Watch

Being the First To Stand Up

Creator:
Published:
January 8, 2024
October 31, 2022
Watch what this comedian learned from trying something new.|Being the First to Stand Up 1

Meet Ivy Le: stand-up comedian and host of the Spotify show, FOGO: Fear of Going Outside. She has paved a way for herself as a first-generation Vietnamese-American woman doing comedy and entertainment.

"Whenever you put yourself in a position where you're not supposed to be in, whether it's a comedy club late at night or in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square or a college-level classroom that nobody in your family's been in, what I found is that literally just being there changes the space and changes everything that's possible after it."

Video Transcript

Announcer: Get warm and excited for Ivy Le.

Ivy Le: So allow me to introduce myself. I'm Asian.

Crowd: What? Really? What? Really?

Ivy: Most people are.

I just want to put out my perspective out into the world. And what I've learned is representation of people like me is so bare minimum that literally all I have to do to practically start a riot is to exist and be human and speak words, like honest words. People were like — [makes explosion noise]. And I'm like, what is happening? I'm literally just being human.

So, I'm from two very sexually conservative cultures — Vietnamese and Texan. That's my life, you guys. Why was that funny? Why was it...

Not every kind of person can get out every night, all night long to go on these mics. When the pandemic hit, I felt like — not relieved. I'm not happy that happened — but at the same time, when it specifically comes to comedy, I felt like the playing field had been leveled.

(recording in studio)…prepared thoughtfully, food can head off many common, but unspectacular threats to human life, like scurvy or hopelessness.

I host a show on Spotify Studios called FOGO: Fear of Going Outside. It's basically a nature show, because I'm obsessed with nature shows, but I ask the questions that indoor people want to know. I realize that, oh my god, nature is a highly culturally-specific construct. My point of view would be vital to it, but it really isn't, but it's still just kind of about nature, and I get to just be myself.

(In conversation with archery instructor) Yeah, I want some of that.

Archery instructor: No, I can't teach you horseback archery. That's something you can work towards.

Ivy: Whenever you put yourself in a position where you're not supposed to be in, you know what I mean? Whether it's a comedy club late at night or in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square or a classroom, a college-level classroom that nobody in your family's been in, what I found is that literally just being there changes the space and changes everything that's possible after it. Even when it's hard, it's not like the jobs my parents had hard. You know what I mean? It's a privilege.

It's my little recording light. Come on in, come on into my recording studio. Look at these pads. Come on in.

Creators:
Grotto
Published:
January 8, 2024
October 31, 2022
On a related note...
Fall Into Fall With These 4 New Songs

Fall Into Fall With These 4 New Songs

Tanner Kalina

Without My Daughter, I'd Be a Partial Human

Without My Daughter, I'd Be a Partial Human

Patrick Tomassi

What It Means to Live Without Fear

What It Means to Live Without Fear

Josh Noem

How Beauty Gave Me Strength in Suffering

How Beauty Gave Me Strength in Suffering

Bridget McCartney Nohara

Taking 10,000 Steps Just to Get to School

Taking 10,000 Steps Just to Get to School

Martha Reilly

Free Download: Original Art Prints for Last-Minute Christmas Gifts

Free Download: Original Art Prints for Last-Minute Christmas Gifts

Grotto

5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Help Immigrants

5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Help Immigrants

Grotto

Sturgill Simpson’s New Album Tells a Story Worth Slowing Down For

Sturgill Simpson’s New Album Tells a Story Worth Slowing Down For

Bond Warner Strong

6 Questions to Help You Discover Your Personal Style

6 Questions to Help You Discover Your Personal Style

Lillian Fallon

Juneteenth Spotify Playlist | #GrottoMusic

Juneteenth Spotify Playlist | #GrottoMusic

Grotto

Meet the Couple Opening Their Home in a Radical Way

Meet the Couple Opening Their Home in a Radical Way

Mike Jordan Laskey

Why You Should Embrace Your Introverted Personality

Why You Should Embrace Your Introverted Personality

Lauren Fritz

The Magic of Making Music With Others

The Magic of Making Music With Others

Mike Jordan Laskey

Thanksgiving Meals for Every Dietary Restriction

Thanksgiving Meals for Every Dietary Restriction

Mariah Cressy

Are We Correctly Remembering Our Immigrant Past?

Are We Correctly Remembering Our Immigrant Past?

Javi Zubizarreta

"Rose-Breasted Grosbeak"

"Rose-Breasted Grosbeak"

Judith Sornberger

"Ode to Almost-Silence"

"Ode to Almost-Silence"

Marjorie Maddox

From Seed to Lunchroom Table

From Seed to Lunchroom Table

Grotto

How a Year of Service Broke Me Open

How a Year of Service Broke Me Open

Janelle Peregoy

Need a Laugh? Here are the Grotto Team’s Recs

Need a Laugh? Here are the Grotto Team’s Recs

Grotto

newsletter

We’d love to be pals.

Sign up for our newsletter, and we’ll meet you in your inbox each week.