In honour of National Asian Heritage Month in Vancouver, The Fictionals are proud to present an all-star, all-Asian edition of Pop-Up Comedy Jam at Cafe Deux Soleils on May 2nd! It will be a night of laughs inspired by traditions and modern life, with guests from Vancouver TheatreSports League, Instant Theatre, Carmelahhh, Union Jacked, and Comedy at the Belmont! We’re also excited to feature stand-up by Ed Hill (“Gotham Comedy Live”, XM Radio’s “Laugh Attack”)!
The performers represent a variety of Asian Canadian cultures, including Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Burmese and Filipino. All of them have various memories of #GrowingUpAsian, which they will share at PUCJ! Here are a few that we wanted to share with you.
“My sister and I were raised after school at both our Portuguese and Chinese grandparents when we were kids, as our parents were both working. I remember playing with mahjong tiles after they had their friends over, building elaborate forts and castles as I didn’t have access to LEGO at the time. My grandpa also taught me how to play ping pong as a little kid, how to hold the paddle in the right way and not just try to smash the ball as hard as possible as I was doing previously (I’m not bad to this day, pong me up bros!).”
— Curt Da Silva, Instant Theatre
“For me, the most vivid thing I remember about growing up Asian is the food, and the Asian food marts in particular. They just seemed like the a great crossroads for food. There’s no other kind of place where you can find Chinese coconut buns alongside Japanese candies and Thai Coconut drinks. I really like coconuts.”
— San Aung, Comedy at the Belmont
“Growing up in a Chinese household, I became familiar with a lot of different childhood sounds outside of the neighbour’s lawn mower and the birds chirping. You could hear my dad thwacking against his Kung-Fu dummy in the back yard practicing his Wing Chun. In the house you’d hear the sound of slippers slapping against the linoleum, the metal clashing of the wok in the kitchen, and the Chinese radio station my mom would listen to every morning. Probably the most important sound of all is me announcing, “LUNCH IS READY!” to the entire house.”
— Carla Mah, Carmelahhh
“In spite of not growing up with it too much, I have an extra level of connection with whatever pieces of Japanese culture make it over here.So watching something like My Neighbour Totoro is seeing through glass into another world that feels like it belongs to you, even if you can’t really touch it, and that stirs one’s heart. It’s like there’s a stream of history that feeds into you, but it only trickle flows into you through the cracks.”
— Travis Bernhardt, Instant Theatre
“For 8 years my dad would make me the same breakfast: garlic bread, 2% milk & an orange. It tasted like sorrow. – @kingedhill #GrowingUpAsian”
— Ed Hill, “Gotham Comedy Live”, XM Radio’s “Laugh Attack”
“There wasn’t a lot of Chinese or ethnic kids playing sports when and where I was growing up, so I would usually be the only Chinese kid playing rugby. When my mum came to watch, she made sure everyone knew. She cheered me along the touch line really loudly, with tons of encouragement. She was at every home school game I had!”
— Laurence Chong, Union Jacked
“I was about four-years-old and I had just been watching anime with my brother. Not the western English dubbed kind, the kind with subtitles. Seeing as I was four, I didn’t have ANY idea what was happening, but for the next hour I was talking in a fake, jibberish, unwittingly very offensive Asian accent! I remember my mom stopping me and very sternly saying ‘Don’t. Ever. Do that.’ I did’t understand at the time, but looking back I am very thankful that she drew that line.”
— Kia Rae, Instant Theatre
“When it came to family gatherings, I remember my mother making a lot of traditional filipino dishes. Pancit (i.e like chow mien), lumpia and of course Lechon, also known as roasted suckling pig. My family always held a lot of parties, New Years, birthdays, anything to bring a lot of friends together. We went camping lot with our closest family friends.”
— VJ Delos-Reyes, Vancouver TheatreSports League
“One of my favourite memories of #GrowingUpAsian is my weekly trips to Chinatown with my mom. A typical Sunday out (you could travel all three zones for the same price on weekends) would start with a bus ride from our home in Surrey to the public library in the city centre to drop off books. My mother and I would then ride the Skytrain to Main Street, where we would then take another bus to Chinatown to do our grocery shopping for the week. After loading up on Bok Choy, BBQ Pork and Bunny Candy, we’d make the long reverse trip back home just in time to catch the 528 on the same transfer.”
— Daniel Chai, The Fictionals
For more Asian celebration, join us on Tuesday, May 2 at Cafe Deux Soleils! Doors at 7:30 pm, show at 8 pm, and tickets just $7 or $5 for students! Everyone welcome!