{"id":26377,"date":"2016-02-09T10:55:18","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T16:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=26377"},"modified":"2016-02-10T12:06:34","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T18:06:34","slug":"comedy-troupe-stir-friday-night-delivers-laughs-with-a-side-of-asian-american-humor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/comedy-troupe-stir-friday-night-delivers-laughs-with-a-side-of-asian-american-humor\/","title":{"rendered":"Comedy troupe \u201cStir Friday Night\u201d delivers laughs, with a side of Asian-American humor"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jenny G. Zhang<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t fall asleep with the fan on!\u201d a mother tells her son as she bids him good night, citing a Korean wives\u2019 tale that sleeping with the fan on will result in death. Scoffing, the son ignores the warning and nods off. In the darkness, the fan swivels to a halt and a shadowy figure emerges, standing menacingly over the slumbering man.<\/p>\n

Looks like \u201cfan death\u201d isn\u2019t just a kooky urban legend, after all.<\/p>\n

The sketch, which features Nic Park, Ray Hui and Loreen Targos, is characteristic of Chicago comedy troupe Stir Friday Night<\/a>\u2019s unique brand of humor: a blend of Asian-American and universal truths that speak to multiple audiences.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Known as one of the nation\u2019s premier Asian-American comedy troupes, and called \u201cthe original Asian-American comedy voice\u201d in Chicago by industry professionals such as Chicago Improv Productions<\/a> executive director Jonathan Pitts, Stir Friday Night works to 1) provide opportunities for Asian-American artists, and 2) challenge perceptions of Asian Americans, according to Avery Lee, the group\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n

But Stir Friday Night\u2019s shows are not just for Asian Americans. Nor are they for audiences who have no interest in watching any material dealing with race, ethnicity and culture. The rule, according to Second City<\/a> director and teacher Jay Steigmann, who directed Stir Friday Night\u2019s current revue, is to strike a perfect balance of sketches that are one-third socio-political, one-third universally relatable and one-third just plain entertaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving the life of an Asian American, it comes through in your writing, even if it\u2019s not explicit,\u201d says Park, 25, who wrote the popular \u201cfan death\u201d sketch. \u201cWhat inspires us includes things that really hit home.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, he emphasizes, \u201cThe first priority is, it\u2019s gotta be funny. If it\u2019s not funny, it doesn\u2019t fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"stir
The fan (Ray Hui) seeks vengeance via smothering. (Jenny G. Zhang\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The struggle to achieve an equilibrium between racial and ethnic identity, broad appeal and comedic gold isn\u2019t a new challenge for Stir Friday Night. That tension has been there even before the current lineup \u2013 Lee, Park, Hui, Targos, Christina Seo, Dacey Arashiba, Jonald Reyes, Kannan Arumugam, Scott Hanada and TJ Medel \u2013 going all the way back to the establishment of the group in 1995.<\/p>\n

Leaving cliches behind<\/h2>\n

Keith Uchima, one of the troupe\u2019s original co-creators, remembers how it was \u201cso easy\u201d in the first season of Stir Friday Night to tackle Asian American-related misconceptions, foods and stereotypes with the young performers, who had very few professional opportunities elsewhere. The goal was to make the audience laugh with\u00a0<\/em>them, not at <\/em>them, because they were Asian American.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to make everything related to the Asian-American experience,\u201d Uchima recalls. But now, he says, \u201cThose are sort of old jokes and very cliche.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the same mentality that many Stir Friday Night members still felt trapped in back in the early 2000s, says Brian Posen, who directed three shows with the group at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said, \u2018We are tired of everything having to be Asian, Asian, Asian,\u2019 \u201d says Posen, a Second City improv teacher, Stage 773<\/a> creative director and founder of the annual Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival<\/a>. He remembers the performers feeling pressured to center all of their work around satirizing Asian-American issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are Asian, and you are creating, so not everything has to be […] poking fun at Asian things,\u201d he says, pointing out that everything will come from an Asian-American perspective, regardless.<\/p>\n

\"stir
Nic Park and Avery Lee cite the \u201cfan death\u201d sketch as an example of Asian-American humor combined with universal appeal. (Jenny G. Zhang\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s an idea that Stir Friday Night appears to have embraced now. For every bit about Jeremy Lin or Confucius, there\u2019s another about a condo association meeting breaking out into a brawl over pizza, or a goofy song crooned by a guitar-strumming figure named Bagel Beard, who wears a tangle of doughy, carb-heavy facial hair. That\u2019s not to mention the group\u2019s improv, which is lightning-fast and sharp as a Santoku knife, or their audience-interactive pieces that bring onstage charmingly reluctant volunteers.<\/p>\n

The best part is, no matter what mindset an audience member may arrive with, he or she will walk away having learned something, whether about “comfort women<\/a>,” World War II’s internment camps, the model minority myth or more, according to Steigmann.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are very few comedians trying to get an angle on their histories,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"stir
New York Knicks player Jeremy Lin (Hui, right) meets Wataru \u201cWat\u201d Misaka (Jonald Reyes), the first American basketball player of Asian descent. (Jenny G. Zhang\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cast members\u2019 honest representations of themselves, whether touching on Asian-American issues explicitly or implicitly, stand out in a community where diversity is, frankly, a little lacking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a white world,\u201d says Targos, 29, during a Thursday rehearsal. Park cuts in: \u201cThat\u2019s the system in which the Chicago improv world, for better or worse \u2013 well, worse \u2013 grew up. As minority performers in what is frankly a white world, you just kinda have to deal with it, and it sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

