COMEDY
COURTESY PINNACLE ENTERTAINMENT
Paul Ogata
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Comic kings bring Asian swing
Paul Ogata compares his frequent visits home as being like "the C&K thing, when they do their 12th 'final' annual concert."
This time, the stand-up comic will be just one of the "Asian Kings of Comedy," an obvious take on the "Original Kings of Comedy," the Spike Lee documentary that helped Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac break out beyond their core black audiences.
Asian Kings of Comedy
Featuring Paul Ogata, Edwin San Juan, Shecky Wong and Kevin Shea
On stage: 8 p.m. Friday
Place: Hawaii Theatre
Tickets: $36
Call: 528-0506 or visit www.hawaiitheatre.com
Also: 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Castle Theatre, Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Call (808) 242-7469 or visit www.mauiarts.org.
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There will be no cameras at the gig at the Hawaii Theatre, but the venue definitely makes it a more high-profile comedy show. And it should be fun, as Ogata said he has performed with all of these guys before -- namely Edwin San Juan, Shecky Wong and Kevin Shea.
Speaking on his cell phone last week as he drove around his adopted home of Los Angeles, Ogata said he last performed in Hawaii in October. Since then, he's been doing shows around the country and abroad. "I just finished doing a week of shows in Hong Kong with Shecky. It's been a fun time, stretching my comedic wings."
In December, he said, NBC selected him as one of 10 comics who could be part of future network projects. "I got to meet the executive vice president of the network, the senior VP and probably five different other VPs about some upcoming projects, and I hope something will come of it. A couple of the projects they mentioned were sitcoms, but we know comedians can do all things. I mean, look at Howie Mandel and his success with 'Deal or No Deal.'
"This is why I moved here," Ogata said. "While I made some contacts from my previous trips here, I wasn't able to put my foot in the door. Now I'm here to plant my flag."
Ogata runs through the comics he brought together for Friday's show: "It'll be Kevin's first time here. Edwin did a show with me there two years ago on Valentine's Day, and Shecky two years ago at Pipeline Cafe.
"Kevin has a laid-back slacker feel to his set, but he's very funny." Shea was born in Korea but was adopted into an Irish family in Pennsylvania. He has appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and Comedy Central's "Premium Blend" series.
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Edwin San Juan
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COURTESY PINNACLE ENTERTAINMENT
Kevin Shea
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As for Edwin San Juan, Ogata says he likes "to talk about his Filipino heritage and recreational activities, in particular the consumption of certain agricultural crops.
"Shecky's got the whole thing, this Vegas-y, Jewish comic with attitude and swagger -- but Chinese."
Wong (Phil Nee in real life) wrote via e-mail that his persona of Shecky is "more sarcastic and maybe at times a little more aggressive than I am offstage. I'm actually quite shy. It's my outlet ... like when Bruce Banner becomes the Incredible Hulk, only I don't turn green or rip my pants unwillingly."
As for his stage name, "Shecky says comedy, don't you think? ... I met someone in New York who said he mentioned me to (legendary comic) Shecky Greene and he was flattered. Obviously my parents didn't give me that name; that would be weird!"
Wong's earliest comic inspirations were George Carlin and Richard Pryor, but he did pick up part of his shtick watching "Jewish Borscht Belt comedians, like Freddy Roman and Mikey Freeman, at the Catskills mountain resort in New York where I was a waiter."
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Shecky Wong
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AS FOR OGATA, he admits: "L.A. is a rough place to be. There's a gazillion people with the same goal and intentions, all jockeying for face time with important folks in the industry."
When asked if he's become a screenwriter, like so many people who want to make it there, he laughed and said, "I went so far as to buy some screenwriting software, but I haven't used it yet.
He adds: "Now, every week, sometimes several times a week, I'm doing all kinds of shows, whether I'm just doing five minutes or up to an hour's worth of material. It's been an incredible experience, like going to comedy school."
So how much time is Ogata giving himself to grab the golden ring? "I could give you a timetable, but ultimately, it would be the wrong thing to do. I mean, look at someone like Rodney Dangerfield. It took decades before he hit it big. So I feel measuring your career to some artificial period of time is like setting yourself up for failure."
Besides, living in L.A. isn't so bad. "The only problem," he said, still driving, "is how far away everything is." Let's hope that doesn't become a metaphor for his career.