The first time I saw James was in 2008 when he was performing “hand filter” jokes on the stage of Hong Kong’s TakeOut Comedy club. He was one of several awesome comedians that night serving up good old fashioned American humor. Little did I know that behind the funny man was an equally hilarious girlfriend named Stéphanie, and that they would eventually ask me to photograph their wedding which was last October. I also later learned that James is not only quite the romantic, but he does not easily shy away from public singing or lewd dancing.

You’ll see what I mean in the shots below from their wedding day, which conveniently started down the street from the studio in their Causeway Bay apartment before moving to the American Club in Tai Tam for the ceremony and banquet =)

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James proposed at an art class with this painting

the wedding party walk from Victoria Park

James sings “Nametag,” a song he wrote for Stéphanie

The American Club

the cracker jacks wedding ring box

tea ceremony

wedding cake

first dance

best striptease at a wedding ever

dance floor is open!

Officiant Thomas stocks his shopping cart

mini slideshow of the wedding photobooth!

Last Saturday, the 4th Annual Hong Kong Comedy Festival concluded with American Christopher M winning the Chinese competition and hometown Hong Kong local Andrew Chu winning the English competition.

This was the third year in a row that I’ve covered the festival, and during that time its been a privilege not only to document the growing local comedy scene, but also to hang out with some of the funniest dudes in Hong Kong.

Congrats also to GB Labrador (from the Philippines), Chris Musni, Rifat Karlova (from Turkey) and Matina Leung for winning 2nd and 3rd place for the English and Chinese Finals respectively.

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Last minute notes scribbled backstage

The Godfather of Hong Kong standup, Jami Gong

Shecky Wong, HK International Comedy Festival headliner

People’s Liberation Improv perform A Nightmare On Elgin Street

Daniel Chong

Smita Venkat

Steven Ng

Tama Churchouse

Ladies love Ryan Hynek

GB Labrador

15-year old phenom Connor Savage

2010 Chinese competition winner Christopher M

2010 English competition winner Andrew Chu

The English preliminary rounds of the 4th Annual HK International Comedy Competition wrapped up last weekend at the TakeOut Comedy Club in the Mid-Levels, Hong Kong. I went to my first Hong Kong Comedy Festival event 2 years ago, and its been great to see the list of comedians grow and competition get stronger.

Before every round of the competition, there is always a sense of nerves in the green room as club owner Jami Gong goes over the rules and comics finish last minute prep. But they all brought their “A” game for the prelims. Good luck to all the remaining comedians for the finals this weekend!

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Noel Gascon just flew in from Manila (and boy are his arms tired)

Vivek Mahbubani’s one man show

TakeOut veteran Kay Ross

Kiwi comedian (and musician) Nick Rado

Relative newcomer Tonia Yim

Earl Young, USA

Ambidextrous Chinese and English comic, Matina Leung

Shady Mahesh scopes out the competition

Competition judges

Canadian ventriloquist, Michael Harrison

Bring on the finals!

Gary Jackson is a writer, comedian, public speaker, blogger, podcaster, DJ and all around gweilo of Hong Kong. Jackson performs regularly at the TakeOut Comedy Club in SoHo, but you can find his many web presences on letterstowindsor.com, gweilojackson.com and soulparking.com.

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Nothing beats natural light for headshot portraits, so we did a lot of the shooting on the balcony of his Mid-levels flat. We also walked around some of the local HK backstreets and finished up at the Pacific Coffee on Hollywood Road, his favorite writing spot.

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Backstage

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Vivek Mahbubani

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Chris Chan

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Chris Mellen

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Matina Leung

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Fab

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The First 48 Hour Film Project in Hong Kong

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David Tao, Zinédine Zidane and Rain at IWC flagship store opening @1881 Heritage Boutique

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3rd Annual Hong Kong International Comedy Festival @Takeout Comedy

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Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem and Bryan Huang at Bank Roll Poker House Grand Opening

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Grandtag Financial Anniversary Banquet @Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong