So I reiterate here, the bill is dead. The story of this great city is about the years before this night. Hey everyone, this is Ho Ho Hong Kong with me. Your host, Vivek Mulmani. That's right. I said host, not Co host. Because today actually Muhammad has decided to stay. I believe he's still in Australia being with his little lobby. Lobby. Annie do. He's like, you know, Annie, I want to spend more time with you. Oh, responsibilities. I don't know what those are.
I'll just, you know, stay with you. It's OK, Vivek. Who cares? He has to be alone in podcast. I mean, whatever. You know, he's only the other guy with all the technical stuff. And my job was somebody to be a Co host. But I couldn't even do that 'cause I need, I need love you. But don't worry, Muhammad decided to be responsible for a change and got me a course
today. He is the OG of ogs of the comedy scene in Hong Kong. Anyone who's been in the comedy scene will definitely come across him. And please welcome Chris Musni. Hey, what's up? Thanks for having me, Vivek. Yes. So basically Chris, music for anybody who doesn't know. He has seen comedy with the full evolution of the beginning where we were in the basement that take a comedy all the way to the scene, changing the the times when it was split with comedy
dot, HK, all those things. He's been through it and you will still catch him every now and then at different shows, especially open mic nights. You'll definitely see him coming on stage trying out different material. So, Chris, you and myself have been doing comedy for, oh, wow, I don't know, like 13. You're at 14. Like, something like that, Something like that. Yeah. It's been a long time. I don't. Even want to say anymore? Right. It's like over a decade.
Like man, I've been doing this since this. Is. I don't want to say 'cause people like, how come you're not funny after 10, even though it's 1010? Plus, hey. Exactly. At this point that I saw seemed more like. Yeah, one weeks. Yeah, exactly. Right. And then and then you kind of go like, well, don't don't worry, it's comedy doesn't work that way. It's not one of those, like the more time I do, the immediately my next jokes. It's got to be better.
So you have that issue, but the good thing is that you have seen the evolution of comedy in Hong Kong. Slash Asia with. You also have done gigs outside of Hong Kong as well. Yeah. So can you just tell us a bit more about your story of comedy, why you began just real quickly and a little bit about yourself? Because you're the beginning of a comedy. People always know you as the guy who's talking about the the dad and the mother or how they met and all that stuff.
Could you give a listener just a little bit introduction about that? Oh yeah. Like, so Basically man, I've always wanted to do stand up. When I was like a teen, I didn't know what stand up was before. And then I got Seinfeld was on same, but I never watched the show. I actually thought he looked like a dork. And he doesn't look funny. He looks like a normal. He looks like a guy who's like a tax. Guy or something.
You would expect a comedian to have a certain look, a certain style, and he's just like the guy off the street, like you're the performer. Exactly. So I start. I kind of got towards the end of high school and I got Seinfeld when he finished his show or near the round the time he finished his show, he did a special called I'm telling you for the last time. And I watched that whole thing end to end. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. I couldn't believe someone could be that funny.
I like memorized like the whole thing and it still has some like classic bits and I'm like, I have to do stand up. And then I waited for like 10 years and then I started. I always delay for some reason and then I moved out to Hong Kong and kind of started it here. Yeah, I mean, it's same for me as well. Seinfeld was my only exposure to standard comedy because back then, I mean, TV had no other channels. So it was only the two English channels here.
And Seinfeld was one of the sitcoms when I was like, what's this guy doing talk in the beginning before he does the actual color show? And then I was confused because, like, I mean, my teachers do the same thing at school, yet I don't want to listen to them. But this guy, I don't know why I bought shampoo. He's he's interesting to me, you know, like talking my hair on the wall of the bathroom, why he doesn't hang out, he'll go stay in his friends places when he
travels. I was like, how did he just turn my hair on a wall into something I care about? Oh, yeah. You know, that itself was like, oh, this is good. This is I like this thing, you know? And it was just so simple. There's no, like, I would look a certain way. I would have danced a certain thing. I would have, you know, sing a certain way.
It's like, no, just. Talk, you know, that's, you know what's crazy is that I'm glad I've it's just luck that you happen to find the guy that you stick with. And the more I learn about comedy, and I still think he's like top of his game, not just in monetary success, but like his approach to stand up is like so laser perfect. And I I'm just happy, 'cause like you could pick the wrong guy. Like you could have picked Bill Cosby. That's the first special you
watching. So I gotta touch people after the show. OK, I'll try that. Yeah. But like, I picked Steinfeld and he's still like my number one guy. There's other guys I really, really like. But yeah, he's like, still top. Now he's making movies. Oh, he's got unfrosted, dude. I just watched it on the plane. Coming back here. It's pretty good. It's it's so Seinfeld. It's OK. Put it this way, if you're not a Seinfeld fan, you're like, this is stupid. Listen, what am I watching?
A comic book. What is this? Right. But it's so him. Whereas, like, over the top cartoony. And it's like the acting is clearly, like, exaggerated. The colors are saturated. And it's just talking about breakfast cereal, dude. Like a whole movie about the Pop Tart. I'm like that. And Jim Gaffigan being like the Kellogg's boss. I'm like that. So come on. Pop Tart. Jim Gaffigan. Really. This is fantastic. Right. Exactly. And oh, it was like all comics, man.
It was insane. So anybody, if you are into comedy, go watch Unfrosted on Netflix. Just came out, I think a couple of days ago in Hong Kong at least. And the actors, they have on all comedians. I mean, John F Kennedy was played by Bill Burr. Yeah, that was so good. I'm like, this is really good because I recognize all these guys. What the hell?
And that's and I love seeing how comedians are happy to bring comedians on, even if they know like, you're not the maybe the best person for this role, but you're like, no, I want a comedian. And you know why? Why? They're real people. They're real people, exactly. Well, I mean, they're kind of messed up people. Too. But they're real in that sense. Not like actors, right? Yeah, I think you got to be fake and lucky a little. Bit a little bit. Good looks and everything.
They didn't have Hugh Grant as the Tiger, Tony the Tiger, it's. Also funny. He's good. I think funny people are a little. Quirky in that sense, I. Think they're a little more down to Earth. I think I make fun of yourself. I think it really helps. Yeah, because you have to get two terms with it. You have to accept it to a point. You're like, I'm OK with being flawed. And why would you have to be funny if you're attractive? Exactly.
And you probably didn't have. That offense, I'm not saying you're not attractive. Annoying man. Like I've looked in the mirror. Don't worry, man, Chris. Like, we we both have the Super bag eye bags. Yeah, we're good, dude. Yeah, we're going to be funny for the rest of our lives with that, yeah. People always ask me if I get enough sleep. I'm like, this is me and my life. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, this question is not something I haven't asked myself, so trust me, I don't
need to answer that. But okay. So the thing that I've realized that comedians talking about with comedians, we always end up talking about comedians as well, right? And I think the fascination of over time doing comedy, you're growing as a comedian as well. Your admiration for different comedians also changes. For example, I grew up Seinfeld. That was my guy. Then was Bill Burr and Chris Rock. Those two are big influences like they were the ones.
