Tour de Farce

photo by Adam Jung

The hits just keep on coming… The actor and comedian, who’s currently on his successful The Love To Hate It Tour, has been on a roll as of late, winning an Emmy award for Outstanding Talk Series as host on The Daily Show, starring in the Hulu original comedy series Interior Chinatown released just last month, and debuting his third comedy special on Netflix, Love To Hate It, on December 17.

Taped at the historic Hawai‘i Theatre, where he had five sold out performances earlier this summer, Chieng unleashes his sharp witticisms, joking about hot button topics like American politics, the touchy subject of aging, and private matters such as the IVF process.

The show, which follows his previous Netflix specials, Asian Comedy Destroys America! in 2019 and Speakeasy in 2022, was also somewhat of a homecoming.

“Hawai‘i is actually my first place I went to after when I was in college, it was the first place I backpacked on my own,” shares Chieng, who was born in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. “Hawai‘i truly feels like Malaysia. Everyone is super friendly, the weather is the same, the architecture, the cuisine, the people — it just feels like Southeast Asia but in Hawai‘i.”

Chieng also landed on O‘ahu for two seasons of the Disney+ original series Doogie Kamealoha, M.D., filmed Vacation Friends 2 here, and was back in the fall for the Hawai‘i International Film Festival, where he and other cast and crew of Interior Chinatown were honored with the Maverick Award. Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi even signed a proclamation declaring July 27, 2024, as Ronny Chieng Day.

“I love Hawai‘i,” says Chieng, who resides in New York City. “I was in Hawai‘i during the pandemic ... and during the pandemic, I think Hawai‘i was the best place in America. If there was ever a place that was made to survive a pandemic it would be Hawai‘i — with an open-air mall, the beautiful outdoors that you can go to ... and a community that actually cares more about the community than the individual.”

Among his favorite local spots: Ala Moana Center, Yoshitsune restaurant in Waikiki, Morning Glass in Manoa, No Name BBQ Sandwich and Keep It Simple zero waste store in Kaimuki, Farm to Barn Café in Waialua, Sunrise Shack, Waimanalo Beach, and Pre Storage karaoke bar (he recommends their uni spaghetti, and lists his go-to karaoke song as Ariana Grande’s “Love Me Harder”).

“Everyone was always super nice to me,” adds Chieng. “People would help me out ... I remember I was trying to do jiu jitsu in my friend’s garage and I needed to borrow some mats, so I Googled local jiu jitsu schools. I figured they would have some mats I could rent, and this jiu jitsu teacher said no problem. He even drove these mats to my friend’s house on his truck and I tried to pay him for it, and he wouldn’t accept money ... Stuff like that kept happening.”

Born in Malaysia, Chieng grew up in Malaysia, Singapore and Manchester, New Hampshire, and later graduated from the University of Melbourne earning degrees in law and commerce. It was in Australia where he discovered his passion for stand-up comedy. (Photo courtesy of Marcus Russell Price.)

Chieng shares another unforgettable experience, a “spiritual moment” as he calls it, that happened when he attended the grand opening of the Academy for Creative Media Student Production Center at the University of Hawai‘i-West O‘ahu.

“The governor at the time is giving a speech ... and he goes, ‘I’d like to welcome all of you to this new building,’ and when he says that, the doors behind him open,” remembers Chieng. “The doors are not electric. They’re not automatic. They’re hydraulic closed doors, so the wind blew
it open ... The Hawaiian priest comes on after him and he’s like, ‘I guess everyone saw when the governor welcomed us, the doors swung open. I think the mana is very strong. I think the ancestors obviously are very happy with what we’re doing here and thank you everyone for coming.’...

“There were cameras filming it and afterward I asked everyone for the footage, and no one has footage of it. Can you imagine? So that was just for us there. Hawai‘i is very special.”

Born in Malaysia, Chieng grew up in Malaysia, Singapore and Manchester, New Hampshire, and later graduated from the University of Melbourne earning degrees

in law and commerce. It was in Australia where he discovered his passion for standup comedy, performing at local comedy theaters, and writing and acting for various Australian TV comedy shows.

Then, in 2015, he made his U.S. television debut on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, was hired as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central, and made his move to The Big Apple.

Over the years, he’s also built an impressive list of film credits, including the blockbuster hit Crazy Rich Asians, Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, M3GAN, and American Born Chinese.

From live shows to the silver screen, Chieng continues to win over audiences around the world with his biting satire. But at the end of the day, when the cameras stop rolling and the mic’s unplugged, he’s simply a funny guy living his dream.

“I wanted to tour America since I was a kid,” he says. “It’s like a dream come true, to be able to go from city to city and do standup comedy.

“It’s fun to make people laugh at the things that I find funny.”