'My first try at comedy was the result of a dare'
I played the joker from a young age when growing up in Manhattan in the 1970s. I'd love to have fun by cracking gags with friends, even at elementary school.
One of my favourite teachers was Mr Ebbins and I remember him precisely because he was so funny. He was this big jolly guy and it was a joy being in his class. However, another teacher was mean and I remember her from the second grade. She was so stern she'd hit the desk with a ruler and squeeze the back of your neck if you fell out of favour with her. We'd call that abuse nowadays, but they got away with it then.
My primary school was very mixed with kids who were Hispanic, black and Chinese and generally we all got along well. My best friend, in fact, was black. However, he was a big kid who'd bully others and I'm embarrassed to say I'd follow him around. Looking back I must've been an idiot to have done so as I suppose I looked like his lackey. Years later I discovered he'd been shot dead.
I went on to Stuyvesant High School, which is regarded as one of the best secondary schools in the US. You have to take an examination to get in and about 20,000 sit it but only 800 are selected, so I did OK to get in, as did my other five siblings. That was the first time so many members of one family attended the school in its nearly 100-year history. I'd say more than 50 per cent of the students were of Asian origin and there were kids who were super, super intelligent.
One of the things I most remember was how much the teachers and parents cared and that felt wonderful. I was always the good boy in class but still the joker. It was at that time that I started watching The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and I'd laugh so much.
I started thinking about stand-up comedy but back then I couldn't imagine speaking in front of strangers because it was so scary.
My first try at comedy was the result of a dare when I was at Syracuse University where I was majoring in engineering and later geography.
There was a stand-up comedy contest on campus. My friends dared me to enter so I did. The night before the contest, I wrote four paragraphs and memorised them as best I could. I thought there'd only be a few people but the whole room was filled with students, teachers and others.
Boy, I was so scared. I think I forgot one of the paragraphs and when it came to the other three I didn't know what I was saying. But people were laughing and it was as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Strangers came up to me say how funny I was and it was such a thrill.
Later I worked in retail but was still doing stand-up and becoming better and better. Then one day I had stage fright and made a fool of myself. I learned a huge lesson from that. I'd taken my success for granted, I didn't contain myself and didn't memorise my lines completely. It was years before I returned to comedy and I did so because I'd missed it so much.
I took comedy classes again and quit my job to start the TakeOut Comedy Shop in New York in 2002. The thing is, I realised I just loved laughing and had found something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Things happen for a reason. I know that now. It's been difficult for my mum and dad in that I'm doing something that's uncertain.
Now I've opened the TakeOut Comedy Shop in Hong Kong - I hope it will be the first of many in Asia - and we're looking for aspiring comedians to perform. It's the first full-time comedy club in Asia and has been two years in the making and, sure, it's a risk.
Hong Kong Chinese humour has more puns and pantomime and less sarcasm and irony than in New York. It's interesting, too, because schools in Hong Kong are calling me and asking me to teach kids about humour.
That's great. All I want to do is to bring people out of their shells. Everybody needs to laugh more and, let's face it, we only live once. And who knows, we might even discover the next Jerry Seinfeld here.
Jami Gong is founder of the TakeOut Comedy Shop in Elgin Street, SoHo. He was talking to David Phair.
