“Here’s to more Asian American comics, and less of everybody else!” 📈 - FireIsland star margaretcho in conversation with her favorite comedian, robintran04
. Here, the pair discuss the disastrous performances that sparked their careers, cosplaying confidence, and why the world needs more Asian-American comics .MARGARET CHO: I hope your ears have been burning Robin, because I have been talking about you so much lately. Our month is here, finally— Asian American Pacific Islander heritage month. People keep asking me, “Who is the one to watch?” and I keep saying, “It’s all about Robin Tran!” I’ve been hyping you on theROBIN TRAN: Wow, thank you.
CHO: Yeah, I’ve never taken that much time off— I usually perform three times a week. When you’re a comic, you put the rest of your life on hold because you can’t really hang with friends, you can’t go see movies, you can’t go on vacation. Suddenly, there was nothing on the books, and I was like, “Woah I’m an actual person.” It’s the weirdest thing.
TRAN: I was also trying to remember why I loved it in the first place, because you do enough shows, and you start to think, “This sucks.” It became new again, and I was like, “Robin, do your old jokes, but do them weird.” Since I got back onstage, I finally hit the point where there’s no more separation between me and the audience. It happened when I was opening for Anthony Jeselnik, and I was thinking about how my dad used to tell me, “Don’t think.
CHO: That’s the best, pretend and then you’re halfway there. It’s like cosplaying as a comedian. I love it.