Sixteen years in Malaysia, 16 in the UK. Thirty-two-year-old Phil Wang’s geographical equilibrium is nicely reflected in his new show The Real Hero in All This. If you want intelligent standup (a bit observational, a bit autobiographical) with no particular cultural flavour, Wang won’t disappoint, with strong routines on social media, the fridge versus the oven, and “photos of people who live in the house, in the house”. If you want a little cross-cultural flavouring on your standup dish – well, there’s his usual garnish here of now-thoughtful, now-flighty jokes on life as a biracial British-Asian with an amusingly beady prospect on western life.
There’s no theme uniting this update from the life of Phil, far less some emotional journey to take us on – as per many a fringe standup show. That’s not the equable Wang’s style. There’s a routine on his repressed relationship with his Chinese dad: all tight lips and brisk hugs. It’s an Asian thing, apparently – and it’s rubbed off on Phil’s comedy, which is witty and crafty, but seldom heartfelt and certainly not high-octane.
