Asian American, Pacific Islander comics are the main event in an LA comedy and cuisine festival

With the Belly Laughs Festival, an ambitious Asian American and Pacific Islander-centered comedy festival, the food is as important as the talent line-up. Every detail is intended to send a message of unabashed cultural pride.

“It’s like we grew up kind of shying away and hiding our Asian-ness,” said Viv Wang, a volunteer festival producer with Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, or CAPE, who helped conceive the idea for the event.

“It just made a lot of sense to have comedy and food — these two ways that people can connect and just celebrate being Asian and having a place to feel cool to be Asian.”

For one weekend, Belly Laughs is mounting an unprecedented gathering of 30 AAPI stand-up comics — from headliners to newer scene-stealers — in downtown Los Angeles.

There will also be 20 food and beverage vendors set up in the spirit of a Taiwanese