Then Russell Peters came in and I saw a special going like oh, that's one of us. Hey, I could do that. And now it is a lot like big influences Trevor Noah and and Kevin Hart. Now I know these all big names, obviously like they're many like smaller. They're very different. They're very different, you know. However, the one thing I love about comedians that I admire is that I always want to read their
biographies. So if they have a biography, I've read it. Like Steinfeld's got his book, not he doesn't have a biography, but a lot of interviews and everything. I've read a lot of those. Kevin Hart has a book like I Can't Make the Shit Up. Shreve Noah has a book Born in Crime. What about you? How do you admire comedians that you like in general? Other than watching their specials and the comedy sets, is there anything else you do?
I tried to watch every video that they're in, so a ton of if it's like a two, a 22nd interview or if it's a podcast, I just watch those religiously. That's like my religion. And the The funny thing is, the more you watch it and all these different guys, they're so similar. They have different interests, they have different hobbies, but like the way they're down to earth and sort of they're trying to shed all the BS of the world, they're so similar in that
regard. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I. And that's the thing with comedy and makes you look at things from so many angles. You can't bullshit because like, they're going to see right through this. They're going to know this bullshit. I mean, let's be honest, a lot of the comedy that we do comes from a real place. Obviously we exaggerate, add a little bit, little bit of this, little bit of that.
But highly likely it's an observation that we thought, there's a problem here, I can't understand the world and here's my take on it. But it's not like you're wrong and I'm right. It's more like, well, why is this right, you know? And they they ask that because they can't let go of it. Yeah, it it's normal. People are like, just let it go. Yeah, yeah, it's fine. I'm like, I can't. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It bothers me, man. And I think that's not. In a good way, yeah. Angry.
Yeah. Angry. We're. Not ignoring it, you know, we're like, yeah, this is an issue. I'm gonna deal with this, right? Yeah. One of my favorite is Bill Burr talking about Brian Regan by the way, when they talk about each other, yeah, I'm like in the best, it's the best. And he's talking about Brian Regan and he's like, you know people they obviously he's amazing, but people act like, oh, he's so silly on stage the way.
But I bet you he wasn't feeling like that when that thing happened in real life, he was furious. Exactly. I know he was. Exactly, I know he was. It's always comedy because of tragedy plus time. It's always like at the moment, like this is the poorest thing ever. But hey, look at the coping mechanism comes in. Yeah. Now the, the thing I'm very curious is that we can see the two of us growing in comedy in
different ways. I just came back from Australia and New Zealand. Yeah, you're succeeding. Hey, yeah, let's not put it that way. You know, I'm flourishing. Yeah. No, that's. The same thing. Succeeding implies that you have I am making ends meet and this and that on a high level where like this is it we're done, I mean. I meant more than that. Yeah. I didn't mean like you're hungry. Yeah, exactly. I'm not that hungry. Yeah, maybe later I will. We'll see. No, But I'll put this with that.
The one thing I think we can talk about is the original Hong Kong comedy scene. The original original when it was like us trying to do a 7 minute set going like, hey man, I have one more minute. I can do 8 minutes. I think I can do 8 minutes. You know, I remember like trying to hit that 10 minute mark and go like, I don't know man, this is this bit, it's pretty shit. But I'm going to squeeze it in just to hit that 10 minute mark and try.
When you first started off, how annoying was it when you initially told people you're a comedian? And their reaction was like, no, wait, what? I honestly I I I don't like that. So I I even now I don't tell people and and not only that I don't, I say I do stand up. So they have to like. I don't. I never refer to myself as a comedian because I always feel like like that's what you do. You know what I mean? I'm, I'm a teacher.
You know what I'm saying? And I feel like you got a there's a difference, You know what I mean? However, however, if you do a set and you crush and to them, you might as well be. That's fine. But let the performance speak for that instead of like, oh, hey, I I just did open mic for the first time this week. And on my bio on IG, I'm a comedian now. Oh, yeah. But yeah. But you bombed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No one thought you were a comedian.
Yeah, exactly. I didn't know if you didn't mention it. Yeah, your 17 followers may not may buy it, but everybody else who was there, the 20 people who were actually in the room, Yeah, I thought the. News were funny, Those families be funny. And not only. Not only that, like here's and also I don't think I'm hard on myself, but you have to have a There's a difference, right? You can't just be funny.
Like, comedians are amazing. When you When I first saw Bill Burr live, it's like I was on drugs. Was your first billboard live in Hong Kong? Yeah, dude, it was the Cyberport one, right? Yes. Oh man, that. One, what do you think? Oh my God. Like when I was there, I was just in heaven. Dude, you'll never forget that it's one of the the best laughs in your life, right? Absolutely. It's phenomenal. Like sitting especially. I was on the I remember the stage right basically around the
if he will, Bilbo is looking. I was at the 2:00 mark, 2nd row from the front, OK? And I was like the moment I saw that art, the post that his show was coming immediately. No question about three tickets straight up. I never buy a ticket. Yeah, exactly. I was like, yeah, I was like, maybe I'll get a comedy. I might be able to connect with people. I was like, I don't care. You take my money. This one, you're getting it, you know? It's Bill Burr. Oh, it's Bill Burr.
Exactly. Jesus has come back. Like, yeah. Yeah, exactly like this is. I believe in this, yeah. Yeah, you know so I think it's OK So we can see that clearly our comedy initial interests very similar set Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Burr, what about you like was what about now who are your go to people that you like to watch? Oh my. My guy now has got to be Nate Bargatze. Oh, Nate bargatze for. Sure. OK, what about? What about him? Is the the thing that gets you? Is it personality?
Is it the writing quality? Dude, his the way, his writing, obviously his performance is amazing, but like, I think we tend to look past that a little bit. Yeah, we get it. Yeah, sometimes. Because sometimes you could have a great shtick and the jokes aren't there, right? But his promise is amazing. But the way he manipulates the tension in a situation without he's he doesn't use foul language.
He doesn't even have controversial topics and he's able to really milk all of the tension into a situation. And I just, I just find it unbelievable. His whole bit. His closing bit on Starbucks stuff. I haven't seen that one, the Starbucks one. Dude, Yeah, that's like my favorite special of his. Man. The greatest average American on Netflix and it is phenomenal. OK, OK. OK. He. Closes on a bit about Starbucks and who I don't think many people would do that.
Yeah, you wouldn't. He's talking about being embarrassed. Yeah, that's it. Drinking Starbucks like oh God, what have I done with my life? Yeah, he's not. It's not some big story where it's like, yeah, we went to Vegas and you know, we got some hookers. It's like just he went to go to Starbucks and that's his closer. Yeah, how funny it has to be to be his closer. Yeah, yeah, it's phenomenal. Oh man. OK. I'll definitely check that out online later on tonight because
yeah, I'm half awake. Anyway, today after playing Red Eye from I came came down from Perth this time. So this is the thing. I've noticed that different comedians from different regions, obviously different sense of humor. Me being in Australia is kind of it's it's OK. So every I did my Cantonese show this time, my Cantonese tour and everything and on the last night at Perth I could do a best of fest 5 minute spot, right?
