EMILY FENG, HOST:
Comedian Sheng Wang has a way of taking the mundane moments of life and elevating them, punching them up for a laugh. Take this joke from his latest Netflix special about laying down on an old memory foam mattress.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "SHENG WANG: PURPLE")
SHENG WANG: It was the memory of somebody else.
(LAUGHTER)
WANG: It was a vivid recollection.
(LAUGHTER)
WANG: There was a unique emptiness created by a body that's not present but clearly defined by the boundaries of their absence.
(LAUGHTER)
FENG: His laid-back style is something he's developed over more than 20 years of doing stand-up, and he's found great success, writing for hit sitcoms and headlining his own comedy specials. The latest is called "Purple," and I spoke about it with Sheng Wang recently, and I began by asking him when he knows a joke is complete.
WANG: I think you just try to squeeze as much juice as you can out of every joke, and that means you find your - the topic and the angle, and once you get the first punch line, you want to just keep tagging it with another punch line and another one. And if you can switch it up and find another angle, I mean, you just want to keep going and extract as much as you can from this one topic.
I think, basically, you don't want to just be happy with one laugh. You know, once you got the momentum, just keep going and see where you can go with it. So I don't really know when it's done. I just keep trying and trying until it's, like, multiple laughs, and the payoff needs to be worth the setup. So the longer the setup, hopefully, the bigger and longer the laughs are afterwards.
FENG: I noticed in "Purple," your most recent special, it seems like you're thinking more about your health and your age. And for example, you make this joke about trying to go on the monkey bars and failing epically, which really speaks to me.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "SHENG WANG: PURPLE")
WANG: The other day, I took my niece to the playground. It's all well and good until she started to struggle on the monkey bars, so I was like, well, let me show you how we do that. I found out I have lost my monkey bar powers.
(LAUGHTER)
FENG: Is health and aging something you're thinking about more these days?
WANG: Absolutely, you know? We're getting older. I'm in my mid-40s now, so very much aware of the preciousness of life. You know, we're at that point where, like, nothing is promised. People can pass now. It's happening. And so I do make it a point to try to be consciously healthy to a certain extent. You know, I still try to enjoy life, but that's definitely - you know, health and wellness is definitely on my mind. It's just something that I'm concerned with, so it's something that I'll bring into the act just because it's on my mind.
FENG: Some of your jokes speak to aspects of your Taiwanese American identity. I lived in Taiwan for two years before moving back to the U.S.
WANG: Nice.
FENG: And your upbringing is in Houston, though. So you talk about growing up in an American home that never seemed to, for example, have enough good lighting.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "SHENG WANG: PURPLE")
WANG: I was close to having a good childhood. We just needed some lamps.
(LAUGHTER)
WANG: That's an easy fix, but first generation immigrants don't really prioritize vibes.
(LAUGHTER)
WANG: They think ambiance is Jay-Z's wife.
(LAUGHTER)
FENG: You joke about how, as a first-generation Taiwanese immigrant family, your parents were really preoccupied with other things. Like, you have this joke about not being allowed to wear shoes at home.
WANG: Right.
FENG: So real - I get it.
WANG: Yeah.
FENG: How does your heritage inform your comedy, your perspective, the jokes that you make?
WANG: I mean, I guess it's part of my personality that's being informed by, like, how I was raised, might just be who I am. I think generally, Taiwanese people - when I go back to visit Taiwan, it's very, like - they're just really kind people, very carefree and generous. And so that might be, like, partly why I'm the way I - that I am. You know, when you pursue a creative thing, they oftentimes say, you should just, like, make or do what you want to see or consume, you know? And so the comedy that I enjoy - I like to try to spread joy and be uplifting.
FENG: I want to ask you about your look.
WANG: Sure.
FENG: You have long hair.
WANG: I have long hair now.
FENG: Long, silky black hair.
WANG: Yes.
FENG: I ask because I think one of the things that your fans might like about your comedy is your vibe, and I feel like your vibe is really coded in your hair as well, that you're easygoing, and your look is part of that. Is there a connection between your look and your comedy?
WANG: I guess so. You know, it wasn't something that I did intentionally. As a matter of fact, when I started doing stand-up comedy 20-plus years ago, I had a very different approach to my look on stage. I was, like, clean-cut. I had, you know, my glasses still. And I kind of had this idea that I wanted to be very nondescript when I got on stage.
