As the 2016 election winds down, we’re spending the next week talking to some of the people who’ve been on the campaign season’s frontlines, the correspondents of The Daily Show With Trevor Noah in advance of the show’s live election day show on November 8th.
It’s almost over, you guys. If ever there was a legit long, national nightmare for Americans to be happy to see end, the 2016 presidential election campaign is it. And to think of how much worse it could have been if we didn’t have the outlets for comedy that we’ve had, chief among them, the Daily Show. Since joining the show in 2015, Ronny Chieng has been a big part of the show’s success, having starred in two of its most viral segments. While we all collectively may be beyond the point of fatigue with this election, new U.S. resident Chieng seems to be relishing it and loving every minute of it.
First of all I hear that you just got married. Congratulations.
Thanks so much. Got married a couple months ago, I should probably remember.
Any immediate insights into married life that you care to share with the world?
Oh. Yes, do it at City Hall, no family. Quick but easy.
I’m sure.
Oh my God it was the most easy going thing. If your purpose of getting married is to have an easy going time, it can’t get easier than having no family, just the two of you getting it done.
So many people that I’ve known that have had big weddings turn out to be just miserable and wind up hating each other on what should be a happy day because of all the stress they have to deal with, so I’m not surprised.
I definitely have seen that. I’m 31, so the last two years or so have been marriage time for a lot of my friends. I’ve definitely seen people stress out over the wedding prep and it gets so counterproductive.
Celebrate and be happy.
Yes, celebrate it instead of stressing out. I don’t know if it’s maybe cultural because Asian people take weddings pretty seriously, but yes, it’s gets very stressful at times, every little aspect of it.
I can’t believe you’re 31. You look like you’re 17.
I look like I’m 17? Oh man.
What’s your secret?
Makeup. I’ve never worn makeup in my life and now I wear makeup on the show for television to look pretty, and yes I guess I take that as a compliment.
Correct me if I’m wrong on any of this, but you’re of Chinese decent and you were born in Malaysia, you were raised in Singapore and in the U.S. and then you went to college in Australia, where you got a undergraduate law degree, and you came to the show from Australia, where you were working as a comic. What was that like? I never really thought about Australia as a place for stand up comedy, but it looks like there’s a pretty vibrant community there.
Yes, it’s good. Australia has the biggest comedy festival in the world in terms of size. It’s the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. That’s really been a good platform for comedy in Australia, and I lived in Melbourne, so we kind-of based our whole lives, careers around that. With the Melbourne Comedy Festival you had this platform to perform and something to work towards every year. Yes, there is stand up comedy outside of America.
How did the Daily Show thing come about — how did they find you in Australia?
Okay, I’ve confirmed this recently with Trevor [Noah] because I didn’t know for a long time; we never got around to talking about it. But basically, I was doing okay in Australia comedy wise touring with my own stand up shows, and I was getting some TV spots and I managed to get invited to Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal in 2013. And at Just for Laughs that year I did a show with Trevor and I did okay and we spoke briefly. I already knew of him but hadn’t met him until that point. He complimented me on my set, we did one gig together, maybe two gigs, but we didn’t hang out, we didn’t exchange numbers. And then two years later I get an email to my website from the Daily Show production company asking me to send in an audition tape. So he pretty much pointed them in my direction and I owe everything to Trevor Noah.
How long after you sent in the tape did you get told that you got the gig and had to pack up and move across the world to the United States?
I was actually on tour at the time, traveling from Montreal to Edinburgh, going from the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I happened to be near New York so I popped down. The timing worked out pretty well. I did a live audition in studio with them, with Trevor, with the executive producers, and then I went to Edinburgh. The festival there is one month long, so I was there for three weeks and then I get a call saying we want to hire you for the Daily Show. I didn’t really pack up anything, I was on the road. I moved to America from being on the road.
Wow, so you just left all your stuff behind in Australia?
Yes, pretty much and you know, it was liberating as fuck. Getting rid of shit is the best, honestly. Just going, “I don’t need any of this in my life. I didn’t need any of this.” It’s cool. Just let it all go.
Where was the woman who recently became your wife at the time, was she in Australia?
She was in Australia, yes.
You had to convince her to move to the U.S. as well I’m guessing?
I did, yes. I had to convince her to quit her job and come move to America.
Did she know what The Daily Show was? Did she understand how big of a deal it was for you to get this gig?
