ENTERTAINMENT | US comedians bring laughter to town

Tom Segura (left), Pete Lee (middle) and Chad Daniels (right)

The audience was roaring with laughter at MGM Macau’s Lion’s Bar last night, thanks to a stand-up comedy show featuring Tom Segura, Pete Lee and Chad Daniels from the United States.
The three were on their ACME Comedy Club Asia Tour and Macau was their last stop.
Before last night’s show, the comedians spoke to the Times about their Asia Tour, which also marks the first time the three have travelled to this continent.
Pete Lee said that the show has been “incredible”, which he said was a “surprise”.“[It’s] a surprise to learn that we are funny over here in Asia too,” he said.
Both Tom Segura and Chad Daniels agreed with Pete Lee and said they enjoyed their trip here. Talking about their preparation for the Asian tour, while Chad Daniels said he did research about “the things to do and see” here, Pete Lee said that he has used the material for the audiences in New York.
“I knew that we are going to be performing for a lot of English-
speaking expatriates. I live in New York City and a lot of the crowds there are English- speaking expatriates. So, I kind of just plan to do the same material that I would do in New York City because it is kind of similar,” said Mr Lee.
He added that he had also talked to a lot of people who have seen comedy performances in Asia and figured that his would be similar to those here.
Nevertheless, he still found that some of the references did not work in Asia, which he said was understandable.
Meanwhile, Chad Daniels revealed that he was doing a different set every night. He stated that his performance last night “would be a big one.”
Moreover, Chad Daniels said that all three of them did worry about how their performance would translate. However, they soon realized that the audiences did understand them, which he said took a lot of pressure off their shoulders.
Tom Segura also said that he was very concerned. “I was a little more relaxed [after] because I’ve spoken with some friends who came over to Hong Kong literally a month or so ago and they had great experiences,” Tom Segura said.
“But it still doesn’t put you completely at ease. Even if they said it went well for them, I still have to experience it myself. I feel like I was comfortable after, not even the first show, maybe three shows,” said the comedian.
Furthermore, Tom Segura has observed that people are becoming more politically correct now, making race-related jokes a more sensitive issue. However, he is not concerned with this trend.
“I think if you have a well-crafted joke, the audience will still laugh at what you’re trying to make fun of,” he said.
“A smart joke can be written [in a way] that pokes fun [at] the stereotype if you construct it in a right way and people see what you’re saying and they’re not going to get offended by it.”
Pete Lee also thinks that a race-related joke would be funny as long as the “ration of edgy vs. funny” is right.
“Whatever you are [doing] have to be funnier than it is mean and racist and edgy. If the funny [part] outweighs the racist [part], the crowd will laugh,” he said.
The three comedians concluded that they enjoyed their Asian tour and would like to come back to the continent in the future.
Tom Segura said that when he returns to Asia for another tour, he would like to include mainland China and spend a longer time here exploring the country.

Stand-up gains popularity in the region

Tom, Pete and Chad’s performance is one of a series of stand-up comedy shows in the region, which have become increasingly popular and are attracting a growing audience in Macau. MGM is currently planning another stand-up show that will feature Tom Cotter and Paul Ogata and will take place around November. The Venetian Macao will also host the show of renowned Hong Kong comedian Dayo Wong on October 25.