Type: Storytelling Comedies, Audience Interaction
If You Liked: Ali Wong, Self-Deprecating Humour
Logie nominated, rising TikTok and Taskmaster star, and seasoned fringe favourite Chinese-Australian Comedian Jenny Tian returns with her new show ‘When Life Gives You Oranges’. This is a comedic deep dive, chronicling her love life and adulthood in the greatest city in the world New York City. Tian uses a candid self-deprecating lens of humorous stories centred around her latest former love interest who gave her lots of new material.
Viewers may know Tian from her viral TikTok videos during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns or her recent television appearances. Tian is at her best when she plays into her chronically online audience – many of whom doom scroll her content – who are proud of how far she has come and are extremely willing to engage in her audience participation.
Tian’s show hinges around the catalyst of her latest former love interest and the comedic (or traumatically tragic) romance that follows as she unpacks the emotional baggage live on stage. After meeting on the dating app Hinge, Tian charts the relationship with her signature comedic timing and cheeky asides to social media trends and pop culture references. Tian had the audience in the palm of her hand, her jokes leading to a chorus of laughter that spurred her on as she workshopped the show on opening night.
While a majority of Tian’s comedic bits work, she occasionally lost the audience with her more divisive politically aimed or racially armed jokes. These may divide viewers unfamiliar with her content, but she stayed self aware throughout her performance quipping when she had taken jokes too far. These moments prevent the show from sustaining its momentum especially with audience silence. Despite this Tian had an engaging stage presence that kept audiences hooked till the very last second with copious amounts of applause that proves she is not just a viral social media sensation but indeed a serious comedian. Her use of well-timed poses and confessional storytelling made audiences feel connected and comfortable like a diary entry in real time.
Endearing as her online persona makes her, she ended the show on a high note posing for a crowd photo to the delight of long-term fans. Tian brings her signature down to earth style becoming an everywoman, making her show relevant those trying to live and love in the digital age. Comparable to a modern-day Bridget Jones, Tian’s show is a humours, relatable and entertaining night out.
See our other reviews from the Adelaide Fringe in the link below
Tickets and Practical Info for Jenny Tian at Adelaide Fringe 🎟️
Tue, 10 Mar – Sun, 22 Mar
60 min
Spiegel Zelt at The Garden of Unearthly Delights
M (1 Warning)
$32 to $42
