'Play Up the Asianness': A history of East and Southeast Asian stereotypes in Western comedy and how contemporary ESEA stand-up comedians engage with them

This thesis aims to analyse how East Asian stand-up comedians address their race to Western audiences, particularly focusing on the use and impact of stereotypes. The first half of the research (chapters 1 to 3) is dedicated to the history of East Asian stereotypes from 1848 (when large-scale immigration from East Asia to the West first occurred) to present day, creating a genealogy of them and the circumstances that led to them. Each chapter culminates in a case study of how contemporary comedy perpetuated and interacted with those stereotypes, and what this can reveal about perceptions of East Asian people at the time. The purpose of these chapters is to understand the implications of these stereotypes without validating or dismissing them.

The second half of the research is split into three case studies: Margaret Cho, Ali Wong, and Phil Wang. These case studies were chosen as they are representative of a range of identities and shifts in popular culture, while also all directly addressing the impact of East Asian stereotypes on their work in varying ways. These case studies draw from performed material, interviews, and writing to provide an in-depth analysis of the ways in which East Asian stand-up comedians navigate and negotiate with public/audience perceptions of their character based on their ethnicity.