An Apology
Former manager of the Comedy Joint: no fun with Lex Morales finally went viral, thankfully not for his terrible comedy.
A feckless flapping rampage, he assaulted the owner of a rival comedy club, and a Thai Indian comedian a quarter of his weight. KC had worked unpaid for Lex for two years, but had outraged him by declining to hand over half of his comedy business (a business valued at -$20,000)
This moment was rock bottom for Bangkok’s long embarrassing comedy scene. Here are my thoughts on how we move forwards.
Bangkok Comedy's Reputation
Touring Malaysia and Tokyo, I was immediately greeted by both lovely comedy communities with:
“Wow: Bangkok’s scene is really toxic and cliquey, hey?”
I don't want to go over what's been wrong to date, because most comedians in Bangkok had already moved on long before The Comedy Joint had closed its doors.
The usual gossipy drama farmers still try to demand loyalty, to gatekeep, and control the narrative, but it's too late.
Bangkok's comedy scene is in a Renaissance. There are 10+ comedy shows per week, 50+ regular open miccers, and at least 5 good professionals. Will there be more? There will be now we're free from the distraction and the drama.
The impotent rage and subsequent flight of a failed comedian was the last dying breath of a decade old drama. Old men flailing into irrelevance.
Now the entertainment primarily happens ON the stage, people can focus on writing, performing, enjoying the show, and each other’s company.
The benefit of hitting rock bottom? The only way is up!
If the Malaysians (with all their diversity, religious tensions, and censorship) can get along, Bangkok really has no excuse not to do better.
If SingaBore can regularly host professional local and touring comedians profitably, there's no reason Bangkok can't do better.
I'd love to help and copy what I saw during my brief performance at the Tokyo Comedy Bar’s International Comedy Festival. A genuinely supportive community, people watching each other's shows, and giving each other writing suggestions.
Comedians (and even promoters) not seeing each other as competitors for limited space, but colleagues, learning together in a growing market that's never been bigger. Collaborating so when comedians tour South East Asia, they have a brilliant time and do lots of varied shows with lots of local comedians. This makes Bangkok worth the trip, and gives opportunities for local comedians.
The local and international scenes need to overlap and integrate much better. Some Farang need to learn Thai, and stop telling clichéd ladyboy jokes. Some people need to quit comedy, most people need to spend more time writing better material, and less time gossiping about which clique they imagine they're part of.
Everyone needs to help each other film, learn, promote, and grow.
In the meantime, The Comedy Joint is back. We'll be supporting, filming, and promoting comedians and comedy shows as part of a community cooperative.
This wasn't written by Chat GPT, because I'm a creative person that can write without having my psychosis filtered through a robot, but if that sounds fun, check out Lex’ blog
https://www.funwithlex.com/blog
The Comedy Joint always had a big mission to serve Bangkok's comedy scene, not any individual ego. We're back on track now.
Sorry for the nonsense. And the violence. Happy to fire him again if needed, but thought we were pretty clear the first three times that he'd outstayed his welcome.