Comic Jenny Yang has turned cultural grocery stores into comedy clubs for her summer tour<\/p>\n
Stand-up comedians are used to tuning out the din of clinking glasses from two-drink minimums and patrons walking in and out during sets. But what about rolling shopping carts or the smell of fried fish?<\/p>\n
That kind of ambience is what you'll find on comic Jenny Yang's unique nationwide summer comedy tour, where she has been turning cultural grocery stores into comedy clubs for a night. And she's been leaning into her unconventional venue choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to buy a bunch of small snacks and shrimp chips and throw it into the audience every time I felt like a joke didn\u2019t land,\u201d Yang said. \u201cI mean this is my dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
A stand-up and sketch comedy veteran whose acting credits include the Netflix show \u201cThe Brothers Sun,\u201d Yang is living a dream of \u201cthe most politically and creatively fulfilling project\u201d she's ever done. The Good Egg Immigrant Grocery Store Standup Comedy Tour is partly her reaction to the immigration crackdowns by President Donald Trump's administration impacting Asian, Latino and Black communities. She wanted to entertain in cities with immigrant enclaves where she could give back. So, Yang and her team chose grocery store stops and nonprofits to donate to based on recommendations from local organizations.<\/p>\n
The unorthodox tour has grown from five performances to nearly 20, far beyond her expectations. It started June 5 in Los Angeles, where Yang lives, and has taken her to Minneapolis, Phoenix and other cities. After stops in New York and San Francisco, the tour will wrap Sept. 26 back in L.A. with Yang filming a performance for a proposed comedy special.<\/p>\n
She touches on topics ranging from infertility to awareness of immigrant experiences in the U.S. While comedians are divided on whether stand-up should stand down on politics, Yang has always spoken on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople come into this art form as a stand-up comedian for different reasons. I am of the mind that my stand-up comedy is just an extension of my values and I believe in punching up, not down,\u201d Yang said.<\/p>\n
Last December, Yang, who immigrated from Taiwan, was back there to receive what was a failed round of in vitro fertilization treatment. Heartbroken and sitting in front of an omelet breakfast, she lamented not having \u201cone good egg" to start a family. As she mulled a new endeavor to focus on, her mind drifted toward the \u201cnon-stop barrage\u201d of headlines about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.<\/p>\n
That's when the idea for a tour weaving her past as a labor organizer with her passion for stand-up sparked.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe ability to do and bring a show together, and bring people together inside of the immigrant grocery store, to me, reaffirms our ability to take up space and to own the space that matters to us," Yang said.<\/p>\n
After emceeing a gala for the Asian Law Caucus in April, Yang shared her outside-the-box idea with the San Francisco-based group. The Caucus works pro bono in immigrant communities and on high-profile cases like the recent birthright citizenship case. They hired Yang not just for her comedic touch but as \u201csomebody who culturally could relate to the communities that we serve,\u201d said executive director Aarti Kohli. The Caucus offered its vast network of Asian American community leaders and immigrant-centered nonprofits nationwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we are a legal civil rights organization, we understand that so much of how we reach community is through, especially for Asian communities, food and culture,\u201d Kohli said. \u201cI think comedy is healing and unifying.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Shuang Hur Supermarket in Minneapolis \u2014 half a block from where ICE agents fatally shot Alex Pretti \u2014 Yang put on a show in July, said manager Henry Zhou.<\/p>\n
They reconfigured shelves near the checkout lanes to fit 150 chairs, he said.<\/p>\n