In early May, the Asian Comedy Festival celebrated its fourth annual event in New York City, succeeding its amazing talent and attendance of prior years. Recently, festival organizers Ed Pokropski, Kate Moran, and Yao King had an opportunity to sit down and chat with We Own The Laughs’ Tyson Paul to discuss festival highlights, the importance of Asian comedy in today’s culture, and the future of ACF.
Describe these past few months planning this year’s festival:
Ed Pokropski (Executive Producer, Creative): Every year it’s always a mix of excitement and challenges. We worked with Sour Mouse in LES which is Asian-owned and a new venue for us. This was a larger event for them and required some more customization. Figuring out that puzzle was incredibly rewarding but of course tricky at times as well.
Kate Moran (Executive Producer, Marketing): It was a banner year for Asian Comedy Fest! We had a record number of submissions. It’s so exciting to see the number of young Asian comedians grow so much year after year, the diverse representation is thrilling for our community, and it’s so hard to make selections each time. We also broke our own record for the amount raised for our charity partner. Each year we select a non-profit that focuses on Asian American issues and community, and this year we raised over $8,000.00 for Asian American Arts Alliance!
Yao King (Executive Producer, Sponsorships): As a comedy festival, of course, our focus is on supporting the comedians, but we also work hard to find ways to thoughtfully support the broader community. In addition to a new venue, and more comedians this year, we had more partnerships than ever as we expanded the breadth of AsAm-founded product sponsors and added for the first time official ACF restaurant partners.
The 4th Asian Comedy Festival was the most successful event in its brief history, raising 8k for Asian American Art Alliance. What do you think was the difference this year that helped it become the biggest ever:
Ed: The AANHPI community continues to grow not only in size but in activity as well. There are many more Asian-centric shows now than we began four years ago. We always had the hope that high tide would raise all ships and I think we are seeing that become a reality.
Kate: I also hope that we get better and better at throwing this fest every year. Each year we have a post-mortem and discuss what went well, and what we could improve on. We listen to feedback from our comics, our partners, and our audience. We want to continue to grow and create an enjoyable and successful festival for everyone every year.
Yao: We’re so grateful we have so many generous supporters, and this year their amount of sponsorship was unprecedented. We do our best to keep our ticket prices accessible as well as to pay our performers a fair stipend for their work. Developing and maintaining relationships with sponsors who have the resources as well as the willingness to support our mission has been a crucial component to that success.
What would you consider the biggest moment of this year’s festival:
Ed: It was the final show of the festival. Imagine you’ve already experienced all these amazing performers. You’ve been laughing and connecting and smiling and you just are about to burst. Then Yuhua Hamasaki from RuPaul’s Drag Race comes on to absolutely blow the lid off the place. The room was packed with people standing to get a glimpse and Yuhua worked the whole room. It was electric.
Kate: Agreed! I also was just so thrilled about the after-party. Helen Nguyen of Saigon Social delivered 3 GIGANTIC party sized bánh mì to our after-party at Sour Mouse. Already the vibes were so happy and celebratory – and these delicious sandwiches were the perfect end to another memorable year!
Yao: All the shows were great! But I loved how we ended the fest. Bringing the comedians together for a chance to connect after, and yes, the bánh mì! It’s worth mentioning that Helen Nguyen of Saigon Social not only has amazing food (which was recognized by James Beard last year!) but also has a generous heart, a big following, and an insanely busy schedule. It meant a lot that she showed up personally with the bánh mì to show her support for our comedians.
How would you describe the atmosphere among comedians during the festival:
Ed: The atmosphere among comedians has always been one of connection. It’s either reconnecting with friends you may not have seen in a while or connecting with new comedians you are seeing for the first time. Friendships are made, new shows booked and the adoration and love is palpable.
Kate: The love and support is palpable! It also feels so safe for all of us. We feel seen, heard, and stronger together.
Yao: I’m always surprised by how often I hear “I’m not in these kinds of rooms often”, where so many AsAm folks are doing exciting things. I’d like to think our talent recognizes how special these moments are and that it inspires them to work with and help others when they can.
Can you describe some other standout moments from the festival:
Kate: (Maybe banh mi moment goes here?) It’s always exciting to see our talent grow and evolve over the years. Each year we have a couple of newer younger comics who just totally kill it, and go on to have really successful careers.
So many of our headliners are now staffed on major TV shows. It’s so heartwarming to see the success of our alum!
Yao: There are many ways for a fest like ours to support our comedians, but ultimately, we want to help our comedians succeed. That starts with getting them more exposure via our fest, but also helping them line up gigs. We all have rent to pay!
This year, we negotiated as part of our sponsorship deal with Pluto TV, for them to run a commercial spot featuring one of our AsAm comedians promoting our fest and Pluto TV’s specially selected AAPI content offering for May. The result: Our AsAm comedian was featured (and paid!) while delivering a funny bit of content authentically from-and-by our community for Pluto TV to share with their over 80 million monthly active users! Felt like a win all around, and a validation of what we’re all working towards.
The festival has been quite successful in the New York area, but have you considered moving the event to other regions in the country:
Ed: We’d of course love to be able to expand to LA to start but also close to other comedy communities across the country that remain a bit untapped.
Pie in the sky; Asian Comedy Fest becomes televised or optioned by a streaming platform and reaches as many people as possible.
Yao: We’d love to help provide this type of energy in other cities.
There’s a lot to be negative about nowadays, and you never know which folks are truly in need of a bright moment. Spreading that to more cities, especially underserved areas, would be amazing.
What are some goals and aspirations that your already working on for the 5th annual festival next year:
Ed: We are always looking for opportunities to raise the bar. Something that has been a defining characteristic of The Asian Comedy Fest is recognizing what’s current and finding unique opportunities as they arise. It may relate to location, surprise talent, or even the timing of the fest. We aren’t ready to release full details yet but just know, it will set us apart.
Yao: I love how we’re running the fest, and you couldn’t find better partners than Ed and Kate. They’re both so creatively in touch with the comedy scene and care so deeply about the cause. For next year, I’d love to see greater validation from established companies reaching out to hire our comedians for their APAHM promotions, and more talent scouts looking to book for their next standup special. We’ve always focused on helping up-and-comers, and I’d love for ACF to establish a brand as the place industry goes to discover the best AsAm comedic talent.
*Photos courtesy of Ann Yoo Photography
Follow the Asian Comedy Festival on these social media websites:
Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/Snapchat/Tik-Tok: Asian Comedy Festival
Youtube: Asian Comedy Festival
Personal Website: Asian Comedy Festival
