Stand-up

Performing as Raw ABEI, Roselyle Zhao makes Chinese-language comedy for New York’s Chinese immigrant communities. The material moves between cultural differences, family expectations, immigration, queer relationships, neurodiversity and the awkwardness of everyday life.

Satire, wordplay and rhyme drive a style that turns familiar social rules inside out. The writing often follows a thought too literally, then pushes its logic into absurdity, finding larger questions about power, belonging and self-expression inside ordinary encounters.

Character voices, expressive physicality and rap-like passages give the performances a changing rhythm. Audience interaction leaves room for the unexpected. Across local stages, Raw ABEI has built an audience and a presence in New York’s Chinese-language comedy community.