The audience is already getting to see, this is an Asian person, right? And I didn't want to give them too much more besides that. I didn't want to be distracting with tattoos or anything too revealing or - I just wanted to be almost a plain-looking Asian person that you could kind of mistake for someone else, you know, for a coworker.
I had people come up to me and be like, you know, you look just like my co-worker or whatever. And I don't know if that's true or if that's just like them not being able to tell the difference between Asian people, but I wanted to kind of lean into that ambiguity, I guess. I just wanted to, like, kind of be - I wasn't trying to, like, have a specific look.
FENG: Did that change? Because I got to say, you - long hair on East Asians - it's not common.
WANG: Right. I mean, this happened during the pandemic. I just canceled my hair appointment. I had short hair up until March 2020.
FENG: (Laughter).
WANG: In March 2020, I had short hair. And then for the next year or two, I just stopped getting my hair cut, and I started getting a lot of compliments on my hair. And when it came time to, like, you know, come back to regular life, post-pandemic, I just decided, maybe we should just keep it and see what happens. And it just kind of connected with the vibe and style of the comedy that I do. So it works for now. I don't know if it's going to last. This hairline does move.
FENG: (Laughter).
WANG: It's moving already, you know? I used to have a joke about receding hairlines and how the positive way to look at it is, it's not hair loss, it's face gain. So there's more...
FENG: Look on the bright side.
WANG: ...Facial territory. Yeah. So, I'm also open to letting it go when it's time to let it go. We'll see how it lines up with where the career is. You know, maybe at some point I'll want to retire and just be completely anonymous. Then I'll just cut my hair.
FENG: Maybe you'll go bald.
WANG: Maybe I'll go bald. It's very likely.
FENG: You have a joke about a purple toothbrush?
WANG: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "SHENG WANG: PURPLE")
WANG: The purple one is powerful. I only pick the purple one when I want to change the narrative.
(LAUGHTER)
WANG: Sometimes you're not living your best life. You might have made a series of self-destructive decisions. Now you need to adjust your behavior according to your core values.
(LAUGHTER)
WANG: Well, come on, then, purple toothbrush.
(LAUGHTER)
WANG: Let's ride. We got plaque and demons to vanquish.
(LAUGHTER)
FENG: What does that joke mean to you?
WANG: I mean, when it comes to the colors of different toothbrushes, you know, we all have our favorite colors. And when you're putting in thought to, like, which one I should pick for today? - to me, purple is a special color. Like, there's a connection to royalty. It's a beautiful color. There's beautiful plants with purple flowers.
You know, the joke is about enjoying small things in life. The opportunity to pick a new toothbrush with a different color and make it a moment to maybe propel a change in your life or just say, this is a fun little thing I can do right now. Pick a color that feels right. That's all. That's all it is. It's just a small little moment that we might not even think about, but it can be a small, little, tiny moment of joy that we can have.
And I think I kind of got that from, basically, you know, slowing down and paying attention to life. And I think there's a couple things that happened in the last few years that, like, got me to this kind of state of mind. One was just having nieces and nephews and goddaughters and hanging out with kids with that sense of awe and wonder through which they enjoy and look at life. It's kind of like, you know how even if you don't feel great, if you smile, you can kind of make your mind think you're feeling better?
FENG: Like, fake it till you make it, kind of?
WANG: Yeah, you can kind of fake it till you make it. And usually, it's like, you feel good, you smile. We now know that that pathway goes both ways, and you can kind of feel better by just making your body look like you're having a better time. So if you just smile, it generally induces a sense of better feelings. I remember, you know, there was a point in my goddaughter's life where she loved going through a tunnel. You know, when you drive under a freeway or you go through a tunnel on the five or whatever.
FENG: Yep.
WANG: And it was just like - you know, so we would just celebrate. Every time we'd go through a little lapse of darkness, we'd be like, yay, tunnel. And that's not something we do as adults.
FENG: That's so cute.
WANG: You know? Yeah, it's adorable. And I did it because I knew she'd enjoy it. But by doing it, you also start to enjoy it, too.
FENG: Sheng Wang's new special, "Purple," is streaming now on Netflix. Thank you.
WANG: Thank you so much for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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