Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Promotional art for I'm Not Supposed To Be Here
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Comedy Dynamics

I'm Not Supposed To Be Here

Hank Chen

Comedy Dynamics · 2023 · 61 min

A couch-bound set filmed days after a motorcycle crash.

Watch on Comedy Dynamics(opens in a new tab)

Released , on Comedy Dynamics.

Six days before taping his debut hour, Hank Chen was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle, leaving him with a fractured pelvis. Rather than cancel the production and wait over a year to reschedule, he had himself wheeled onto the stage at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, sat on a couch beside his wrecked motorcycle, and delivered the set on prescription painkillers. Stripped of physical movement and stage pacing, Chen relies entirely on joke writing to carry the room. He details waiting tables at an Illinois Macaroni Grill where elderly patrons insisted he sing in his native tongue, surviving the rigid social codes of an evangelical Christian college, and the awkward friction of coming out to Taiwanese immigrant parents.

Notable bits & set list

2 bits

  1. Surviving a motorcycle crash six days prior to the taping

    Addressed candidly at the opening while seated on a couch beside the actual wrecked motorcycle retrieved from impound.

  2. Working at Macaroni Grill

    Humorous recollections of his adventures and time working at the Italian restaurant chain.

How it plays

Tone
Rip-roaring, humorous, and candidly authentic despite traumatic physical circumstances.
On stage
Candid, authentic, and self-described as delivering takes through a 'Gaysian lens'.
Pace
Ordinarily highly physical, but constrained here to sitting on a couch due to severe injury, adapting his physical storytelling to the stage furniture.
About
near-death motorcycle collision, dictators, confused racists, the Hollywood machine, his father, Macaroni Grill

What the critics said

No major critical reviews surfaced upon release; reviewed informally as a small-audience debut notable for refusing to smooth over the physical toll of his injury into an easy feel-good narrative.

In the room: Supportive and warm room featuring his boyfriend, friends, and fans who helped him push through physical discomfort.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: comedydynamics.com, justwatch.com, tubitv.com, weownthelaughs.com, pop-culturalist.com, nevix.com, imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Six days prior to the taping, Chen was struck by a car while riding his motorcycle, suffering a fractured pelvis. Facing a postponement until late 2024 if canceled, he elected to tape while seated on a couch on prescription painkillers, with his wrecked motorcycle displayed on stage.

Details

Released
Taped
El Portal Theatre
Runtime
61 min
Where
Comedy Dynamics
Director
Brian Volk-Weiss
Topics

Similar specials