EdFringe Review: Jenny Tian: Chinese Australian

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Big on TikTok, and climbing the live comedy circuit in Australia, Jenny Tian, recovering management consultant, is playing the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

It’s essentially a ‘get to know me’ set, tracking Jenny’s path from corporate anonymity to internet fame. Augmented here and there with clips pulled from her socials, there’s no reinventing the wheel here.

Confident and assured on stage, Jenny’s show is slickly delivered and an easy watch. Her crowd work is a work in progress, but she has an edge of Aussie deadpan humour sure to make most crowds chuckle.

That said, I’m always wary of folks using ‘work they published earlier’ in live shows. Existing fans have nothing to discover, whilst the group-watching experience can feel like a replacement teacher sticking on a video and calling it a class.

More positive is Jenny’s discussion of the ups and downs of gaining internet clout. As a Chinese-Australian woman, the comment sections of her videos can make for depressing reading. On the other hand, a little bravery and visibility can unlock doors. This is, I must say, more encouraging than hilarious as a strand in the show.

Elsewhere her schtick on her dating/sex life and her high-pressure parents is competent, but not revolutionary. Occasionally, though, Tian will land a belter of a line, with super timing and just the right tone of voice. Her ‘doomscrolling’ concept for the show also pays off now and again, particularly her detour into the troubled world of influencers and advertising.

The impression left is of a talented comedian capable of far more, but who maybe worried too much that the Edinburgh audiences wouldn’t trust her to be funny without seeing her credentials first. Now the ‘get to know me’ show is out of the way, let’s hope she comes back so we can see what Jenny Tian can really do.

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