Robert Peng immigrated to Canada with his parents from China in 2003 and completed an engineering degree at the University of Toronto.
But for two years after graduation, he was unable to find an engineering job.
“It was probably around that time. That’s how the mining industry was back then; sometimes it was easy to find a job, and sometimes it was very difficult,” Peng told OMNI News.
A friend told him that he was witty and humorous, and that he should try stand-up comedy.
“Because it’s cheap. If you want to play the piano, you need to buy a piano; if you want to play the guitar, you need to buy a guitar,” Peng said.
“In stand-up comedy performances, you just need to talk; it doesn’t cost much.”
In China, Peng says anyone who wants to be a stand-up comedian needs to attend school and take formal classes, but they’re on their own in Canada.
“It’s easy in some ways, and difficult in others. It’s easy because you just need to open your mind to speak, but speaking well presents many challenges,” Peng explained.
Peng only told his parents about his stand-up comedy performances after more than three years.
Although they didn’t strongly oppose it, they were worried that he wouldn’t earn much money and were also concerned about his marriage prospects.
“My mom keeps asking me when I’m going to get married and when I’m going to have children,” Peng said.
Despite spending a lot of money and time studying mining engineering, Peng says he enjoyed subject and doesn’t regret it.
He still gets asked about how much money he makes.
“Now, I don’t earn that much, I’ll wait another three years; maybe I can make a lot of money then,” he said.
Peng has been a stand-up comedian for almost ten years, and all his performances are currently in English.
When asked if he would ever perform in Chinese, he says that his Chinese is not good, but he would consider it in the future.
Peng has been featured at various comedy clubs. He was a finalist at the Vancouver Yuk-Off and a semi-finalist at the Seattle International Comedy Competition.