And I've done that also like in Edinburgh when I was there last year and this 5 minute spot, 10 minute spot, whatever just in front of me. Not I just wanted to try it out and so far I have found I can perform to English speaking white people's hash whatever in Hong Kong or in Asia. The moment I leave Asia, my English comedy falls completely flat to white ears completely like to the point where it's a golf clap at best. Like, I will give you an
example. My last show was in Perth, OK And I'm in this room called the Retrobit. OK, Rich a bit or or whatever It's called Rich a bit. And it's a 300 seater, super awesome, grungy, heavy metal kind of room. And I was like doing my Cantonese show was sold like almost 300 people all sold out and everything. I'm like, yeah, it's a great room, man. That's a 630 show. OK And then at 9:30, I have the, the English showcase show. OK. So this is, as you can see over
here, right? It's right over there. You have like 3 layers of people. You have the ground floor and then the sides and sides. So it's literally like, you can see it's clearly, it's like a nightclub kind of feel. Right. So the Kathy show, really good. Last show of my run. I have my stuff solid. It's like, I'm like, this is on autopilot. I'm just enjoying the field right now. I know exactly what I'm going to say next. Done, done, done great. People clapping. I've been good.
OK 9:30 is the English show, right? I go over there and they have like people like Dan Rath, really good guy in in Australia. Lukeggi also veteran over there and I'm after Luke Hegge, right. So Luke Hegge is up there doing the stuff people after to them. And I go up there because like right now I've noticed a few things. I've tried saying my joke about my name, like my name is Vivek, people call me Wick Wick, right? And it doesn't fall well because they're like VIVK is not that difficult.
They cannot believe. People can't say that. Like you're lying? Well. Let me help you, yeah. Yeah, yeah. They're like, how how would you get that wrong? That's an easy name. I mean, I could say it. And remember, this isn't the audience that probably has never been to Asia. So they cannot believe the absurdity that we have in Hong Kong. Slash Asia. We're like, yeah, this actually happens buddy. Like you have no idea how people are swerving between gaps, trying to get on the train and
stuff. You have no clue. People nuts. Nuts, right. You have no clue, right. So now my go to thing is I go on stage and from Hong Kong, the background, I go on stage and I always like to, I try to open with that. I know what you're thinking. I look at my face there. Hong Kong. Hong Kong is in the Middle East, right? I would do that, right. And so far in Edinburgh and Perth as well people are like, huh, like, wait, you're not making the connection like Hong
Kong Chinese this face. Not so Chinese. No. And I was still trying to understand. I did not make the connection because I'm not Middle Eastern enough as when they see enough Middle Eastern we're like, yeah, you're not that you're not that Middle Eastern to us or is it like, oh, Middle East. Oh, we don't we don't want to we let's not. Let's not go there, because whenever I go to these places, being the Asian comedian, you either fit into the Asian picture that they think you should be.
You're Indian, you must be this. And if you don't, they're like, I cannot laugh because I feel bad now. Yeah, yeah, I I think they're also holding multiple concepts like you might say it, but they're still thinking, but how can that? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's so horrible. Yeah. You know, they're overly analyzing. I'm like, well, no, that's what hung up. People do like right here, like, that's on fire. You know, I'm like, what's going on?
So that's the one bizarre thing I've always experienced whenever I travel, where I'm like, I'm going to do an English set and I know it's not gonna go well, but I'm like, let's do this, man. But it's a short set. It's if I'm gonna set. Yeah. So yeah, you got a pass. I get a pass. Yeah, exactly. And and look, honestly, this one is for me, just to get a feel for it, 'cause I know this is not my crowd. I can already tell you it's like. A on AII 'cause I hit the my thing too is that it's.
So it's 5 minutes. Yeah, there's no, there's no way. You know what I mean? It's totally a new situation they know nothing about. They know nothing about your situation. It's all so hard. It's so, yeah, yeah. Again, like I said. But the thing for me nowadays with my evolution of comedy is that I want to be put in those situations. Like doing the set in Hong Kong for me now is like I, you know, it's like no big deal. Yeah, I I'll do a good job, I'll do my best and everything.
But I'm not gonna, oh, I want to do a set in this room because I want to try that. Like, I I'm pretty sure I've got this down right. Whereas overseas I'm still like, I can tell you I was nervous that night before going on stage. I'm like, man, I remember Edinburgh. That was terrible, man. That was awkward. OK, let's just do this, whatever it is, what it is, right? I go up and do the Middle Middle East and like, there's like, there's like a that's it.
And I'm like, oh, we're back here now, let's do this now. So I would try a little bit of this, a little bit of that. I would get like, I even try to try to think about Australia that I've done in Cantonese, loved it and everything. It's basically about this idea that I'm on a taking it, the free tram in Melbourne and I'm holding the handrail. OK, so it's a vertical handrail pole. My hand's in the middle. This couple comes on, they're in love. They're looking at each other.
Don't look at anybody else. And the boyfriend's hands above my hand. Girlfriend's hands above below my hand. And I'm in between. Right. Nobody's looking at whose hand is who. And the boyfriend's tight stroking my hand thinks it's the girlfriend's hand, Right. All that kind of stuff. And I'm just funny. Yeah, it's funny, right? And I'm like, how'd you feel my hair? I'm like, you know, maybe they're just, they started going out. Today is the first day they're holding hands.
He has no idea how hairy she really is, these kinds of things, right. Oh, it killed it. I tried it in Hong Kong before this idea. I'm like, really good. Australia's been killing strong. Sure. They're kind of like why did. Like I can see their eyes go like you should have said excuse me, you you should have you should have done something like why would you let that happen? And I'm like because it's awkward. Like why would I just have to
say excuse me, right. And I realized I'm like it's true because like over there people don't have the same thing that we have over here where it's like, oh, I don't want to I don't want to say anything. This is so weird. I and why should I have to say you should been you should know better. We're passive in that sense where over there. Like, excuse me, that's my hand. Yeah. Oh, that's another thing I never realized. But they will actually tell you, buddy. That's my hand.
Get your hand off of me. In Australia, they'll say that. They'll do that, I mean. Or they'll say it nicer, like, oh, that's not your girlfriend's hand, that's mine. Right, right, right. You know the typical bridge kind of like a passive aggressive like, oh, you know, I'm OK with you, but just letting you know maybe you love me more. I don't know. Right, right, right.
You know, and that's the thing. I was like, oh, I still have to get a grasp of that where they are OK with saying out what we're here in Hong Kong are thinking here we're passive aggressive. We just won't say it. They're they're passive aggressive and they'll say it. Yeah, we like to pretend like we're polite, but totally. No, we're totally not. Not at all. Yeah, So I think that's what I'm still trying to get.
So that's my challenge Now for me as a comedian, the turn to get past that kind of mentality where it's not like, oh, the world is in Asia, the world is. This. Well, that's what. Wasn't that the whole thing about taking the act on the road, 'cause like, you can never really know until, like, there. Have you? We've all heard about guys. Oh yeah, this guy kills in this town. Oh, and dies over there. Absolutely. He can't go to another town.
And he has killer bits about that one mall that has that weird parking lot or whatever. Yeah, yeah. But how are you going to tell that in another city? Exactly. And there was that you, I'm, I'm sure you know, the Louis CK story about when he was a New York comic and staying in New York and Chris Rock was below them. And then he started touring. Oh. He got better. He came back after touring and they're all at Caroline's. And he destroyed in a way he couldn't believe.
And he said all of the comics sat in the back like we were the losing team on the World Series. Like this guy? We're all just like, we're New York comics, and then this guy's on the road coming back and like, this is how it's done. And who's Chris Rock now? You know what I mean? Like that's. Who he is.
