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Speaker 1: It's an amazing place to hang out. Aero dot net

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a r r oe dot net because it's all about

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having a podcasting choice. It's not just one, it's twenty

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different podcasts. All Level Sports is one of them. In fact,

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just the other day I spend time with the writers

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and producers of professional wrestling. That is a story because

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we can all relate every generation. Where is it All

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Level Sports on aero dot Net a R r oe

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dot Net. Enjoy your exploration. Good morning, Jesse, how are

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you doing today?

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Speaker 2: I'm doing great. How are you doing well?

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Speaker 1: I'm very excited to share a conversation with you because

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you really do answer a lot of questions for me,

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especially in the way of everybody used to say, well,

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if in the country of the United States or any

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other part of the world, when a joke is shared,

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give it twenty five to thirty minutes, it'll be clear

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across to the other, to the other ocean. And and

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what I love about your book as you're going, yeah,

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it'll get there, but you know what, it's not. It's

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gonna be funnier in China, you know it's it's not

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gonna prove the same exact way in every part of

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the nation.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.

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Speaker 3: I mean, like it's it's kind of an interesting thing

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to think about, Like, you know, just like the comedy

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is going to be different in Boston versus you know whatever,

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Charlotte versus New York. You know, you go to China,

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it's a whole different thing. So the same joke, you know,

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done in different ways. Sometimes it's hilarious. Sometimes people don't

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even get it at all.

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Speaker 1: Well, it kind of upset me when I came down

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from Montana into nineteen eighty five. We used to tell

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North Dakota jokes up there. You can't tell them North

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Dakotin joke down here in the South.

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Speaker 3: It must be just like burning in your soul, that right.

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They're like they don't get it. They don't get it,

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and that's their problem.

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Speaker 2: That's so funny. What is what are the what are

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the South Dakota jokes? Oh?

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Speaker 1: My god, North Kodin jokes would be you know, it'd

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be one of those how many North Kotin you know

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does it take to do you know, to change a

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light bulb? Or North Dakota is Northakodin net And the

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funniest thing about it is when you sit down with

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a North Dakotin. They're telling Montana jokes, and it's like

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and it's that little region up there where we're bashing

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the hell out of each other like radio people. We

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smile about it and move on.

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Speaker 2: That's so funny. That's and that's the way it is

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in China too.

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Speaker 3: They have like Honan people jokes, like the joke about

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the people from Hunan provinces apparently they steal the sewer

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greats and then melt them down for pig iron Like who, Like,

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who knew?

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Speaker 2: I didn't know. I had to learn this.

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Speaker 3: I had to Like I had to go and do

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a bunch of gigs in a club and they mentioned

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about these like you know, this comedian would go on

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and do fifteen minutes, and then the host would come

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up and then say like you know, like yo, thanks

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for Seldy for coming on the stage. Hey give us

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back our sewer grat And then everybody would laugh and

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then I'm like what.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, speaking of that culture, you actually write in

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here that that comedy writers sleep in a heart shaped bed. Well,

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now I I had a round bed in Montana, but

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I didn't have a heart shaped bed. That would have

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been difficult.

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Speaker 2: That was so fun.

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Speaker 3: So this portion of the book is really funny. I

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was a writer on the Chinese version of Saturday Night Live.

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Basically week we had a new celebrity guest and everything,

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and you know, first table read, second table read, props, rehearsal,

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blah blah blah, you know, cameras live. And the only

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place that this that the comedy company could find for

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all of the comedians to live together in close company

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in Shanghai was in a love hotel.

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Speaker 2: And so there was.

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Speaker 3: So it was like we were like, I remember one

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of the other comedians, we went to his room to

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write together and he had this heart shaped bed and

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purple lights, and I was like, dude, like you know,

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one of them had like you know, they had like

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basically a post that you could put like chains or

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ropes or stuff like that. And I'm like, dude, you

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just like live here, like sleep in this bed all

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the time.

