Jen Kwok

Today I am interviewing Jen Kwok, a comedian born in Panorama City, CA who has been doing comedy for ?? years. To find out more about Jen, please visit her website.


Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

I started doing stand-up because I had always wanted to do it, and I knew I'd totally regret it if I didn't give it a shot. That said, it was a really looong process for me to become a comedian.

Growing up, my main activities were reading, writing, playing piano and watching comedy on TV. In spite of all that, I somehow ended up triple-majoring in business and becoming an auditor. After a little soul searching, I realized that this was definitely not the life for me. So...I quit accounting, got a job in non-profit performing arts, and enrolled in improv classes at UCB.

After a year of improv, I finally bit the bullet and tried stand-up. I killed the first time, did alright the second time, and blanked out during my third time up. This PETRIFIED me from going onstage again for almost a year. I decided to picked up the ukulele as a creative challenge - and because I really missed playing music. After a few weeks, I started incorporating the ukulele with comedy, and I've been doing it that way ever since.

What is your writing process like?

Horrifying and constant. I've never really thought about my process before, but it's basically this:

1. Write down absolutely everything that occurs to me as funny. I carry around a notebook that I write it in NONSTOP. I will literally stop conversations or stop walking in the middle of the street to write something down. Needless to say, this takes up the majority of my day and it makes me look like a freak to the general public.

2. Mess around on the ukulele, keyboard and/or glockenspiel.

3. Try to connect funny thoughts with music (Step 1 + Step 2). This is the hardest part because the first two steps are just about collecting. The challenge of the third step is editing without being too brutal.

What is your favorite thing to do besides comedy?

The Three Cs: cooking, crafts, and playing "Carcasonne"!

Cooking: I really love to make anything that cooks for hours and hours, so a lot of oven casseroles, soups, stews, and slow cooked stuff. My favorite recipe is a fried macaroni that my mom invented, which uses actual packages of soy sauce and ketchup for seasoning. Most people are grossed out by the ingredients, but it tastes awesome - you'd never guess it's an all-condiment affair.

Crafts: I've been sewing since I was a kid and even won a couple blue ribbons in the county fair back in the day! Right now, I'm making adorable mini felt stuffed animals. They're so cute it's disgusting.

Carcassone: This is the greatest game ever! It was made by the guy who created "Settlers of Cataan". Basically, you build a French village with castles, roads, etc. and you mobilize people (robbers, knights, farmers, monks, etc.) to win points. I sound like such a nerd already, but the game is really fun and easy to understand - give it a chance!