Fronnie Does China: Francis And Donnie Perform Standup Comedy At a Chinese Comedy Club

Whenever I travel, I try to perform standup in the places I visit. I do this for two reasons: first, I like to see how crowds in different countries react to my humor. And second, if I perform, I can then write the entire trip off as a business expense because I have “comedian” down on my W-2. Flights, lodging, hookers… all necessary expenses in my professional pursuits. I’ve learned that if you’re performing in Sweden, don’t tell Hitler jokes, while in Australia, anything goes.

When we booked my trip to China, I reached out to the comedy club in Shanghai to see if I could get some time. They offered me a spot on their English show, which was really fun because there are tons of expats in Shanghai and the crowd was great. However, we also thought it would be fun to perform on the Mandarin show. I’m not sure how this idea developed, but when we arrived, the place was PACKED. Completely sold out, every single person in the audience was Chinese, and only a few of them had a rudimentary understanding of English. I brought Donnie on stage with me as my translator. As you can tell, they loved us! Amazing how well comedy translates; the language of laughter is universal.