esther ku on last comic standing

I've been meaning to post this for a couple of weeks... Lots of folks wrote in to inform/warn me about Esther Ku, one of the comics who recently appeared in the audition stage of NBC's Last Comic Standing. I didn't catch the show, but I caught a video clip... and damn, it's bad. She's bad.

Not only is her act painfully unfunny, it's completely reliant on the same old tired Asian stereotypes. And I'm not talking about taking on the stereotypes with a creative, subversive spin—it's just the same old tired stereotypes. Language barriers, chopsticks, Asian guys, wacky parents. We've heard it all before. Racialicious has a good post on her from last week, where they're calling her the Asian Sarah Silverman (and not in a good way).

I mean, it's bad enough when other comics make bad Asian jokes for a cheap laugh. But this is just borderline self-hate. It's pandering to the crowd for stupid giggles, and it's seriously sad. "Ching chong"? Really? You're really going to go there? And that sorta kinda funny bit about the rice/glue? Ripped off from Margaret Cho, who did (and did it better) years ago.

I haven't been watching the show, but it looks like Ku actually advanced to the semi-finals after her audition. Maybe there's more, less cringe-worthy material to her act... but based on what I've seen so far, I'm not holding my breath. Please, girl. Don't supply America with more material to make fun of us with.