Jokes set to fly at Hong Kong comedy festival with HK$40,000 prize and chance at US tour
Hong Kong’s 11th annual international comedy festival is helping make the city a hub for comedy in Asia. Ranked low in happiness surveys, it seems the city is up for a laugh
What is it that makes Hong Kong laugh? That’s the burning question on the minds of 30 people who will be standing in front of a microphone over three nights as part of the Hong Kong International Comedy Festival.
The budding jokesters will be hoping their gags get them to the finals and a chance at the HK$40,000 prize and offer of a tour across the United States, playing the most famous venues in the business.
Now in its 11th year, the Hong Kong International Comedy Competition is attracting comedians from all across Asia with vastly differing experience and backgrounds.
Comedians either raised or resident in Hong Kong will be competing for laughs in a field that includes African residents of mainland China, Singaporeans, Thais, Filipinos, Taiwanese, Cambodians, Europeans and Americans.
Take my husband ... please
One of the comedians performing in her first competition is Maitreyi Karanth, who arrived in Hong Kong 14 years ago with her husband and family, having grown up in a small village in India before moving to Bahrain.