nowadays is how society is now too sensitive and Ronny Chieng uses his experiences outside of America to truly explain why he believes this as well. He has funny examples of how Americans can fix a lot of their problems. The delivery of many of his jokes is so well done. His timing, expressions and gestures really help deliver the extra impact to his jokes. I'm not sure if some of his jokes would work as well if he wasn't so hilariously animated in his delivery.

The topics are semi tame compared to a lot of comedians out there but there are a few jokes here and there that are a little edgy. For the most-part his material isn't very risque. This allows a wider audience to be able to access his material but safety in material doesn't always mean a wider audience will listen in.

There are a few jokes that really hit home for me as they dealt with Chinese people. I thought that they were really well done but I'm not sure how much of the general public will identify with these types of jokes. He himself understands that Asians only make up 5% of the American population so catering to Asians in a comedy special might not really help him get views. I know I really appreciated the jokes but time will tell if non Chinese viewers will appreciate the jokes as well.

Closer to the end he provides more jokes about his personal life. I thought that he ended the set with these jokes really well. The whole special seemed to be well rehearsed and well planned. It was pretty obvious that he had worked his jokes over and over to see if they'd work and he weaved his stories together with a lot of thought and care to make sure that the flow of his set was smooth.

Overall, I really got into Ronnie Chieng's newest Netflix special. I hope he has more material so he can make another special soon. His comedy is fun, exciting and original. He doesn't seem to be following trends like other comedians. Like I said before, it was a breathe of fresh air and I hope other comedians follow suit. I have to give this comedy special a 9 out of 10. Again, remember that his comedy really resonates with me because I can relate to pretty much everything he was saying. I think non-Chinese viewers would probably see this more as an average comedy special and give it more of a 7 out of 10.

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About the Creator

Brian Anonymous

I have tons of opinions that change constantly. I watch a lot of movies and play video games. There are some articles on my struggles with languages and dance as well.

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