“A thirst for different voices”<\/h2>\n

In a city famous for its laughs, very few of the most famous performers produced by the local comedy scene \u2013 Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert \u2013 are people of color. Steven Yeun from \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d and Danny Pudi of \u201cCommunity\u201d fame, both Stir Friday Night alumni, are some of the few high-profile Asian-American actors who have made it big on mainstream American media by way of Chicago.<\/p>\n

Steigmann acknowledges that much of comedy has traditionally been dominated by straight, white men, but says that individuals and institutions such as Second City are taking steps to make the comedy world more inclusive and diverse. Second City\u2019s 40th e.t.c. Revue cast, she points out, is made up of four women, including two black women, one Asian-American man and one white man, which is emblematic of the changes taking place in the community.<\/p>\n

Now, more than ever, there is \u201ca thirst for different voices,\u201d says Lee \u2013 different voices, actors, stories and representation. And that\u2019s where Stir Friday Night fits in, offering 10 different voices from a group of writers and actors who range in age, ethnic background, beliefs, sexuality and more.<\/p>\n

\"stir
Stir Friday Night dismantles the concept of \u201cthe model minority\u201d in an intense, passionately-delivered sketch written by Loreen Targos. (Jenny G. Zhang\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stir Friday Night\u2019s role in highlighting different voices meshes well with their current \u201chome\u201d venue, The Revival<\/a>, one of the only comedy stages on the South Side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a tremendous community of people on the South Side, but thus far they haven\u2019t had as many theater options as their North Side counterparts,\u201d says owner and founder John Stoops, who opened The Revival near Hyde Park last November.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiving voice to the Asian-American community is incredible, and offering a home to some of Chicago\u2019s finest Asian-American performers is incredible and is a welcome addition,\u201d Stoops says. \u201cIt allows them to tackle some issues from a perspective that some other groups might not be able to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stir Friday Night is a \u201ctentpole\u201d in the community, he says, because the group has been producing so consistently for so long.<\/p>\n

That longevity is a rare and impressive achievement in a world where groups can appear and disappear in a matter of months.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of all these comedy troupes that come and go in the Chicago comedy community, even non-minority groups, is there any other group that\u2019s been around for 20 years that still has a name?\u201d asks Reyes, 37.<\/p>\n

\"stir
TJ Medel and Kannan Arumugam go head-to-head in a wacky, ever-changing improv scene. (Jenny G. Zhang\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And after more than two decades of history and legacy, there\u2019s still no end in sight. In human years, the troupe has reached maturity, but it\u2019s constantly evolving and welcoming new waves of cast members young and old.<\/p>\n

\u201cStir Friday Night is much bigger than any one person,\u201d says Posen. \u201cIt keeps replenishing itself and bringing new artists in. They built something beautiful, and they keep passing it on generation to generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artists keep something alive, according to Park, and that\u2019s why Stir Friday Night will continue to exist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more about how much people who aren\u2019t yet part of our group want it to exist,\u201d he says. \u201cAsian-American artists will always want to be a part of something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, says Lee, they have high hopes for growing even bigger and better in the future, with more funding, tours, regular performances, videos, their own space \u2013 all the while ensuring that Stir Friday Night will always exist for those who need and want it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most empowering thing is that we\u2019re doing sketch comedy, and people are coming to see it, and we\u2019re doing the best we can. That\u2019s the most you can ask for, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re getting,\u201d says Park. \u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to grow and continue to do awesome shit and make people laugh and hopefully make Asians feel a little more special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: No matter the content of a sketch, Stir Friday Night\u2019s members pride themselves on being, first and foremost, funny. (Jenny G. Zhang\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jenny G. Zhang \u201cDon\u2019t fall asleep with the fan on!\u201d a mother tells her son as she bids him good night, citing a Korean wives\u2019 tale that sleeping with the fan on will result in death. Scoffing, the son ignores the warning and nods off. In the darkness, the fan swivels to a halt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":26387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,585],"tags":[357,1014,1013,888,1018,1019,1016,1017,1012],"class_list":["post-26377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-winter-2016","tag-art","tag-asian-american","tag-comedy","tag-culture","tag-diversity","tag-entertainment","tag-improv","tag-sketch-comedy","tag-stir-friday-night"],"yoast_head":"\nComedy troupe \u201cStir Friday Night\u201d delivers laughs, with a side of Asian-American humor - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/comedy-troupe-stir-friday-night-delivers-laughs-with-a-side-of-asian-american-humor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comedy troupe \u201cStir Friday Night\u201d delivers laughs, with a side of Asian-American humor - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jenny G. Zhang \u201cDon\u2019t fall asleep with the fan on!\u201d a mother tells her son as she bids him good night, citing a Korean wives\u2019 tale that sleeping with the fan on will result in death. Scoffing, the son ignores the warning and nods off. 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