Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiki Yeung.
Kiki, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m a stand up comedian, producer of Crazy Woke Asians, actress, writer and Mom. I started doing theater, writing, producing original plays and performing my award winning one woman show “Second Chances” in Seattle. I know what it’s like to be the underdog and have zero representation. Back in college, I was one out of three Asians in my Drama school class at UW. I was the only Asian out of fifteen students in theater school where I received a diversity scholarship, so I knew I had to create my own content early on. I moved to San Diego in 2011 and performed in multiple play and school touring productions with Asian Story Theater. I was also a segment producer and co-host of COX4’s Asian Voices, an entertainment television show that features the Asian American community and leaders in San Diego. I used to drive three hours to LA for five minutes auditions weekly. I hustled hard and I never gave up in face of rejection after rejection. In 2013, I got to work with acclaimed film director Wilson Yip (Ip Man series) on two feature films in Hong Kong and London. I moved to LA in 2016 after my son, Sky was born. I always wanted to do comedy but was terrified thinking I wasn’t funny enough. My San Diego agent’s husband asked if I do stand up after watching my one woman show at the San Diego Fringe Festival and that really encouraged me to try it. I took a class with Funny Pretty Women, and went to lots of open mics. I would write in the middle of the night non-stop after my son goes to sleep. Shortly after, I started booking shows at the Comedy Store in La Jolla and Ice House in Pasadena with Last Comic Standing winner Dat Phan. From there I booked more shows at the Comedy Store, Flappers Comedy Club and Tao Comedy Studio. At the time there were a lot of whitewashing going on in Hollywood pre Crazy Rich Asians and I would hear from other Asian comedians that bookers would only book one Asian on a show since they thought all Asians talk about the same thing. So I thought why don’t we have a show with all kinds of Asians on it! I started Crazy Woke Asians in May 2018. Our first show at Tao Comedy Studio was sold out two weeks before and every show after that. A year later, we partnered with NBC for the “NBC Crazy Woke Asians Audience Award” for the first EVER ALL ASIAN Solo Performance Festival at the Santa Monica Playhouse, and we are booking shows at the World Famous Comedy Store and Hollywood Improv. We just came back from a sold out tour in Seattle. It was the perfect homecoming since I struggled so much trying to breakthrough in the theater scene in Seattle a decade earlier. I launched a Seed and Spark crowdfunding campaign for my romantic comedy series called “Sweet and Sour Chicks”. I self-funded the pilot and we got funded for another five episodes through Seed and Spark! Sweet and Sour Chicks was nominated for the Best Comedy Series Episode Award at the Portland Comedy Film Festival and Best Ensemble Cast Award for the Atlanta Comedy Film Festival this summer. We are seeking sponsors and community partners for the production. It’s a funny, heartwarming, provocative series written, produced and starring Asian American women. Executive Produced by Takashi Cheng (Sick Girl starring Nina Dobrev). Please visit the link, follow and share: https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/sweet-and-sour-chicks#story
Also we recently filmed our first Crazy Woke Asians music video featuring a dozen Crazy Woke Asians comedians and premiered it this summer at our one year anniversary show at The Three Clubs and on our YouTube channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRYruCPMjZCqFHwAS6yNrsQ/videos?view_as=subscriber! CWA Show Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un5uS7TWIL4
Has it been a smooth road?
A lot of people ask me how do I find the time to do so much since I am raising a toddler. I feel my experience producing theater, web content and independent film in Seattle, San Diego, and Hong Kong gave me the tools to anticipate production issues as they arise. All the years of trial and error prepared me for Crazy Woke Asians. The comedians have been super supportive, which I’m very grateful for and the comedy clubs love having the show there since we always sell out. Overall I feel like it’s the right timing to have a show like Crazy Woke Asians and there’s a high demand for more Asian American driven entertainment.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Crazy Woke Asians – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Crazy Woke Asians specializes in comedy and promoting up and coming and established Asian American comedians and artists. I’m most proud that I was able to curate the Crazy Woke Asians Solo Performance Festival by myself and showcase 18 comedians during the festival. It was such a great way to motivate the comedians to share their one hour story. They didn’t have to be funny every moment, they were able to express some very personal stories about themselves. It felt really good to be able to partner with NBC for the NBC Crazy Woke Asians Audience Award because I did not foresee that happening when I started production. CWA has been featured in The Seattle Times, King 5 New Day NW, Tsing Tao News, World Journal, Asian Journal, Mochi Magazine, Next Shark and The Philippine News.
Pricing:
- $15-20 Crazy Woke Asians show ticket
- $20-25 or $50-$200 festival pass Crazy Woke Asians Solo Performance Festival Ticket, May 28-31, 2020 Santa Monica Playhouse (Submissions open on November 22)
Contact Info:
- Website: Crazy Woke Asians https://crazywokeasians.weebly.com/
- Phone: 206-913-7876
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Lyvell G Productions, Reactant Photography
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
