Leslie Liao is no longer a comedy newbie or novice.
But it was a grind to get there.
She’d navigate the 9-5 work life, then get ready for a show at night, often skipping dinner and surviving on protein bars.
Liao’s been writing and performing for a few years now, catching L.A. shows, learning from them, investing in her own routines and performing in other cities, using her own money to travel and get stage time.
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But the hustle of having a full-time corporate job and balancing her craft finally came to a stop earlier this year, when she left the human resources department at Netflix — yes, the same company she is NOW doing stand up for — to pursue her art full time.
Liao has been featured in the streamer’s series “Verified Standup” and on The Tonight Show. She’s currently on her “Night Time Routine Tour” and she’ll be performing in the Netflix is a Joke Festival starting this week in L.A.
“It's like everything I wanted, but it's like with any new job … you're like, ‘Oh, it still stresses me out,’” she says.
Getting started in the local scene
I met up with her at Hollywood Improv on Melrose Avenue, which holds importance to her. It’s where she came every week after work to see comedy greats like Kevin Nealon, Jo Koy and Ali Wong. But it's also where she saw a bad standup show that evoked so much “rage and confusion,” she says, it motivated her to create comedy more entertaining than that.
She told herself that if people had the guts to perform bad skits, she could get on that stage too. “I was like if they are doing it … I can easily try it,” she explains.
Hollywood Improv is just a cool hangout, she says, “it's always fun running into comics, like bouncing around in between shows here.”
She speaks of this space fondly because of the performances and people, and even gives a shout out to Reeta, the woman who runs the place and allowed us to interview Liao there.
Growing up O.C.
Liao draws inspiration from her real-life experiences — the dating scene in L.A., working a corporate job as a millennial and growing up Chinese American in a white suburb of Orange County.
“I can’t write my own name in Mandarin but I can draw the Stüssy symbol with my eyes closed,“ she jokes about her upbringing in one of her routines.
“I was raised by Asian immigrant parents and I immediately felt like, ‘Oh, I'm different. And being different feels funny,’” she tells me.
“I also think I was so tired of trying to fit in and fit in with cool kids at school and be a good daughter,” she explains. ”I was everywhere so I think I truly knew what burnout was at, like, 11.”
She recalls watching Comedy Central or Conan to “laugh the exhaustion away.”
For her, comedy is personal and specific to her experience. “I’m selfishly doing it for me,” she says. Liao isn’t about the trending topics on social media or adjusting her set to the room she’s performing in.
“If I love it and I think it's funny, then that's how I do it,” she says.
Dating in L.A.
She’s pretty well known for her dating life skits (although she’s now in a committed relationship), so I had to ask her about her thoughts on that.
This portion of the interview was edited for clarity.
Brian: Describe dating in one word, and why?
Leslie: One word? Aggressive. Just cause in a weird way, there's always a sense of competition with everything.
So it's always like, am I going to the best place? Am I having the best date? Is this the best one? Is there a better one? It's intense and aggressive in my experience.
Apps or no apps? If so, what was the best one?
Apps. I did use apps. Almost all of them. I'm going to say Hinge cause that's how me and my boyfriend met.
Shout out to Hinge. I love to shout out corporations. So my boyfriend doesn't need any more shout outs. Let's focus on the companies I could potentially get deals with.
How do you meet people? Did you meet people at the comedy club?
I mean, yeah, but when I'm at the club, I don't think about anything else other than my set. So even if Chris Hemsworth walked in, I'd be like, excuse me, I'm trying to focus on what I wrote today.
Three questions people should ask themselves before they go on a blind date.
Do I love myself? Am I in a good mood? I think it's nice to like, check in with yourself and make sure you're like, not bringing any stress from your work day. And three, what do I want out of this?
Also, it's just a date.
Catch Leslie Liao at four shows at this week’s Netflix Is a Joke Festival.
