Jimmy O Yang: Good Deal Review
Written by Jamie Wen Weiner
“Where my Asians at? We out here representing!” An enthusiastic, yet non-overbearing Asian male comedian calls out to his audience. Standing at 5 foot 5 (and repeatedly drawing attention to his short stature), wearing a simple burgundy button-up shirt, dark pair of chinos, a silver watch revealed by his rolled up sleeves (probably purchased as a “good deal”), shoulder length hair, and big round glasses, Jimmy O. Yang makes his presence known to his live, eager audience.
Perhaps it’s his natural grace at telling jokes and stories as he saunters across the stage, keeping a friendly, childish smile and exuding modest confidence. He has stories to share and while doing so, communicates very valid points about what it is like to be a Chinese immigrant and actor.
He is subtle, charming, no frills, similar to comedian Pete Davidson, and instantly relatable to Asians and non-Asians alike. Yang commands his audience’s attention for the entirety of an hour long show, and for him, this is the perfect amount of time to enlighten us with humor as he tells his personal experiences pertaining to being raised Asian.
He opens the show briefly touching upon Asian representation in movies, specifically Matt Damon’s “Great Wall-” an entirely white washed Chinese, Hollywood movie. Yet, Yang isn’t negative or aggressive towards this fact, rather he pokes fun at the difference between a white man representing Asian culture and an Asian man representing his culture. When fans thank him for representing them on screen, he jeers,
“You do realize, when you wake up Asian, you have no choice but to represent Asians… It would be weird if someone went up to Matt Damon and said, ‘Hey man, thanks for representing the whites.’”
He makes slights towards the pressure and pride as well as discrepancies he faces between being American and Asian, especially when it comes to Chinese tipping: for him it was customary to just throw in a couple of bucks and leave, yet now as a famous representative of the Asian community, he feels pressured to tip significantly higher.
Additionally, the show doesn’t just tackle racism, as Yang is nothing short of including sexual innuendos, too.
He makes jabs at stereotypes he’s come across, recalling sleeping with a woman who underestimated his ‘size’ (and praises her for still sleeping with him despite preconceived notions), demonstrates quite bluntly how Tai Chi just looks like old Asian people receiving blowjobs, and the fact that the Asian culture typically gets “exoticized” although because of this, he can get away with making up fake Asian events (an important one: The Dragon Boat Lychee Boba Festival) to get out of prior commitments.
Later, he takes a more personal approach, delving deeper into why his show is named, a “Good Deal,” touching upon his childhood past and family. Most Asian Americans can relate to his upbringings, however harsh and/or funny they may be- his parent’s ways of showing affection (pep talks consisting of entirely pure insults, finding the cheapest deals in stores, encouraging him not to pursue his dreams in order to make money), being forced to learn and then love math (by his parents gifting him with a TI-83 calculator at the age of 15 as a coming of age present), being forced to play ping pong competitively (to no avail), and of course, his experience immigrating to America without knowing English but being forced to learn the culture right away in school (and getting made fun of as a learning process).
At the end of the day, even if one hasn’t grown up in a traditional Asian household or isn’t Asian, he/she can appreciate the show’s overall lighthearted humor and its underlying wake up call towards ignorance.
Jimmy O. Yang is best known for his role in the movie, “Crazy Rich Asians,” tv show, “Silicon Valley,” and now the recent Netflix release, “Space Force”. His special, “Good Deal” is his first successful breakthrough in a stand-up show.
Speaking from personal experience, he is as funny in person (if not more) as he is on stage. I met him at the world premier of Disney’s live action movie, “Mulan” in Los Angeles, where he and his fellow cast members from “Crazy Rich Asians” came to support the new, exciting release. It was a night to remember and really showed a celebration of diversity.
Yang (as we’re still not on a first name basis- yet) was a very friendly, loud person and when I summoned the courage to ask him for a photo at the event’s after party (coincidentally held inside the hotel I was staying at), he jokingly asked the question for me, “You want a selfie or something?” Confident and self assured, he was a good presence to be around- and watch from several feet away.
His show highlights his personality, and he makes jokes within his own comfort zone, whether about himself or towards others. I highly recommend everyone go watch “Good Deal” on Amazon Prime and support Asian representation on screen.
