With the Belly Laughs Festival, an ambitious Asian American and Pacific Islander-centered comedy festival, the food is as important as the talent line-up. Every detail is intended to send a message of unabashed cultural pride.
"It's like we grew up kind of shying away and hiding our Asian-ness," said Viv Wang, a volunteer festival producer with Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, or CAPE, who helped conceive the idea for the event. "It just made a lot of sense to have comedy and food - these two ways that people can connect and just celebrate being Asian and having a place to feel cool to be Asian."
For one weekend, Belly Laughs is mounting an unprecedented gathering of 30 AAPI stand-up comics - from headliners to newer scene-stealers - in downtown Los Angeles. There will also be 20 food and beverage vendors set up in the spirit of a Taiwanese night market. The L.A. Live entertainment complex will be a playground where ticketholders can watch marquee names like Kumail Nanjiani and Margaret Cho, while simultaneously enjoying anything from biriyani to boba.
With federal immigration crackdowns nationwide, the participating comedians - most hailing from immigrant families - are being thoughtful about striking the right balance of politics and humor.
Festival to whet appetites for the funny and food