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Speaker 2: If you fall off. He was like, nah, it's fine,

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Like my god, that place hilarious.

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Speaker 1: I'm so jealous of what your eyes have digested because

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you have seen so much and you've i mean, you've

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got enough content inside that imagination to last more than

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one lifetime.

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Speaker 2: I hope, So I got it. You know, it's funny.

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Speaker 3: It's like the A lot of stuff is really funny

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when it's there, and then you kind of tell the

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story here and it's hard to get across. And then

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sometimes stuff that didn't even see that funny in the moment,

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you try to explain it here and people are.

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Speaker 2: Like, that's that's amazing, that's hilarious.

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Speaker 3: In the time when I was doing that show, and

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you know, he had the heart shaped bed, you know,

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my place also had some purple, funky mood lights, and like,

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in hindsight, it's really really funny. In the moment, I

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was like, you know, I just got to get to

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my bed and I click the lights and you know,

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I don't.

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Speaker 2: The lights don't go on.

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Speaker 3: It's all strobing, and I'm like, oh, I gotta be

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up tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: Like you know it was, it wasn't funny in the moment.

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Sometimes and then I go back, I'm like, that was wacky.

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That was wacko.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, But don't you enjoy it though, when and

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when something does bomb and your mind instantly reacts. And

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the reason why I bring that up is because I'll

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take a pot shot at Tom Brady and if you're

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not a football fan, you will never understand what I

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just said. And man, I mean it's a total belly flop,

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and I'm going to shit. I gotta get out of this,

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you know, it gets yeah of it quickly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I mean that was one of the things

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I think I always had to challenge myself to make

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sure that I bombed something in the beginning.

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Speaker 2: Now, And I don't say that in an erga way.

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Speaker 3: I'm just saying in the beginning, I know bits, yeah,

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and then once five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, you know,

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because I was American everywhere I went, ironically, I had

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a lot of jokes that just came with me and

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my experience. And you know, I go on stage, I'm

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the only American at all these shows.

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Speaker 2: You know, I have a lot of jokes I can do.

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Speaker 3: And so once I had fifteen minutes, I had the

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option if I wanted to, of having a good show

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that night. But if you just do the same jokes

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over and over and over and over and over and

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over over again, you know you're not growing. And so

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even to this day, I really you know, it's not

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a bad sign to bomb some jokes. It means that

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you're actually trying to write new stuff and you're trying

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to expand beyond what you know how to do. And

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so that was that was something that my my my

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comedy master who I apprenticed to, that we talk about

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in the book. You know, he was always trying to

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make me learn new routines and routines that you know,

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I didn't know how to make funny, and so sometimes

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we would have to really try to figure out, how

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do I do this joke, how do I do this

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in a way that that is going to be unique?

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Speaker 2: And it was. It was a hell of a journey.

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Speaker 1: I got to ask you, I am so glad that

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you brought up your comedy master. And the reason why

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I'm blessed with the opportunity to talk with a lot

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of y A authors are just authors in general who

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write these books that have comedy in it, and I

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will ask them about crafting a joke and they have

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no frickin idea what I'm talking about. And yet I'm

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blessed with an opportunity to talk to people like yourself,

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Jesse and you guys, Boss. But until that thing is

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finally in tune, Yeah, I.

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Speaker 3: Think that like people get this impression like either you're

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funnier or not, and if you tell a joke, it's

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good or it's not. And if you're a writer, well,

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the good news you get to rewrite and you get

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to try stuff, and you get to try it out

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and see if people laugh, and if they laugh, you

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can see where they laugh. I think that the there

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are definitely some people that are like funnier and more

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skilled than others. Some people just go up and they

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can just do it, but even for them to be

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able to do it professionally, you need to learn how

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to break down what's working and why why was that

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joke funny? Was it the topic was really interesting? And

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really you could go on that topic for five minutes

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and anything you say is going to be funny? Was

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it an observation? And you know, if you change two

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or three words here, all of a sudden, the whole

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joke doesn't work. And I always really liked, you know,

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breaking it down and trying to say.

