Taipei's stand-up comedy circuit has long been an arena for comedians of foreign nationalities such as comics Mark Goding, Kurt Penney, Brenda Fiala and Brian David Phillips, all previously reviewed in Taipei Times. Yet starting tonight, local comedians will have a chance to exchange comic skills with their foreign peers as Taipei's first stand-up comedy club will stage its inaugural show at a basement in the Shida (師大) neighborhood.
A brainchild of the former director of the now disbanded Taiwan Walker Theater (台灣渥克劇團) who goes by the name Social, the club is conceived as a place of entertainment where performers and audiences can all share the exciting and spirited energy unique to the right-in-your-face form of live performance.
"Besides the occasional stand-up acts by foreigners, Taiwan doesn't have live comedy except for the grassroots comedy tradition that used to flourish at old-fashioned nightclubs, restaurants, outdoor festivities, mobile strip shows (電子花車) and temple celebrations with celebrated Taiwanese comedians of an older generation such as Chu Ke-liang (豬哥亮), Liao Jun (廖峻) and Peng Peng (澎澎). So here at Comedy Club, we want to establish a permanent forum as an incubator for a new generation of comics much in the same vein as in the US stand-up tradition," said the theater veteran, citing inspiring stand-up masters such as Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF COMEDY CLUB
Starting from scratch with no workable facilities, water, electricity and a landlord from hell, the theater veteran and his team spent months transforming the haunted-house like space harboring spiders, roaches and God knows what else into a tidy, cozy basement club with money that was "coerced, threatened and lured from old theater comrades," to use Social's words.
Taking Western stand-up comedy as its main attraction, the club in fact sees itself as a meeting point of multicultural influences. "The club is actually open to any form of entertainment such as stand-up, impersonation acts, short plays, magic shows, variety shows or hsiang-sheng (相聲) routines. As long as it's funny, we can't care less about what you are doing on the stage," Social stressed.
Such a liberal approach is reflected in the club's opening gigs. After Social warms up the audience with witty chitchat, I am Xiao Chiang (我是小強), a theater graduate-turned-7-eleven clerk, will work his jokes from a stand-up comedians' best resource of inspiration: painful personal experiences and disclosures. Another theater graduate Hu Yu-ming (胡佑銘) will be joined by two puppets called Little Red and Little Green in a dorky glove puppet show.
The only comedienne scheduled to take the stage so far is Mosaic Pilisi (拼貼碧莉思). Putting on a short comedy theater piece, the first female comic will play a woman who breaks the Guinness record for falling in and out of love.
The second stand-up session, starting on June 14, will feature Clipper Xiao Ying (夾子小應), former member of the Clippers (夾子太硬啦), celebrated for his flair for hilarious, lowbrow comedy mixed with live music gigs. Vancouver-born veteran theater talent Nien Feng-tzu (馮念慈) will spice up his stand-up gig with hopefully audience-offending gay material that both bites and reflect on the scene.
As the only comedy club in town, the venue welcomes anyone to show off comical talents and enjoy the limelight. Comedy tenderfoots are promised to get assistance and coaching from Social and the club's performers and can be paired with other comedians if they need support in their comedy act. All shows will be recorded and played back at the club for more people to enjoy.
"One of our goals is to use Comedy Club as a base to train a group of comedians and performers who can go out to play gigs at other venues and maybe someday even perform on national television," Social said.
For those who like the idea of getting paid for being funny, call (02) 2369-3730. More information on the gig times and featured comedians can be found on www.comedy.com.tw
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