Newcomer Ronny Chieng doesn't waste any time trying to get the audience on his side. He outlines his interesting ethnic background – born in Malaysia to Chinese parents, several years spent in the United States and Singapore, and he did a law degree in Australia - but that mix is distilled into his Chinese ethnicity and its innate superiority to anything Western.
He says he's tried reclaiming the word 'chink', in the style of black rappers and the n-word
It's a refreshing approach, as generally comics crave our affection. In The Ron Way Chieng runs through various stereotypes about Chinese and other Asian people – “they're bad drivers and have small dicks” - and upends them, while at the same time liberally insulting his (mostly white) audience: “I'm the whitest guy in Malaysia. Except for the white guys fucking our women.”
Most of Chieng's act is based on his ethnicity and the barbed view he has of Westerners, with their less than clean habits – wearing shoes in the house, he says, is just weird – and their amazement that whole countries, including Malaysia, can be good at maths.
He says he's tried reclaiming the word “chink”, in the style of black rappers and the n-word, but passing other Chinese men in the street and saying “Stay yellow, my fellows” doesn't quite cut it. He also talks about being single at 27 (“40 in Chinese years”), and there are two very well performed set pieces on dealing with his mum's lack of internet knowledge and modern men's view of women.
There's less striking material, about dating, the golden age of the internet when it was troll-free, and other everyday matters. And, while the arrogance shtick wears a little thin and the hour could do with a little more light and shade, one can see why he won the 2012 Melbourne Comedy Festival best newcomer jointly with Matt Okine. One to watch.
- Ronny Chieng is at Soho Theatre, London W1 until 7 September
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