One thing that happened when I first stepped on stage and tried stand-up comedy, I met a lot of interesting and great people. I’ve had the fortune of watching many talented people work and develop and do some interesting shit. I’ve also met a lot of flaming douchebags, users, psychotics, ne’er-do-wells and assholes to be sure, but I have certainly made friends.

(Speaking of friends, a belated shout out to Dorothy Dwyer on the anniversary of her birth, which is now considered Tea Bag Day. I hope she wasn’t teabagged. In her honor, I watched a large chunk of Mona Lisa Smile hoping to catch a glimpse of her. But, then M. walked in and flipped the channel. Curses.)

I digress.

Before ‘blogs and early on in my acquaintance with the struggling world of people who liked jokes, one regular haunt was Monday night at the Lizard Lounge, where Kim and Josh hosted a weird little night of sketch, essentially spoken word stuff and stand-up comedy. First, I bit my nails in the back of the room and watched. Later I performed regularly, even winning the coveted free gift certificate for the restaurant above for the best 3 minutes of new material, or whatever the contest was. Eventually, I became part of a fine opportunity to grow as a performer, but rather not destined for greatness sketch group, and performed every week. It was directed by Kim who hosted the show alone and in various iterations after Josh moved on to mostly be with his family.

One of the others who became part of this regular, Monday-night ritual was a Chinese immigrant and Rice University trained scientist, Xiao Huang. Spelled for the American audience with no ear for the “X” or “H,” he is Joe Wong. I think he started the endless rounds of open mikes after taking an Adult Ed class taught by Tim McIntire about a year after I started.

He’s one of those unassuming guys who you just don’t associate with a solid wit, irony and sarcasm on face value. He knew how to put words together, though, amazing to me who only knows this one language, as he tells jokes in a non-native language with a thick accent. I have made people laugh in Asia, but fortunately all of M.’s cousins and some of his aunts speak English. I tend to have to use broad premises, pantomime and ridiculousness (mostly making fun of M.) to entertain in another country.

Joe Wong does it with words.

Tonight he debuted on the national television doing his thing on Late Night with David Letterman. For a nice little backstory on how he got there, I’d recommend Nick Zaino’s blog. Nick’s another nice guy I met along the way.

The world got a lift this week with Susan Boyle’s surprise of a powerful voice on British TV. For me, that same lift was watching a friend on television years after I saw him perform at one of his very first shows. Or maybe I just have a thing for Asian dudes.

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