It’s during the pandemic lockdowns that I finally jumped on the TikTok bandwagon – learning viral dances, diving deep into #MovieTok, and unashamedly sharing my Zac Efron interviews in exchange for instant online gratification from the High School Musical stans. It’s also when I stumbled across the incredibly talented Jenny Tian. The Asian Australian millennial quickly went viral during this time for her hilariously entertaining videos about everything from growing up as a millennial versus Gen Z in Australia, the debate over where Aussies should say “flip flops” or “thongs”, and on a more serious note, the reality of racism (she unapologetically roasts those trolls!).
A lot’s happened in the past few years since Jenny’s rise to the limelight. From TV show appearances to travelling the world, she’s continued to reach new heights in her professional and personal life. In May, she returns to Sydney for her Sydney Comedy Festival show, Jenny Travels, and we caught up with the comedian to hear more about the fresh content she has planned.
From cultural representation in comedy, to behind-the-scenes details on filming a TV show (“My call time was three hours earlier than boys,” she says), to F1 drivers like Lewis Hamilton… nothing was off-limits in our chat with Jenny Tian. Check it out below:
Jenny, thank you for joining us at Missing Perspectives. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about your journey into comedy? What inspired you to become a comedian?
I’ve been watching stand-up comedy since I was a kid. I remember religiously tuning into Thank God You’re Here and Good News Week on Channel 10, so comedy’s something that’s just been in my life. When I was 21, I rocked up at an open mic and watched. I saw the people on stage and thought, “I reckon I’m funnier than them..” I went back the next week to do a set and bombed horribly. I was not funnier than them. But I got one laugh at the end of the set and that was enough to keep me going.
Your show at Sydney Comedy Festival is titled, Jenny’s Travels. Can you share more about the inspiration behind the name and what we can expect from the show?
True answer: show titles are due months before we actually perform them so I had no idea what I wanted to call it. I just knew I had moved to London and thought to myself, “I’ve travelled.. Okay Jenny’s Travels!” Now that I’ve actually done the show a few times, the show title captures my adventures physically travelling but also emotionally travelling and re-establishing my relationship with my mum as an adult.
During the pandemic, we truly saw your star on the rise thanks to your viral videos on TikTok. How instrumental has social media been in propelling your comedy career? Does it make the industry more accessible for aspiring comedians?
I truly don’t know where I’d be without social media. An audience has somehow found my work and continues to support me. I absolutely think social media makes the industry more accessible for aspiring comedians. I mean, without an audience, how would anyone come to your shows? We all have to start from somewhere.
Could you describe the process of preparing and performing stand-up comedy on a stage, and how does this process differ from creating comedy content on social media? Which do you prefer?
Stand-up and social media sketches are completely different skillsets in my opinion. Both obviously involve comedy, but social media I think gives you slightly more control in that you can pre-script, edit and curate your videos however you want. You can add background music for extra effect and there’s a lot more tools available to help your content pop. With stand-up, it’s just you and a mic. I think that’s the beauty of live performance. I enjoy both, however I’ve got to say I enjoy stand-up more because you can really build on ideas continuously and have the time to explore them in greater depth. Plus, I can swear and say anything I want without worrying about getting banned!
You’ve been open about health, relationships and dating in the past. How do you decide how much you want to share about your personal life, especially when there’s so much pressure on social media to share and document every detail of our lives?
I actually don’t share much of my personal life on social media. I never really use Instagram the way a lot of my other friends do. When I’m out, they’re the ones taking photos of food and I’m telling them to hurry up and finish so I can eat.
In terms of sharing on stage, I’m one of those comedians who does share stories about my life. I don’t think too deeply into it. Whenever there’s a funny (or tragic) moment in my life, in the back of my head, I’m going “Oh this is gonna make a great bit..”
You’ve also been doing more TV work recently, including shows such as Taskmaster Australia, and Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee. What’s something about working in TV that our readers may not know about? We’re here for any juicy secrets or cheeky goss!
Something people don’t think about is the amount of time hair and makeup takes. I used to look forward to being glammed up until I saw that my call time was three hours earlier than boys. If we’re shooting in the morning, I’m waking up before the sun rises to sit in a make up chair while they stroll in later with a coffee. I’m the one who needs the beauty sleep! Very jealous. Another thing is that big bright solid colours look great on television and regular clothes tend not to. You also can’t wear logos etc or anything with too much pattern because it might strobe on camera. Once you learn about that and look at your closet, the options are slim. I’ve got a few items set aside in my wardrobe that are just “TV clothes”.
Comedy is often seen as a space dominated by particular voices. We’ve heard for years on end that women can’t be funny. Then you add intersectionality to that, and we know the stakes are often higher for women of colour in not just comedy and entertainment, but many industries. How have your experiences been navigating the comedy scene as an Asian Australian woman?
I think there’s been so few Asian female voices for so long, the world has found it refreshing to finally hear our perspective. I remember when Ali Wong’s special came out, it exploded. Everyone I knew saw it. It was middle-aged men, young women, older women – all from different backgrounds. I think a similar thing is happening in Australia where suddenly we’re appreciating voices we’ve never heard from before. So yes, there’s barriers to audiences sometimes thinking you can’t be funny, but I’m always happy to get out there and prove them wrong.
You do touch on racism and culture in your comedy at times. How much of this content is informed by your own lived experiences of facing discrimination growing up, and into adulthood?
All of it is from my own lived experience. All my friends growing up were Asian so in many ways I felt shielded from the discrimination in Australia. Then I started posting on the internet. Pretty much every time I referred to myself as Australian, I’d get hate comments. It’s sad but I’ve gotten used to it and I just don’t check the comments anymore because they’re a total bin fire. Hopefully with more people like myself showing how diverse Australia actually is, attitudes and mindsets change over time.
For other young women hoping to forge a career in comedy – especially Asian women and other women of colour – what advice would you offer them?
Just go out and do it. I remember listening to podcasts from other comedians (e.g. Pete Holmes) and he kept saying that. I was convincing myself that I’d study videos of stand-up, perfect my material without ever stepping on stage and that would still count as me ‘doing stand-up’. I was wrong. Stand-up doesn’t work that way. You have to get up on stage and experience that live feedback from the audience. And if you’re feeling shy, just pop in to watch an open mic. I reckon chances are, you’ll walk out feeling inspired. Once you’re in the scene, finding your people is really important. Having a community that you can vibe with, vent to, gain advice from – it’s super valuable to keep you going when the times are tough. If there’s another comic on the scene you feel like you’d get along with, don’t be shy. Go ask them for a writing session. A lot of my best friends are other comedians who started at the same time as me.
Finally, if you could have any famous person attend your Sydney Comedy Festival show, who would it be and how would you roast them?
Haha I’m not quite sure I’d ever roast someone unless they straight up heckled me. At the moment I’m obsessed with F1 so probably one of the drivers. Maybe Lewis Hamilton or Alex Albon haha. They both seems like cool guys with a good sense of humour.
Jenny Tian’s show, Jenny Travels is on Saturday, May 3 during the 2025 Sydney Comedy Festival at The Concourse, Randwick. Ticket details are available here.
Top photo source: comedy.com.au
