Improv Comedy with Donald Chang, Producer of UCB's "Asian AF" Show in NYC

Explicit content warning

05/04/20 • 40 min

How Donald got into improvisational (“improv”) comedy and acting (1:15)
Improv as a way to break out of his shell (4:00)
How you become the producer for the Asian AF show at Upright Citizens Brigade New York? (7:25)
Do you improv differently when your audience is mostly Asian? (11:45)
Basic technique to improv comedy (14:20)
As an improv actor/partner, what are you trying to achieve in each improv skit? (20:15)
How you know when the skit is over/ending! (20:50)
What goes through Donald’s mind as he performs improv (23:35)
Even in improv, audiences want to see interesting relationships between people (25:00)
Being afraid of being yourself and improv as a way for repressed adults to return to a place of childhood playfulness (26:30)
What NOT to do when doing improv(29:00)
How improv will help you in your life (33:40)
Doing improv in a way where you’re not worrying about saying the wrong (even if morally wrong) thing (34:11)
Why do you think there’s suffering in the world? (36:45)

Connect with Donald Chang's Instagram at http://instagram.com/donaldkchang

Learn more about UCB's Asian AF show (and about upcoming performances) at https://www.asianafshow.com/

How Donald got into improvisational (“improv”) comedy and acting (1:15)
Improv as a way to break out of his shell (4:00)
How you become the producer for the Asian AF show at Upright Citizens Brigade New York? (7:25)
Do you improv differently when your audience is mostly Asian? (11:45)
Basic technique to improv comedy (14:20)
As an improv actor/partner, what are you trying to achieve in each improv skit? (20:15)
How you know when the skit is over/ending! (20:50)
What goes through Donald’s mind as he performs improv (23:35)
Even in improv, audiences want to see interesting relationships between people (25:00)
Being afraid of being yourself and improv as a way for repressed adults to return to a place of childhood playfulness (26:30)
What NOT to do when doing improv(29:00)
How improv will help you in your life (33:40)
Doing improv in a way where you’re not worrying about saying the wrong (even if morally wrong) thing (34:11)
Why do you think there’s suffering in the world? (36:45)

Connect with Donald Chang's Instagram at http://instagram.com/donaldkchang

Learn more about UCB's Asian AF show (and about upcoming performances) at https://www.asianafshow.com/

Youngmi grows up in Korea and Saipan (1:00)
Feeling like an outsider as a white person in Korea (5:00)
How feeling like an outsider has influenced Youngmi’s comedy (9:00)
Complexities of biracial upbringing (10:45)
Youngmi retraces her history with starting Mission Chinese restaurant (14:30)
Working through co-dependency issues (17:58)
How Youngmi was able to assert her own creative desires and goals, working through baggage of Asian American upbringing and depression (19:15)
Doing the scary thing of pursuing creative endeavors and honestly facing the possibility of failure (24:40)
The challenge of living transparently emotionally and being vulnerable (25:30)
Processing and healing from repressive Asian upbringing (26:50)
“Was it scary to get into stand-up comedy?” (28:20)
Coming up with stand-up jokes and practicing them (31:00)
Power dynamics: Commanding the room as a stand-up comedian while also being vulnerable (36:30)
Stand-up comedy as means of self-healing and talking about personal history on stage as comedy (38:25)
“Do you think you could handle fame/celebrity?” (40:05)
Youngmi answers a spiritual question: “Why is there suffering in the world?” (42:55)

You can check out Youngmi's podcast "Feeling Asian with Youngmi Mayer and Brian Park" here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feeling-asian/id1481891689

Connect with Youngmi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ymmayer

ORIGIN STORY: How Ross got into storytelling, screenwriting, etc. (3:50)
Combining TECH AND STORYTELLING: How writers can use tech to enable better writing or overcoming writer’s block (5:35)
How to make a story interesting (drama) and meaningful (theme)? (12:30)
What makes a great story? (13:50)
Using “dramatic questions” — or questions that make the audience want to know what the answer is— to retain audience interest and to push forward a story (18:30)
Importance of theme (24:00)
Is exploration of moral questions necessary for a great story? (31:20)
What is your process of getting your ideas to paper — how you actually start writing the script itself?(43:10)
Snowflake method of writing (46:00)
Ross, what is the meaning of life?! (51:30)

Preorder Ross's upcoming book "The Structure of Story" here: https://kiingo.co/preorder

More about Kiingo here: https://kiingo.com/

Connect with Kiingo on Instagram here: instagram.com/kiingocreative/

Connect with Ross on Instagram: instagram.com/ross_hartmann