Funnyman Joe DeRosa on hecklers, KFC and his worst gig

Joe DeRosa is a much loved figure on the US comedy circuit as well as on TV, where he can be seen regularly on AMC’s ‘Better Call Saul’, Comedy Central’s ‘Inside Amy Schumer’ as well as all over the late night talk show circuit. He’s headed to Shanghai to perform at two shows this weekend, and we had the chance to talk with him before he hopped on his flight to China.

Who heckles more: Conservatives or liberals? Men or women? Drunk or sober people?

Drunk people tend to yell out far more during a show, and a lot of time it’s in support. By the time it leaves their brain and comes out of their drunk mouth, it sounds like a heckle, but they’re trying to be nice. I found it’s pretty even between men and women, and conservatives and liberals. There’s always someone getting pissed off about something, especially now in The States. I don’t know if this is the same everywhere or not, but here it’s very touchy right now. Everybody is trying to not only subscribe to a team, but let you know what team they subscribe to.

You’ve performed in many different countries, what is the best and worst gigs you’ve had abroad?

They’ve all been really great in one way or another. It’s hard to pinpoint the best one, but I know the worst one. The worst one is when I bombed on television in Amsterdam. And I don’t mean I had a weird set or it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, or some of the jokes didn’t land. It was a front-to-back dead silence bomb. When it cut away to the audience supposed to be laughing, nobody was laughing. It was just people awkwardly sipping their drinks in silence. It was rough.

KFC is the biggest restaurant chain in China. Think you’ll be trying any local food?

I didn’t know that, but now I like China even more. And I’ll be trying tons of local food, including KFC. KFC tastes different in different areas. It’s like Coke. Kind of taste different everywhere. Even some place as close as Canada, KFC is a slightly different recipe, so I always try to tap into that.

The comedy scene in China is booming. Any chance you’d leave the US scene and make a go of it here?

I wouldn’t NOT consider it. I’d be open to the idea. I’d have to think about it. This is a lot of pressure right now to ask me that question when we just met. Yeah, I’d consider it, and I’m glad to see that the scene is booming. I can’t wait to experience it.

If you’d never found your calling in comedy, what do you think you’d be doing now?

Honestly I’d probably be working at a record store. I still fantasize about that. Comedy is great, but still a lot of the time I fantasize about working again in a record store. It was the best job I ever had. You listen to music all day, talk about music, you help people find the music they’re looking for, help them discover new music. It was great, so great. I miss it terribly.

Sina Comedy Pres. Joe DeRosa & Stephen Carlin
(Sept 22, Sat 9pm)

Back rows

¥220

General

Presale: ¥250

Door: ¥270

VIP

¥500

Includes front row tabled seating

2 free drinks

private afterparty with free food and Savanna Apple Cider

meet & greet with performers

Cages Bar and Sports
428 Jiangning Road | 江宁路428

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Sina Comedy Pres. Joe DeRosa
(Sept 23, Sun 9pm)

Door: ¥220

Comedy U.N.
549 Middle Yan’an Road | 延安中路549

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