James Roque Refuses to Be Anyone's "Good Asian" Anymore

In Early Works , we talk to artists young and old about the jobs and life experiences that led them to their current moment. Today, it’s New Zealand comedian and actor James Roque, who you’ll find on Māori TV’s Only In Aotearoa and as a member of sketch comedy trio Frickin Dangerous Bro with Jamaine Ross and Pax Assadi .

I grew up in a place called Calamba, Laguna, which is near Manila in the Philippines. My parents wanted more opportunities for us and they picked New Zealand based on an Anchor milk commercial that aired over there. New Zealand was depicted as this sort of beautiful place with trees and mountains for yonks. There’s a mother and daughter in the ad and at one point she drinks the water from a stream and goes, “oh, it’s so clean”. So we moved here and lived in Pakuranga and I was like, “where the fuck are the streams I can drink from?”

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But nothing prepared me for the fact that I would be treated differently here. It was kind of a shock to me that I looked different to what people expected. When you’re kids, you’re friends with your friends. They don’t give a shit. But it’s more when you get into the intermediate and high school days when those ideas people learned from their parents kind of start to seep into teenager’s lives. I wasn’t ready for that. It was a big cultural shock.

It was also just a big cultural shock figuring out who I was and where I fit in. As a kid, you’ll do anything to survive. You just want to fit in. So as a kid, I tried to assimilate as much as I could and I tried to take in as much of the culture and stuff. It wasn’t until I left school that I was like, “oh shit, I’ve lost touch with a lot of my roots”. I used to think it was a compliment when people would say “You’re Asian, but you’re not that Asian”. Now I’m like, “fuck that”. It’s a terrible thing to say to someone.

I credit my stand-up comedy career to my mother because she forced me to read in front of people at church once every month. So from a young age, I was used to speaking in front of people. It didn’t bother me. Eventually, that turned into being really good at public speaking and class speeches.

I didn’t even know stand-up comedy was a thing until I got food poisoning from my friend’s party because she didn’t cook the chicken properly. She still refuses to believe that’s what happened. I went to the doctor’s that day and it was right next to the video store. I went in and got a bunch of DVDs. One of them was Chris Rock’s Never Scared, which was his 2003 special. It’s still one of my favourites to this day. I was sick in bed watching it on my tiny little 14″ TV and I laughed so fucking much. I fell in love with it.

I actually found comedy by accident. The Class Comedians programme is run by the Comedy Trust in New Zealand and they go to high schools and look for potential young comedians. I ended up doing it because I came to school and I didn’t have anything to do that afternoon because I hadn’t been paid yet—I worked at Macca’s—so I couldn’t join my friends to go to the mall. So I stuck around at school and there was this workshop happening. I went to it and now it’s my career.

The day I knew I couldn’t work at McDonald’s anymore I came home and the phone rang and I answered it and said “Hello, welcome to McDonald’s, can I take your order?” But working at a place like that gave me a perspective and a new outlook. I’ll never disrespect anyone who works in a place like that ever again because I know it’s a job and it’s not fun. If you’re rude to people that work in a place like this, you’re a dick.

When I started doing comedy, I didn’t realise it could be a tool to really address the things you wanted to. I had jokes that were problematic, where the punchline was that I was Asian. I did a set three years ago where I talked about the stereotype that Asian people can’t drive and I thought hang on, what if instead of that being the punchline, it was the premise? And instead of attacking and making them the joke, you made them the hero? You defended Asian people for being able to drive. Can you make that funny? I did that bit on TV and people really responded to it and I was like, “This is doable. This is what I should be doing”.

It was cemented by the fact that when I was practising to do it on TV, I was rehearsing at the Classic. At halftime a woman in the crowd came up to me and grabbed me by the shoulders and stared into my soul and actually said “Asians can’t drive!” Then she walked out to the bathroom. This happened right in front of the other comics. I was so shocked. All the times I was growing up—when people would say “you’re Asian, but you’re not ‘that’ Asian” or “you’re one of the good ones” and bullshit like that—in that moment it made me go, that’s for nothing. It doesn’t mean shit because they’ll still see you differently. It made me go “no, you should be proud of this—you should fight this fight”.

That experience made doing that bit on TV even more fucking satisfying. Since then, if I’m going to write a bit that deals with race, it can’t be the punchline. You need to raise consciousness rather than be part of the problem.

The audience can sniff you out when you’re not telling them the truth, which is the biggest mistake a lot of new comedians make. Not everyone in the audience that I perform to knows the experience of what it’s like to grow up looking different to everyone else, or being a minority. But if you approach it in a way that’s true or authentic, they’ll get it and they’ll be on your wavelength.

All the media stuff and all the portrayals of Asian men and how we’re not cast as the lead and all that shit, or as a romantic lead, all that stuff comes from the general public’s perception of what lane Asian people should be in. I figure if I try to some way affect that, then it will change eventually.

I just want to keep making stuff. An end game for me would be to make connections and to create work that resonates with people on whatever scale. In my fiery state of my mid-20s, that’s where I’m at. I love comedy too much. I don’t think I’ll ever stray too far from comedy.

Frickin Dangerous Bro’s World Tour of Tāmaki Makaurau runs until October 21. Find tickets and everything you need to know over on Facebook .