“My name is
Joe Wong, but to most people, I am known as ‘Who?’”
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Joe Wong ’01 gave a deadpan look as he stared across the spacious convention center. This wasn’t the usual comedy club setting he was accustomed to. This was the annual Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner, which was being broadcast across the country, and the audience numbered congressmen, Supreme Court justices and the vice president of the United States. Unfazed by the pressure, Wong delivered his punch line: “Which is actually my mother’s maiden name. And the answer to my credit card security question.” As rolls of laughter echoed throughout the room, the C-SPAN cameras cut to Joe Biden, catching him in stitches. It’s not very often that a comedian gets to perform such a highprofile gig. Then again, it’s not very often that you find a standup comic with a Ph.D. in biochemistry who speaks English as a second language. But it’s this unparalleled uniqueness that, in two years, has taken Wong from local favorite at Boston comedy clubs to international sensation. Wong’s journey from experimenting in chemistry labs to performing on TV didn’t happen overnight. For the 41-year-old comedian, earning his place in the national spotlight was a nearly decade-long effort. Wong was born in Baishan, a city of 1.3 million in the Jilin province of China. In 1994, he moved to the United States to begin his doctoral studies at Rice. According to Wong, who uses an anglicized version of his birth name Huang Xi, he performed in a few comedy sketches back in China, but he never considered having a career in entertainment. His dream was to become a scientist. “When I was younger, all of the smartest kids were good at
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science,” said Wong, who is a married father of one. “Having a career in the sciences seemed like this great thing to do. It was something that would bring you a lot of respect.” But the comedy bug couldn’t be ignored. It bit Wong again while he was a student at Rice — this time with a vengeance — when he went to a Houston-area comedy club to see Emo Phillips perform. Wong admits that he couldn’t understand half of the jokes, but he thought that he ought to give stand-up comedy a try. It wasn’t until after his move to Boston, though, that Wong pursued his new goal. In 2002, he began taking stand-up writing lessons at an adult education center, and once he was armed with enough jokes, he decided to try his talents out at a local bar’s open mic night. “After my first show, a comedian came over to give me advice,” recalled Wong, who cites Woody Allen and Mitch Hedberg among his comedic influences. “He told me he thought I probably was funny, but he couldn’t understand what I was saying most of the time.” Wong’s nighttime hobby of comedy was a stark contrast to his days spent working as a research scientist for Sanofi-aventis, a company that produces medications. He began honing his material at comedy clubs and quickly evolved into one of Boston’s favorites,