Our little Comedy Special that could is now available to rent/buy on Amazon Prime!
And now, with broader reach and the potential to be watched by more than just personal friends, I’d like to share something about my set that has been bothering me:
I make a joke in my set using dog meat as a punchline.
This is not informed by lived experience; it is a cliché. It punches down instead of up and in my gut I felt it wasn’t quite right for me to say, but I was too green a comic at the time to work through that. (I’d written it in 2019 and we shot the special right before the pandemic.) It got a hearty laugh at an open mic prior to filming the special, and I had become attached to re-capturing that feeling. I researched the different views in Korea surrounding the consumption of dog meat and tried to soothe my doubt with knowledge.
It didn’t work.
I regret that joke and I have since rewritten it, changing the punchline to poke fun at ignorance itself instead of writing a joke from my ignorance. I’m happy to say it got an even better laugh at the comedy festival where I debuted it.
To my friends and — dare I say — fans? (Future fans! Let’s manifest success, y’all!) And especially to my fellow Asian and Asian-American folks, I’m sorry I made that joke. It perpetuates a negative stereotype and it’s not what I’m about. I want my art to punch-up, amplify marginalized voices, and share honestly from lived experience.
I didn’t want to wait until someone took issue with the joke to publish an apology about it. I take issue with it. Stating my regret and intentions is as much for me as it is for viewers of the special.
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy ASIAN AMERICAN EYZ’D!
🖤🤎❤🧡💛💚💙💜
Cheers!
Nicky