As Scarlett Johansson Is The Best Comedy Special You Haven’t Seen

“An actor can do whatever they want as long as they mean well when they do it.”

Christopher Tung Shieh, or Chris Grace as he’s more widely known, is an actor, comedian, vocalist, and the fat, gay child of immigrants. Our readers likely recognize him as a certifiable, “Hey, that guy!” character performer on comedy TV, including his roles as Jerry on “Superstore,” the wrestling coach on “PEN15,” and more recently, as himself on the Dropout shows “Um, Actually,” “Play it By Ear,” “Dirty Laundry,” and “Make Some Noise.” But listing credits can not and should not ever be treated as the totality of a person. We are not what we do. Who we are is defined by so much more than that. But exactly who is the person whose job is to pretend to be someone else? How does one be true to themselves when they must curate how the world sees them in order maintain a profession as an entertainer?

Comedians using the medium to dissect their relationship with identity is nothing new, and Bo Burnham’s “Inside” became a worldwide phenomenon in 2021 when countless people saw themselves and their struggles reflected in the specificity of Burnham’s identity crisis that was on full display in the special. If we lived in a just, equitable world, Dropout Presents’ “Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson” would be met with the same acclaim, attention, and outpouring of accolades.

Based on the sold-out, one-man show Grace performed at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival (it’s been a big year for Edinburgh show adaptations, huh?), “Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson” sees Grace portraying “the greatest living Asian actor, Scarlett Johansson.” Combining comedy, personal storytelling, theatre artistry, and the music of Tom Waits, what starts out as an obvious declaration that “Scarlett Johansson playing Asian in ‘Ghost in the Shell’ was a Bad Move, Actually,” quickly transforms into a touching and often painful meta probing of Grace’s identity as reflected through Johansson’s mainstream career and transcends into one of the best comedy specials of the year.

“Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson” is an exquisite examination of assumptions. He trusts that we’re aware of the pretty baffling run of public mishaps Johannson had, including defending her casting in “Ghost in the Shell” and her defensiveness about wanting to play transgender man Dante “Tex” Gill in the since-canceled film “Rub & Tug,” which prompted the now infamous quote, “I should be able to play any person, tree, or animal.” 

As Grace communicates multiple times throughout the show, “This is not a hit piece.” What it is, is a nesting doll of continually stacking wigs and poignant ruminations that eventually pinnacles in “Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson: As Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson: As Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johannson …” The deeper he dives, the more common ground he finds with the Marvel superstar and their mutual utopian wish that we could allow actors to play anything and anyone.

But as a society and as an industry, we’re just not there yet.

Being burdened with that knowledge — that the industry is unjust and inequitable — has contributed to not only a crisis of self for Grace but a crisis regarding his own complicit participation in the very behavior he and the rest of the world rebuke people like Johansson for exuding. “Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson” was directed by “Mystery Science Theater 3000” star Jonah Ray, which might be one of the most inspired directorial decisions for a self-aware, fourth-wall obliterating, metatextual comedy special, ever. Ray knows more than most that combining comedy and analysis makes for an excellent method of examining profoundly complex and existential themes, and the way Grace employs the pre-recorded format (and the history of Dropout/CollegeHumor as companies) is, at times, jaw-dropping. As the nesting doll continues to stack, this comedy show about Asian representation in Hollywood plunges headfirst into a recursive nightmare.

Just as Black Widow served as one of the unspoken anchors of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Grace incorporates many of the major players that already exist in the Dropout comedy universe to hammer home that, to some extent, we’re all in a multiverse. We are ourselves, the way we are perceived correctly, the way we are assumed incorrectly, the way we are terrified to be seen, and the realities we’ve constructed for ourselves just to survive.

I don’t think I need to provide a history lesson explaining Hollywood’s issues with Asian representation (but here’s a link for the naysayers), but Chris Grace isn’t here to lecture — because he recognizes the uncomfortable reality is that sometimes the entertainment industry finds a way to make something that seems cut and dry into something a lot more complicated than we’re willing to admit exists as such. These issues are bigger than Chris Grace and bigger than any of us watching at home. But Grace tears himself open and stands before us bare. If we can’t wrap our arms around the gravity of the situation, at least we can wrap our arms around him.

None of us have the answers, and all of us are complicit in some way. Hell, I’m complicit even with this very article, because to get people to actually click on this and read about this special, I had to dangle the “TITLE OF SHOW YOU RECOGNIZE” in front of your faces. The reality is that giving this a headline that says “A ‘Superstore’ Star” will perform better, appease the algorithm more, and get more eyeballs on this piece than including the name of his special in a headline. I had to strip away Chris Grace’s name and identity to make people care about this enough to want to read more. I hope it worked. At the very least … I meant well.

“Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson” is available to stream on Dropout.