Lol...Wow...I'm loving how awesome the discussion is on this, because I definitely learned a lot. Thanks! As for what
@UniqTeas asked, about my preference, I guess I'd have to saw "Rawwz" if I had to pick, but I'm good with either, as long as it's being pronounced the same way consistently amongst the characters.
IDK how many of you know this, but my favorite entertainment medium of all time is Stand Up Comedy. I listen to it at work. While I'm playing video games. I go to comedy clubs. I write my own that I can never perform due to my work schedule being night time. I'll take Stand-Up over anything else. So when I found a documentary entitled "I Need You To Kill," which followed Chad Daniels, Tom Segura, and Pete Lee, I was immediately interested. However, once the documentary set up their reason for
following the three guys, I was even MORE involved. You see, there's a famous comedy club in Minneapolis called "Acme Comedy Co," and it's ran by Louis Lee. Louis is Asian American, from Hong Kong. When you think of China, you really don't exactly think of their Stand Up scene. Because they don't really have one. At the time of this documentary, it had only started budding in the last few years, and was comparable to the American stand up scene in the 80's. So to watch these three American headlining Road Rats, bring their three very different, very distinctive styles to Asia? It was very enthralling to watch. The fact that a lot of the big cities are Business Hubs, so everyone knows English and can understand the jokes? Mind blowing. The lack of cultural disconnect, making "Funny" a universal language, had me glued to the TV. Seeing them interact with other Asian comedians, who mostly did open mic nights, still figuring it out, was enlightening because it was almost like Karate Kid, but in reverse. The old Asian Master teaches the American kid how to become strong. Now, it's the Old American Master, teaching these young wide eyed Asian hopefuls tricks for staying in the game. So that dynamic was interesting. The Rivalry between the few Chinese promoters who have comedy clubs noticable, but passive. The view into the scene it gave was just exceptional.
I do have a few small nitpicks. Sometimes the camera is a bit shaky, and the audio levels are inconsistent, between the narration sections, the interview sections, and the performance footage sections. But that's almost charming in a way. Like, it's definitely a homegrown documentary. The other gripe is, sometimes I felt like their should have been subtitles for a lot of the Asian comedians that were interviewed. I know they were speaking English, which a lot of them were brilliant at, but there were also many times where the accent was so thick, and they were speaking such excitement and exuberance, I lost what was actually said. This happened more times than I care to admit. Lastly, it was a one week tour, with 3 stops. Hong Kong and Singapore got a lot of screen time. And their cultural differences, as well as differences in the stand up scene, were well highlighted and contrasted with one another. The third and final city, Macau, didn't get that treatment at
all. I wish I could know how Macau was different from the other cities that have such a small and new, yet explosive scene.
Those are my thoughts on "I Need You To Kill," and with all of that in mind, I'm gonna give the film an 8/10. I'll actually probably find myself rewatching this now and again, if I'm looking for something stand-up related, but also want something educational.
