{"id":2267784,"date":"2026-02-05T11:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T11:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2267784"},"modified":"2026-02-05T11:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T11:13:25","slug":"how-joysauce-is-building-an-asian-american-comedy-pipeline-from-the-ground-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/how-joysauce-is-building-an-asian-american-comedy-pipeline-from-the-ground-up\/","title":{"rendered":"How JoySauce is building an Asian American comedy pipeline from the ground up"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Before hitting the stage, the comedians of the TV series \u201cJokes with JoySauce\u201d have an on-camera ritual of exchanging immigrant stories about growing up with their families. There is no audience during these moments, just comics being vulnerable with one another. <\/p>\n

The tales give insight into the lives they live offstage and their perspectives as Asian Americans that inspire so much of their material. It lets the audience know more about these up-and-coming comedians without the generic stage introductions.<\/p>\n

The series is part of the original program curated for JoySauce, available on Amazon Prime. It premiered in early January as part of the first free, ad-supported streaming channel dedicated to highlighting Asian American voices across comedy, film, reality TV and sitcoms.<\/p>\n

Season 1 of \u201cJokes with JoySauce\u201d is currently airing as part of the launching programming for the channel. Director and creator of the series Ana Tuazon Parsons <\/a> is excited to watch it grow.<\/p>\n

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Narumi Inatsugu, from left, Cat Ce, Ana Tuazon Parsons and Jonathan Sposato at The Times\u2019 office in El Segundo.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still definitely going for that underground punk rock, like, let\u2019s-find-some-cool-people kind of thing for Season 2,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cBigger and better venue, and more budget, more budget, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Parsons focuses on cultivating new comedic voices, JoySauce wants to create its own opportunities for people in the community by broadening its mission of ownership and representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t really get the full spectrum of the representation that I believe that we deserve unless we own the pipeline and the platforms and the carriers and really the gateways,\u201d Jonathan Sposato, creator of Joysauce, said.<\/p>\n

He decided to bring the platform to the masses in 2022 after growing sick and tired of how much hate his community was going through and wanting to fill in a gap in the media. Media representation was also low for Asian American actors, with only 6% of all Asian characters in 100 titles on streaming platforms in 2022 in leading roles, according to a study by USC Annenberg Gold House<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think positivity wins,\u201d Sposato said. \u201cComedy is a very necessary tool, a necessary ingredient in the overall mix of what we\u2019re trying to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

His goal is to broaden the concept of Asian American culture through storytelling that would display what the U.S. has to offer while staying rooted in Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cA win for JoySauce is a win for anybody who feels underrepresented, who doesn\u2019t feel like they\u2019re considered the normative mainstream,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At a time when attention is a currency, creating a space that\u2019s focused on elevating AAPI voices will help diversify the media landscape.<\/p>\n

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\"The <\/picture>\n
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\u201cA win for JoySauce is a win for anybody who feels underrepresented, who doesn\u2019t feel like they\u2019re considered the normative mainstream,\u201d JoySauce creator Jonathan Sposato, left, said.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cAs a comedian, you cannot complain,\u201d Cat Ce, a comedian whose special \u201cPerfect Chinglish\u201d was licensed by JoySauce, said. \u201cNowadays, you want it on so many different platforms, you never know which kind of audience you may reach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her work reflects the kind of storytelling JoySauce hopes to amplify. The comedy hour by Ce deals with the cultural differences when dealing with family, friends and romantic relationships as a Chinese American. For Narumi Inatsugu, that universality is the point.<\/p>\n

As the chief creative officer of JoySauce, Inatsugu wants to create a space where Asian Americans do not feel outnumbered.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor so long I thought nobody cared about Asian American stories,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As a curator of the channel, and host of the upcoming \u201cChopsticks and Chill,\u201d an interview show where he shares a meal with influential members of the AAPI community, Inatsugu wants to create a platform where the younger generation can see the many opportunities life can offer, regardless of your cultural background.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s community building, it\u2019s letting people know they can be whatever they want, do whatever they want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\"The <\/picture>\n
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Season 1 of \u201cJokes with JoySauce\u201d is currently airing and is part of the first free, ad-supported streaming channel dedicated to highlighting Asian American voices across comedy, film, reality TV and sitcoms.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Throughout his years in the entertainment industry and in production meetings, Inatsugu felt like he couldn\u2019t pitch certain stories because they were aimed at his Asian community. He hopes an outlet like JoySauce can create a safe space for creative minds to feel like they can be themselves and not feel outnumbered, the way he once did.<\/p>\n

Everything in the details of a show will make people feel welcomed, from the people making it to the food that\u2019s made available for the cast and crew.<\/p>\n

During production of the first season of \u201cJokes with JoySauce,\u201d Parsons made sure every aspect of the production was AAPI, including the food. Her production team made sure to fill the craft table with food that can be found at any Asian market. The sense of belonging is exactly the reason she built \u201cJokes with JoySauce\u201d and why JoySauce exists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019d see the comics come up into the greenroom and their faces, it was like \u2018Oh, I feel so like they were just reverted to their childhoods,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cIt was just like they felt like they were at home with their families, and it was so important for me, it made me cry a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before hitting the stage, the comedians of the TV series \u201cJokes with JoySauce\u201d have an on-camera ritual of exchanging immigrant stories about growing up with their families. There is no audience during these moments, just comics being vulnerable with one another. The tales give insight into the lives they live offstage and their perspectives as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2267785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2267784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/How-JoySauce-is-building-an-Asian-American-comedy-pipeline-from.com2F0a2Fc52F3a1229f44b8ca6e8b3bf542c.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2267784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2267786,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267784\/revisions\/2267786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2267785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2267784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2267784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2267784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}