The Humor Section Brings the Laughs With a Solid Standup Lineup at Cinker Pictures, Feb 16
The Year of the Tiger is off to a roaring start with a myriad of events kicking off the third week of the year – one of which brings together a group of local standup comedians who are sure to bring the laughs.
Taking place smack dab in Sanlitun at F&B/movie venue Cinker Pictures, comedy group The Humor Section (幽默小区脱口秀Yōumò Xiǎoqū Tuōkǒu Xiù) – which previously specialized in Chinese shows but has been branching out into English performances as well – has gathered three seasoned standups, one newbie and a mystery guest for their show tomorrow night.
To find out more about The Humor Section and what’s in store for the evening, I spoke with organizer Tony Chou, who will be MC for the night.
Hi Tony! First of all, tell us more about Humor Section, how long has the group been active in Beijing?
We started in March 2014 with our first show taking place at the Bookworm. The group was co-founded by Irish-American comedian Des Bishop, who left China in 2015, so I kept it going from there. We held shows every Saturday night at the Bookworm, and we have several shows every week.
We used to have a lot of guest comedians from all over the world to take part in our Bookworm shows. We even had Ronny Chieng, who has done work on The Daily Show, come do a show for us once, but since Covid hit we’ve had to keep things with local talents and are planning shows with comedians hailing from all over China this year.
Is this your first time doing a show at Cinker Pictures? Why this venue?
We’ve been holding shows every week at Cinker Pictures, mostly in Chinese, for half a year. We chose this venue because it's not only very large but it has some very LA vibes, which really makes it chill and relaxed.
What’s in store for the evening? Where are the comedians on the roster hailing from?
The comedians taking place in the show are all Beijing residents. We have Cale Holmes (Texas, USA), whose material focuses on American culture, but he’s starting to balance things out; then there’s Kei Gambit (UK) who’s material is energetic and sometimes delves into music and his time as a voice actor. There’s also Donnie Fan (New York, USA), whose material draws on his experiences as a Chinese-American, and newcomer Iris Bing (China), whose humor is unexpectedly dry and refreshing.
We understand there’s going to be a mystery comedian taking part in the event, can you give us a hint as to who it is?
I can’t say much, but what I can tell you is this person is very well-known in Beijing’s standup comedy circuit and he’s quite popular.
How can people follow you and find out about future events?
Readers can follow us on WeChat (幽默小区脱口秀) as well as Weibo. We have English shows every other week and we also do shows at Uni Bar, the Great Outdoors, and a few other venues!
The Humor Section’s Wednesday Stand Up Comedy show takes place on Feb 16 from 8-9.30pm at Cinker Pictures. Tickets are RMB 198 and come with one free drink. Scan the QR code in the poster above to purchase.
READ: Hutong Hunter: The Show Goes on at Soi Bar, AKA Soi Baochao 2.0
Images courtesy of The Humor Section
