By Ron Bingham
James is from the Philippines before moving with his family to New Zealand as a child. His family nickname is Badong and in his Edinburgh debut James explores how he got the name, looking in loving detail at the film Kung Pow: Enter the Fist and the actor that inspired it (sort of).
James is a pleasant young man with some very funny and embarrassing stories from his life. He also talks about racism he encountered at school and in the world around him, including an embarrassing acting job for some “rich white dudes” and an encounter at a Lost & Found counter at an airport. He aptly uses the big screen on the stage to show the evidence of some of these experiences, as well as ending with an excellent remake of the film we saw glimpses of at the start of the show.
The room James is playing in is very small and the audience was jammed in. In fact, at one point the staff asked everyone to move forward a bit so they could squeeze in an extra row of chairs for the latecomers. About 20% of them seemed to be Filipino from the sound of the cheers at some of the references, which surprised James too and added a great chummy atmosphere to the room.
A very entertaining hour from a promising young Kiwi comic.
Badong is on at Gilded Balloon Teviot
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/james-roque-badong