Phil Wang, 34, was born in Stoke-on-Trent to an English mother and a Chinese-Malaysian father. He grew up in Malaysia before his family moved back to Bath during his teens. He studied engineering at Cambridge, where he was president of Footlights. He began his standup career by winning two student comedy awards aged 20. TV appearances include Taskmaster and Have I Got News for You, while he recently had acting roles in Wonka and 3 Body Problem. His second Netflix standup special is released next month.
What’s with the new moustache?
It’s an experiment. My girlfriend asked if I could grow one because she’s into the look. She’s the wind beneath my wings, moustache-wise. Now I’ve written some standup about having one, so it’s locked in for the time being.
Are you excited about your standup special, Wang in There Baby!, arriving on Netflix?
I am. Partly because my previous one, Philly Philly Wang Wang, was affected by the pandemic. The last special was Covid Wang. This is Normal Actual Wang. And it’s nice to have an exclamation mark in the title, like Oklahoma! It gets you going before you’ve even started.
It was filmed in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe. How was performing there?
So cool. It’s beautiful – the only completely candlelit venue in London, if not the country. I went to see my friend George Fouracres play Hamlet there two years ago and was struck by that space. There’s a sense of privacy, which suits a comedy venue. Right now standup is being consumed in very intimate ways, often on phones, so it plays into that. The combination of wood and naked flames adds an extra frisson. The Globe burned down once before, after all.
Did you feel self-conscious making dick jokes in such a hallowed venue?
A bit but Shakespeare wrote plenty of dick jokes. I’m actually continuing a proud and noble tradition.
Eurasian people have said your success and visibility means a lot to them. Is that a source of pride?
Definitely. They often message me about my book [Sidesplitter: How to Be from Two Worlds At Once]. Some say I was the first east-Asian comedian they saw on TV. Thankfully it’s not the case any more. There’s been a real explosion in the past five years, which is very encouraging.
Why is that, do you think?
Tastes have broadened and the comedy industry tends to follow tastes. A lot of the work was done for us by K-pop, Squid Game, Parasite and Everything Everywhere All at Once. The more people see east Asians in other entertainment forms, the less weird it becomes to see them do standup. These things build on each other. I call it “cool bleed”. It also follows food culture, interestingly. Thai, Vietnamese, Korean and Malaysian food have all got big in the UK, which provides even more reference points. East Asian comedians can talk about bánh mì or kimchi and western audiences will understand. These things all track together and give us a leg-up.
Is being an alumnus of Cambridge Footlights as much of a curse as a blessing nowadays?
I think it cancels itself out. You gain all this great experience and it still has some prestige but people can also roll their eyes at it. Because of the internet, streaming and social media, comedy these days feels more democratic. I don’t think it really matters where you’ve come from any more.
What kind of material are you currently drawn to?
Silly jokes. Silly is coming back. Comedy got very serious, particularly during the Trump and Boris years. I have this theory that when politics gets silly, comedy gets earnest. This is armchair sociology but I think politics and comedy are in this symbiotic relationship. One has to balance the other out. Now that politics is a bit more serious, at least in the UK, comedians can stop speaking like politicians and just be funny again.
You compered Have I Got News for You at short notice in May. How was that?
I got the call the night before, halfway through a pint at the pub. Amol Rajan was booked to host but had to pull out because of [pre-election] purdah; he’s a serious news man. I said at the recording, “I must be the only person under 60 who’s benefited personally from Rishi Sunak’s premiership.” It was thrilling. Growing up, my mum used to bring back videos of the show from the UK, so it’s always been part of my life. The first time I was a panellist felt like a dream. Hosting it was the next step up.
What have you made of the Labour government so far?
They are more boring, which was exactly what I wanted. It’s weird not to be following some psychodrama every day. If Kamala Harris gets in too, we’ll have lawyers as leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. Imagine all that boring economic stability.
You made your film debut in Wonka and managed to break your arm. What happened?
I had a small part and it was my first ever day on a movie set. I had to do a tap dance on a table and after a few takes, it broke under me. I seemed to fall in slow motion. I remember being in mid-air, thinking “Timothée Chalamet is right there, how embarrassing”, and crunch, I landed hard. The next morning, I woke up and couldn’t move my arm. My mum’s a rheumatologist so I Zoomed her and she instantly diagnosed a fracture of the radial head. Being in pain, with Willy Wonka in full purple costume being sympathetic, was quite trippy.
Any regrets about your tight yellow jumpsuit on Taskmaster?
I saw it as a serious tribute to Bruce Lee. The bulge issue only became apparent when it was too late to change. James Acaster and Rhod Gilbert said: “What the hell are you wearing?” – which is when I learned shame. It was like Eve eating the apple. If you watch the group tasks, you can see I’m subtly trying to cover myself up. But no regrets. Even if, in the child-friendly cut of the series, they’ve cropped some shots because my crotch isn’t PG.
You were a huge Succession fan. What’s replaced it in your viewing repertoire?
My girlfriend is making me – maybe that’s too strong a word – watch Sex and the City. The movies aren’t so great but the TV show is genuinely funny and the performances are spectacular.
Which character do you identify with?
Good question. Definitely not Carrie. Sadly not Samantha. In some ways, I’m a Charlotte but she’s too prudish. I suspect I’m probably Miranda.
You often ask people to rank the five types of carbohydrate. What’s your own order?
It’s my favourite ice-breaker. People initially think it’s a dumb question, then they get so into it. My top two are rice and noodles but the order swaps around. I’ve just invested in a hi-tech induction rice cooker so right now, rice is top, then noodles, pasta, bread and potatoes. These are the only two questions you need to completely know someone: which Sex and the City girl are you and rank your carbs.
What’s in the pipeline?
I’m hosting Unspeakable, a Radio 4 show about words, with Susie Dent. Otherwise I’m writing new standup and script ideas. I’d love to make a comedy show about art. Oh and working on my moustache – that’s the most important project.
Phil Wang’s standup special, Wang in There Baby!, streams worldwide on Netflix from 3 September
