Comedian Jason Cheny wants you to know that life is absurd
The Taiwanese American on how he got his start, performing in his hometown of Taipei, and the absurdity of him buying a home
Jason Cheny recently finished the Asian leg of his tour and is set to start his U.S. leg this month.
Courtesy of Jason Cheny
Words by Sara Conway
The Taipei crowd at CSDI Convention Hall is just about roaring with laughter when Jason Cheny starts reenacting his family’s tradition of giving offerings to their ancestors—and his confusion about the whys of it all.
Cheny, a Taiwanese American comedian, tells his story completely in Mandarin—with touches of Taiwanese Tâi-gí for some extra flavor. His experience is one many families in Taiwan clearly know well, according to just how loud the laughter becomes in the venue.
It’s in this moment that I realize how comedy is rooted in connecting (no matter the language) over shared experiences. In short, an hour-long show like Cheny’s forges a relationship with the audience in front of him. “You shouldn’t trust me immediately,” as he quips towards the end of the show.
Jason Cheny performed to sold out crowds in his hometown of Taipei.
Courtesy of Jason Cheny
For the sold out shows in his hometown of Taipei, Cheny also brought along a few special guests: Vietnamese American comedian Will Pepper, up-and-coming Taiwanese comedian Janice, and established Taiwanese comedian Huang Hao-pin (黃豪平), who all performed their own short sets before Cheny took the stage.
The Jason Cheny: Live tour kicked off in Singapore at the end of November, hit Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong, before swinging around to Taipei in early December. The comedian starts the U.S. leg of his tour in Kansas City, Missouri this month and wraps up in Philadelphia in June.
Ahead of his sold out Taipei shows, JoySauce spoke with the comedian about his stand-up roots, sharing his show in his hometown, and recent absurdities in his life.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Sara Conway: Since you’re getting ready for your comedy show here in Taipei, what’s something or someone who made you laugh today?
Jason Cheny: It’s actually hilarious, to me. My friend Will Pepper, he's another really hilarious comedian, and we were in a nice hotel room. There was a Dyson lookalike blow dryer, which I’ve never seen before in a hotel room. I was like, “Bro, did you see that, there's a f*cking Dyson blow dryer thing.” And I thought it was hilarious. [Pauses]That was not funny. I’m so sorry!
Yes, that's a great question. Nobody asked that yet.
SC: How does it feel sharing your show with Taiwanese people in Taipei—including your family?
JC: I'll get butterflies, like excitement or nervousness, before a show but rarely do I get butterflies coming to a city. I got butterflies just before (I was) flying here.
I say this is my home, but America is also my home. Sometimes when I say Taiwan is my home, some Taiwanese people who have lived here their whole lives would be like, “What do you mean this is your home? You’re f*cking American.” I know that for some I’m not Taiwanese enough to call this my home, but this is a part of who I am and where I grew up. And I love it. I love the food. I love the culture. And I love how openly some Taiwanese people embrace different cultures from different countries. I really appreciate that.
Jason Cheny got into comedy after being in a bad mental state.
Courtesy of Jason Cheny
SC: How has “goofy yet intentional” become the foundation of your comedy? What was the push that got you started?
JC: When people (ask) how I started stand-up comedy, I always feel a little weird saying it because I was in a really bad mental state when I started. What pushed me to start stand-up is I wanted to kill myself. I know that is really dramatic to say, but I was asking myself what I would like to do if I do kill myself in two months, and stand-up comedy was one of them.
(In) a lot of Asian cultures, specifically Taiwanese culture, you don't really do what you want to do. You do what you're told, always. So having the opportunity to say anything, I think that's really beautiful.
I love being a kid. I love being goofy and hav(ing) a good time. (Being) goofy could be a vessel (for) saying how you really feel. Maybe it's some shared cultural traumas—that term is so cliché, but it's true. Something that may bother you, it may be something small like stubbing your toe or a food you don't like, but being goofy is fine because other people have a similar (experience). Then you share something with others.
SC: How has being born and raised in Taiwan (and then “re-raised” in the United States) shaped what you are drawn to as a comedian and what you eventually talk about on stage?
JC: I’m very grateful to be born and raised here (in Taiwan) and I got, up until I was 14, to still have core memories before I immigrated to the U.S. It’s a process to really understand Taiwanese culture as I become older because I think when you're a kid, you don't really know what the difference is. The older I get, the more I appreciate (it). Every time I visit Taiwan, I see the cultural difference between the West and the East, and specifically Taiwan and America.
I'm very proud to be Taiwanese, and I'm very proud to be an American. Being in that middle, a lot of people might not even “claim” me. Some people don't care; and some people are really supportive of that melting pot of an identity.
I love all of it. I love that some people hate it. I love that some people don't care. The opportunity to maybe share some of that culture and the nuance is a privilege.
SC: What’s inspiring your material nowadays?
JC: I think most comedians are always struggling to find the next thing. But life always happens. Even in the comfortable times I'm still trying to write and experiment. I practice in the comfortable times and when you're excited about something, you tell your friends about it. That's something, you know?
SC: What have been some key memories for you during this worldwide tour?
JC: When we perform, it's only an hour, or 10 minutes to an hour. The rest at the time is having life experiences with friends. That was always my dream. It’s just to perform with my friends, eat with my friends, because that's the majority of the time.
What’s really special to me is Van Corona. He is the resident photographer for the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, and he takes pictures for Dave Chapelle all the way to somebody who just started stand-up comedy. He was open to coming with me on this trip and documenting this side of the world and my journey. That was also a part of my dream, to have somebody documenting this. Every time people come see me, I am very grateful and I also feel like I scammed them because I'm like, “Why would you be here?” [Laughs] I always dreamed about (this) and to have (this) is a privilege.
Jason Cheny thinks attempting to make somebody happy when they're upset is important.
Courtesy of Jason Cheny
SC: How can comedy and laughter both help us process everything in life as best we can and alleviate the burdens we might feel?
JC: I think the world is always going up in flames. Yes, it's bad, but it’s also very beautiful right now. When I’m very sad and depressed, I’m so sensitive and don’t joke. But if we're very close, if you say a thing to roast me, I will probably laugh because it's really ridiculous for you to say something funny when I’m the most f*cked up. And if we're really close, you know what to say, and I have laughed during really f*cked up times.
Those times are the most important, the times we cannot see any light or a way to joke. If I'm sad, I would like to be happy. I don't want to be sad, but it's just really hard to be happy when you're very, very sad. It's almost impossible. I think the attempt to make somebody happy when you are the most messed up is important.
SC: What are some recent absurdities you’ve experienced that you can now laugh about?
JC: I'm laughing through it, but I had a gambling problem. Recently I got to purchase a home, and I don't know how I’m going to pay my mortgage. [Laughs] I think it's hilarious. When I tell my friends that, they laugh at me. And I’m like “I'm going to (have to) figure it out.” So I think that's pretty absurd.
Published on January 12, 2026
Words by Sara Conway
Sara Conway is a Chinese American writer based in New York and Taiwan. A lover of a good story and a good song, Sara is the creator behind the bookstagram Lyrical Reads and the digital editor at EnVi Media. She also has published her writing in places like Timid Magazine, GRAMMY.com, and Clash Music. Although books are her number one love, you can always find her learning Mandarin, listening to K-pop, heading to another concert, or petting all the cats she sees.