First Asian American Stand-up Live and Digital TV Series Planned

Clockwise from top left: Amy Hill, Paul Kim, Robin Tran, Joey Guila, Atsuko Okatsuka, Kevin Yee.

Producers Koji Steven Sakai and Quentin Lee have teamed up with Viva Pictures to produce and distribute a live and filmed stand-up series titled “Comedy InvAsian,” featuring six of the nation’s top and unique Asian American comedians each performing a one-hour special at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on Feb. 10 to 26, 2017.

Signed talents are:

• Veteran Laugh Factory comedian and Kollaboration founder Paul Kim, who will open the series on Friday, Feb. 10.

• Young Japanese American comedian Atsuko Okatsuka (Comedy Central Asia, Disoriented Comedy, Laughing Skull Comedy Festival), who will perform on Saturday, Feb. 11.

• Gay Chinese Canadian Broadway musical Youtube sensation Kevin Yee (Mary Poppins Broadway, Blue Whale Comedy Festival, Quincy Jones’ boy band Youth Asylum), who will perform on Sunday, Feb. 12.

• Veteran Filipino American comedian Joey Guila (Showtime, Filipino Kingz of Comedy Tour), who will perform on Friday, Feb. 24.

• Transgender Vietnamese comedian Robin Tran (The Comedy Store, The Comedy Comedy Festival), who will perform on Saturday, Feb. 25.

• Veteran Japanese American comedian and actress Amy Hill (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “The Great Indoors,” “All-American Girl”), who will close the first season of Comedy InvAsian with her one-hour special on Sunday, Feb. 26.

The filmed proceeds of the live series will be edited and produced into Comedy InvAsian’s first season of a digital television series with six one-hour episodes for distribution.

In an era where diversity in entertainment is a necessity, Comedy InvAsian is the brainchild effort of Sakai and Lee to showcase and celebrate the diversity of Asian American comedy in both genre and representation to the world.

“In our filmmaking career, we have met and become friends with so many talented comedians of color, from producing Dwayne Perkins in “Take Note” to directing Randall Park in “The People I’ve Slept With” to working with Paul Kim in the Comedy Ninja Film Festival to directing Amy Hill in “White Frog” and “The Unbidden.” Comedy InvAsian will celebrate the talent and comedy of a group of select and diverse Asian American comedians which should prove to be just the tip of the iceberg,” the producers said.

“We’re excited to be working with proven, accomplished directors Quentin and Koji, who are passionate to bring Asian American comedy to the world,” said Victor Elizalde, president of Viva Pictures Distribution LLC, which is distributing Lee’s latest feature, “The Unbidden,” and has also recently co-produced the first successful all-Spanish-language comedy stand-up series “Sigue la Risa,” which currently airs exclusively on Netflix in the U.S. and LATAM.

Tickets and information on Comedy InvAsian will be available online at www.comedyinvasian.com.