Comedienne Tina Kim had the last laugh during Bowdoin's Korea Week last week. Kim performed at Jack Magee's Pub Saturday night as a culmination of Korea Week festivities.
Her repertoire concentrated on ethnic jokes, but appealed to audience members of all backgrounds. Kim dared to make jokes about taboo subjects and find humor where one might not expect it. The prime example of this was her quip that women of the Taliban are fortunate in that they can eat whatever they want because of the tents they wear. She said, "They look in the mirror and they only see two eyes. And they're like, 'I look gooood.'"
Kim had a conversational quality to her act and engaged the audience in her jokes. She inquired about Korea Week and asked what events took place. When told there were several forums, she joked, "Who showed up? White guys that like Asian girls?"
Much of Kim's act was devoted to her parents. She said the reason Asian people are stereotyped as smart is because "We get a choice. A or die." She also poked fun at her dad, who apparently loves karaoke and bonsai. She joked that her father carries clippers in his pocket and constantly prunes his bonsai so there are stumps around the house. She expanded the joke to say he also clipped other people's Bonsai trees and was so addicted she once had to tell him, "Dad, that's the neighbor's dog."
The Los Angeles comedienne made a statement about common stereotypes by using them in her material. She commented that she was once part of The Bunker Project TV show, in which the six inhabitants of the house would keep MTV going after the world ended at the millennium. She said the psychologists on set requested that she share her "Eastern culture" with the rest of the house. "What did they want me to do?" she joked. "Open up a drycleaners? I already did the girls' nails and gave the guys massages."
Kim also appealed to the homosexual crowd. "Gay men shouldn't be allowed to go to straight clubs. It's like bringing donuts to a Weight Watchers meeting," she said. She also accused Toby Maguire's Spiderman character of being a drag queen, citing his designing and sewing of his costume as proof.
And like most comedians, she was willing to poke fun at herself. Her dating jokes were the highlight: "When the uglies don't call you back, you're like 'What the f***? I lowered my standards for you!'"
Overall, Kim had her funny moments, but tended to lapse into gratuitous obscenities and lacked a good flow from one topic to the next. She often spoke her interior monologue aloud, wondering if she was ready to go to the next topic. However, broaching interesting topics about race and sexuality, among others, she had the audience laughing.
?Alice Wong contributed to this report.