Crazy Talented Asians & Friends Returns to Flushing Town Hall

Flushing Town Hall today announced the return of Crazy Talented Asians & Friends: an evening of live comedy – “Triumphing Over Quarantine!” on Saturday, April 17, 2021, as a celebratory prelude to the upcoming Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Highlighting Asian American perspectives and experiences during the global pandemic, the virtual event kicks off at 8:00 PM (EDT). Rising East and South Asian American comedy talents will share their struggles and triumphs over the pandemic through sketch and stand-up comedy.

Recommended for ages 13 and up. Register for this free event here: https://www.flushingtownhall.org/crazy-talented-asians-friends-live-comedy

Mr. Otter Lee, who plays Otter Lin on Stephen Colbert Presents: Tooning Out the News, returns to host this exciting event. He will be joined by Overstep Comedy whose Manhattan shows frequently sell out, and other talented comedians and special guests, including: Jatin Chhugani, Patricia Dinglasan, Vivek Netrakanti, Becky Yamamoto, and Angel Yau.

The event will also pay tribute to Corky Lee, the legendary photographer who passed away due to COVID-19 on January 27, 2021. As the Times reported, “Corky Lee, a photographer who was determined both to restore the contributions of Asian-Americans to the historical record and to document their present-day lives and struggles, especially those living in New York.”

Furthermore, the event will also feature the NYC Chinatown community, and feature Patrick Mock, the manager of 46 Mott Bakery which has been delivering meals to hospitals and the elderly since the onset of the pandemic.

“Our stories need to be heard and comedy is an amazing art form to address the experiences unique to being Asian. As the actress Sandra Oh once said ‘It’s an honor just to be Asian’ and I feel so honored to be a part of the CTAF show and this community,” says contributing comedian Patricia Dinglasan.

Jatin Chhugani is a Brooklyn based comedian and writer. He is a founding member of Overstep Comedy, a NY-based Asian American sketch team. Jatin has performed in several virtual stand-up shows throughout the Covid pandemic. He was recently featured on Buzzfeed India for a meme about the Netflix show Indian Matchmaking.

Patricia Dinglasan is a stand-up comedian performing anywhere she can during the pandemic. Her comedy videos “Mom-Lan”, “Fashion Looks for Remote Learning” and tweets appeared on WhoHaHa and her stand up was featured in The Fil-Am, A Magazine for Filipino Americans.

Otter Lee is an actor, playwright, comedian, and voiceover artist born and raised in New York City. He currently plays Otter Lin on Stephen Colbert Presents: Tooning Out the News, a political cartoon on Paramount+ that airs as part of The Late Show. Otter co-produced, hosted, and took the stage for New York City’s First Asian Comedy Festival at the PIT in January 2020. His sketch, standup, and improv have appeared at such venues as the Upright Citizens Brigade, Face-Off Unlimited, Caveat, Union Hall, The Magnet, The Asian American Writer’s Workshop, and Buzzfeed. Otter’s performances and projects have been written up and featured in The New York Times, Time Out New York, AsianCrush, and World Journal.

Vivek Netrakanti is a writer and stand up comedian. He produces and performs in the show Token White Guy at Carolines on Broadway as well as Q.E.D. He has also been a featured performer for the NYC Asian Comedy Festival as well as stand up at Broadway Comedy Club, the Upright Citizens Brigade, the Magnet Theater, Caveat, and the People’s Improv Theater among other locations. He has written and performed sketch comedy as part of the collective Boogiemanja and he has also written sketches for Upright Citizens Brigade and the Magnet Theater.

Becky Yamamoto is a comedian, actor and writer. Her webseries UNINSPIRED was an official NYTVF selection and received acclaim from The Onion AV Club, Indiewire, Mic, Bust and Glamour. She also co-wrote and costarred in 2 Chans with Meghan O’Neill which won Best Actress (Comedy) at NYTVF. She has appeared in independent films such as Fort Tilden (SXSW Grand Jury Prize Winner) and 3rd St. Blackout (LA Film Festival) as well as Younger (TV Land).

Angel Yau is a comedian, storyteller, actor and filmmaker from Queens, New York.
She started her comedy career (unintentionally) in high school when she ran for school council. From then she knew how to laugh at herself. She founded Asian American Film Thing, an all AAPI film show where filmmakers are encouraged to show Work in Progress. She is also proudly in the all-woman, all Asian-American musical comedy, AzN PoP! Angel just had a BBC short doc out on being a comedian dealing with mental health. Angel's dream is to have a special with her animations, comedy acts and her pug, Mush!

Overstep Comedy is an indie sketch team dedicated to increasing representation in comedy and amplifying the voices of Asian-Americans in entertainment. Pre-pandemic life: The team regularly sold out live performances in New York, including shows as a headliner of the first-ever Asian Comedy Festival at the People’s Improv Theater (2020) and as a featured act at Sketchfest at the PIT (2019). Overstep Comedy went virtual in 2020 with sketches featured in virtual shows with the PIT, Seattle Sketchfest. Overstep has been featured in The New York Times and Time Out New York. The group also writes and produces digital shorts for their YouTube channel.

On the following month, Crazy Talented Asians will present its 2nd annual animation shorts program on Saturday, May 29th at 6:00 PM, in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The evening will feature creative animated short films by Asian/Asian American artists. The event premiered in 2020 with great success despite COVID’s challenges and brought the community together through beautifully animated stories. The shorts are selected by a panel of professional juries from more than 600 entries for their superb art direction, storytelling, animation, production, and sound design. These films present a wide range of stories and experiences, as diverse as the APA community itself. The jury is led by Ms. Hsiang Chin Moe, SVA’s BFA Animation Chair and Lead Advisor for this event. The jury includes a panel of seasoned professionals in animation arts: Wen-Chin Hsu at Pixar, Gonzalo Janer at Nickelodeon, Pilar Newton at Pilar Toons, CJ Walker at Titmouse, and Wendy Cong Zhao at CUNY Queens College. Stay tuned for more information. Register for this free event here: https://flushingtownhall.org/ctaf-2021

“Flushing Town Hall is very proud to be sharing with the world these creative stories from young, talented artists in two very powerful art forms,” says Ya Yun Teng, Community Outreach – Chinese Project Director at Flushing Town Hall. “We have been a strong advocate of arts equity since 1979. We support local, immigrant, national, and international artists, developing partnerships and collaborations that enhance our efforts in supporting the global arts community,” says Ellen Kodadek, Flushing Town Hall’s Executive & Artistic Director. “With the rising anti-Asian incident reports, it is even more critical at this unprecedented moment for the community to come together to listen and to support our fellow Americans.”