Ricky Sim is a New York City-based comedian originally from Malaysia. As a stand-up, he has performed at various venues in NYC, LA, Toronto, and Kuala Lumpur. He’s performed with top names in the industry and has entertained audiences at clubs and festivals across the country – and he’s taking his acclaimed one-man show on the road.
Following sold-out shows and multiple rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe, London’s Off-West End Soho Theatre, and New York’s Soho Playhouse, COMING OUT TO DEAD PEOPLE is a chaotic stand-up about growing up as a gaysian immigrant in New York and coming out to his conservative Chinese-Malaysian mom… just as she was diagnosed with cancer.
Combining stand-up and storytelling, Ricky’s autobiographical hour explores grief, secrets, and queer joy. COMING OUT TO DEAD PEOPLE chronicles growing up as a gaysian in the noughties in New York, learning how to keep his first boyfriend with the help of rapper Sean Paul, and navigating the complexity of coming out alongside the intersection of racial and cultural identity. It’s deeply personal, making a performance at a queer-inclusive/safe space in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia an especially profound experience.
We had the chance to catch up with this talented writer and comedian to talk about his show and his comedic influences, process and more in our exclusive interview.
How did you get your start in comedy?
I have one of those cliche comedian origin stories – I used to be a lawyer and decided to quit my day job to become a comedian. Yes, that lawyer-to-comedian pipeline is real. The reasonable next step after writing legal memos for clients is writing punchlines for strangers.
I’ve been fortunate to be able to do comedy as an openly queer comedian in the US – as opposed to back in Malaysia where he’s originally from, it is a lot harder to perform openly LGBT-related stand-up comedy shows due to local anti-LGBT laws and censorship.
How long have you been performing?
Not counting the Covid lockdown period, because that didn’t happen, it’s been 4 years.
How would you describe your comedic style?
Raunchy, playful, but often time diving into the complexity of human relationship and emotions, especially when it intersects with cultural and sexuality identities.
What is your writing process like?
I have ADHD so…what is “process?” I usually try to write when I can find a place to sit down and plugged in my headphones and listening to “LoFi Writer ADHD Girl Slay Playlist” or something like that. If I can’t, whenever I think of an idea, whether it’s in the shower, when my friend is about to tell me they just got dumped, or about to get into an argument with the person who cut my line at the DMV – I would pull out my phone and quickly jot down my ideas and forget what exactly I wrote until months later when the idea re-emerge. My philosophy is, if the ideas reemerge, it got to be a good idea to execute.
Who are your comedic influences?
Hasan Minhaj, Margaret Cho and Daniel Sloss
What was the inspiration behind “Coming Out to Dead People”?
COMING OUT TO DEAD PEOPLE is stand-up solo show inspired by me trying to come out to my traditional Chinese-Malaysian immigrant mother, just as she’s diagnosed with terminal cancer. Talk about great timing! There’s something heartbreaking but humorous in that “damned if I do and damned if I don’t” situation, where I had to decide whether to tell her the truth or let her be blissfully ignorant about my life before she goes. It’s like, how much do I really want her to know about me before she goes on and complains to the grim reaper.
Is it difficult to share so much about your personal life on stage?
It can be sometimes, but as I have done the show more than 60+ times, in most shows there’d be at least one audience member who came up to me and tell me how much they felt after watching the show, either because they have gone through similar experience or is going through similar experience. And as an artist, that means so much to me.
What can audiences expect when they see your show?
Laughter, tears, and looking at grief, acceptance and loss at a different angle.
What do you hope to achieve with your comedy?
I hope to use comedy to tackle difficult subjects and the complex and evolving human relationship. During the difficult time when I was coming out, I wished there were films about queer Asians coming out to their families – it would have made the conversation so much easier – especially since what I was dealing with was very specific – facing somebody who’s about to leave the world and had no idea what LGBT was at that time. I hope that by sharing the story – people out there who are similarly experiencing the loneliness, confusion, and guilt as I did before, could find solace and courage to continue moving forward.
Do you have a funny bombing story?
One time I was doing some jokes about being born with a cleft-palate, but I forgot to tell audience that I was being born with a cleft-palate (and it is not obvious). So, the whole time the audience members were just wondering why this mean guy is just cannot stop making jokes about children with this birth defect.
How do you deal with hecklers?
The heckler I have faced usually are “well intentioned” they sometimes just want to react to my jokes what I say on stage as if it’s a conversation and I usually will tell them I can’t refund their tickets if they make this a conversation rather than a comedy show
What’s next for you?
I am working on the next solo-show which could be a continuation of this show, as well as a feature script based on the show, that will hopefully be more genre blending, where I can challenge myself creatively while also talking about an issue I care about.
Ricky Sim’s COMING OUT TO DEAD PEOPLE is hitting Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City soon. Get tickets and more information here. Follow Ricky on Instagram.
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