Jake Mace
We’re counting down to Prague Fringe by shining a light on a number of shows headed to the festival next week. We first caught up with Kuan-wen in Prague for his show Ilha Formosa in 2023. The Taiwanese comedian is back to present a new comedy hour – Andrews Are the Worst – next week. We caught up with him for a pixelated pint to find out more about what he’s been working on.
You can catch Kuan-wen: Andrews Are the Worst as part of Prague Fringe at Metro Comedy Club from 29th-31st May (55mins). Tickets are available through the Prague Fringe Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Kuan-wen! Your upcoming Prague Fringe hour has quite an unusual name, could you explain where it came from and what the audience can expect?
Kuan-wen: I love this question because the whole process has been so random. Firstly, as for what the audience can expect, I promise a silly and very funny (full disclosure: it can also be crude at some places) show.
There is no big condescending message in my show. It’s a comedy show with a very stupid title. I am going to bitch about my exes and I will be mean – mean to those exes and to some celebrities, in homage to one of my comedy heroes Joan Rivers.
One reason I called the show “Andrews Are The Worst” is that I want one of my exes to STOP TEXTING ME. He refuses to believe he can be a horrible guy in a relationship even though he was totally shitty before everything went down south. And even though I made it clear I no longer wanted to hear from him. He just keeps on texting, but this Andrew texts like once or twice a year, infrequently but it never stops. It’s almost like it was programmed by Microsoft Out-of-office assistant. I blocked his number once, then he tried facebook. I blocked his facebook account, he then tried my comedian’s page account. I blocked him again, he then had a new number… I hope with this show title, when he next googles me and tries to find out what I am up to on my social media, he gets my message. STOP CONTACTING ME.
Also, you can say it is a marketing gimmick or a lesson I learned from doing my previous show. My first show, tilted “Ilha Formosa”, was written with my home country Taiwan in mind and there were a lot of jokes based on international politics. I’ve had feedback from many people that they do not understand what the show title is about, as most people no longer recognise “Formosa” as Taiwan’s alternative name. I thought that was actually good because it can be a talking point, but now thinking back I wonder whether it was too arty farty? In my last show, there was one joke that a friend said I should have called my previous show TAIWAN GET ONE FREE. This turned out to be one of the best received gags in the show. From that, I thought, o.k. maybe my next show title has to be absolutely stupid.
Jake: The piece dives into your personal history and Queer East Asian identity. Tell us about your process of finding the humour there.
Kuan-wen: A large part of this show is about horrible partners, which I hope everyone can relate to as I assume it is a universal experience. In earlier versions of the show, I talked a lot more about races, but these have been edited down as this is not the sole focus of the show. However, as I am gay and I am East Asian, it would be too native to assume these do not have any impact. Some jokes are specific to gay dating and gay relationships, and I also address the curious dynamics of interracial dating in the show. Also, there are some jokes I can get away with saying them because I am an East Asian Queer.
As for the process, writing this show is a bit different because I worked my way backwards this time. Normally you get the funny bits, put them together and come up with a name. Not this show. Prior to this, I almost never talked about dating in my stand up routines, nor have both Andrews I dated ever become the target of my jokes. I joked about casual sex encounters but that’s all. Never about dating people. It’s a choice I make since many comedians tend to cover dating apps so it hedges my risks of exploring well-trotted territories.
As mentioned above, after my first show in 2023, I got so annoyed by people telling me they did not understand what “Ilha Formosa” meant, I jokingly said “Well my next show title will be so stupid. I will call it … Andrews Are The Worst.” At that time I noticed there’s a lot of bad press from Andrew Tate and Prince Andrew, so it’s something silly I would say to my friends, “All Andrews are c***s.”
I therefore decided these past relationships would be the theme without having any jokes in place, rather than thinking something’s funny so I will write a show about it. The routines I had already built that are included in this show were not about the two Andrews. I had to dig out my own diaries and even chat histories and do a lot of new material gigs to find the funny in those unpleasant memories. There were actually very funny things to say now that time has created some distance.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Kuan-wen: If you are dating someone called Andrew, dump them immediately.
Jake: Tell us about how the show has ended up being performed at Prague Fringe and about your relationships with any other creatives involved.
Kuan-wen: When I took my first solo show “Ilha Formosa” to different Fringes two years ago, I used the website Eventotron to register the show for a few of these festivals. I wanted to book my show elsewhere but did not know where to go. I decided to just browse on Eventotron randomly and noticed Prague Fringe was in the mix. The dates worked for me and I always loved Prague as a city. I thought it would be great to spend more time here, not just as an average tourist, so I booked it not knowing what it would be like.
It turned out to be a wonderful experience (hence I am back again!). I did five shows in total and did not have to do a crazy amount of promotion but still had a very decent turnout. If I am not wrong I even had two or three shows sold out. The performing experience was great for me, as the crowd was quite mixed internationally, which is my favourite kind of audience. When I was announced to be nominated for Brian’s Life Award and was declared the joint winner, it was just cherry on top.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Kuan-wen: Not my show per se but I feel like the kind of Andrews I am warning people to stay away from is personified by Huel – men who use liquid food as a replacement for personality.
A reminder – you can catch Kuan-wen: Andrews Are the Worst as part of Prague Fringe at Metro Comedy Club from 29th-31st May (55mins). Tickets are available through the Prague Fringe Online Box Office.
Elisabeth Flett
