Emil Amok to Return to New York City Fringe in 2024 with New Stories

Independent journalist, podcaster, investigative humorist, and former NPR host Emil Guillermo–winner of an American Book Award–takes his truth to the stage in a comic one-man show about race, the media, Asian American Filipino history, Harvard, and his transgender off-spring. One audience member described it “like John Leguizamo's ‘Latin American History for Dummies,' only Filipino!”  As Emil's Filipino father might say. “It's all pucked up.”

Performances of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan TransDad” run Fri. Apr.5, 9:50 pm, Monday, April 8, 8:10 pm, Saturday, April 13, 5:20 pm, Friday, April 19, 8:10 pm, and Sunday, April 21, 5:20 pm at UNDER St. Marks as part of the NYC Fringe Festival. Tickets are $25 at the door or online. The performance runs approximately 59 minutes.

A portion of profits from the show will benefit the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) for its 50 years fighting for AAPI civil rights issues.

Emil Amok Guillermo has performed his “Amok Monologues” at Fringe Festivals around the country from New York to Fresno since 2017.  Shows are inspired by his weekly “Emil Amok” columns in the ethnic media underground since 1995, thought to be the longest running weekly column on Asian American issues in the media.

See the latest “Emil Amok” columns at www.aaldef.org/blog. He also hosts “The PETA Podcast,” and “Emil Amok's Takeout,” see and hear at YouTube.com/@emilamok1

Emil appeared in Ishmael Reed's “The Conductor” at Theater for the New City in New York's East Village in 2023. He's also in an online production of “The Shine Challenge” at Nuyorican.org Feb-March 2024. Emil has studied storytelling with Mike Daisey, Seth Barish, April Yvette Thompson, and Adam Wade, among others. A collection of Emil's published work, “Amok: Essays from an Asian American Perspective,” won an American Book Award in 2000. As a broadcaster, he was the first Filipino American to host a national news show when he was with NPR's “All Things Considered.” He has won journalism awards for his work in TV, radio, newspapers, and the web, including Regional SPJ and RTNDA awards, as well as the Asian American Journalists Awards for Civil Rights And Social Justice, the $5,000 Suzanne Ahn Prize. His production company currently produces podcasts (the PETA PODCAST and Emil Amok's Takeout). His voice-over work includes investigations for PETA that have been downloaded by millions. He is currently working on a comic novel and other performance projects. A licensed insurance agent, he has funded his artistic projects by providing consumers with information on how they can best use life insurance and annuities. Born and raised in San Francisco to immigrant parents from the Philippines, Emil went to public schools, including O.J. Simpson's middle school, and the very Asian Lowell High School. Emil was the first in his family to travel east of Reno when he attended Harvard. In his varied career, he was once press secretary and speechwriter to then Congressman Norman Mineta, a two time cabinet member; a radio talk show host in Washington, D.C., and a colleague of Morton Downey, Jr.; a joke contributor to Jay Leno; a creative writing student of Stanley Elkin and Ishmael Reed; and a radio deejay, leaving Harvard sophomore year to become “Emil For Real,” on KLOL Houston where he played Led Zeppelin's “Stairway to Heaven” 10,978 times. There was nothing left to do but go back to Harvard and deliver the Ivy Oration as class clown, the same speech given by fellow Lampoon members like Jim Downey and Conan O'Brien. His true-life stories are real, based on imagination.

The New York City Fringe Festival (formally the FRIGID Fringe Festival) is an open lottery-based theater festival that gives artists an opportunity to let their ingenuity thrive in an environment that values freedom of expression and artistic determination. In true support of the Indie Theater Community, 100% of box office proceeds go directly to the artists whose work is being presented. www.frigid.nyc

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