Now that Netflix has popularized streaming comedy specials, Amazon Prime Video is seems to be starting to make more of an effort in this area (or at least this is the first special I have noticed). Jimmy O. Yang’s ‘Good Deal‘ was just released on Friday, May 8th:
“In his debut standup special, Good Deal, Jimmy will tell you all about his take on Asian representation, how he learned to speak English from rap videos, dating tall women, and pursuing his dreams only to disappoint his old school Chinese parents. From assimilation to representation, Jimmy O. Yang delivers an absolutely hilarious hour of comedy in Good Deal.”
I’m a fan of Yang’s and got to see him perform live last November, so some of his jokes in his special were familiar to me. Overall, I really enjoyed the special, but I generally like comedy specials. If you already subscribe to Amazon Prime – the delivery service, then you already have Amazon Prime Video for free and can watch the special here (or in their mobile app).
From this interview, The Wrap provides some background on the special:
“Prior to taping, Yang spent four months touring to hone his material. He scouted the venue — Seattle’s Neptune Theater — and worked with his director and production designer on everything from lighting and staging to the colors he was going to wear.
“I toured Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco and San Jose, just to name a few cities, and they were all awesome. They were big metropolitan cities with big Asian populations, and a lot of my fanbase was there,” Yang explained to TheWrap.
“In Seattle, one of their big comedy clubs had closed down. I didn’t have a chance to tour there so that was one city that the audience hadn’t seen this new hour. At the same time, it was perfectly a tech hub without Silicon Valley. And secondly, it had a great, diverse population; people kinda just get the representation stuff. So it turned out to be a great decision. Some of my favorite AAPI comedians like Jo Koy’s ‘Live in Seattle’ and Ali Wong’s first special taped there.”
And while there are a fair number of Asian jokes, Yang’s hot takes on everyday situations like dating, apartment hunting, and (not) living up to parents’ expectations, are universally relatable.”
Looking back at Crazy Rich Asians, it’s amazing that since then, Ronny Chieng, Ken Jeong, and now Jimmy O. Yang have their own comedy specials, as well as Awkwafina having her own situation comedy. In addition, I was pleasantly surprised while watching the trailer for Netflix’s upcoming comedy, ‘Space Force,’ which debuts on May 29th, that Yang will be in the television series.
According to IMDB, Yang will be playing the character Dr. Chan Kaifang. I’m looking forward to watching the series!
