Interview: Margaret Cho Presents Charlene Kaye's TIGER DAUGHTER at Joe's Pub

On October 24th and 25th, comedian and rock star Charlene Kaye will perform her solo show Tiger Daughter — or How I Brought My Immigrant Mother Ultimate Shame at Joe’s Pub. The show was selected by comedian Margaret Cho as part of her stint as Joe’s Pub’s 2024-2025 Vanguard Artist-in-Residence. This artist development program, which is a series of live performances, honors an iconic artist who has significantly influenced the artistic community of Joe’s Pub and American culture at large. Cho is honored for her groundbreaking career as a comedian, actor, and musician but also for her unwavering dedication to anti-racism, anti-bullying, and gay rights activism. She is curating programming from artists that excite and invigorate her.

TIGER DAUGHTER is an emotional rollercoaster detailing Kaye’s tumultuous relationship with Lily, her immigrant Chinese mother. Kaye defies her mother’s dreams that she play Carnegie Hall by age 12 and, instead, applies her classical piano knowledge to shred guitar as slutty Slash in an all-girl Guns N’ Roses cover band called “Guns N’ Hoses” (with the slogan “Welcome to the Vajungle!”). This is just one of many mishaps in the show as we watch Kaye try, and epically fail, to win Lily’s respect. As Lily watches the nightmare version of the American Dream play out before her eyes, Kaye grapples with inherited baggage, cultural clashes, and the fight to be herself.

We spoke to Kaye about the upcoming show and the journey this production has taken so far.

Can you tell me a little bit about your show coming up at Joe’s Pub?
My show is called TIGER DAUGHTER: OR, HOW I BROUGHT MY IMMIGRANT MOTHER ULTIMATE SHAME. It is about all the ways in which I have disappointed my beloved Chinese immigrant mom, including when she put me in classical lessons from age five so that I could entertain my rich husband, only for me to turn around and disappoint her by joining an all-girl Guns N’ Roses cover band called Guns N’ Hoses, where our tagline is “welcome to the Vajungle” [laughs]. The show is just all about the ways in which we fundamentally misunderstand each other and try to love each other in spite of it.

I don't think you need to be Asian to understand the show. I think you just need to have a parent that you've disappointed at some point. But yeah, I'm really proud of it. We just had a totally sold-out Edinburgh Fringe run. I've been workshopping it since January 2023, so it's been almost two years that I've been working on it and I've had an incredible journey with it.

It's directed by my friend Jennifer Monaco. We've been touring it all over the world. The conversations that I've had with people around their parental struggles and, you know, people [whose] parents who don't understand them has been the most rewarding part of this all.

Where did the idea originally come from to take this and turn it into a show?
I just had a lot of stories that I'd been telling my friends for years anyway. My friends have always been like, oh, I love when you impersonate your mom and like, tell this story about your mom. Tell the story about how your mom made you photoshop her face into pictures of glorious Chinese empresses. Tell the story about how your mom commissions nude portraits of herself.

And so, I had all these stories, and it wasn't until I was in drama school and an actor friend of mine asked if I would be interested in showcasing any works of progress at a night at Ars Nova that she was planning, that I was like, yeah, I have something in progress. I have no idea what it's going to be, but I'm curious about what this looks like in a live format.

At that point I’d never done any standup comedy. I'd never done any sort of performance besides music because my background is as a musician. My own band is named Kaye, and I toured with my own music from all of my 20s–I'm 38 now.

So I really hadn't explored any other vein of performance until the pandemic in 2020 when I decided to take an acting class. And so that just opened up a whole new world of expression and creativity. And since then, I've been honing what has ultimately turned out to be this one-person show.

So, when I went up there last January, I just had a PowerPoint presentation with, like, those nude portraits, the Photoshop things, all these text messages that I'd exchanged with my mom–with consent, of course. And it was a huge hit, and people were laughing the whole time. I got such great feedback and I was like, I think this has its own life. I think that there's a spirit of this show that wants to continue to exist and evolve.

And so Monica came on as director and we just developed it and developed it and developed it, and refined it until it is the version that it is now. And so, I'm just so grateful that it has seen so many audiences and that Margaret Cho was able to find out about it and chose the show to present herself at Joe's Pub at these two shows in October.