Yeah, I think that's. The thing though, So that's what happened to me in 2015 when I went to Australia, First time I came back, I'm like, oh, and I I'm a firm belief of Kobe Bryant saying of while they're playing checkers, I'm playing chess. Yeah, that was 2015. I'm trying to do a bit. On that, by the way. Really. If it makes him sound. Smart. But I'm like, dude, just fucking play checkers. Yeah, we're playing. Yeah, like, why would you even get those pieces? Yeah, exactly.
Like, don't. You know the game like, how dare you, I'm smarter. Than you I won't use these. Little flat pieces. Yeah, I got better pieces. That 3D is like, dude, that's not how this works. It's like saying. Yeah, everyone's playing basketball while I'm playing football. It doesn't sound so smart now. Doesn't exactly. Like, yeah, why would you defeat like like and you know it's like, but you can't use hands. I don't need to. It's like, OK, OK, no, but you are right.
He was like 20 steps ahead of everybody. Yeah, actually and that. Was the thing for me, and I think that was the different. That was the tipping point for me. When I came back, I'm like, oh, OK, I see what I'm saying, what I'm doing and I'm in the same, we're on the same board. We're playing on the same board. But I'm not going to come here with just checkered pieces and play this game. I'm going to play with chess pieces somehow. It's going to still work.
I could, you know, metaphorically, whatever. And that was the thing. And ever since that, that was a change. Was there a tipping point in your career or something that changed you or maybe even pushed pulled you back? Anything like that, like family or or maybe certain people didn't allow you to do certain things. Not really.
You know, from, I mean, from the very beginning I was already thinking like, don't try to do too many things about Hong Kong, 'cause, I mean, when I watched people do The Tonight Show and everything, I'm like, well, they won't know what I'm talking about. You know, like try to. Make it as generic as possible and a lot of Seinfeld's jokes I thought were just so accessible to anyone you know and. Now I'm. Even more to the point, like, all right, get into as many personal observations that
people can relate to everyone. You could talk about MTR because everyone can relate to being on the same way. You don't have to say MTR, whatever the local thing is. Yeah, it was the hand reel thing, relationships. But if it's gonna be super specific like and this having locals material is great. But just to know that if you ever go anywhere else, you can't, you won't do it in New York, you won't do it in wherever you go.
So I was always thinking like, try to get some stuff that you could say that has no Hong Kong reference in it, you know, and try to maybe stuff like I could talk about my mom and my dad and my family every oh, dad will love. It, yeah, you know what I mean? That makes. Sense anywhere, Yeah, Yeah. And I think. That's a really good introduction to you as well. That I oh, this guy's cool. I never thought about this.
Could be but when I. Talked about being Filipino in San Francisco. They were kind of like, I was offense. They were offended and I'm like, but you guys did those things. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But. Then, but over there, a lot of Filipinos over there, right there are, but. This. They're not the ones offended. They actually like it the most. Dude, it's same. It's. Always the white guy, Yeah, yeah, yeah, same dude. When I was like guys are actually. Fine.
It's their girlfriends. Oh, the Filipino. Girlfriends. Are you saying that the white, white, the white girls. Oh, wow, That's weird. She's like, you should be laughing at those people. It's like, what? What? So yeah, yeah, yeah, it's the police. They like to control whatever people are, but that just means that I haven't learned how to step around.
I think the. Same with me same deal like I had that issue where I'm like I'm OK like I I even tried Muhammad did I tried it over there I I was like it was all right they there you go they liked the the the police calling me Muhammad instead of Mahboobani. They didn't like the Muhammad did that the pack cause OK so the bid is basically I guess I'll by the police getting my ID card checked and then my surname is Mahbbani.
The police is trying to guess my name here in Hong Kong clearly cannot pronounce Mahbbani C the letter M best guess is Muhammad. And because in Hong Kong pronunciation isn't the the best strength we have in the city so the guys like Muhammad did like past tense and I think the Muhammad did past tense thing. They're like why is it did I don't get it, you know so they like in Australia, they were just not getting the Muhammad did part. They get the Muhammad 'cause
they do that with. Everything. Every word. Yeah, that they know. Yeah, exactly. They're probably. Did everything Strong did. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. All that kind of stuff. Yeah. So that was the thing. I think. So you have also noticed the same thing where you went there. You're like, this is a bit about me, which I'm OK with, and yet you are not OK with because you're not even me. But you're like, that's not right.
You should not be saying. And that was the thing we experienced in 2015 when we did comedies on Asia, a bunch of like 5 or 6 comedians from Asia all over us coming there and doing the showcase show. And every night when we see like majority white audience, we're like, oh man, this is gonna be tough, 'cause they're gonna sit there and go like, can we laugh? I don't know. That's not right. I'm like, we are all laughing. We are all OK, do you see this
line up? Do you see how we're making fun of each other and we're doing the same show together? That's actually means it's so hard. 'Cause, I mean it's this is this is the challenge, so I accept it, but it's also like funny funniness is relative and like people get offended, right? Which Which it'll happen. I and we have to be aware of that. But at the same time, I, I, I would never say this in a show, but I always think it like, you know that we're just trying to
make you guys happy, right? All we're trying to do is make you guys happy. So when you get offended, that's just because we messed up, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, like you. Sound like such a bitch, Yeah, yeah. Fair enough. Yeah. I mean, you did come in here and say, like, let's give it a chance to see if these guys can make us happy.
If they don't, they don't, you know, I mean, there's many ways to look at it. The funny thing is that people will come in with a certain mentality of like, oh, but I'm beneath us. For example, when people curse online and they don't put like FUCK, they put like F **** K let's say F ** K You're like dude. It's like it's like Louis CK saying say don't say the N word. You're making me think the N word now making me say to me. Making me yeah because. I'm not the bad guy.
Take credit for your. Own work? Yeah, exactly. And that was. So brilliant because, like, it's true. Because it's like you're trying to be better than me, but you're like, you're the one in Sydney instigating the whole idea of this word. It's like, why are you doing that? You know, trying to be like a joke, by the way. That's brilliant. The best thing was like. His, his, like, his joke about
that. His joke about like, you know, faggot, I'm like, you see, you have to have someone that's strong enough for that belief where he's like, look, I'm way past the whole, like, insulting. I'm not saying, yeah, you know, say this and insult anybody or like hurt someone's, like, dude, can we come back to the basics of let's put aside all the PC and really look at the actual thing? They're just words. They're just words, you know?
And sure, they can have a lot of symbolism and everything, but at the end of the day, dude, it is your mind that's creating the symbolism for that word that you just heard. So it's really that kind of you deciding whether or not that's offensive or not. Yeah, it's like. Grow up, right? Exactly. Grow up. Yeah. Come on, man, there, there has been a. Real travesty in the world. Are you like, watching The History Channel, being offended? I just talked to Schindler's List. How could?
Like, yeah, that, yeah, that was the real situation. That's why I I love talking to. I feel like I could say things to you that I wouldn't say to someone that doesn't do. Stand up and 'cause you will get it. You get it and you won't be offended. You're like, what about this? And especially, what was it? That's why I like hanging out with comics, 'cause you can make what people would think are horrible jokes, but we're just testing them out, you know? We're.
Not going to be offended. And that's why when we do a show and we hang out after, it's so much fun, but when audience joins us, I hate it so much and I want to go home. So there's OK, so. There's two types of audience interaction after the show. There's the type where they're genuine. Fans just want to hang out and you know, enjoy and everything. They loved it. They had a good time. They don't want to hang. Out. They want to try to make us laugh or try to be down. See that's.
