Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Ronny Chieng: Speakeasy’ On Netflix, Speaking Loudly In Defense Of The Dark Arts Of Comedy

What’s an Asian comedian to do after destroying America? Rebuild it? Destroy another country? For his second Netflix comedy special, Ronny Chieng chooses a different path, at one point even asking America to cancel him instead. He might not be bluffing! (He’s joking, obviously.)

RONNY CHIENG: SPEAKEASY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Ronny Chieng, who first became known to American audiences as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah since 2015, has enjoyed greater success with supporting roles in movies such as Crazy Rich Asians, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. He’s also popped up regularly on the TV series Young Rock and Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.

But Chieng remains most passionate and at his most vital onstage as a solo stand-up.

He delivered ugly, funny truths in his 2019 Netflix debut, Asian Comedian Destroys America! For his follow-up, filmed in New York City’s Chinatown at the Chinese Tuxedo, a former opera house turned Cantonese Speakeasy, Chieng reveals truths about himself and his past jokes, while still turning the tables on the morons in the U.K. and the U.S.A. who cannot seem to handle the truths about themselves.

What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: Who wears a tux to perform stand-up unless they’re hosting an awards show? Chieng’s look, and that of the special, evoke a throwback aesthetic, some real Rat Pack vibes. But Chieng’s no Dean Martin or Joey Bishop. Chieng’s Rat Pack would find him more as the Bishop in relation to the co-founders of All Things Comedy (Bill Burr, Al Madrigal), who produced this special.
Memorable Jokes: Chieng’s hour starts out with a bit as strong as his special looks, taking on the power of podcasters (he doesn’t mention Joe Rogan by name, and yet) and those who listen to them and think they know better than the scientists who cracked the genomic code to COVID-19.

“I feel like 2021 was the year that people who peaked in high school really found their voice — on the Internet,” Chieng cracks, calling the skeptics D students and “f—ing morons” who don’t even understand the research they’re claiming to undertake, and whose opinions aren’t worth listening to. “Let the nerds lead! That’s what the nerds are for.”
There’s a crowd-work bit meant to uncover the worst racists, but don’t get your expectations too high for it, even though it’s in the trailer teasing this hour.
Much more effective: Chieng’s challenge immediately afterward for the audience to cancel him. He reminds us that his former homes (Malaysia, Singapore, Australia) all have free health care, no guns, plus family. “Cancel me so I can see my mom,” he says, adding: “I’m here to talk s–t, make money and bounce.” Is he really, tho? No, because he also reminds us that only America will let him cash in on dick jokes and cast him in a Marvel movie.
Instead, he reserves his most furor toward the United Kingdom, the comedy fans there who have heckled him, and lastly, comedy critics. Before we unpack all of that, let’s pause to mention how rare it is for a stand-up comedian to promote another comedian’s special, especially when the other special is not on Netflix. But that’s exactly what Chieng does for James Acaster’s Vimeo special.
Chieng also does something quite rare, in revisiting a decade-old bit about toxic masculinity (painfully still relevant), even if the punchline then and now may be a bit reductive.
Our Take: But who are we to judge, right? Chieng forces us to confront that, too.
On the one hand, handing out stars to review stand-up comedians, as many UK publications do (and Chieng references by jokingly comparing his two-star review to four stars for Nish Kumar, five for Jack Whitehall and 10 for Mr. Bean!) feels like it’s oversimplifying what’s already a subjective art form. I’m not crazy about doing year-end Top 10 lists, but at least Decider goes with a pass/fail option for the most part.
Chieng implores that anyone who thinks “there’s no artistry to this” should go and try stand-up for themselves, putting himself in the century-old tradition of artists and others who’ve loved to quote Theodore Roosevelt’s speech to the Sorbonne in 1910:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Chieng’s defiant defense of stand-up isn’t quite as eloquent as that. Instead, he asks: “People reviewing comedy. Can you imagine that? Who the f— reviews comedy?”
I know he’s not attacking me or even my colleagues at the Times or Vulture specifically, obviously, especially since he directs his ire specifically on the “amateur hour” nature of Internet culture where people we’d otherwise ignore somehow gain relevance merely by starting a Twitter or Yelp account. And yet, there’s a reflexive defensive streak that pops up. I suppose that allows me to know how Chieng feels. And I respect that.
Even if I think his message does us all a disservice by distracting from the more potent points and funnier observations he made earlier in the hour.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Chieng’s passionate presence onstage commands and demands your attention.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.