Every non-rainy day for the last three weeks, stand-up comedian Kurt Penney has been riding his mountain bike up to Tianmu to promote his upcoming show. Since he approaches foreigners wearing a bicycle helmet, many mistake him for a Mormon.
"I was going up to people and saying, 'Hey! Where are you from?'" Penney recalled the other night, smiling a grin of extreme satisfaction. "People started telling me, 'I bet you're a Mormon.' So I thought, 'I'll pretend ... no ... not pretend ... I'll let them think I'm a Mormon.'"
Penney realized he could run with this a week ago. Now, when he sees a foreigner, he approaches and says, "Hey! What do you know about Mormons?"
PHOTO: COURTESY OF KLOIE PICOT
He tells the foreigner there will be a "gathering" in which people will "get up and talk," and the audience will "react to what is said." "You gotta come and be enlightened," he says.
Then the punch line: He gives the foreigner the flier for CSI Taipei, as in the second annual "Comedy Show in Taipei," which happens tomorrow at Tianmu's Post 49 club. The routine often provokes a good laugh. All it takes is one bicycle helmet, a foreign face, and a dorky intro.
Few people appreciate how much work it takes to organize and promote a quality English-language stand-up comedy show in Taipei. There are only a few foreign comedians here with any real experience to speak of. Promising newbies often drop out after an initial show of enthusiasm; others are scared away by heckling or flame wars on Forumosa.com. Sometimes conflicting schedules — or egos — get in the way.
"It's hard," said Dan "Gonzo" Machanik, whose return to comedy last year helped reenergize the scene. Machanik used to do stand-up for a living in New York City and Aspen, Colorado, and is just back from headlining several shows in the US. He noted that — surprisingly — Americans were interested in the fact that he was doing stand-up in Asia. So much so that he was invited to appear on several TV and morning radio shows. "It was really nice to be working back [in the US] because I had producers who set everything up for me," Machanik said. "We have to do that on our own here, which is why I'm glad Kurt did it."
This year's CSI Taipei has had a few hiccups. "When this flier went out, we had six different comedians," Penney said, pointing to the glossy handbill that's been the punch line for his Mormon joke. The flier shows six men and women, their faces blurred white and bearing question marks. "Now we have six different-looking comedians. If you check their passports, they won't have six different passports. But six different 'people' will take the stage."
It should be a good show anyway, and there should be a large crowd. ICRT's Rick Monday has been plugging CSI Taipei on his morning program as part of his efforts to promote the foreign art scene. Machanik recently had another interesting/scary "gonzo-esque" vacation that he's turned into new material for tomorrow's show. And for Penney, this is the biggest event of the year.
CSI Taipei is primarily aimed at an English-speaking audience and some of the jokes will not be suitable for children. There will be a short routine in Chinese.
There will also be free admission — for Newfoundlanders. (Penney is from Newfoundland, and in Canada "Newfie" jokes serve the same purpose as Polish jokes do in the US or Belgian jokes do in France.)
Newfoundlanders can bring a passport or birth certificate to show proof of their origin. Another way of telling if someone's from Newfoundland or not, Penney said, is "if he shows up after the show's over.
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