On a typical day, the Oriental Store of Raleigh sees patrons milling between shelves to shop for bags of rice, snacks, canned fish, soy sauce, and other pan-Asian grocery items. Folks will also stop at its popular lunch counter, Filipino Express, to order lumpia, chicken adobo, pancit, and other Filipino dishes.
But on Thursday night, the small grocery became host to dozens of people who crammed into the dining space of Filipino Express to watch, of all things, a stand-up comedy show. Comedian Jenny Yang, wearing a large necktie adorned with pins and a flowing translucent yellow dress over a button-down shirt and shorts, made her entrance by throwing bags of chips into the crowd.
"An immigrant grocery store is the heart of our communities," she said to the crowd. "Sadly, it is where a lot of our immigrant communities didn't feel safe to come out to during any sort of ICE activity."
Then Yang held up a putong, a small Filipino steamed rice cake.
"And so that's why, in order to begin, we must start by eating a food that is important to the culture," she continued, then smashed the putong into her mouth, rousing laughter and applause from the audience.
Yang is a Los Angeles-based Taiwanese American comedian and actor best known for her role on Netflix's "The Brothers Sun" and her podcast "What Should We Talk About?" She has been performing at cultural grocery stores across the country this summer to raise awareness of the challenges immigrant communities experience, especially as a result of President Trump's immigration crackdown. Some of her stops have included El Sereno Green Grocer in Los Angeles, Seafood City in Houston, and Hmong Legacy in Madison, Wisconsin.
"For me, to be able to transform a space that's typically just about our food, (and) make it a place where I can tell jokes in front of a wall of crackers and Asian snacks — it feels celebratory," Yang told WUNC. "I hope it sends the message that we belong here and that a place like grocery store is our place and we should claim it."
The proceeds from each show go towards local immigrant advocacy organizations. Raleigh is her 16th and final stop on the tour, and the show benefits nonprofit North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT). NCAAT's nationally recognized advocacy work was a major reason why Yang chose to add North Carolina to this special comedy tour.
That night, Yang's bits largely focused on her experiences as an Asian American, trying to be a well-behaved "good egg" (also the name of her tour), the challenges she's had trying to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization, and having tough conversations with immigrant parents.
"It was more like therapy than it was a show," said Arron Nie, 27. "I think it really got you thinking about your own life and had you reflecting on your own situation sometimes."
Nie attended with their sibling, Tianzhen, who is both a fan of Yang's comedy and a frequent customer at Oriental Store. She had waited weeks to hear details about the Raleigh show before it was announced that it would take place at the Filipino grocery store.
"I thought it was very funny she chose this particular grocery store," said Tianzhen Nie, 29. "Like, I've been here twice in the last two weeks. I love Filipino Express … I didn't know she was going to do it here, so that part was probably the most fun of it — this really feels like a member of the community."
The Oriental Store of Raleigh is one of the oldest Asian grocery stores in North Carolina – its owner Muck Libago claims it is the oldest, having opened in the 1970s by his wife's family. Libago, 60, said it was his first time seeing a live stand-up comedy show, but after seeing Yang's show, he said he felt very inspired by her performance, especially as an Asian immigrant parent.
"I brought (my son) here when he was six years old," he said, noting that his son is now 25. "So now I'm thinking, what's his experience? I don't have a chance to talk to him about that kind of topic. I just thought, I brought you here because I want you to have a better future, you know? So now I'm thinking … I want to get the viewpoint of my son. What's his experience?"
After the show, Yang talked with WUNC about how her career really stems from the challenges she experienced as an immigrant child. She was the first person in her family to become fluent in English and took on the responsibility of being her parents' interpreter.
"It felt very isolated," she said. "So I think growing up, I always had this sort of existential ache to want to connect (with people) because I didn't feel like I could even connect with the very people I was from. So that's why I became a poet, then eventually a stand-up comedian, TV writer and actor. I just feel really grateful that I get to live this life where I can travel the country and just hear other people's stories after shows and hear them laugh knowingly at a story I share so I feel less alone and they feel less alone."
In February 2027, Yang plans to tape a special in Los Angeles that will likely contain many of the stories she shared at grocery store performances this summer.