The other type, the type where they don't need it. Yeah, yeah. And that's the one I don't, I don't appreciate because I'm like guys like this is our job. Just let it go, you know, like we don't not need you to entertain us back. We're not impressed whether you're funny or not. Yeah, and you won't be. You won't be. Promised you won't. Probably 100 percent, 99% You won't be funny. Yeah, yeah, oddly. Enough though. Like what I do enjoy after comedy shows.
Hanging out with comedians is like not even talking about bits and ideas. It's just talking about life, you know, just like, hey, man, like, you know what's what? What have you been dealing with? You know, what's your tour like? What? You know, what was tonight's show? Yeah. And then I'll mock. You relentlessly. Yeah about it. Won't take it personally. Yeah. I'm like, it's so fun. Yeah. Yeah, exactly 'cause you. Know, it's like, it's like office banter.
You know, when you're in a good relationship with your colleagues, you're willing to make the, like the The office, the TV series when you make fun of each other. So yeah, exactly. You're like, we're at the level. Like, I know this guy's doing that. The pure fun. Like you only roast the ones you love kind of a deal. It's the best. Yeah, it's the best over there. Alright, OK, OK, let's change gears again because like, we're getting a bit too technical.
Again, this is a problem we always do with this podcast. When we get comedians on, we get into like super technical comedian territory and people are like, but why am I doing the Conan? O'Brien needs a friend, yeah. He keeps it real. Yeah, exactly. That's. Much better, man. At least he's at least he's funny. The two of you 22 funnies are not funnier. The hell is wrong with this. Sounds like they already. Have a friend? Yeah, we don't need that. I'm turning. This one off?
Yeah. Yeah. OK, so again, I want to go back to our career that. I mean, the comedy world that we're now living in is very different now. I'm not saying again, I'm not trying to see like, oh, who's doing this thing successfully, whatever. But it's like the the situation you're in, the type of personality. Like would you be the type of comedian who thoroughly enjoys after show meet and greets if you did your solo show? That's one thing I would do it. Because I I, I like.
I like the work aspect of it. I wouldn't necessarily enjoy it, but I would try to do it to the I I pretend like I'm having a good time. Yeah, so you're doing. It because it's part of the job kind of a deal, right? Like this is the whole package. I got to do the meet and greets and everything. That's what I found out this time is that I actually thoroughly enjoyed the meet and greets. That's great because I get to see my audience now be like, oh, these are the people coming.
Like the best part of my show, honestly, is when I finish the show and we do like a group photos together with with the audience, they turn up the lights of the room and that's when I get to see the room actually full. That's cool. And that dude, like, is such a different level. You see the MTCS, like, I'll be full of people and everything, but you can't really see because it's all dark, right? And then when you turn up the
lights, like, whoa. And I remember precisely certain nights when I'm like, oh, the numbers are, you know, half full, whatever. And then each other nice. Like, whoa, wait, hold on a second. The whoa, This is not what I thought it was gonna be. This is, this feels fuller, or at least feels fuller in a sense, you know? And ultimately, what I really like is that at the end, when the lights are on, that's when the audience gets to see themselves as well.
And then that's where the true colors come in. If you had a good show, they're happy to be in your video. Whatever. Like, yeah, man, I'm happy to be over here. I'm glad we had a good time. If you have a bad show, they'll be like a hostage situation, but you don't have to worry about that. Meet and greet. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. They're like, yeah, don't worry, we'll we'll be gone. It's more like buy and. Fly. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I don't know, like, over time, doing these solo shows overseas especially, it's really made me realize that even here in Hong Kong, yeah, you do a set and you leave. Now, you know me. Like, I don't really hang out much after the shows anyway. Not so much because I'm not a hangout guy, 'cause, like, I'm not a big drinking guy. I'd rather, yeah, you know, I'd rather have have food and
dessert, snacks or whatever. And secondly, like, yeah, my life is only just too busy when I'm like, I got shit to do anyway. But what I do realize is that with festivals, Chris, the one thing you get to enjoy is, let's say you have a you have a show, right? You're doing a show, and your show's at 8:00. Comedians will probably hang out on that seat till six. I got to show my 6:30. You have show at 7:30, you got to show at 8:00. And then somehow we'll just have
a group text. But I just wanted my show. What are you guys watching? And I'll go watch the same show with you. And then afterwards I'm going to go to the festival club, which is basically the after show club where comedians hang out. And then we'll see each other over there. Yeah, whatever. We'll see each other there, you know? And then after the club, if you're hungry, like, who wants to go eat some food after this? And then that's where you just
talk smack and everything. And I think that's the thing. That's what I appreciate because, like, you've got comedians where not just doing a set, they're doing their show. And they have to own that show in the sense that when their crowd sucks, they eat it. Have to eat the whole show. When the crowd is good, you're like, oh dude, I Oh my God, body man. And I think that is such a different thing compared to Hong Kong where we're doing a set.
You do a 10 minute set, whatever, and then you hang out after the show just and I'm like, I feel that you haven't earned that hang out yet. Yeah, it's not the. Same, yeah, you're just. Going for a quick workout? Yeah, you didn't do a marathon. Well, how would you feel if? You had like four sets. Back-to-back over the whole night, yeah, yeah. Then you've done the full, proper workout. Then you feel. Right. Yeah. OK. Yeah.
Like the thing for me? Is that a lot of times I find that you're basically doing like a bicep curl and thinking like, yeah, I did a bicep curl. Yeah, let's all hang out now. I'm like, well, you just did a bicep curl. That really isn't a real proper workout. I love the way. You mention this cuz it's about time on stage, right? Yeah. And so I always tell people like, why it's hard to get better in Hong Kong. Yeah, I'm like, Max, average comedian. What's the Max they could do in
Hong Kong? And it's going to include open mics, which aren't ideal. An ideal, yeah. Yeah, so what's? It 3-4 per week Max and that's already a lot, right? And it's like if you wanted to get healthy and work out, would you tell someone to work out three, four times a week, 5 to 15 minutes for workout session? Yeah. Yeah, what? Results you would have, yeah, you maintain. You won't exactly grow. I think you would. Eat yourself out of the whatever reduction you got.
If you worked out, you should do 30 minutes every day or something like that, right? But are you? Able to okay. So for me my whole thing is that I'll go to open mic and I'll be a bit cheeky and I'm like, hey, at the end of the open mic can I do another 10? Can I do another? And usually of course with my little status I get a little privilege. I'm like, OK fine, you can do whatever you want.
And I'm willing to go on the open mic at the end and wait till the end and do an extra 10 just to run that stuff by myself. And then same set, same set and no, no, we new stuff that I didn't do in the in the open mic earlier on because the open mic you get like 5 minutes, right? I'm like, there's no way 'cause if I'm doing an hour show, I'm not writing 5 minutes and going up there and OK, that's a week we come back next week. I'm like no, no no, I need to
work 15 minutes per week. Also depends if. The open mic suck. Like sometimes they could suck. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they can suck. Such a waste, Yeah, yeah. Yeah, true. True. But I don't know. Like, I've built. Maybe. Again I'm telling you man like having the festival deadline having to do the solo show. You're on your own. You die up there by yourself man. Like something nice.
