Jimmy O. Yang, a comedian known for his work in “Silicon Valley” and “Crazy Rich Asians,” performed a stand-up set for students at the HUB Thursday night. The hour-long event was offered to students for free by Penn State’s Student Programming Association (SPA).
Yang welcomed Penn Staters by joking about how difficult it was for him to get to Penn State, joking that he needed to take eight planes to get here. He asked fans how everyone was doing on midterms, admitting that he himself wasn’t a great college student after achieving a 2.7 GPA and fearing that he would “lose his Asian card.”
Later on, Yang wondered whether Penn State was a “party school” and guessed that partying is just about the only thing to do in State College.
He also addressed the audience’s masks, even pointing out a fan bosting the comedian’s name in LED lights on his mask. Yang contracted COVID-19 earlier this year on a trip to Vegas and noted that despite the fact that he was fully vaccinated, “there’s no shot for Vegas.”
Overall, Yang is extremely proud of his Asian heritage. He noted that some folks in Asian countries wore masks and socially distanced long before the pandemic and argued that we could all follow that lead.
“I think if COVID has taught us anything, it’s that everyone should be a little bit more Asian,” Yang said.
Yang was also shocked by the Asian representation among the crowd.
“I had no idea that Penn State was this Asian! Did you all just spawn out here?” he asked.
Continuing about his heritage, Yang said it was ridiculous that many Americans claimed that mask mandates were “government fearmongering,” claiming that Asian parents invented fearmongering. He even told a story of when his mom told him as a kid that his friend had leukemia because he “was playing too many video games.”
Transitioning to modern dating, Yang commented how he thought Tinder was cool until he was on “Silicon Valley,” and then people “stopped believing it was [him].” Yang said that he does have a girlfriend now, but since she is a venture capitalist, he is now “the poorest person she hangs out with.” He also admitted that makes him a bit of a “sugar baby,” but he is embracing the role and accepting the gifts as they come.
Yang reflected on how much dating has changed, asking the audience, “When was the …….