Mark StefanosSome of the best Asian-American comedy and comida are colliding this weekend, July 12-13, as L.A. Live transforms into a vibrant celebration of AAPI culture with the inaugural Belly Laughs comedy and food festival.
Spearheaded by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE), the festival unites 30 top-tier comedians, including Margaret Cho, Joel Kim Booster, Hasan Minhaj, Kiran Deol, and over 20 Asian restaurants curated by MAMA’S NIGHTMARKET, showcasing the dynamic “Third Culture” through big laughs and flavor. (See the full comedian line-up and set times at the bottom.)
At the helm is CAPE Executive Director Michelle Sugihara, a fourth-generation Japanese American whose background in improv comedy with Cold Tofu and advocacy for AAPI representation fuels her vision, who shared the inspiration behind Belly Laughs with LA Weekly:
LA WEEKLY: Where did the deliciously funny idea to merge comedy and cuisine come from?
MICHELLE SUGIHARA: Belly Laughs is the brainchild of the festival’s lead producer, Vivian Wang. She had the relationship with L.A. Live, Nederlander, and MAMA’s NIGHTMARKET, as well as the vision to bring it to life. It’s a really fitting blend because few things create community and connection better than laughter and food. Belly Laughs also creates a wonderful opportunity to highlight the breadth of talent in our communities from comedians to chefs.
How does Belly Laughs align with CAPE’s mission to champion Asian American and Pacific Islander stories and culture?
CAPE turns 35 next year! As the world’s longest-running nonprofit organization championing Asian and Pacific Islander people, stories, and culture in Hollywood, we see Belly Laughs as a natural extension of CAPE’s work. Each of these comedians (and frankly, each of the featured chefs) has their own stories to tell that the world needs to hear.
We have also been excited to see and support many of these comedians as they increasingly are working in film and television in recent years. CAPE’s pathway programs focus on writers (emerging and showrunner level), creative executives (emerging and rising senior level), and filmmakers (emerging and mid-career). One of our writer graduates wrote for “Deli Boys,” which stars Asif Ali, who is performing on Sunday. One of our executive graduates was the EP on “K-Pops!,” which features Jonnie Park (Dumbfoundead), who is performing on Saturday. CAPE also honored Zarna Garg this year at our Radiance gala celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander women and non-binary achievement in entertainment, where she gave our guests a brief taste of her comedic talent. Zarna is performing on Saturday.
What specific cultural narratives are you hoping to elevate?
With such an incredible lineup of talent from different backgrounds and life experiences, the overarching narratives will be that the Asian community is not a monolith and that there are so many stories yet to be told. Also, Asians can be funny! That really flips the script on some of the tired tropes of Asians as nerdy or stoic or people to be mocked as the butt of a joke.
Have we seen an Asian comedy festival in LA like this before?
Belly Laughs is the first-of-its-kind on this scale. We are grateful to our partners at AEG for hosting it on their beautiful campus at L.A. Live and Nederlander Concerts for their expertise with these types of large-scale events.
As with anything as special as this, though, Belly Laughs stands on the shoulders of other community builders such as Jenny Yang, who organized her “Comedy Comedy Festival: A Comedy Festival” for many years, and Will Choi, who created Asian AF. During COVID, Jonnie Park (Dumbfoundead) hosted comedy shows in an outdoor parking lot in KTown. Derek Mio also started hosting a comedy show at the Terasaki Budokan in Little Tokyo. It’s one of the many reasons we are so excited that both Jenny Yang and Jonnie Park are performing, and that Derek Mio is hosting the CAPE/Gold House stage at Belly Laughs.
More recently, Yao King and some friends started Asian Comedy Fest in NY. They will be flying out to LA and hosting one of Belly Laugh’s industry Happy Hours during the festival.
Was there anything particularly challenging in launching the festival this year? Is there any plan to make this an annual event or expand it beyond LA?
We announced the festival the same week the tariffs were announced, so there’s that. Next came the ICE raids, National Guard deployment, and curfew in downtown Los Angeles. But, it’s in times like these that we need community more than ever.
LA has such a vibrant comedy scene and we are lucky to have access to so much talent here. Belly Laughs was specifically planned to be held during an off-year for Netflix is a Joke, which is held every other year.
With such a wide and diverse Asian-American community in Los Angeles, what impact are you hoping Belly Laughs has on the community thirsty for this kind of cultural content?
With comedians, food booths, cooking demonstrations with top chefs, eating contests, karaoke, mahjong, and more, Belly Laughs has something for everyone. Belly Laughs creates a time and space for the Asian, Asian-American, and larger LA community to gather and experience this collective special cultural extravaganza. A popular refrain we often hear in the work we do is that audiences want more. More stories. More depth. More humanity. Belly Laughs will serve all of that. And more.
I know you are an alum of the seminal Asian improv troupe Cold Tofu — is there anywhere we can sample a taste of your comedic chops this weekend?
Haha, no. I will be strictly behind the scenes. This weekend is about the amazing comedians taking the stage. 🙂
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Comedian Lineup:
Hasan Minhaj
Kumail Nanjiani
Margaret Cho
Leslie Liao
Andrew Orfolo
Derek Mio
Zarna Garg
Joel Kim Booster
Nimesh Patel
Hari Kondabolu
Asif Ali
Jonnie Park (Dumbfoundead)
Andrea Jin
Jason Cheny
Irene Tu
Dylan Adler
Joe Wong
Kiran Deol
Jenny Yang
Helen Hong
Sabrina Wu
James Tom
Tien Tran
Fumi Abe
Robin Tran
Ismael Loutfi
Nori Reed
Tatyana Guchi
D’Lo
Paul Ogata
Yudhi Sharma
Belly Laughs restaurant lineup (Courtesy of Belly Laughs)
Belly Laughs set times (Courtesy of Belly Laughs)