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Speaker 2: Like why did that work?

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Speaker 3: And and and if you're gonna perform for people who

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are outside of your culture, whether that's for another country

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or whether it's like, hey, you're the ya author and

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now all of a sudden, you're you're talking to like,

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you know, fancy novelist room or something like that. You

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got to be able to put yourself in their shoes

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and say, what would they think is funny? And that

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skill is I think a really useful skill in life,

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just to be able to put yourself in someone else's

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shoes and see the world from their perspective. And then,

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you know, try to use that for constructive purposes, or

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if not constructive, at least fun you know, let's try

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to make everybody laugh.

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Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Jesse Appel coming

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up next. Even the name of the book is funny.

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This was funnier in China. We are back with comedian

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Jesse Appel. Are Americans using too many words? Because when

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you're up there and you're sharing things of you know

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they're gonna make people laugh in China? Are you using

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fewer words? Because I mean here in the stage, you

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know what, we'll sit here and we'll create a word

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and say, yeah, that's it, that's the way we're going.

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That's the new word I'm leaning.

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Speaker 3: On, I think for for me, you know, because all

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the comedy was in Mandarin, so if I'm up on stage.

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Speaker 2: You know, you don't go in shore and I'm up

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on stage.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes I would find that I would look up a

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word in the dictionary the day before, being like, Okay,

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I want to do this work. I want to do

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this joke about object permanence, and so I have to

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look up in Chinese how do you say object? And

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then I would go and do it on stage, and

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almost always it would bomb. And because the reality was

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at that time, like I lived in China for like

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you know, by I've been in and out for fifteen years.

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Speaker 2: I lived there full time for nine years. Ten years.

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Speaker 3: If i'd been there nine years, and I don't know

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how to say it, people don't say it that.

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Speaker 2: Way, you know.

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Speaker 3: And as a comedian, you know, you never want to

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be like you know, it's very different, I think from

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being an author. There are words that you can put

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in a book and it sounds like the right word,

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And there are words that you say that same word in,

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you know, in a comedy bit and you sound like

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you're writing a novel. And now all of a sudden

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people are completely taken out of the comedy. And so

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I found that if you could find a way to

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say it with fewer words and simpler words that tends

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to be funnier, and then leave the one special word

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that really shines. If you can, if you can figure

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out a way to balance these things, and then.

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Speaker 2: It works really well.

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Speaker 3: I had to figure out how to do that in Chinese,

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which are the normal words, which are the unusual words.

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Speaker 2: The language is also tonal, so if you the word

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with the wrong tone, you might be saying.

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Speaker 3: Something completely unexpected that you didn't expect, you know. The

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the I had a bit on this where I, you know,

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the word for panda is sing mal and the word

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for chest hair is chill mal, and they're basically the

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and so I, you know, would be calling up a

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travel agent saying like, oh, I want to go to Chungdu.

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Speaker 2: I want to see the chest hair and she's like.

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Speaker 3: Like, you know, you're famous for your chest hair in

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such problem, you know, where are they? And they're like

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she's like, sir, we don't have that. I'm like, what

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do you mean? No, what like they're somewhere, you know,

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so but like, you know, the it's very easy to

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mess up a joke like that, or even just to

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put the accent on.

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Speaker 2: The wrong salable and now this isn't funny anymore.

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Speaker 3: So it was it was this weird tightro act of

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it has to all feel natural. But at the same time,

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you know, it's the second language. It's like you got

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to figure out a way to make it work. And

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and you know, different audiences have different takes on it.

