Hungry for Laughs: Female Trailblazers of Cold Tofu

By Karen Mizoguchi

In the 1980s, with so few opportunities in a competitive market of actors, women auditioned constantly for the chance to be on the screen for even a second to prove their acting chops. For women of color, another goal was to represent their multicultural communities. The comedic space was particularly closed: men were the marquee stars (and arguably continue to dominate to this day) and few women were headliners. Diversity was not invited to the party.

Understanding that no one was going to voluntarily hand them a role of a lifetime, four female performers of color took up space in Los Angeles by forming Cold Tofu, the "first and longest-running Asian American improv and comedy troupe." Recognizing their right to be funny, founding members Irma Escamilla, Denice Kumagai, Judy Momii and Marilyn Tokuda started a comedy group in 1981 that was groundbreaking and not dominated by white males.

So, who are these lady pioneers?

Kumagai and Tokuda were both actors. Kumagai had starred in 17 episodes of the 1980’s sitcom Night Court. Jobs were few and far between but being funny came naturally.

"One thing about my friends, they were just funny. We'd get together and they would just crack me up. Nothing forced, just organically, very funny people," Tokuda recalls. "So we thought, 'Why aren't there any women? Wait, we're funny people. Let's get together, a group. We can do this.' "

With a space to gather and members who were interested, they educated themselves by going to clubs and watching others at The Groundlings, one of the two major improv theaters in the nation at the time, along with Upright Citizens Brigade, that fostered up-and-coming talents.

 "We thought we were so smart. We said, 'We can figure out the formula for these. Come on.' We didn't have any instructors. We just kind of winged it and thought we knew what we were doing. When in reality, we didn't know what we were doing, really," Tokuda remembers. "I had considered going to The Groundlings, but then I thought, 'No, I don't want to learn that kind of white comedy. I want to find out about our own experiences, Asian Americans and what we found funny.' I don't want anyone telling us what they think is funny because we'll end up being a big fat stereotype on stage." 

No one else was going to tell their stories of being Asian American—and make it funny. "We decided to do it on our own so we could show our experience," Tokuda says.

The group’s name, Cold Tofu, came from Michael Paul Chan. He noted that all Asian cultures eat tofu, albeit in different ways, and ‘cold’ connotes improv.

And their startup was not without resources or networking. Escamilla produced at East West Players and introduced the ladies to their earliest mentor, Ann Bowen. Her husband, Roger Bowen, starred in the TV sitcom MASH and was a founding member of Second City, a Chicago-based improv enterprise – but the Cold Tofu actors didn’t know that.

 “We didn't know who he was," Kumagai says.

There was also Steve Book, who taught at the University of Southern California and was an instrumental early mentor, teaching them the fundamentals of improvisation and the respect for creating scenes using nothing but imagination and space props. Later, Pat Morita helped Cold Tofu with money for grants, specifically for instructors.

"He was kind of lonely being one of the only Asian American comedians too. He saw us and said, 'Oh man, there are some other Asians that are interested in comedy,' " says Tokuda.

Tokuda also credits Gary Austin, founder of The Groundlings, for deepening their understanding of character work as many of the characters they created under his tutelage ended up on stage.

"Even though we didn't know what we were doing, we were already booking colleges and JACL conferences," Kumagai recalls. "We were already a grassroots organization and being asked by so many Asian American groups to perform for them at their conferences, at their benefits."

By 1990, Cold Tofu was on the road, traveling to San Francisco, Seattle, Minnesota and Arizona. "I honestly don't even know how they found us, but I think the Asian kids found us through word of mouth," says Kumagai.

It took Cold Tofu four years to get nonprofit status and they scrambled to recruit more members. "When we first started, of course, we were just so desperate. I mean, it was just like, "You're not that funny, but shoot, you're a body,' " Tokuda recalls. "Then when Denice took that on the road, we got more popular, then we'd add."

Cold Tofu was attracting actors who couldn't find work in Hollywood, and word got out that there was a group in L.A. welcoming Asian American experiences as art.

"Understudies were how we worked in a lot of new people. When members were lucky to get acting jobs or if they were shooting something, they were gone so we needed somebody to fill in. Most of the time, it was pretty much who wanted to put in all the work and commit to the run," Kumagai says.

An untapped audience took notice because Cold Tofu's material was based on Asian American experiences and the sketches were relatable.

