From professional DJ to stand-up comic, “Canasian” comedian Ed Hill has dodged his parents’ expectations his entire life. Maybe winning gold for best comedian in our annual Best of the City poll will finally get his mom off his back. (Just kidding, he has his master’s degree and a performance degree in concert piano).
A Coquitlam resident and clinical counsellor by day, we rang up the hard-working Hill to hear about how he spends his nights.
How does it feel to take down best comedian in a city like Vancouver?
I didn’t even know this poll was happening until you emailed me.
So you didn’t game the system then.
No! Usually if I know there’s something like this I promote it through social media and stuff but I had no clue this was happening. When you emailed me I thought it was just one of my comic friends playing a prank on me. So I emailed your email address and was like, ‘Oh! She’s a real person! Okay.’
I am a real person! And I’d like to think that you’re a real person, too. What’s your story?
Well, the term I use is Canasian. I’m Canadian and Asian, so I was born in Taiwan an immigrated here when I was 10 with my parents. At the time my dad told me we were going on vacation, so 20 years later I’m still sitting here on vacation, having gone through school, college, all that stuff.
Growing up, I didn’t really realize what was going on until my senior year in high school. I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t think I’m ever going back. I think this is it.’ So it’s looking at growing up in this culture while maintaining values from my past.
Is that where you get your inspirations from?
Yeah, just social situations, everyday life, my family. I’m very honest on stage. A lot of people come up to me after to ask are these things real, and yeah, they’re 100 per cent real. Like one thing I always tell people on stage is that I’m allergic to alcohol, marijuana and nicotine. I have a terrible allergy system, it comes from my dad, and we never really had allergies until we came here. But the way I look at it is now, whenever I go out I’m the designated driver, and it’s the first time in history where humanity comes together and believes the Asian driver is going to keep them safe!
I’m beating the stereotypes left and right. [Laughs]
When you survey the local comedyscape, are there many Asian-Canadians doing stand up?
Ummm, very, very, very few. We’re a very small minority. I think because stand up is such an honest and truthful art form, but in the Asian culture, we really try to be hush-hush about our personal lives. What is being said at home stays at home, it doesn’t go outside. There’s that inherent shame that we don’t want other people to know our problems or our stuff.
So what does your family think?
My dad always says, ‘Why do you keep talking about me? Why don’t I just go on stage...You’re talking about me anyways!’ [Laughs] And my mom consistently asks me when this phase is going to be over. But then she shares everything with her friends. It’s the strangest dynamic. It’s like she doesn’t approve of what I do but she’s proud of the fact that I do it.
What career did they want?
They wanted me to be a doctor, of course. And my brother is in medical school becoming a doctor, so I’m putting all my hope on my brother to make them happy. [Laughs]
How did you go from half a decade of DJing to telling jokes?
I wasn’t really enjoying where the music trend was going – I was more of an old-school guy – so I stopped doing that, but I was craving to get back on stage and didn’t know what to do. I was going to graduate school at the time getting my master’s degree, and there happens to be a [comedy] class offered right below SFU. So I took it, and like a good Asian student I went online and downloaded a whole bunch of books about how to write jokes before I even entered the class.
I came into class with a complete, written out set and the teacher was like, ‘What are you here to learn then?’
From then on it was just refining things and understanding how it works.
Where can people see you perform?
I’m at Yuk Yuk’s Thursday, March 5.
The bests of Ed Hill
Best comedian (other than you)?
KT Tatara.
Best comedy show to binge watch?
Brooklyn Nine-nine. The [cop show] with Andy Samberg; I just love how stupid they all are.
The best decision you ever made?
Deciding to go for coffee with my wife for the first time.
The best person you’ve ever been mistaken for?
Hahahaha, really? I have a great story for this one. There’s a viral video in Taiwan that teaches people about sexual assault and it’s men raping men. And I look just like the guy who’s the rapist. Like identical – what he wears, his glasses, his skin tone. I put it on my website under my news section.
Best career highlight?
I think it would be opening for Louie Anderson at the Central Washington State Fair, and winning Best of the City without even knowing it was happening.