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Speaker 1: Well, you are very clear with that when when it

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comes to mastering that because one of the things that

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you that you kind of share it as a teacher

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as well as somebody who just wants to ed a

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need a fan, and that is is that when you

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hear it, you don't forget it. So therefore, as you're

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up there performing, you you're locked in on what you're sharing, then,

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aren't you.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you have to know what you're going

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to be doing. I think you know. It was in

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many ways a good exercise because I like grew up

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as a comedian doing improv comedy, so I was used

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to unscripted. You go up, you'd make it, just try

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something out. Three minutes later, if it doesn't work, whoosh,

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the scene is wiped. You know. But if I'm doing

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traditional Chinese comedy and I'm up on stage with the

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master comedian and there's a script. You know, you gotta

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do it right, but you also can't freeze up. That

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was the problem in the beginning is I would memorize

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the script every word was.

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Speaker 2: Perfect, and that's not funny at all.

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Speaker 3: So it was this weird balance of you know, you

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need to you know, it's a second language, it's a

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new art form. It's like you know, it's it's a

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completely different thing, and yet the audience needs to feel

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like you're just up there, like you know, you're you're

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up there and you're doing a show. And if you

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can't get the audience comfortable, it doesn't matter how many

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words you memorized, you know. So I think that the

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finding a way to balance that and to be comfortable

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knowing that, you know, hey, the jokes might not work today,

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but I'm going to go up and try to have

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fun and at the worst case scenario, I'm going to

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have a good time up there.

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Speaker 1: So let me ask you this question, though, I mean,

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when when you're up on that stage and it's a

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new audience and basically you're in a completely different country,

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do you do what I do, which is I have

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to look for the dick the dork and the deer

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out there in the audience, and they, in their own way,

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will become a part of what I'm talking about. So

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I have somebody to kind of lean on when I

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need to go in a different direction.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's a good that's a good technique.

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Speaker 3: I would I would adopt a thing of you know,

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cause I did a lot of shows in the early

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days of my career at like you know, company parties

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and stuff like that, like people are talking and like

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you know, you're in a ballroom and there's full lights

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on and you know there or you know, like not

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good stages for comedy, you know, I did. I did

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a show once for a birthday party. I got called

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in to do a birthday party, and they didn't tell

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me that the birthday girl.

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Speaker 2: Was a seven year old.

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Speaker 3: And they they also didn't tell me that the birthday

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party was just in the restaurant. They were just one

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table in a restaurant. There was no stage, there was

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no anything, There was no one else knew there was

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a show going on, and so I just like came

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into this restaurant and did ten minutes of comedy for

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this seven year old. So like, you know, you gotta

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look at the audience. You gotta see who's there. You

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gotta you know, play with the people that are actually

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in the room. And so I would adopt this. I

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would adopt the chance to just have some eye contact

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if if the if the show is chaos, look at

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the audience, establish some eye contact, you know, play to

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the people who are listening. And then, you know, ironically,

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as you get better at comedy and you do bigger

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and bigger stages, I think it gets these like, you know,

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if you're in a theater and there's three hundred people

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and there's lights and people that paid ticket money and

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they're ready for the show, that's easier than doing a

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bar with seven people and three of them are on

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their phone. And so the good thing about the lower

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levels of comedy as it trains you to be able

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to do the bigger stuff.

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Speaker 1: Dude, you've got a merchandise diamond here on your hands.

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And I would do this on a T shirt or

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a hat and a heartbeat in the way that you

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use LP Hartley's quote. The past is a foreign country.

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They do things differently there. My god, that's everyday life,

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and anybody anywhere in the world can say that's my life.

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That is my life.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And it's like I think nowadays in the States,

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you know, coming back from living so many years abroad,

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it's like, you know, America in some ways is almost

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a foreign country to itself, Like we do things differently

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now than we used to. And I actually, I don't

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necessarily think that's a bad thing. I think that when

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when you recognize that, you know, even your own country

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can change and does change, you know, you live a

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little bit closer to reality. And comedy comes from reality,

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You've got. It comes from truth, and it comes from

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people like you know, trying to explain this crazy world

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around them. And you know, the past is a foreign country,

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and you know it's so when you go to a

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place like even like China, you're dealing not only with

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modern China, but you're dealing with the past of China.

