“Lower Your Expectations” Next Weekend at Lily Ma’s Beijing Comedy Debut

Shanghai based comedian Lily Ma will be making her Beijing comedy debut next week with her show Lower Your Expectations.

The up-and-coming comic brings cynical, self-deprecating, feminist comedy to the stage and will be performing at three different venues across Beijing from Sep 16-18. Ahead of her show we talked to Lily about her journey as a performer.

Hi Lily, it’s great to hear that you’ll be making your comedy debut in Beijing! First things first, how long have you been doing stand-up comedy?
I hate to admit that it’s been almost four years. Considering how little I’ve progressed, this number makes me mad at myself. Then again, for the first two years, I think I didn’t even learn how to tell jokes properly, or how to stay on stage for five minutes.

What made you decide to start doing comedy and how did you get started?
I wanted to do standup ever since I first watched a clip from Louis CK’s Hilarious special when I was in high School. And then I decided to actually try it after watching my first open mic at Camel Shanghai. Walking on stage in that loud sports bar was like walking into my own wizarding world. It's also why I wanted to move to Shanghai because there are open mics there.

What was it like doing stand-up for the first time?
I was SO nervous and my voice was shaking the whole time I was on stage. I did get some chuckles because I think people just found it funny to see a girl so nervous while ruthlessly roasting her own body. It was a magical feeling. But I would never, ever listen to that recording again. 

What have been your best and worst moments since doing comedy?
I have a lot of great memories. I met 99% of my significant friends through comedy. I think my favorite moment was the night I performed in this big room for Comedy Puddle (a club that was forced to close after their first show) and I KILLED. People chanted my name after the show, I really felt like a rock star, although saying that feels kind of gross in retrospect.
 
I have bombed so many times and performed in many silent rooms, but If we are talking about the absolute worst, I think that happened when I was in Wuxi. It was a Music & Comedy Halloween party and people just didn’t want to watch comedy, basically I was drowned out by the energy of the crowd. My friends (Kurt and Simeon) have to yell at people to make them respect my presence and listen to my jokes. But after that, I think I can basically do any room because it can’t get any worse than that!

What comedians would you say have influenced you most?
I would probably say Louis CK because he is really the reason why I love comedy and I still listen to his special over and over again, though with some guilt for sure, considering his controversies. But I also listen to many young alternative comedians like Jerrod Carmichael, Josh Johnson, Michael Che and Taylor Tomlinson, Rose Matafeo, and James Acaster.

Your upcoming show is called Lower Your Expectations. How did you come up with this name?
I just like to make myself the underdog, that way maybe I can get laughs with the least amount of work. That's a joke, by the way. It's more of a self-deprecating theme that goes on in my act. Also, there is a stereotype that Chinese and women are not funny so I kind of wanted to play with that.

Without any spoilers (or heightening of expectations!), can you tell us a bit about your act?
It's going to be a lot of offensive jokes that target both men and women. Expect a lot of sexual frustration and a lot of family rants. If you love yourself and grew up happy you probably won't relate, but if you are shy and unconfident about your decisions at all times, this might be the show for you. 

Will this show be your first time performing in Beijing, if yes how are you feeling about it?
This will be my first time performing in Beijing and I am nervous and excited. During the past couple of years of touring around China, I find that different cities have a different kind of humor. Shanghai is very diverse and loves clever/dark jokes, but some cities are very “Positive Energy Only” and will take your jokes like they are facts and want to debate about them with you. I just hope Beijing will relax and have fun with me. And hopefully, there will be no kids there looking to learn English.

You recently toured with Donnie Fan on his From Hero to Zero tour. Tell us about that.
He was a sweetheart, treated me nice and really showed me how much touring is a hustle. He put a lot of thought into how he presented the show to the audience, and I learned a lot. And we met a lot of crazy people with George Du too. It was really an experience.

Lastly, any words of advice for other budding comedians out there?
If you'll pardon a bit more self-deprecation, I don't think I’m qualified to give any advice. All I can say is just keep doing it if it's what you love.

Through all the seemingly meaningless open mics, waiting in a bar instead of having fun with friends, you will find what the most important things in your life are, whether it's your career or your personality. Comedy gave me a lot of courage and strength and I hope the same thing can happen to any budding comedians out there too.

Lily Ma will be performing Lower Your Expectations at the following dates and locations:

Sep 16, 7.30pm at Lipi Records, 798
Sep 17, 7pm at Gatsby’s
Sep 18, 6pm at Basepoint, Shunyi

Early bird tickets are RMB 80 (Today Sep 11 is the last day for the early bird price), after that tickets are RMB 100, tickets can be purchased by scanning the QR code in the poster above

READ: A Handful of Bars To Play Table Shuffleboard in the Capital

Images: courtesy of Lily Ma