Olivia Xing is an actress, standup comedian, artist and student based in LA, and she recently did a one-hour comedy special called Party School where she told jokes about China, the US, politics in both countries, and the immigrant experience.

00:00 Teaser
00:44 Intro
02:48 How Olivia got started with her Party School comedy special
08:19 Chinese debate show 奇葩说
12:12 How Chinese comics and rappers deal with censorship
16:26 Olivia's biggest takeaways from her comedy special
18:38 Richard's favorite jokes from Olivia's comedy special
23:29 ESL comics: English-as-a-Second-Language comics
25:13 Minority comics shouldn't pander to stereotypes just to get laughs
30:02 Fellow professional comics she admires
32:36 Cultural outlets for the Chinese diaspora
35:25 Why there are so few male ESL comics
37:33 Recommendations of ESL comics to follow
42:45 How Olivia deals with bombing on stage

Indigo was co-founder of Sina Weibo, or China’s Twitter. After Weibo, he started doing angel investments and incubating new projects. One of his main investments included the largest off-line art selling platform in China. Recently he got into the world of web3 and NFT. He writes a blog about frontier tech, and teaches online courses on stock investments in these areas. He is based in Vancouver.

I spoke to him about China’s startup environment since 2009, his takeaways from doing angel investments, his views on web3 especially NFTs, and his observations of target countries of Chinese immigration.

02:24 Indigo's work at Weibo, post-Weibo investments, and classes on Web3 & investing

08:35 Phases of development of China's internet sector

11:08 Streaming commerce

17:14 Exit of venture capital from China

19:06 How young people in China today are evaluating a career in entrepreneurship

22:12 Out-migration from China: Evaluating Singapore, Japan, Vancouver

29:28 Indigo’s advice for making angel investments: sourcing via personal connections, working on a platform full of entrepreneurs

32:23 Why streaming commerce is popular in China and not in the US

35:39 Three uses for NFTs: digital collectibles, creator royalty, soulbound tokens

46:08 Indigo’s life vision includes continually getting involved in businesses with young people

Peng Dang is a standup comedian based in Texas. Peng moved to the US from China in his twenties, speaks absolutely impeccable English, and more importantly, tells jokes like a local pro. I find his sets funny, educational, and wholesome. I’m not sure if a comedian wants to hear their jokes described as “wholesome,” but I mean that as a compliment.

We talked about how his English got to be so good, what life was like for him in Alabama, Atlanta and Dallas, how he honed his comedic skills, his views on "freedom of safety" on China's streets, the infamous Tony Hinchcliffe incident, and more.

I hope you enjoy listening to this episode. Feel free to like, share and subscribe!

0:00 Peng’s standup about Chinese builders

1:52 Blue material

5:54 How Peng got started in standups

6:39 Standup about Chinese railroad builders in the US

8:15 Peng learned to speak English by listening to punk rock while in China

14:37 Standup about kung-fu

15:23 Spending time in Alabama and Atlanta

21:37 Standup about the Chinese language

23:39 Gun safety and crimes in America

27:30 Standup comedy TV shows in China

29:30 Overrated comedians