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Lets get this out of the way:Speakeasylooks gorgeous.
Chieng is dressed in a white tux blazer and black bow tie.
Its in a building that once housed New Yorks first Chinese-language theater.
As shot by director Sebastian DiNatale, this is a production flowing with iconography Chinese American iconography.
Its a bummer, then, that Chiengs actual material never comes close to being as interesting asSpeakeasylooks.
At best, its a passable special that makes decent use of Chiengs special perspective on U.S. politics.
Both on that show and during his specials, Chieng has a compelling kinetic presence.
Stay the fuck in the back!
Its very hard to explain any other country to Americans.
The special loses focus around the half-hour mark.
Its not that Chieng isnt able to sustain momentum over the hour; he just doesnt ultimately go anywhere.
The bit ultimately devolves into his personal frustrations with working comedy festivals in the U.K.
Which, you know, fine.
By the end, the special feels muddled and strange.
it’s possible for you to find flaws in anything if you look hard enough, he says.
you’re free to find flaws in the Mona Lisa.
What does that mean?
you could see some flashes of these questions playing out in both of his Netflix specials.
Its a whimsically punchy bit when hefauxbegs for the sweet release of cancellation.
We need Prime harder, faster, stronger!)
It comes from Chiengs persona marked by a kind of stuffy exasperation over the stupidity of the world.
The repetition crescendos, and, when the punchline comes, its a wicked turn.
What are you going to do?
Cancel me, so I have to go back to Malaysia … where Im anational hero?
And the currency advantage isvery much in my favor?
or so says Chiengs mother in Singapore in an appeal for him to leave the U.S.
I had to tell my mom, You dont understand.
Its a deeply fun sequence, but the line of inquiry stops right where things start to get interesting.
What does it mean that making it in America continues to be the ideal despite everything?
I cant help but feel invested in Chiengs work.
I feel this even though I know it gives way too much weight to blunt representation politics.
She got off her ass to do something about it.
She didnt just sit behind her keyboard … No, she didnt like Asian people.
She went and committed a hate crime.
Its an intriguing twist.
It also doesnt work.
But maybe thats unfair.
Maybe we should simply take him at his word.
Im not here to save the world, man.
Im here to talk shit, make money, and bounce!
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