 "We also found that to do a lot of the sketches about our Asianness, we needed a Black person because you can't tell all these stories with just Asians. We need the Latin guy to come in and ask the questions of, 'What?' We need the white guy to come in and say, 'I don't understand. What are you talking about?' " Kumagai explains. "Also word got around that we were doing material, edgy material that nobody else was doing. There were certainly no Asians doing comedy, let alone edgy comedy."

"I think it's more of an Asian American kind of comedy, going back to the roots, like playing our parents or really identifying with that intergenerational relationship of our unique experience as Asian Americans," says Jully Lee, currently the artistic director who was appointed in 2013. "I think people do crave to hear that special story that's really unique to our experience."

Tokuda agrees. "I think they were hungry for it. People were starving to see funny Asians, to see comedy. No one had ever seen an Asian improv comedy group especially, where we did improv off the cuff."

Cold Tofu, with consecutive successful shows such as Tofurama, Living Tofu and Tofu on the Rampage, became a notable playground for Asian American actors to perform and explore comedy.

"Partly why I think we also started the group was because we were working actors. We wanted the public and especially the industry to see us doing comedy," Tokuda says. "Fighting against stereotypes at the beginning was huge. I was angry and tired of seeing these geisha stereotypes, and believe me, I did my share. The main thing is we wanted to develop comedy with meaning behind it. The political side of me always said, 'We’ve got to fight these stereotypes and do the complete opposite of what they expect of us.' We just wanted to be seen as human beings, exploring universal truths."

Recalling the authenticity of their comedy, Kumagai says, "It's baby steps, you educate who you can. It's baby steps because if you make friends with [non-Asian colleagues], they understand you and they go, 'Oh! You don't speak with an accent, you have these experiences that we all have.' We wanted to educate the industry that we can do that."

Like the two dominant improv troupes, Cold Tofu developed its own list of headlining stars, including Amy Hill, Keiko Agena, Rodney Kageyama and Aaron Takahashi. Tokuda was the founding artistic director and Kumagai took over that role in 1987, followed by Helen Ota from 1999 through 2013. Then, in 2017, Michael C. Palma joined as associate artistic director alongside Lee.

"I never thought it would last this long, I'll tell you that. Because it takes a lot of passion. And I didn't know if it would survive," Tokuda says. "When Denice and I left, it was all about leadership. Once Helen took over, we said, 'Cold Tofu is going to be okay.' And when Jully took over, we said, 'Oh, that's fantastic.' We’re really proud of what we started and that Cold Tofu has continued to be run by women. I’m just ecstatic that Cold Tofu is in great hands."

Kumagai echoes similar sentiments: "I think we kind of knew that we weren't going to be The Groundlings. We had to do something different. We're so totally surprised, pleasantly surprised, that it's still going strong. And that it's in good hands."

Remaining true to its roots, Cold Tofu is still packed with meaty sketches. "What's interesting is that back then, there were no opportunities for Asians to take classes or be funny. Now there are so many more," Lee says. "Cold Tofu is a place where people can try out their creative funny bone and see if they like it or not. And if they do, they can start going down that path."

Tokuda, Kumagai and Lee agree that the industry has become more inclusive, opening greater opportunities for Asian Americans.

 "It's just so great because it's what we wanted 30-40 years ago. We started so long ago in the early 80s, when you never even saw an Asian in a commercial or on a TV show," Tokuda says.

Kumagai points out Awkwafina: "I look at her and I go, she's freaking amazing. She does drama, she does comedy, she does everything. And, in our day there were no leads. There was no Asian story, let alone leads. It didn't exist."

"There's more opportunity now,” she adds. “And I think there's going to be a lot more writers because if you have the right, good material, then it'll get produced…I do think things are changing."

Lee notes that more Asian Americans are not only in front of the camera but also behind it, writing authentic stories for their communities. She says Cold Tofu continues to be a school for those looking for a comedic space.

"It's diverse in that not everyone is an actor or is pursuing being an actor,” she says. “Cold Tofu has really branched out into what the makeup of the membership is…it's so inviting for people to come. It's always been a safe environment and Helen's leadership fostered that, at least for me as far as reaching out into the community of non-performers."

More recently, Cold Tofu is also facing an issue that the founders may not have ever expected: bringing more actors back into the group as chances to appear elsewhere have blossomed. "Now it's challenging because there are so many more opportunities for Asians, there are a lot of different avenues," Lee says.

But the bottom line: Cold Tofu's female leaders are letting the world know that celebrating and embracing the Asian American experience through comedy is possible—and funny.

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