Stand-Up Comedy in Saigon

Yes, there is stand-up comedy in Saigon, and yes, it is in English. If you have been sitting in a rooftop bar in Ho Chi Minh City wondering what to do with your evening that does not involve another round of the same three cocktails, this page is for you. We are Out of Pocket, a stand-up collective that puts on live comedy here, and this is the plain-language version of what the scene looks like.

The English-language comedy scene in Ho Chi Minh City

The scene is small, young and refreshingly unpolished. It is made up of people who decided that telling jokes into a microphone was a reasonable use of a Sunday night. Some of them are new to the stage. Some of them have been doing it for years and will not shut up about it.

That mix is the point. A Saigon comedy night is not a polished theatre production. It is a room full of people laughing at something a stranger said about their landlord. The jokes are about living here, about the heat, the traffic, dating, family, language mix-ups and the things you only notice once you have been in Vietnam for a few months. If you live here, a lot of it will land harder than you expect. If you are only passing through, you will get a better idea of the city in two hours than a week of guidebooks.

How often we run shows

We run shows a couple of times a month, and the schedule is on our shows page. We list each night as soon as the details are settled, so the page is always the thing to check rather than your memory of what we said last time. Some nights are announced early with the exact time still to come. That is not us being flaky. Well, not only that.

Where the shows are

Most of our nights happen at Alibi - Bar & Bites on Võ Văn Tần in District 3. It is a bar with a food menu, and it has been our home for most of our shows. Bigger or stranger nights sometimes go elsewhere, such as Shout Bar in Thảo Điền, where we are hosting a touring headliner. Each show page has the venue, the address and a map link, so you can hand your driver the pin and stop worrying about it.

What a night looks like

The usual format is a local lineup, sometimes with a touring headliner on top. A host warms the room up, a run of comedians do their sets, and the whole thing lasts roughly two hours. Doors are typically at 8:00 PM and the show starts at 8:30 PM, though the exact times are always on the show page. Alongside straight stand-up we also run themed nights and interactive events, including interactive movie nights.

You are not expected to take part. This is a night out, not an audition. Sit near the front and you might get talked to. That is the price of a good seat.

What it costs

Plenty of our shows are pay what you want. You walk in, watch the night, and pay what you think it was worth. If you give over 100,000 VND you usually get free popcorn, which is a deal nobody has ever had to explain twice. Other shows, usually the ones with a touring headliner, are ticketed, and the price is clearly on the show page. Where an advance price and a door price differ, booking ahead tends to be the cheaper route.

Who comes

A mixed crowd. Long-term expats who have stopped pretending the city is a phase, Vietnamese locals who are comfortable in English, and travellers who found us while looking for something to do on a Saturday. It is a friendly room, mostly because people are too busy laughing to be cliquey. If you come alone, you will not be the only one.

How to get tickets

Open the show you want from the shows list. For pay what you want nights you can RSVP on the page and pay on the night. For ticketed shows you book through the page, and some also sell through a partner ticketing site, which is linked from the show. If you would rather have the dates delivered to you than go looking, join the mailing list in the footer. We only email about shows, because we are comedians, not marketers.

If you want to perform

If you want to try stand-up, use the contact page and tell us a little about yourself. We will email you a current list of open mics in Vietnam and other show runners around the country, so you know where to find a stage. Everyone bombs the first time. It is basically a membership fee.

New here? Start with the comedians who perform on our shows, or skip straight to what is on this month. For a wider view of the country, see our guide to stand-up comedy in Vietnam.