You're like man, I'm gonna be struggling all night long here you know and you do that enough where you go to open mic. You're like buddy if this open mic hurts me I'll be dead when I'm. I do the the whole hour by myself Because don't don't forget like you might have a small crowd The crowd's not laughing you're there by yourself you have no oh oh by the way you don't get opening act. You're self introducing cold crowd. No host, no nothing. You go up there and that's it. That's legit.
You're legit, man. You finish it and you clean up and you pick up and you walk out. So if you're on your own, literally like you are the one picking up your camera at the corner of the room and going outside afterwards, you go in there like let's say of course you have a manager and all that shit, they'll do it for you. But I'm. I'm saying the beginnings, OK, Like I'll give you an example. OK, so every show would be whatever time of night 4:30 with my tech check.
I'll go into the room. Sound like everything, and to the point that let's try the sound out. That sounds pretty straightforward. Easy going? No problem. The monitors on stage 1 monitors or not? Whatever. All good. Then the lights? Okay. Then you have to have Showtime lights while you're performing. How much is the wash on your face? As in, how wide is the spotlight? Then what about the backlights? In other words, what I notice over there, like they will appreciate that your shadow
should not be black. They'll give you some lights just to light up the shadows so you get a little tint on it so it's not so boring and flat. Secondly, what about the walk on lighting? Do they flick around? Do they do they flash? What's going on? Then you got the end of show lighting, you got the audience walk in lighting all that stuff you're like oh this is pretty cool to have to worry about to the point that literally my one hour set is like, I will worry about that 5 minutes for the
show. Let me get all this shit done because once the show's when people coming in, I can't do it under this right And then you have all that stuff going. Then if you self introduce yourself where you got to get them going. And the cool thing is that you can hear them when they coming in. You can hear the vibe already. You're backstage like oh people are talking and I'm like all right then that's a good show. Some nights are like sitting there like waiting for the show
to start. You're like shit, they're cold dude you know And then yeah like museum. And the good thing is that when you do back-to-back night after night, same hour dude, by the 4th show you're solid dude. That's. So cool. That's what I mean, man. And that was what I learned when I did my first solo show. I did like 2015, I did one hour show once, whatever 2016 did one hour show, 2017 we were doing back-to-back night after night, same set.
OK, same exact set. So you got three nights to kind of refine a little bit here, maybe throw that away, add this one over there. So by the 4th night that's your set that you do the whole run. And when you do like a tour, dude, like I did Melbourne 12 shows in Melbourne by the 4th night I'm like alright, this, this is the set. We've got it down right you and you feel the confidence where you're like they're not laughing. Okay. Wait, wait, that's. I could only. Imagine.
Yeah, right. I could only. Imagine. Being confident going into a set like that, Yeah, yeah, you know, so. Awesome. Yeah, you know that. And then different cities as well, and you can feel the difference. For example, when I went to Sydney, I did two nights, right? I did like 2 shows back-to-back, 'cause we sell pretty well. So I added an extra show. And the first show, you could see people came in, they were a bit reserved. They're like, OK, he's gonna be
funny. He's speaking Cantonese. Sure. But you know, we'll give him a chance. And just seeing them go from, I wonder if he's funny into like, huh. He seems to be consistently funny. And then, like, by the end, they're like losing it, man. They're like whole. What the hell just happened here, man? Right. And then you see people leaving the first show. OK, so I'll tell you 830 was my sorry. 7:00 was my first show in Sydney, and I'm doing an hour. OK, so by around 7:00 was my
first show. So by around 8:00, I'm done. 830 is my next show, All right, so 845, whatever, Right, So you have people coming into the next show. I'm outside taking photos with the first show and the next show. People are watching people, like, taking photos happily, like, oh shit, this this seems like a good show. And then they're warmed up. Yeah, they see the. The previous audience was so happy and they want to meet you and you people like. Smiling. Taking photos.
Is that like, oh, it was really fun. They're like shit, man, My Oh my God, I'm excited now. And 2nd show is fire. They walked in, they sat down and they're like, oh, this is going to be a good show. I need whatever they had, man. We're going to get some of that. This would be so good. I feel like with me the. 2nd audience would be like, I wonder what was wrong with that first time. Yeah. I mean, yeah. He's hate them. Was that real? No way, man. It. Must be actors. Yeah. Right.
And that's to me, like, this is the thing on the reaction, I think is that as comedians, we always doubt we're like, I don't know, man, they're going to think it's pretentious, what the hell. But it is. When I finally gotten over that, like for example, I'll print phone boards with like the city's name and like, oh, the show was funny and with a date on it. When they take photos to hold on the phone board just for
branding reasons, number one. And to remember what show it was Because you remember after 10 years, right? And then just that itself, maybe. Kind of like, this is so pretentious, man, I'm printing my own board saying this, guys. Funny. Yeah, you know, I love how you think it's pretentious first. Yeah, it is. That's what comics. Yeah, that's what comics things. Oh God, I can't believe this is for lame people. Like marketing people to do right? Like dude.
I designed my own poster. I Photoshopped it myself. I took my own photos, man, like the room you're in right now. Everything exactly where I was sitting to take my own photos, right? With lights and everything, right? One man show. 01 Man on totally, totally on, right? And I loved it. I loved it. But The thing is, I'm just like this is. I can't believe I'm retouching
my face. This is this is painful, dude, you know, 'cause I know every floor and I'm like, God damn, yeah, so. But the good thing is that I always remind myself that the audience are here just for a show. That's all they see. They're not noticing the lights, they're not noticing the the mic brand, they're not noticing your your pacing, they're not noticing your shirt. But somehow if you don't do it that way, they're going to notice the error.
For example, just for an experiment on, I believe, my fourth night in Melbourne, I decided not to wear my black blazer, white T-shirt. That's it. I was like, you know what this is? Try. And that night I could sense the audience going like, hmm, they were not convinced initially because this guy in the T-shirt and pants, like, it's just some guy talking with the blazer. Like this guy's got authority. And I'm like, that's exactly what I was guessing.
I was like, I wonder if really this has an impact. Like it straight up has just coming out. They're like, all right this this looks legit here. I think you'd be. Fine. Yeah. If everyone knows you, but they don't know you as well. Correct. So they, they know you from the picture, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's what you're saying. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And then? When you come out with a T-shirt like, OK, it's this guy.
Let's watch the show, right. But here they're like, oh, this is the legend this we've heard him a newspaper whatever. Like Oh my God, he OK, whatever. We're here to see him. Like you're not looking at Dave Schipelgo like he's looking a Who's taking a wife beater at the fuck you know, like paid for a blazer. Yeah, exactly. I was promised a blazer. What the hell are the this short sleeve bullshit? Yeah, exactly. Come on show. Some respect, man. Show some respect. Yeah.
So there's none of that. I mean, so that was the thing, man. That's what I mean by, again, whoever is aspired to be a comedian who's listening to this now or has been to comedy shows, like, I highly recommend if you're able to one day, if you love comedy, you need to go to one of these festivals and just be in the vibe. I went to Edinburgh last year just to watch shows and like this is insane, like I went to Edinburgh. 2009, I think, Yeah, yeah, way back, man. That's way different, man.
