S02E15 Sam Yarb, English speaker - From Post Mills, Vermont, USA 🇺🇸

How do you perform and progress on the comedy circuit, when you as a native English speaker already moved to an Asian country where the population does not speak English as their mother tongue (and there really isn’t much stand up comedy going on)?Such is the story of Sam Yarb, co-founder of the leading comedy club in Taiwan - Two Three Comedy Club 二三喜劇. Sam started by arranging road trips to cities and towns of all sizes on the East Asian island to target the scattered English-speaking expats. Gradually, along came the Taiwanese people.As stand up comedy becomes more popular and the Mandarin scene outgrows the English scene, Sam becomes the instrumental figure in bringing international acts to the island and connecting the English performers with neighbouring Asian countries.We hear from Sam how he manages a comedy club in a foreign land and Sam’s observations on the local Taiwanese v.s. expat audienceThe Firelight Chat podcast episode with Sam quoted in this episode:On Apple PodcastOn Spotify---------------------------------Follow Sam on InstagramTwo Three Comedy Club on Facebook Two Three Comedy Club on InstagramFollow your host Kuan-wen on Instagram---------------------------------If you like the episode, please share it and leave a review. For any comments or suggestions, please contact us on Instagram or email [email protected]:44 Intro02:51 Sam’s accent05:03 How Sam started performing comedy in Southern Taiwan (a short Northern v.s. Southern Taiwan debate)06:36 Comedy road trips in Taiwan08:51 Audience make-ups in small Taiwanese towns and tailoring materials10:57 A self-deprecating American comic in front of a Taiwanese audience15:50 Expat v.s. Taiwanese audiences19:56 Taiwanese approaching stand up comedy shows with curiosity23:07 Taiwan - China relations as comedy material?26:12 Expat audience in Taiwan v.s. US audience26:57 Nationality comparison based comedy materials28:34 Being a comedy promoter/producer in Asia30:31 How the small town gigs are organised and promoted31:31 Writing all funny ideas that come to mind and making selections later35:03 Sam’s Social Media and 23 Comedy Club in Taipei--------------------------------Podcast intro music by @Taigenkawabe