Comedy is almost as ubiquitous as music for a go-to live entertainment option these days. Multiple bars and clubs set up a single microphone on stage in lieu of loading in amps, drum kits, and other instruments. Theaters such as the Taft and the Andrew J Brady Center have almost as many comedians booked as musical acts. Even Bogart’s—the hip Short Vine space that’s hosted such rock icons as James Brown, Pearl Jam, U2, and Prince—has gotten in on the act.
Sheng Wang is a Taiwan-born, Houston-reared, Berkeley-educated, and Los Angeles-based jokester who’s one of the what seems like hundreds of people with a Netflix stand-up special. Sweet & Juicy was released in 2022, which placed him squarely in the category of an overnight sensation after more than two decades of sharpening his craft in clubs, on college campuses, and a writing stint on the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat.
Reviewers praise his observational humor and relaxed delivery, more Mitch Hedberg than Sam Kinison. He doesn’t rely on controversial topics, swearing, or shock value but instead finds hilarity in small slices of everyday life. He taped his second Netflix special this month in Washington, D.C. His notoriety is also seeping into the mainstream in unusual ways: New Yorker writer Molly Fischer referenced his take on Costco in her story about the big-box retailer.
That gag was a hit with the almost sold-out crowd at the Riffe Center in Columbus in September, which I attended. Wang performs November 22 at Bogart’s, his first visit to town since playing the Funny Bone several years ago. He talked about his comedy journey in a telephone interview.
There was an audible gasp from the Columbus audience when you said this was your first headlining theater tour after more than 20 years. Fans appreciate your perseverance. If you were a baseball player, you would have switched to coaching a long time ago.
This tour has been going for about two years now and is essentially the result of the 2022 Netflix special. Before that, the journey had been a slow kind of uphill climb. If you can break into the college circuit, you’re a traveling comedian and you can fill your calendar. In San Francisco after college, you would go to the local showcase to see everybody do their thing. Every week, you could see who’s touring and who’s making a living. It was encouraging because I saw I could it at that level in my own way if I just put in the time.
The second gasp—from at least one audience member, me—came when you thanked people for coming to the show and said you’d be at the merch table to say hello and take a photo. That’s understandable in a club where there’s 50 or 100 people, but if 1,000 people are in the queue, you would be in the lobby twice as long as you were on stage. Even mildly popular bands have started charging for meet-and-greets these days.
(Laughs) I try to keep it moving. It’s a quick photo, a quick hello. Charging feels weird to me just to say hello to people. It feels so nice that people express how excited and happy they are for the show. I love seeing generations of a family have a reason to spend time together. Somebody in Milwaukee thanked me because they got to spend an hour and a half with their mom, and they rarely get to laugh and spend time together like that. I might not hang after shows forever, but right now it’s touching and sweet to me.
How did you get to the University of California from Texas for college? You were a business major, so you could have done that cheaper and closer to home.
It wasn’t calculated at all. Decisions I made as a younger person I think were very fortuitous. I had this idea of going to California because of whatever idea people have while growing up outside of the state. I had a cousin I adored and idolized, and he lived in California. I used to watch CHiPs, about the Highway Patrol cops, and Top Gun, which had a lot of imagery that drew me to it as a kid. And so when I made that decision, I didn’t know there was a difference between San Francisco and L.A. And when I came to the Bay Area, I was like, “This weather is amazing. It feels a little bit chilly.” It’s different from Texas. I don’t have to shower every day. It’s a magical place, you know? It was really cool. And I did get a business degree. I didn’t use it.
I’m sure your parents are wonderful people and the sweet setup for the joke about them leaving everything and everybody they’ve ever known to move halfway around the world from Taiwan for their kids is fantastic. No spoilers, but I would love to know how real the punchline is.
I told them I was doing comedy, but it wasn’t like I surprised them after four years in college. I didn’t know when I went to school that this was something I wanted to do. It’s something I kind of stumbled upon in college. I worked at a photography store and a video production house and ran props and costumes for low-budget television shows. I was doing a lot of different things out of college. I couldn’t wrap my head around this idea that we’re going to school for 18 years and then work for somebody else for 40 hours a week. I was having anxiety, like how come I don’t know what I’m doing?
The truth is my parents were incredibly chill versus the Asian American stereotype of a tiger mom or whatever. As long as I handled my school, there were no other requests of me. I tried to cheat on a test in first grade but couldn’t see the answers on my neighbor’s paper, and I did terribly. After that, I was like, “OK, I’m not going to do that anymore. I’ll just learn the thing.” I gave them what they wanted, which was just do well in school, and I turned out OK. As for that punchline, it didn’t happen that way. Sometimes you take poetic license.
As I was searching the internet, I ran across a wedding page that said you’re marrying Rachel Rowlands next summer in La Jolla. I don’t know how many Sheng Wangs are out there, but it seems like a singular name.
You know, I saw that recently. I don’t know what that is, but it feels like a scam There are no photos of who they are.
It says please send presents to Rachel.
Exactly. That’s such a good scam.
Writer’s note: Further research shows that Rachel Rowlands and Shengyuan Wang (a different Sheng Wang) are indeed getting married next year. And there are photos of them on The Knot. Let’s hope they get the joke.
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