It was crazy. It was crazy. And the best thing is, Edinburgh was my first experience of like a hot room with no ventilation. Yeah, they have those rooms and I'm like, what the fuck is going on? They're like, yeah, I loved. It it was so cool. It's such a cool city. Yeah. And you could you're right. You go from one show to 1 show and you could just you're it's like you're it's like you're in a hurry to get to the next thing. Oh, I want to get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Watch some movies. You get 10 minutes. To go yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's insane. And your hours just go by. Yeah, I was there. With Paulo Gotta and we were sitting. We got tickets to watch Margaret show. It's so cool you're sitting with Paulo Gotta watching Margaret show. It's bizarre. It's bizarre. It's so cool, right at the same time. So I know I. Know like that's my next thing, man.
Like right now, again, this is all comics talking and everything, but like right now, the host show hanging out with comics, the Asian comics, that's done. We know each other well enough. We respect each other well enough. Like, I use your show all you do my show, we'll see each other later on. Right to the point that it's like the the show is just like I just it's just basically a little obstacle between us hanging out. I still think people. Could be. I think we.
I think people could be better. I think we could raise the bar. Yeah, a little bit. Even in a even in a solid lineup. Yeah, I think, I think like if someone, if if all of us were to be told to do 5 minutes, for example, would we have the killer 5? I don't think so. And now I'm not. I'm not dissing us because one of the reasons I mentioned that when Nate Bargatze went back to do Saturday Night Live, he'd
only been doing hours. And he said, so he's like, I got to get back into like 810 minutes and he's like it was not great, a couple of them not great and he's great and he's like a couple of them weren't great. Wasn't used to it. And I feel like with us, because it's so easy to get on stage, yeah, that you get, We get a little sloppy sometimes. We go into the crowd. Work a little too quick. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Where are you? Where are you from? No laugh. What do you do?
No laugh. And you keep going. Yeah. Yeah. But when you see guys do that in the in the States or wherever you get those laughs, yeah, so. Fast, yeah, yeah. They know what to do with that. There's no downtime. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For those guys. Yeah. And. That's the one thing I tell people is that I always and it's for me as it like just Jerry Seinfeld said the same thing he's like I'm not here to see you do crowd work. I'm here to see your set like do your set.
I'm here to see you been watching crowd work. It's different. I'll I'll put it. I mean you know we you've seen me before like when I was at the takeout and stuff I'll do a lot of crowd work as well just because oh let's try out this crowd you know. But as I, as I overtime grew I was like crowd work is generic for a lot of comedians. OK. Any comedian can do crowd work. And if an audience came to watch crowd work and they watched a previous show where I had crowd
work. They come to your shows crowd work. They're like, come on, man. Like I saw crowd work. We get it. Yeah. It's like me doing Indian, Indian bits, you know, like Indian people, you know, we have it. Like we we saw the previous comedian. He talks about being Indian. We get it. Yeah, unless you. Could do it. That takes me to a place like it'll never be like that. I know it's a high bar, but like that Bill Burr show we talked about like that took me to a
place I'll never forget. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know. Yeah. It'll never be like that. It's always like, oh, he made some clever pun out of her job and you related it back to this other group of people who had, like, an equally awkward job. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was a little call back. Yeah. You know any any other comedian could have probably done that. Anyway, so there's nothing signature to you for doing that. Yeah.
And hence why it's like after a while you're like, you know I've seen this connection of like what do you do Oh, OK you don't want to be telling be more specific what you do some like CIA shit. It's like OK, but you getting. Stopped by the police, for example. That's unique. I'm already interested. It's already a good topic. You just say, stop by the police and I'll be like, huh. Yeah, Get going. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you have all these. Great. Lines about it, like that's what
I want to hear. Like a bit, yeah. Exactly. And then that's the one will that will get people to again, this brings us to the current world of social media, where you have a lot of comedians who will post videos of them doing crowd work, which again, is a quick easy because basically it's it's stuff you can throw away easily, put it online and get the likes and everything. Which again, I'm not, I'm not saying, oh, this is terrible,
this is shit. It's just like what I've learned over time is that I really took a lot of time to think about myself and like, oh, would I want to put bits like that now? I can. But if you notice now I really do any crowd work, mostly because my time on stage is so
precious. I'm like, I don't want to waste it asking you what you do. I have this idea I'm trying to work on and I want to make that work and I'm going to, if I have only 5 minutes, I'm going to practice that idea another 5 minutes rather than like, you know what? I think I got it down. Let me talk to you. No, no, no, I can refine it even a bit more. So therefore, crowd work is I've lost the appeal to it again.
Really. Yeah, 'cause like, I mean, you remember right before, I would remember when way back we were doing shows to take out and like, I would do like, crowd work and everything in between. And there's always that guy, doesn't be Cantonese and this. Now I'm off that. And it was fun. It was really fun, 'cause I saw Paulo. Gotta do it. And I'm like, whoa, that's so cool, you know, making shit on the spot. Wah, wah, wah, right. And it was fun. It was fun.
But as a artist, as a person of doing this craft, I feel it doesn't really. It's like, kind of, OK, you're a bodybuilder, OK, you can just randomly lift heavy shit. You'll get buff. Fair. But if you're trying to be a bodybuilder, you need to have targeted training where you're like, I need to move my arm this specific way to work on the muscle from this angle, Not I'm pushing forward, you know, like doing a push up, but you're not thinking about just just raising up from the floor.
No, no, no, no. I'm putting my hand at this angle, cuz I know that's gonna pull this muscle in this way because this muscle bit off from that muscle. And I need to work on this particular fiber over here. And I think that's what I've learned over time, is that I'm trying to train myself where I'm literally picking that specific machine. It's the. I think the bigger picture, and I think that's such a much
better approach. I I remember you being very good at crowd work, but I remember you doing it because we'll be in a weird venue and then. I'll. I remember like, I'll just, I'm I'm like, I'm going to do my set. I don't care. And I just did it and it was like, all right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you would have like 15, but you'd end up doing 30, 'cause you're like getting everyone into the show. And I'm like, this guy is fucking working. God damn man, this guy.
He's sweating. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Puts that he's. Plastered that smile on his face. I know he hates these people, but he's like, it's going, yeah, you relate back to the guy. Yeah, together and. Then by the end, you're. Like getting an applause break. And every time I knew you'd do it. Every time I was like, damn. But I didn't know that you didn't wanna do that. Yeah, yeah. No. I mean at that time I did cuz it was so cool, but I was at that
stage in my comedy career. I'm like, I just wanna get laughs. Yeah. And I tell people now I'm still at that stage. OK, there you go. How to do it? Oh yeah, I'm still. Trying to get a laughs, right? Yeah, I just. I like. Steve Barn. I just get up there and I enjoy the silence. Yeah. I mean, hey, everyone, Each two of their own, you know? Yeah, yeah. The audience doesn't understand. But it's OK. We get it. Yeah, the comics. Laugh. Kind of, Yeah. Yeah, that we don't.
They're, they're not particular bias. Who gives a shit about them? Yeah. No. OK, Yeah. And that's what I mean. I think that's what I've learned over time and again. Maybe people who listen to podcasts will know that. How the evolution between me and Muhammad. I'm sure when he comes back after after Australia, he will have another angle on the world
of comedy. Which is why coming back to what I told you in the beginning, Chris, like just as a comedian, to a comedian who's been in this kind of scene long enough, the one thing that has broken the bottleneck slash been the tipping point is to be in the Comedy Festival and doing it night after night. That is a complete change.
