Catch Legendary Comedian Graham Elwood in Beijing This Weekend

US comedian Graham Elwood is coming to Beijing this weekend (Jan 23-24) to deliver a dose of sharp sarcasm, global observations, and the kind of expertly crafted comedy that has seen him appear on HBO, Comedy Central, Netflix and beyond.

Elwood is a veteran of the stand-up scene with decades of experience and has also built a successful podcasting career. Ahead of his headline shows at Nanyang Hutong #6, we reached out to find out more about his comedy experiences and what audiences can expect from his latest set, which is part of a brand new comedy special in the works.

Firstly, how would you describe your comedic style to someone who isn't familiar with your work?
Well, it's funny and involves a lot of sarcasm. I make fun of a lot of stuff happening in America. I don't know if people in Beijing are paying attention, but America's going through kind of a crazy spot right now, so I point that out a little bit.

Is this your first time performing in Beijing?
Technically, it will be the first time in ten years that I have performed there. I believe I last performed in Beijing around 2015. It was an awesome time, and I've heard a lot has changed, so I can't wait to come back and see what it's like now.

What can we expect from your Beijing show?
I'm working on a new comedy special that I'm going to record later this year, so I'm putting together a new 45 minutes or so for that, which means Beijing is going to see a lot of brand new material. I've been living in Asia and Thailand for a few months, so I'll be talking about what that experience has been like. Some of the material includes topics I covered in my first special, Graham Elwood Manifest It! (which is available on Apple TV). It should be a special show and unique to the people of Beijing.

You've performed across the US and internationally. How do you find performing in places like Beijing, where people come from so many different backgrounds?
One of my favorite things about performing internationally is doing shows in front of audiences where people are from many different backgrounds. Almost every show I do around Asia has an audience with maybe six to ten or as many as 15 countries represented, and I think that's awesome. It's a wonderful thing that stand-up comedy, in the last ten years, has really taken off in other parts of the world. It's really cool that, ten years ago, there weren't as many Chinese fans of English-speaking comedy as there are now. I think it's an amazing opportunity to bridge the gap between East and West, so to speak.

You host podcasts alongside your stand-up career. How does podcasting influence your comedy, and does it change the way you think about storytelling or timing on stage?
I've been podcasting for a long time, and I think stand-up influenced podcasting in a lot of ways because when it started, it was a lot of stand-up comics who lived in Los Angeles, talking about their careers and things they cared about. Now I think podcasting feeds stand-up because it's long-form conversations and long-form interviews, it's not a quick, sound-bite like traditional media interviews. For me, I think it encourages telling personal stories and having a personal conversation with the audience, rather than just joke, joke, joke. And I think podcasting has influenced my stand-up personally and stand-up, as a whole, for the better.

As an experienced comedian, do you have any words of advice for any budding comedians out there?
Yes! Learn how to work clean. It's okay to work dirty, I've worked dirty, but learn how to work clean, don't only rely on the dirty stuff. And stop with the crowd work! Because crowd work clips do well on social media, I'm watching this trend of young comedians just doing crowd work. Learn how to write jokes, and if you're going to do crowd work, watch the comedians ahead of you. I don't know how many shows I've done where four or five comics go up and all ask the same questions. The audience gets exhausted. "Yes. We know that guys from Croatia, we know this is a couple, we know this guy's a doctor." 

What makes someone good at crowd work is if they're a good joke writer. So you have to learn how to write jokes first, because crowd work is writing jokes on the spot. If you're not good at writing jokes yet, how can you be good at crowd work? So become a stand-up comedian. Work on the craft of writing your jokes. Talk about personal things that have happened to you that no one else has experienced. Write jokes. (And again), stop with the crowd work! Sorry, Uncle Graham got mad there.

Lastly, moving away from comedy, do you have anything on your must-see or must-eat list while you're here?
I love hotpot, especially Sichuan hotpot. Getting to put all the food in the big clay pots, I love it, and I'm excited to eat it again. I'm also looking forward to seeing what's changed about the city and the comedy scene. It sounds like it's got a lot better, so I'm excited about that! See you at the show in Beijing, and thank you so much!

Grayham Elwood will be performing at  Nanyang Hutong #6 on Fri, Jan 23 at 7.30pm and on Sat, Jan 24 at 7.30pm and 9.30pm. Early bird tickets are RMB 128 and tickets at the door are RMB 158. They can be purchased by scanning the QR code in the poster above.

Nanyang Hutong #6
6 Nanyang Hutong, Dongcheng District
东城区南阳胡同6号

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Images: courtesy of Graham Elwood