Comedy, Ethnicity and Gender: What Happens When Chinese People Perform Stand-up Comedy in Britain?

This thesis focuses on stand-up comedy works performed by Chinese comedians Evelyn Mok, Phil Wang and Ken Cheng in Britain and foregrounds the unique role of stand-up comedy in the interpretation and representation of multiple identities onstage. Literature on stand-up comedy has paid little attention to Chinese comedians, whilst literature on Chinese people staged in the British theatre has seldom shed light on comedy performances. This thesis thus draws attention to the Chinese comedians whose stand-up comedy performances constantly construct and deconstruct concepts and ideologies regarding ethnicity, gender and everyday life through laughter. Meanwhile, this thesis questions the stereotypical understanding of Chineseness in Britain. Overall, it argues that stand-up comedy functions not only as a way of unshackling Chinese identity from the limited representations in British cultural works, but also as part of self- identification that enables Chinese comedians to understand and re-define themselves beyond the given identities. The process of becoming a comedian is also an exploration of humanities that transcend ethnic and gender differences. The research combines the theory of intersectionality with a phenomenological approach to live stand-up comedy performances. In this way, it recognises the complexity of performing Chinese diasporic identities in Britain and the importance of the lived experiences that deeply affect the perception of stand-up comedy performances. With the author’s own subjectivity as a Chinese woman, the analysis of stand-up comedy performances accentuates the bodily presence, especially the co-presence of the Chinese comedians and the Western audience, in the performance venues. It also considers the historical connection between the present and the past, situating stand-up comedy as a small but fundamental narrative that echoes the grand narratives of culture and politics in both Britain and China. In doing so, the advantages and risks of performing the Chinese identity through stand-up comedy emerge.