“The beginning and end of my creative expression”
RONNY CHIENG IS one of many who’ve used the Comedy Festival as a springboard to international attention. He’s currently a senior correspondent on The Daily Show in the US, recently premiered his own sitcom, Ronny Chieng: International Student, and even had a sizeable role in Hollywood’s Crazy Rich Asians. But Chieng can’t resist the pull of the stage. He’s bringing his new show, Tone Issues, to Melbourne Town Hall. “I’ve got some weird obsession with trying to make people laugh harder,” he says. “It’s 60 per cent insanity and 40 per cent because I started in performing through stand-up. Everything I’ve managed to get comes from it. Stand-up is the beginning and end of my creative expression.”
Chieng was born in Malaysia but was studying commerce and law at the University of Melbourne when he first gave stand-up a go. After a few months he entered the 2010 Raw Comedy competition, a festival institution. He eventually became a finalist but at the same time was offered a corporate job in Kuala Lumpur. “I had to decide: do I go do the job, or do I do stand-up? I just felt very strongly I had to go do this competition.” He’s established a strong career over the last decade but says he still feels a certain pressure. “When you’re starting out, you’ve got that feeling of, ‘I’ve got nothing to lose, I can go make my mark.’ And then when you’re known, it’s like, ‘Oh fuck, I have all these fans I could lose.’”
Ronny Chieng: Tone Issues
Melbourne Town Hall, 90-130 Swanston St, Melbourne 3000. comedyfestival.com.au. $44.90. Apr 5-6.