Paul Ogata: Stand Up and Be Counted!

Paul Ogata moved to America from Tokyo as a young boy, and was once a rising star on the Honolulu City Parks & Recreation little league championship basketball team. But when everyone else seemed to be growing taller than he, and it became apparent that neither having the biggest muscles or the fastest legs was in the cards for this Japanese Hawaiian, Paul decided that it was time to forsake the sporting life. Staying indoors a lot more, the pint-sized lad started listening to comedy albums and got hooked. Soon, he found himself working hard on drawing the biggest laughs through developing another – and some would say more important – muscle: the quickest wit.

The full-grown stand-up comedian has since taken his finely toned humour to comedy clubs around the world, on TV, regularly appearing on CBS, NBC and Comedy Central, and even in the movies (Behind the Smile, Porndogs). This agent provocateur of cross-cultural and other general hilarity takes to the stage in the style of a classic jester, funnelling his insecurities, marital foibles and world events alike through a no-holds-barred, multi-barrelled, animated delivery that take audiences the world over hurtling along on a nonstop, laugh-till-it-hurts roller coaster ride.

In 2007, Paul won the 32nd Annual San Francisco International Comedy Competition, putting him in an exclusive club with the likes of comedy greats such as Dana Carvey, Sinbad and Jake Johannsen. His new CD, Paul Ogata Stands Up: Live in Hong Kong is now available online at the iTunes store.

Paul Ogata will join other great Asian comedic acts like Kumar (Singapore) and Harith Iskander (Malaysia) for the second annual Kings & Queen of Comedy Asia standup extravaganza, taking place in Singapore at the Esplanade Concert Hall on October 28 and 29, 2011. For more information, hop on to knqofcomedy.com.

Reader’s Digest Asia speaks to the funnyman in this interview.

What does it take to be funny?
You need to be missing the part of the brain called danger receptors. I made that name up, but it's the part that tells you, "Are you nuts? Don't do that!" Standing in front of hundreds of strangers, laying your insecurities bare and trying to elicit from them an involuntary emotional response is not something a sane person would do. You need to be fearless. Or stark raving mad.

Where do you mine for material?
The world is full of things that upset me: politics, the global financial meltdown, my marriage, Lady Gaga, slow drivers. Consider me the news anchor on CNN, reporting about things that are upsetting me today. If the world were a perfect place, I would be out of a job.

What do you think in your own life contributed to your decision to be a standup comic?
Ultimately, I believe that standup comics are broken people. I was an odd child who chose to write computer games and do magic shows for my cat, instead of playing outside with other kids. Comedy is, and was, my way of having friends over to play. Comedy lets me feel accepted.

When did you decide to dedicate yourself to the job seriously, and why?
I quit my day job in 2005 and moved to Los Angeles from Hawaii to devote myself to comedy. I had been travelling back and forth between Hawaii and LA to do shows, and when the balance began to tip in favour of LA, I knew that the time was right.

What does it take to be an Asian funnyman? What are the challenges or other specific issues involved?
I like that there are more and more Asian comedians every year. In the past, typical occupations for Asians in America were doctors, lawyers and engineers. It's good to know that today, Asian Americans can disappoint their families too. On the downside, I've actually been told by bookers that they couldn't have me on their show, because they "just had an Asian comedian last month."

Your ‘Asianism’ numbers are hilarious. Is your material almost always cross-culturally situated, and does that kind of material work best for your audience?
My life is one big cross-cultural situation. I grew up in America, in an Asian family. I'm Japanese, but my wife is Japanese-Hawaiian-Spanish. I live in California surrounded by Mexicans. Naturally my material will reflect that, although that's just a portion of what I do. Yes, there's other material, but my cross-cultural upbringing informs my worldview.
         My audiences enjoy that material because it brings all of us together in the same club. We all have our foibles, and when I shine a light on them, you realise that nobody is better than anyone else. We're all flawed – well, that's my theory anyway. When I make fun of my Japanese heritage, that breaks the ice and opens the door to making fun of everyone. Sometimes people really look forward to hearing about their culture and complain to me after the show if I don't address their particular heritage. That's certainly a weird feeling, having to apologise for not making fun of somebody!