Minority Retort
Belgian Beer Cafe
Fri 9 March
Until Sat 31 March


Jason Chong, a radio presenter for Nova 919, is a Chinese-Australian who has decided to make the most of his mixed heritage, comedy-wise, for his show 'Minority Retort'. It's not exactly new ground - Australians love laughing at the ethnics - but Chong's easy-going style and self-deprecation make for a very enjoyable fifty minutes of comedy.

The main focus of the act is Chong explaining the realities of being half Chinese and half Australian ("Australasian" is the term), which he does through stories about his family, film posters with their supposedly original, racist titles, a quick Australasian general knowledge test, and an explanation of the White Australia Policy, for which my brother Charles was picked from the audience to assist. We should have known the risk in sitting down the front, but Chong was also unaware of the risk of inviting my brother into the spotlight and being upstaged. Luckily, he's obviously a comedian who enjoys interacting with his audience as much as possible.

This is, in fact, Chong's biggest strength. While he has a lot of funny material, not every joke hits home, but his extremely likeable on-stage persona gets him through any rough patches. This is especially useful when performing racial comedy, which does have a tendency to make some people a little uncomfortable; Chong is able to get past this, as shown by the audience sing along of his finishing tune, "Am I not Asian enough?" My guess is that with a bit of extra polish and a few more years, Jason Chong could be one of this country's top comedians.

Henry Nicholls