Interview #138 — Michael Hing

Michael Hing is a Sydney-based comedian, television personality and radio DJ. He has performed standup internationally, regularly featured on SBS Viceland’s The Feed, and is currently co-hosting Not Hobba & Hing on Triple J.

The Logie nominee has garnered a reputation for being able to effortlessly blend his thoughtful meditations on social issues with his affable charm and wit, resulting in a decade-plus long career.

Andy caught up with Hing to discuss his insightful material, navigating the Australian entertainment industry, and that one time he ran for senate —all through the wonders of social media.

You’ve been a working comedian for over a decade, touring all across Australia and internationally. As an Asian-Australian, how do you think you were initially perceived?

I think some audiences and producers, especially older audiences and producers when I started out, I think they’d come to expect all non-Anglo comedians (Asians included) would want to do this very successful but sometimes quite sad kind of old-school ethnic comedy. The sort of grim accent-heavy stuff that often borders on self-minstrelsy. And I never really liked that stuff. Like, when it goes beyond regular self-deprecation, and unironically embraces these quite grotesque stereotypes just to win over a certain kind of white-minded majority. That was everywhere when I started. I tried really hard to avoid that, and I feel like I really defined myself in opposition to that, but it’s probably one of those things that I spend hours agonizing over that no one else really noticed or gave a shit about.

How do you think that's changed?

I mean, that ethnic comedy stuff… there’s less of it around now, I think, or maybe just finding an audience means you have to do fewer of those gigs. I certainly don’t feel pressure to even talk about race as much as I used to, but I guess that pressure previously may have been entirely self-inflicted. Who knows.

Did you experience difficulties with your career and your parents' expectations?

Yeah, I guess a little bit. Like, on one hand, Mum and Dad are both doctors and my older brother was a software engineer at a huge bank, so of course they were terrified when I started doing comedy, but at the same time, I was just working at a bottleshop and not doing much else, so I think they recognised my options were limited.

Your stand-up material-like your 2018 show The Ethics of Punching a Nazi combines both comedy and meditations of race, gender, classism and more. How do you balance that dynamic in your material?

To be honest, I don’t really think about it all that much. Like, that stuff is all already linked because it’s all just structures of power. I just try to find the things I think are funny in all of that.

Is there a line a comedian shouldn’t cross?

I think it’s different for everyone. Like, comedians and audiences just sort of draw their own lines, and you’ve just gotta try and make sure your jokes line up with your own world view and if people get offended then you’ve just gotta listen and weigh up whether or not you care about their opinions. Sometimes you have to admit you got something wrong, and sometimes you’ve just gotta tell disgruntled boomers in the ABC comment sections to rack off.

The sort of grim accent-heavy stuff that often borders on self-minstrelsy. And I never really liked that stuff.

Like, when it goes beyond regular self-deprecation, and unironically embraces these quite grotesque stereotypes just to win over a certain kind of white-minded majority.

You hosted the SBS series Where Are You Really From?, a docu-series which explores the lives and narratives of Australians with immigrant backgrounds, living in Regional Australia. Why was this an important series to you?

Well, in part, it was an opportunity to tell stories about these really cool communities all over Australia that are often overlooked. Places like Woolgoolga, a sleepy town on the mid north coast of NSW that’s had a significant Punjabi Sikh population living there for over a hundred years. It’s really cool! And on a personal level, like, my ancestors came to Australia over a hundred years ago, and I know that even though I was born here and so were my parents and my grandparents and my great grandparents, and my great great grandparents... people still ask me where I’m really from, for some people I’ll never be Australian enough. I guess we wanted to explore that, and talk to other people who had differing levels of that experience. 

Do you think as time has gone on, that question has lost its negative connotations?

I’ve thought a lot about this. And... I don’t even think it’s the question that really bothered me. It’s more that some people would never listen to my first answer. Like, when people ask me where I’m from and I say Illawong because that’s where I grew up, but then there’s like fifteen other awkward questions because what they actually wanted to know is if I’m Chinese or something else before they ask me which restaurants are good. Like, we should talk about our cultural backgrounds, it’s fun and interesting, but you’ve gotta ask the right questions.

Last year you ran for a seat in the senate, garnering a lot of attention for your One Asian Party. How surreal was that experience? Did it change your view and relationship with politics?

That was wild. It was a dumb joke that just sort of got out of hand. I think it really jaded me towards large segments of our political system. I can’t imagine I will ever run again. The scariest thing was how quickly other political hopefuls got in touch with me trying to get my help to endorse their positions or campaigns. I think a lot of people in politics are really sad, and others are just these like, completely psycho narcissists. It’s all crook.

What are your plans for 2020?

Everyone's saying 2020 is the year they're gonna learn all these new skills like learning a language or learning to bake or whatever while they're in isolation. I'm just trying to not lose my mind, if I'm honest. If I get to 2021 and it's all intact, that's a win.

We are currently living through unprecedented times of anxiety and fear. What do you think the role of comedians is right now?

I have absolutely no idea. 

Do you have any advice for emerging comedians?

I dunno. Just like, follow your curiosity, spend time with people who make you laugh, and be wary of any agent who primarily represents YouTubers.

What are you listening to?

The last album I bought was Fiona Apple's Fetch the Bolt Cutters and I've been listening to that on repeat for days now.

What are you reading?

I'm midway through Patrick Radden Keefe's Say Nothing and it's one of the best things I've ever read.

How do you practice self-care?

I don't know... it irks me. I feel like people are just so selfish, and I say that like, 100% about myself. And it's the worst. Like, there's this whole industry of self-care telling us to meditate and exercise and bullet journal and coincidentally, people have all this shit they're gonna sell you that teaches you all that, or it's a magical blanket you can hug or something to make yourself feel better. And I guess if it works for you, like good on you but it doesn't sit well with me, because I don't feel like the world is a better place I foreground ‘self-care’. Like, for me deliberately saying ‘I'm going to set aside some time to take care of myself’ feels weird and psychotic, but y'know, I do recognise that I'm also deeply mentally unwell, so what do I know.

What does being Asian-Australian mean to you?

The biggest thing it does is it defines how some people treat you. Like, whatever cultural stuff it brings out of me, or whatever identity I might feel... all that stuff is dwarfed by the fact that at the end of the day, being Asian-Australian is like a big thing that defines me to some people, and that affects what they think of you and how they treat you.

Like, we should talk about our cultural backgrounds, it’s fun and interesting, but you’ve gotta ask the right questions.

Interview and drawings by Andy Yee.

Interview, 2Leah McIntosh