A culture of laughter: Peng Dang bringing Southern Asians Comedy Showcase to Montgomery

Nationally touring comedian Peng Dang knows Montgomery well. About a dozen years ago, he was a graduate student from China attending Auburn University Montgomery and lived here for about five years.

During that time, he visited The Sanctuary to watch others, but was never a performer. In fact, he's never done a comedy show in the state.

"I told myself, if I'm ever going to do a show in Alabama, that's going to be the place," said Dang, who is part of two special Southern Asians Comedy Showcase shows at The Sanctuary, 432 Goldthwaite St. They're Saturday, Aug. 19, and performances will be at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tickets are $15, and are available online at eventbrite.com.

Dang, who lives in Dallas, Texas, isn't coming alone. For these shows, which will be filmed, he's bringing fellow Dallas comic Arun Rama, who is from India and went to school in Texas, and Paul Smith, a Dallas Fort Worth comic who is half Korean, served in the military and got his comedy start in South Korea. Dang said that all three of their acts are mostly clean.

"This is going to be a very unique show," he said. "We just happen to be all Asians, different Asian people with different backgrounds. But we've all lived in the South, and we like to make people laugh."

Dang is a regular performer at New York's Comedy Cellar — a place known for stand up legends like Jerry Seinfeld and Kevin Hart. He recalled getting to meet Chris Rock one night, shortly before Rock released a live comedy special on Netflix.

"We actually did a show together," Dang said. "That was very cool. We got to talk a little bit about sports."

Anyone who's been in the Sanctuary knows it's a beautiful venue and offers audiences an intimate experience with performers. That was part of Dang's draw to the place, plus the promise of a backyard party stage design by friend Johnny Veres of the Montgomery band Electric Blue Yonder. Dang said it'll look like he's standing out there, just telling stories to friends.

"I didn't want to go to a traditional comedy club, where it's like boring backdrop — a drape or a brick wall — and the stage is far away from the audience," Dang said.

Dang breaks into a life of comedy

Atlanta is where Dang first started getting into the comedy business.

"It was rough," he said. "It was tough for me, because of the language barrier. I was just at a very infant stage, when it comes to understanding American humor."

But it was an interesting kind of difficulty, which Dang said made comedy worth pursuing. "That's what kept me going," he said.

He stuck with it and said comedy opened a new world for him. He's a fan of subtle humor — the kind that makes people think — and loves traveling across the country, performing at different venues and getting to know different people.

"And also offering a different perspective for people in the middle of the country who have never seen or heard from a person from China," he said. Doing that with comedy makes these colliding perspectives more relatable.

"Humor helps connect people," he said. "Once they laugh at your jokes, they understand that we have more in common than there are differences."

Though he leaves them laughing, Dang said his act isn't big on audience interaction.

"I give off a different energy or vibe from the stage," he said. "Audiences just want to listen and pay attention to what I say. Maybe it's my delivery."

The Chinese connection

One way or another, Dang is a Southerner. His parents are retired and live in south China, in the Hunan province. His last trip back to see them was in 2019, just before the pandemic.

For some immigrants, coming to America means always striving for the better life. The American dream is something they've worked hard for, and they expect their children to do the same. They think the ideal job for their kids is something like a doctor, lawyer, or big business executive. It's a lot of pressure.

With Dang, it's pretty much the opposite, since his parents aren't immigrants. In China, he said comedians are more respected. His parents have fully embraced Dang's comedic dreams as "noble work" and are very proud, he said.

"People have a different perspective on this line of work, especially in China," Dang said. "They think it's very prestigious."

Dang said the ideas behind comedy are more or less the same in the U.S. and China, though stand up in China is a relatively new scene.

"People talk about their personal stories, their family, and just day-to-day experiences," Dang said. "It's very similar to stand up in America, I would say."

Chinese comedy is also mostly clean, Dang said.

"People don't really talk about edgy stuff," he said. "Whereas in America, you have clean comedy, but you also have people pushing the boundaries."

More on the show

Dang said he's been approached before about doing a TV comedy special, but decided not to go with it. Filming the shows in Montgomery is actually his first step in that direction.

"Right now, I'm producing this special for myself," Dang said. "I just want to have full control over the creative process of my materials. You know, full ownership of my intellectual property, if you want to put it that way."

He said some of the show will be used as clips on social media.

"That's just giving people little samples," Dang said. "I haven't decided on how to distribute the full tape yet."

Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel covers things to do in the River Region. Contact him at sheupel@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Peng Dang bringing Southern Asians Comedy Showcase to Montgomery