Local improv group “Cold Tofu” will perform at the Sierra Madre Playhouse on Sunday and is aiming to make audiences laugh again. Gordon Tokumatsu reports for the NBC4 News on Jan. 27, 2023.
After a devastating week of mass shootings and years of hate crimes within the Asian American community, a local improv group is aiming to make audiences laugh again.
The performers from “Cold Tofu” know that in live theater, the show must go on.
Cold Tofu is billed as “the nation's first Asian American improv and comedy group," performers who can create amusing scenes on the fly from random audience suggestions.
This Sunday, Cold Tofu, which consists of Asian American players, will be performing at the Sierra Madre Playhouse.
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Helen Ota and her husband Michael Palma are performers and more.
Like most improvisational groups, Cold Tofu's sketches often skew toward the hilarious, with on-stage antics designed to make the audience smile.
“Any time you laugh, there's sort of that moment of, like, 'Oh my gosh. I needed that. I really needed that,’” said Ota.
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Especially now, they say after a week of terrible headlines about mass shootings devastating Asian American communities in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay.
Palma told NBC4 the troupe is well aware that Sunday's performance takes on special meaning now.
“It's a great way to just feel good, to laugh and to have fun. To literally take a break,” Palma added.
