COMEDY

TAIWANFEST Ed Hill finds the funny in his family and friends

by Steve Newton

When I found out I was going to be interviewing Taiwanese Canadian comedian Ed Hill, I figured it might be good if I tried to make him laugh at least once.

So I came up with what I thought might be a chuckle-inducing comment about the heritage of Aidan Parker, the writerimprovisor-actor who will host Hill’s headlining performance at TAIWANfest’s Rethink Asia: Dialogue Through Comedy event on September 5.

“I understand Aidan Parker is a Chinese Irish Canadian,” I said. “So does he get drunk on ice wine a lot?”

Hill guffawed at that—out of kindness, I suppose, because I’d totally botched my lame attempt at a stereotype-based joke. I’d meant to say rice wine, not ice.

So much for my career in comedy.

Hill’s future in laugh-wrangling, on the other hand, is more promising. He currently has a comedy special on Amazon Prime, Candy and Smiley, that draws heavily on how he views his Taiwanese parents and his relationship with them. The film depicts him sitting in a chair, telling stories of his family life to a gathering of about eight friends, coworkers, and relatives— because two weeks before they were gonna shoot it in front of a larger audience at the Chan Centre, the COVID-19 lockdown hit.

“We came up with the idea of a story circle,” Hill says from his home in Langley, “like from Indigenous culture, almost, and to have people join the circle as the story goes on. It was different, I have to say that. It had a little more emotional density to it. Every person in the circle knows a piece of the story, so there’s that common shared experience to work, while usually when you perform for an audience, a lot of them are strangers, so it’s more a one-way type of performance. With this one, you can definitely see the reciprocation.”

Hill was urged to find what’s funny about family by his mentor and personal friend, American comedian Louie Anderson, whom he met at a workshop at the Comedy Store in L.A.

“Louie talks a lot about his family,” Hill says, “and that’s one thing he told me to do one time when we were working together. You know, when you’re younger you’re just like, ‘I don’t want to talk about my parents; who wants to know about those geezers?,’ but what he said was the early experience with your family is what ultimately makes you who you are, and it’s something that we all have experience with. Everybody’s got a family. It doesn’t matter if it was a positive experience, negative experience, dramatic experience, profound experience—they have experience with these people in their lives, and some things will translate as universal. And I took that to heart.”

Hill grew up in Taipei, Taiwan, and emigrated here with his family at the age of 10. At the time, his father said they were going on vacation.

“He’s not a man of many words,” Hill points out. “But I think, deep down, we knew we were leaving [for good], because who says goodbye to everybody?”

Hill moved to Langley with his wife about a year ago—”It’s way cheaper out here!”—but before that he lived in Coquitlam and Vancouver proper. His overall impression of the local comedy scene is that there are a lot of funny folks here.

“There’s quite a bit of talent in Vancouver,” he says. “It’s definitely a scene that’s resilient and a scene that’s very... I mean, the audience is hard to please sometimes. It’s hard to make them laugh, but I think it’s because there’s so much stuff that goes through here. They’ve seen a lot, so it’s hard to impress the people here.”

One local comedy act that Hill has grown fond of is Fistful of Kicks, the allAsian improv group that will join him and Parker at TAIWANfest.

“The show’s about having a dialogue through comedy,” he says, “and comedy is not just standup. Improv is also a very important part of comedy, so I kind of invited [Fistful of Kicks] to do what they do. They’ll be able to show people that it’s more than just telling jokes.”

As for what Hill will be performing at TAIWANfest himself, people don’t need to worry about hearing any retreads.

“The material is gonna be a hundred percent new,” he promises. “It’s gonna be the follow-up to Candy and Smiley. Partially, it’s courtesy to the audience, so you don’t come watch something that you’ve already seen on TV. But it will be a different exploration of who I am as a person at this stage, you know, since the pandemic happened. Now the world knows a little bit about who I am and where I came from, and it’s more of who I want to be.

“One of the things that I’m going to be discussing is the cultural identity of the Asian person here in North America and what that means to me now as an adult. And also my relationship with the women in my life. In Asian culture, especially, a lot of times we see strength emanate from, you know, the male figures. But what I started realizing as I get older is that true strength came from the women. And these women—whether it’s my mom, my wife, so on and so forth—that’s what held everything together.” g

Comedian Ed Hill got advice from mentor Louie Anderson in L.A. Photo by Brandon Hart.

Ed Hill performs with Fistful of Kicks and host Aidan Parker on September 5 at the Annex (823 Seymour) as part of TAIWANfest.

from page 9 “to entertain ourselves or to expand our visions”. It should also spur action.

How demonstrated this himself when he led Taiwanese publishers in opposing a 2013 trade deal that the Kuomintang government negotiated with China.

He was at the time a national adviser to then–president Ma Ying-jeou on art, cultural, and social issues, a post he held starting in 2009.

Known as the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA), the deal would have opened up investments from both sides in a wide array of industries, including publishing.

How explained to the Straight that the publishing industry in China is not only bigger than that in Taiwan but the companies are all owned and controlled by the Communist government of China. He said the trade deal would have led to a major inroad into the Taiwanese publishing industry.

“It’s very unfair because in Taiwan all the publishing houses are private companies, all the bookstores and distributors are independent, and there is not a single one that owns publishing and distribution and printing and bookstores,” How said.

How recalled having explained the situation to the Taiwanese president at the time. When the leader refused to listen, the publisher began to speak out publicly. He organized forums and public events.

“The final way is I have to resign and I have to be a protester,” said How, who stepped down as adviser in 2013.

How’s objection to the CSSTA was one of many acts of resistance that led to the Sunflower Student Movement of 2014.

In that year, students and allied civic groups occupied Taiwan’s parliament for weeks and mobilized popular opposition against closer economic integration with China, which considers the island country as a wayward province.

The trade deal was not ratified by the legislative assembly. About two years later, in 2016, the Kuomintang party was defeated in a general election.

The Democratic Progressive Party took over, and its first female leader, Tsai Ing-wen, became president of the country. Tsai and the DPP won reelection in 2020.

By his act of courage, How showed that he had learned well from another author he mentioned during the interview. That was Englishman John Ruskin, who was also an artist, art critic, philosopher, and social reformer during the Victorian era.

During his time, Ruskin spoke and wrote about the ills of society. His book on political economy, Unto This Last, later inspired a young Indian lawyer named Mahatma Gandhi.

Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy famously said about Ruskin: “He was one of those rare men who think with their hearts, and so he thought and said not only what he himself had seen and felt, but what everyone will think and say in the future.”

How wants to live this way, by following a moral imperative and doing what he believes is right. “I cannot be silenced,” How said. “I have to speak out.” g

Taiwanese publisher Rex How quit as an adviser to a former president so he could speak out against China’s influence.