It's like it's one of those things where you can go to the gym three times a week, every week for the next 10 years, but to be able to go to the gym every single day, it's not so much about doing the same doing the workout. Like you could actually do the same kind of workouts over time. In other words, if I don't need to do 3 bicep curls on Monday and three tricep extensions on Tuesday, I could have done three bicycles and three tricep extensions on Tuesday.
And it's been the same. Mathematically and scientifically, it's exactly the same, right? However, to do the bicep curl tricep curls is that every day of the week for like the next three weeks or four weeks, you're building a mental discipline, a mental muscle where now you can talk to your bicep to a level that you can talk to your tricep while you're talking to bicep at the same time. Well, to. Extend this metaphor even further.
Yeah, imagine you doing that workout, But you're at Gold's Gym. Yeah, in Los Angeles in the 70s. And who are you working out next to? Arnold Schwarzenegger? Who are those other guys? Monie Coleman. All those the guy that this short guy, Joe. I forget now, but yeah. Short guy, but Jake. Cutler. No, but. Those are that you're not working out? Next to those guys and not like pushing extra Rep. Like. How do I do that? And if you're in Melbourne,
yeah. Or if you're in like some Comedy City, you're seeing these greats come in and you're not going to be half ass in it. You're going to be like, shit, I suck, dude. I gotta up my game, dude. I'm. Telling you, man, like this is, and I'll tell you this, when your own peers raise the bar, like for example, Jason Leung, So cool dude. He was doing the full festival run. That's like 20 something shows each night. 150 seater sold out, all sold out. Just do the math, man.
And then he added like, I think 4, four more shows of five minute seats per night. OK. Really. Yeah. He's coming to Hong Kong, 8th of June 1000 Seater. Oh, oh, you mean. For here, Yeah, I think I saw that, yeah. But he He. In Melbourne he added four shows, 5 minute seat room per show. That's another 2000 seats he's added. And the thing you can see is, is the honest hustle and willingness to really go in and really do his thing. He will take on sets of
anything. He's like I'm going to go there, do a 5 minute set, I don't care. And when you see your own pure doing that, you're like, man, I better be at the level. If I want to call my peer, we better be doing that. And I think that's the one thing that I really don't know. Hence the when the while they're playing checkers, I'm playing chesting. It really clicked in my head where I was like, OK, you know what? I'm not saying who's better or worse.
I'm literally playing a different game from everyone. I'm not here to do a 5 minute set and have a drink. I don't care about the drink coupon. I'm here to work on that 5 minutes because that 5 minutes is going to eventually be added up to my one hour. Then I'm going to be taking all over the world to do shows, you know. So that's the whole strategy, not just the quick laughs up here.
And when that laugh doesn't come, I'm like, that's OK, I got my workout in. Coming back to the Judge Steinfeld thing of like, it's kind of the tonnage thing. Everyone's got the workout in. You got to get the workout in. Yeah. And I think people like you and myself, like we are willing to keep it consistent.
The only difference I would say is that maybe because of my this being my full time thing, I'm able to direct it into an actual performance where I have to take it around the world because I have to do that. It's not like I this other way to pay my bills. Like this is it. I have to make it happen and I think it's a it's a kind of like a double edged sword where I can either like fall completely like die in The Cave where I might go overseas spend all this money.
I'm like man, I'm not selling tickets I'm losing money over here. Shit, I'm in trouble or hey man, I we've established that it's the next step. So coming back to Hong Kong like if you told me now can you take the cat that that that one hour show that I did in Australia. I come back to Hong Kong. I'm like, dude, I will confidently tell you that's a solid hour that I can like too heavy here without even having. Yeah.
So that's why. I mean, that's why I tell all the comedians I'm like, man, go to the festivals, man, Go do the just experience it and then like, see what the next step is for yourself. Yeah. Well, that's great, man. This is crazy.
I mean it it's, it's bizarre, like just talking to you, like after all these years talking comedy because it's different talking to, let's say, someone like yourself who's been the pure since day one versus someone who's like been in the scene like, Oh yeah, Hong Kong's like this. I'm like, it's very different over there. Yeah. But OK, Chris, how do people get to know your next step in comedy or follow you or whatever? Oh. Like my Instagram? Instagram. Yeah, what? Is it? It's Chris.
Moosny, Chris. under score. Moosny. So, CHRI. S under score MUSNI. Yeah, that's right. Instagram over there. Exactly right. And what about your If you want to know when you're performing next, will you be posting it over there as well? Yeah. I'll be you'll find it on there because the backstage will post there and everyone else tends tends to post there. So it'll be on my stories and all that stuff. Yeah. So if you just.
Follow the backstage HK. You probably see the lineup and Chris Music is one of the regulars over there. If you go to an open mic night especially, I believe Aftermath is one I definitely see the most because that's when I go to anyway. Yeah, so you see at the Aftermath on Tuesday nights, are you doing the Monday nights as well at bar 109? Not really not. So much, right? Yeah, me neither. Yeah, What about carbon bruises? Still on. I did that. Once I kind of want to wait and
see if it'll survive. OK, OK, OK, fair enough. Yeah, but you guys should definitely check it out. OK, well. Either way, Chris under score Muse Knee goes on Instagram to go check it out. Follow him and you can see what's happening over here. And who knows man, maybe this time next year something will click, some opportunity will happen, and then you will take your thing, do your own solo show over here.
And like honestly man, I would say the one thing I would tell people who have been in Hong Kong comedy scene long enough to see the scene grow and evolve. It is like you are at the you're The Pioneers. So it is also kind of your responsibility to say, you know what, I need to have that that maybe solo show just under your belt. Just say I I I did it right, right, right.
And that'll be really. Cool to just say I'm like, wow, that'll be such a cool thing to see where like reverse to where I'm like, you're right, man, something. Have like a target. Yeah, you have to, Yeah. Yeah, and make that hour whether. And honestly, dude, like whether it's like 10 people, 10,000 people, it doesn't really matter. The point is having that hour under your belts, that I have that with me, whether I ever take it out and use it for anything, it doesn't matter. I have that.
And you have that credibility to keep going on with. That's cool, man. Yeah. All right, Well, anyway. Well, for anybody else who still wants to hear a bit more, we have the Patreon episodes. You got patreon.com/hoho pod if you want to support us. It's just $5 a month. You get to listen to some special content, usually better because I speak clearer and slower. Yeah, you see that. But it's always the little special stuff that we discussed.
We go to a topic that we like and we dig deep into it and discuss it. I can already predict that this will be still very calmly heavy for any of you who thought, oh, where's the entertainment look, This is what happens is that when two comments get into it, this is the actual technical nitty gritty of the the the scene that we're in, the things that we're doing. And the best thing you can do really is just go watch comedians and watching them
involve. It's just a fun thing where like me seeing Chris, whether it was a scandal of before being banned and this and that, which we'll talk about. Well, I made you on $5 a month, everybody. We can discuss on how it had an influence on the scene, not just your own career as well. But again, Chris, do you know when your next show is? Your next? On Saturday, This Saturday. Hold on, hold on. Yeah. Elevens. Yeah. OK, so.
It's literally this episode's coming out on Monday, and then he will be performing on the 11th Saturday night. I believe you should be performing in backstage. All right, so we'll check out backstage. JHK, go watch Chris music, go support different comedy. And if you're in Australia, go support other comedians who are flying in because we pay our own bills, man, it's tough. Thank you so much, everyone. And Muhammad, stop touching Annie. She's tired of it.
We've been together long enough. It's not love anymore.