Funny way to boost community

Jeffrey Moy's Asian Comedy Night benefits community development as well as local comics. (DONGYU ZHAO FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

When Jeffrey Moy founded Asian Comedy Night four years ago with his two cousins, he thought the event might take awhile to gain traction.

"Asian comedy night - especially if you're from the East Coast - those two things don't really blend together," Moy said, smiling. But the cousins wanted to raise funds for the Asian Community Development Corporation, he said, "plus we wanted to do something that was going to break some Asian stereotypes."

With a little help from the community - "What [my cousins] and I do is we guilt our family and friends into coming and donating to our good cause" - the event sold out in its first year. Now in its fourth year, the comedy night last month at the Hong Kong Restaurant in Harvard Square featured two shows to accommodate the crowds, and still had to turn people away at the door.

Moy said the evening raises about $25,000 in net proceeds every year, all of which is donated to the community development corporation's home ownership program.

The program, said Jeremy Liu, the nonprofit's executive director, teaches low- and moderate-income families "to acquire homes in the right way - none of the foreclosure stuff - and helps families who may be immigrants or don't speak English or who just don't know how to buy their own home."

The comedy night also provides a venue for Asian comics who may be looking for opportunities to perform, said Liu, who hopes to eventually expand it into a two-day festival that would attract comics from all over the country.

"It's important," he said, "that Boston has an event like this, that it exists in the realm of the cultural landscape . . . to dispel stereotypes inside and outside of the community."

Comedian Joe Wong, who has performed at Asian comedy night every year since the event's inception, recalled that the first time he wrote a humorous column for the school newspaper at Rice University in Houston, one of the comments he heard was, "Who knew a Chinese guy could be funny?"

"Definitely, a lot of the time, people perceive Asians as very serious and kind of uptight," he said.

Wong's material addresses his experiences living in the United States as a Chinese immigrant but also tackles topics that transcend race or ethnicity - drinking, politics, and family life, for example. He says that his set at the first Asian comedy night was also the first time he performed the material in front of a predominantly Asian audience.

"My audience is basically a 99 percent white audience," Wong said. "I still remember the first time I did the show, I was very nervous because I was not sure how well my material was going to go over. But I think my set was very well received that night, and it made me feel a lot better about my own comedy." Grinning, he added, "Now I knew my comedy wouldn't offend my own people."

In front of a packed house on the third floor Comedy Studio of the Hong Kong Restaurant, Wong was joined onstage by three comedians whose ethnic backgrounds were Filipino, Japanese, and Pakistani.

Some of the jokes addressed racial stereotypes, while others nodded at them and moved on.

"People always ask me, 'Sandy, what's the best place to get sushi?' " said Japanese-American comic Sandy Asai. "I'm like, 'I don't know. Let me look it up for you . . . on my DNA.' "

Asai peered intently at her forearm. "Oh, it's coming up. I can see it. It says 'JAPAN.' Does that help?"

Don Diego opened his set by telling the audience he took the bus up from New York. "Don't worry, I don't have any Fung Wah jokes," he said, referring to the cut-rate carrier.

"But I hate taking the bus because everyone on the bus is always really depressed, and I think it's because if you're on a bus, life isn't really going where it should be."

The evening also offered an opportunity for guests to reflect on the presence and history of the Asian community in the Boston area, from the 54-year-old Hong Kong Restaurant and its signature Scorpion Bowls ("If you're not familiar, it's a large bowl of pink alcohol with animals floating in the bottom," said MC Rick Jenkins) to the Asian Community Development Corporation, which marks its 20th year in Chinatown.

Caroline Chang, the corporation's cofounder, said its current project - to build a 300-plus-unit development on the recently acquired Parcel 24 on Hudson Street - has particular significance to her. "I was born on Parcel 24, and I remember in 1962 we got the notice that we would be displaced for the state to build the Turnpike extension," she said. The land was returned to the community last year in the wake of the Big Dig.

The group's plans for the development include more than 100 affordable rental and condominium units, and the comedy night's proceeds link directly to the project, Chang said.

"We need to educate the community about affordable housing so that we can attract people to this new development."

The evening also offered a reminder that laughter not only breaks down barriers, but also builds connections.

"I feel that the Asian community and the immigrant community don't have a very strong voice," said Wong. "Being a comedian, I can present things in a funny way." Added Moy, "The focus of the night originated because we wanted to put a spotlight on Asian comedians and let people know they're not just funny on Asian comedy night. They're funny all year-round."