By Lilly Sibel
Karen Chee, a stand-up comedian from Brooklyn and writer for “Late Night with Seth Meyers” came to the University of Maryland on Friday March 6th.
Chee was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s “Asian American comics to watch” and has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, McSweeney’s as well as the Golden Globe Awards.
It was Chee’s first time on campus, and before her stand-up routine students had the opportunity to talk to her and ask questions about her career as a stand-up comedian and comedy writer. Chee remarked that her idols are among popular actress Mindy Kaling and comedian Ali Wong. The movie “The Farewell” was mentioned as a movie that inspired her.
When asking Chee what she thinks is the main thing that has brought her to where she is now in her career, Chee said,“I feel like in comedy it’s very tricky to know what got you where. I did a lot of stand-up and freelance writing online so those are probably the two main things.”
Many students gathered to hear Chee’s stand-up routine. Maryann Khong, a junior biology major, was one of them.
“Comedy has a way of bringing a humorous light to sensitive issues so I think it’s going to be centered around the representation of minorities and media and how that should be improved,” Khong said.
As an Asian-American, Chee related to Asian-American students at the University of Maryland through her jokes and stories told in her stand-up comedy routine. Chee told the audience of a time someone was referencing her and her mother as they remarked, “Not to be racist but you guys look alike.”
As Chee’s parent’s are natives from South Korea, English is not their native language, but Chee was born in America. Chee relates to Asian-Americans by telling a story of when she was in Dayton, Ohio, for a writing residency when someone told her she was “very good at English” Audience members laughed when she told this story as English is Chee’s native language.
Chee’s former thesis advisor at Harvard University, Terry K. Park, is now a lecturer at the University of Maryland. Park said that, “I wanted to bring her to campus to show Asian-American students and non Asian-American students a model of what you could do with pursuing your passion.”
Michelle Sung, a junior neurophysiology and biology major, remarked on what drew her to come to Friday’s night event.
“I actually didn’t really know her until my professor talked about her, but I wanted to come to look into her experiences in that field of industry and how her identity as an Asian-American played a role in that, especially because I am an Asian-American minor,” Sung said.
Featured photo: Stand-up comedian Karen Chee performs in front of a group of students at the University of Maryland on March 6, 2020. Chee performed in the Adele H. Stamp Student Union. Photo by Lilly Sibel.