The first one is sold out, so we added another one, and I just can't wait to see where it goes next.

You just did 30 days at the Fringe. What was that like? Did you gain any insights from the experience?
It was exhausting, and also so gratifying. I've never performed my own show with that intensity and repetition before, and there was a part of me that was worried that I was going to be sick of the show, but I really wasn't because to get a different audience every night who had their own experiences with their own moms just makes it inherently feel different.

And I learned so much about myself as a performer. I learned how to be more on the fly with audience reactions. I learned the value of tightening up certain parts of the show, like, what parts do I repeat every single night? What parts do I let breathe a little bit? And because this is my first theatrical experience [with] something that I wrote, it's kind of more challenging because I get to make all the decisions about how I want to deliver something, how I want the timing to be. It's different for when you're in a play where the playwright or the director has the final say on what their vision is.

So, it's been a real gift in that way, because I've learned so much about what the piece is itself and about myself as a performer, and that's what Fringe does, just by nature of the festival. It is so intense, but it's so inspiring. And I got to see so many other people's shows and make so many new friends. It really does feel like adult theater camp in that way.

Are you excited about Margaret Cho, presenting your show?
Yes. It is just the most massive honor that she chose the show to present herself. A big part of my show is honoring my late dad, Marty Kaye. He raised me, and he sadly passed of cancer when I was 15. So, I talk about him in the show, and I think the show is as much of a dedication to him as it is to my mother.

Margaret Cho means so much to me, not just because she was the first Asian American woman I ever saw doing comedy, but because Marty loved her. And so, I have core memories of Marty and [me] watching TV, watching her stand up, watching her do impressions of her mom and just laughing together with him.

And so, she holds a special place in my heart and in my family's heart too. So that just adds another layer of depth and meaning to this experience.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add?
I don't know what the future holds for the show, but I think my ultimate vision for it would be for it to be some sort of comedy special. So, I'm just working towards that and just trying to make it the best version of it that it can be.

And, yeah, I just feel wildly blessed to be able to share my story.

Header photo credit: Sam Pickart

On October 24th and 25th, comedian and rock star Charlene Kaye will perform her solo show Tiger Daughter — or How I Brought My Immigrant Mother Ultimate Shame at Joe’s Pub. The show was selected by comedian Margaret Cho as part of her stint as Joe’s Pub’s 2024-2025 Vanguard Artist-in-Residence. This artist development program, which is a series of live performances, honors an iconic artist who has significantly influenced the artistic community of Joe’s Pub and American culture at large. Cho is honored for her groundbreaking career as a comedian, actor, and musician but also for her unwavering dedication to anti-racism, anti-bullying, and gay rights activism. She is curating programming from artists that excite and invigorate her.

TIGER DAUGHTER is an emotional rollercoaster detailing Kaye’s tumultuous relationship with Lily, her immigrant Chinese mother. Kaye defies her mother’s dreams that she play Carnegie Hall by age 12 and, instead, applies her classical piano knowledge to shred guitar as slutty Slash in an all-girl Guns N’ Roses cover band called “Guns N’ Hoses” (with the slogan “Welcome to the Vajungle!”). This is just one of many mishaps in the show as we watch Kaye try, and epically fail, to win Lily’s respect. As Lily watches the nightmare version of the American Dream play out before her eyes, Kaye grapples with inherited baggage, cultural clashes, and the fight to be herself.

We spoke to Kaye about the upcoming show and the journey this production has taken so far.

Can you tell me a little bit about your show coming up at Joe’s Pub?
My show is called TIGER DAUGHTER: OR, HOW I BROUGHT MY IMMIGRANT MOTHER ULTIMATE SHAME. It is about all the ways in which I have disappointed my beloved Chinese immigrant mom, including when she put me in classical lessons from age five so that I could entertain my rich husband, only for me to turn around and disappoint her by joining an all-girl Guns N’ Roses cover band called Guns N’ Hoses, where our tagline is “welcome to the Vajungle” [laughs]. The show is just all about the ways in which we fundamentally misunderstand each other and try to love each other in spite of it.