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So like, you know, you know, I apprenticed to a

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master Master Dingwong Chen. His master was a man named Hobalin,

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who is like the Chinese. They called him the Chinese

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Charlie Chaplin. He was the first He's comedy movie star.

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And you know, Master Hose style is in Master Ding style.

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Master Ding style is in is in me and now

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I'm doing you know, radio interviews in English in America,

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trying to bring some of that comedy style onto the.

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Speaker 2: Stage in my country.

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Speaker 3: So you know, these things kind of live on in

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ways that you don't expect. And uh, but one thing

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that is common is that everybody wants to laugh. And

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so in every era, in every country, in every situation,

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people generally would rather be laughing than fighting. And so

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I think it's it's important to remember that.

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Speaker 1: I want every writer, I don't care if they're a

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journal writer or writing for a newspaper or a website,

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I want them to go into your chapter here, and

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I'm gonna pronounce this wrong zing angshank because I mean you,

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oh my god, you gave us the secret. Dude, you

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sold your soul when you were sharing this that style.

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I mean, that's amazing. I can't take my eye off

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that chapter.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was a lot of fun.

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Speaker 3: Like this traditional comedy style has been passed down master

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to student, master to student, mastered to student for eight generations.

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Speaker 2: Now it's a it's a two man bit.

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Speaker 3: So they go, you know, Joko straight Man, back and forth,

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back and forth, back and forth, lots of puns, lots

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of wordplay, lots of character in character acting. So a

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lot of times, yeah, I know, you'll be like, hey,

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like you know, you know those people who are like

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trying to sell gym advertisements on the street, You be

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the gym advertisement guy, and I'll be you know, like

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what And now all of a sudden, the joker is

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playing the straight man, and the straight man is playing

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a guy selling like you know, putting leaflets out on

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the street. And you know, it's very meta, and you know,

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the audience is involved.

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Speaker 2: So it's it's a really fun comedy style.

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Speaker 3: And if you go to Beijing and you sit in

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a cab, this is what the cab drivers are listening

402
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to all day long. They just listened to this comedy.

403
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And that's actually how I first heard of it. I

404
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was in a cab and people were laughing and I

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was asking, you know, I asked.

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Speaker 2: A driver, I'm like, what is this.

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Speaker 3: He's like, oh, this is Yamchung, this is this is

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the comedy. And I was like, oh, it never occurred

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to me. Of course, Chinese people have comedy. I hadn't

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thought about it, but of course, you know, so it

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was it was really fun to be able to learn it.

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Speaker 1: God, where can people go to find out more about

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this book? And please tell me you're going to do

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an American tour because I would love to come and

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just watch you speak Chinese. I would pay money just

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to watch you speak that.

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Speaker 2: That would be great.

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Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I wish there were one hundred thousand

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people like you that.

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Speaker 2: Would be willing to pay if they don't understand the show.

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Speaker 3: But I do perform shows in Mandarin all over the country,

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usually in Chinese communities. I do English shows. I'm gonna

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be doing more tour shows hopefully in the future. I

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just finished a tour on.

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Speaker 2: The East Coast.

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Speaker 3: But the show, but the shows are The book is

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available online. Just search this was Funnier in China, or

428
00:19:31,799 --> 00:19:34,359
go to your local bookstore and support them. I also

429
00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:37,440
have an audiobook out that I read myself over three days,

430
00:19:38,079 --> 00:19:40,240
so so go check out the audiobook.

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Speaker 1: Well, please come back to this show anytime in the future.

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The door is always going to be open for you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Oh oh dude, if you're going to show me that leaf,

435
00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:50,960
that means I'm gonna live it with you. I know

436
00:19:51,039 --> 00:19:53,200
exactly what you just did there, and that you're right

437
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from my heart to your hearts. Thank you so much, sir,

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Thank you appreciate it.