Imagine, for a moment, that a stand-up comic is just like a superhero.
On stage, he’s a master of the universe, armored and impervious, slinging jokes like lightning bolts.
He defeats all adversaries, from hecklers to the potential indifference of the audience; laughter, of course, is his way of killing.
If that’s what a stand-up comic is, then “The Opening Act,” Steve Byrne’s wryly likable shoestring indie comedy about a young man trying to make it in the world of stand-up, might be described as a stand-up-comedy origin story.Will Chu, played by Jimmy O.
Yang of “Silicon Valley,” is an aspiring comic who’s been doing open-mic nights in his small hometown of Steubenville, Ohio.
He’s got some funny material.
He grew up watching stand-up on TV with his immigrant father (they bonded over it like sports), and he knows the form, works on his bits,
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