I don't think you need to be Asian to understand the show. I think you just need to have a parent that you've disappointed at some point. But yeah, I'm really proud of it. We just had a totally sold-out Edinburgh Fringe run. I've been workshopping it since January 2023, so it's been almost two years that I've been working on it and I've had an incredible journey with it.

It's directed by my friend Jennifer Monaco. We've been touring it all over the world. The conversations that I've had with people around their parental struggles and, you know, people [whose] parents who don't understand them has been the most rewarding part of this all.

Where did the idea originally come from to take this and turn it into a show?
I just had a lot of stories that I'd been telling my friends for years anyway. My friends have always been like, oh, I love when you impersonate your mom and like, tell this story about your mom. Tell the story about how your mom made you photoshop her face into pictures of glorious Chinese empresses. Tell the story about how your mom commissions nude portraits of herself.

And so, I had all these stories, and it wasn't until I was in drama school and an actor friend of mine asked if I would be interested in showcasing any works of progress at a night at Ars Nova that she was planning, that I was like, yeah, I have something in progress. I have no idea what it's going to be, but I'm curious about what this looks like in a live format.

At that point I’d never done any standup comedy. I'd never done any sort of performance besides music because my background is as a musician. My own band is named Kaye, and I toured with my own music from all of my 20s–I'm 38 now.

So I really hadn't explored any other vein of performance until the pandemic in 2020 when I decided to take an acting class. And so that just opened up a whole new world of expression and creativity. And since then, I've been honing what has ultimately turned out to be this one-person show.

So, when I went up there last January, I just had a PowerPoint presentation with, like, those nude portraits, the Photoshop things, all these text messages that I'd exchanged with my mom–with consent, of course. And it was a huge hit, and people were laughing the whole time. I got such great feedback and I was like, I think this has its own life. I think that there's a spirit of this show that wants to continue to exist and evolve.

And so Monica came on as director and we just developed it and developed it and developed it, and refined it until it is the version that it is now. And so, I'm just so grateful that it has seen so many audiences and that Margaret Cho was able to find out about it and chose the show to present herself at Joe's Pub at these two shows in October.

The first one is sold out, so we added another one, and I just can't wait to see where it goes next.

You just did 30 days at the Fringe. What was that like? Did you gain any insights from the experience?
It was exhausting, and also so gratifying. I've never performed my own show with that intensity and repetition before, and there was a part of me that was worried that I was going to be sick of the show, but I really wasn't because to get a different audience every night who had their own experiences with their own moms just makes it inherently feel different.

And I learned so much about myself as a performer. I learned how to be more on the fly with audience reactions. I learned the value of tightening up certain parts of the show, like, what parts do I repeat every single night? What parts do I let breathe a little bit? And because this is my first theatrical experience [with] something that I wrote, it's kind of more challenging because I get to make all the decisions about how I want to deliver something, how I want the timing to be. It's different for when you're in a play where the playwright or the director has the final say on what their vision is.

So, it's been a real gift in that way, because I've learned so much about what the piece is itself and about myself as a performer, and that's what Fringe does, just by nature of the festival. It is so intense, but it's so inspiring. And I got to see so many other people's shows and make so many new friends. It really does feel like adult theater camp in that way.

Are you excited about Margaret Cho, presenting your show?
Yes. It is just the most massive honor that she chose the show to present herself. A big part of my show is honoring my late dad, Marty Kaye. He raised me, and he sadly passed of cancer when I was 15. So, I talk about him in the show, and I think the show is as much of a dedication to him as it is to my mother.

Margaret Cho means so much to me, not just because she was the first Asian American woman I ever saw doing comedy, but because Marty loved her. And so, I have core memories of Marty and [me] watching TV, watching her stand up, watching her do impressions of her mom and just laughing together with him.

And so, she holds a special place in my heart and in my family's heart too. So that just adds another layer of depth and meaning to this experience.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add?
I don't know what the future holds for the show, but I think my ultimate vision for it would be for it to be some sort of comedy special. So, I'm just working towards that and just trying to make it the best version of it that it can be.

And, yeah, I just feel wildly blessed to be able to share my story.

---

Header photo credit: Sam Pickart

Tickets to TIGER DAUGHTER are available on Joe's Pub's website. (There are only a handful of tickets left for either performance, so snag them now before they sell out.)

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