Yes, she knew. In Australia everyone knows what The Daily Show is. I started watching when I was in college around 2005. I went to a very progressive university, I think it’s fair to say very left wing, Melbourne University, so our values were aligned with the Daily Show. Plus around the time YouTube was coming out so that online streaming thing really made it kind of a global show because we could watch clips, and we would watch and be like, “Oh shit, this is what’s happening in America.”
It’s really interesting that you said that the show was big in Australia because I was actually there for the first time this summer and one of the things I noticed was how consumed they are with American politics. Even more so than I think a lot of other countries are. The lead story on the news every night was something to do with the American presidential election.
Yes, I’m not surprised.
You’re obviously able to grasp from having been a fan of the show for so long how crazy it is that you’re working on the Daily Show in the midst of arguably the nuttiest election in the history of American politics. Are there particular moments throughout this that you think you’ll always remember?
Are you kidding? Every day is, it’s a dream come true. I’ve got so many cool memories now, like watching Trevor’s first show, getting my first appearance, doing my first real piece, meeting some of the guests here. I was geeking out when I got to meet Cory Booker. He’s the only guest I went to go take a photo with. Cory Booker was the only one I was like, yes I’ve got to take a photo with this guy.
Isn’t he just so nice and cool?
He’s going to be president man. You heard it here first.
In a previous life I interviewed him a couple times back when he was the Mayor of Newark, and I might have spent 15-20 minutes with him one time in person and then talked to him on the phone another time. Then I ran into him randomly at a New York City Walgreens in the middle of the night like a year later and he remembered my name, remembered little details about me and my life that we had discussed. It was just, it was kind-of freaky to be honest with you. But the guy is 100% authentic.
Yes, I think so, which is why I think he’ll be president.
The O’Reilly/Chinatown field piece that you did obviously went viral, but is that the favorite piece of work that you’ve done?
To be honest I’ve been lucky that every piece I’ve done. I’m not just saying this, every piece I’ve done I’ve been pretty happy with. The field pieces are fun. I mean that Chinatown thing, I guess say got the most wide spread attention, but all the pieces I’ve done I’ve been pretty happy with.
Your voting machine piece I think might be my favorite of the entire election season. I think it’s very underrated.
Thanks a lot. That was actually the very first one I ever did.
Was it really?
Yes, it was a huge learning curve for me to step up because this show moves so fast that there’s really no time to like get an apprenticeship or anything, you just got to go. When you’re hired as a correspondent it’s like every one assumes that you can do the job, which you should be able to do, but when I first entered the office I was like, “Oh shit what am I doing here.” I’ve never done that kind of work before.
How did you prepare?
I watched game tape of other correspondents, how they do field pieces, how it’s put together, etc. But there’s no substitute for experience, so going in and doing it and getting an idea of how these work now it’s obviously, I hope I’m better at it now than I was when I started. I’m glad you liked that piece though because I really liked it as well.
I recently read that a series you created was green lit by Comedy Central. International Student I think it’s called? Am I safe in presuming it’s a comedy about an international student?
Yes, I don’t know if I’m even supposed to be talking about it. I don’t know it’s like it got leaked or something. Basically the series is a comedy about all those Asian international students you probably saw when you were in University here in the U.S.
Are you still going to be doing the Daily Show when you’re doing International Student?
Yes, I’m going to take some time off to film it, but I’ll be out for maybe a few weeks and then I’ll be back on the Daily Show.
Congratulations, that’s awesome. One last thing just on the side I want to add about Australia; I think I had some of the best Asian food I’ve ever had in my life when I was down there, which I guess makes sense because of its close proximity to Asia.
I don’t know if ever in your life you got a chance to go to Malaysia and Singapore, but whoa, it blows them out of the water. That shit is so good. There’s not a lot going for it in terms of other things to do in Malaysia and Singapore — you might find it boring or whatever — but the food I think is the best on the planet. Food in Australia is pretty good. The Asian food in Australia is especially good.
I loved Australia. I can’t wait to go back.
Next time you go, I’ll hook you up, man. I used to live in Melbourne for ten years and I toured all around Australia. I actually have a website for food in Melbourne.
No shit? You’ve got a food blog?
Yes! Did you go to Melbourne while you were in Australia?
I did not, sadly. I’ve never been. I spent all my time in Sydney and a little beach town called Byron Bay. But I plan to visit Melbourne when I go back.
Melbourne’s a cool city, man. You have to go. I’ve got hook ups. Hit me up when you go.
