Jimmy O. Yang, a Hong Kong-American standup comedian, has found inspiration in his trip to China by connecting with his heritage and language.
A rising star in the U.S. standup comedy scene, Yang was born in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and later moved to the U.S. as a teenager. He remains proud of his roots and notes that his family originated from Shanghai.
This month, he announced a surprise standup performance in his birthplace, marking his first-ever performance in Asia and is currently the only Asian stop on his tour. His upcoming show in Hong Kong from June 13 has been sold out.
During his recent visits to Shanghai and Beijing, Yang was amazed at China's modernization and eagerly shared his experiences on social media.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), he said the trip to the Chinese mainland has helped him re-explore prominent themes in his current performance set.
"I think it's important to not just bring laughs. That is the most important thing in standup, but also to have the shared experience and really tell a real story. So sometimes there are serious moments when you come to my standup show, and then sometimes there's laughs. And this new set, which you haven't seen, you'll see if you come to one of the live shows, is about me kind of coming home and getting back in touch with my roots and things like that," said the comic.
"A lot of times it's quite emotional because I felt like for the last 20 years I lost touch with my Chinese side, so it's a very personal and important journey for me to come back and I want to share that with the audience. Noticing how safe everything is, how nice everything is and how advanced everything everywhere is, I was floored and really impressed. And also that's why it's like really fun and cool for me to share it on Xiaohongshu (RedNote) and Instagram," he said.
Yang, who has also starred in movies and TV shows, aims to prioritize his stand-up career and engage with the global audience. He hopes reconnecting with his Chinese heritage will give him more inspiration for his creative process.
"Now I'm like ready to really get back into standup, especially knowing that the global audience is really showing me so much love from Hong Kong to London, Amsterdam, America, Canada and everywhere. So I'm going to expand the tour, do a little more touring. And personally, I think one of the reasons why I'm also coming back here so much is to better my Mandarin. And I think maybe there's a chance I can do some material also in Chinese as well as English to kind of challenge myself, but also give back to the audience here that show me so much love. For me, it just, art always starts with a personal journey. If I feel excited about something like exploring about China, learning more about Chinese people again and everything, it gets me excited. I think it will then inform my standup and my art on the next step of it," he said.
Standup comedian Jimmy O. Yang finds inspiration in China, reconnects with roots
