Ronny Chieng Is Shedding Light On The Hijinks Of International Students

Culturally speaking, we're increasingly living in a world full of niches, a place where very specific stories can find their audience. Nevertheless, for some storytellers the feeling persists that the tale they're compelled to tell may be too niche. The multi-talented Ronny Chieng felt that way for a while when creating his new seven-episode ABC sitcom Ronny Chieng: International Student. Then he snapped out of it.

"Interesting stories are niche stories," says Chieng. "I think the nicheness of the story and the characters only increases the interest. Like Breaking Bad — who can relate to being a chemistry teacher who makes meth? And, no, I'm not comparing International Student to Breaking Bad."

You totally are, Ronny. "Yes, I am."

No meth is manufactured in Ronny Chieng: International Student but, hey, it's pretty good anyway — a smart and silly comedy drenched in collegiate hijinks and pop culture references that follows the adventures of Ronny Chieng (played by Ronny Chieng), who travels from Malaysia to study law at an Australian university and finds himself acting as "a bridge between the international students and the local culture" while sorting out his own identity and future.

"You feel so sure of yourself because you've entered this next phase of your life. But no one really knows what they're doing at that age."

"I was looking for a story I felt only I could tell, or that only I was in a position to tell," says Chieng, who was born in Malaysia and studied law at the University Of Melbourne before shifting into showbiz (including stand-up comedy, screenwriting and a role on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah).

"Something unique and original, and going through my experiences and memories, I just felt like being an international student in Australia — as specific as that is — was kind of a story that hasn't really been spoken about but is one that has been experienced by a lot of people.

"I would talk to my friends about it, and people would study in a foreign country for three years or so and then go home. And they would say those years were like a dream, it was so ethereal. I wanted to capture that a bit."

A dream or a nightmare? "A balance, really," says Chieng. "That's what life is — ups and downs. And that's why it's not just about Asian people in Australia, it's a story about growing up. Part of the story I wanted to tell was coming here as 18-year-old kids and entering adulthood, making decisions for yourself for the first time and thinking you're old enough to do stuff when actually you don't have the experience to do so. You feel so sure of yourself because you've entered this next phase of your life. But no one really knows what they're doing at that age."

Chieng developed International Student through the ABC's Comedy Showroom initiative, a program designed to incubate and nurture screen projects by local comedic talent, and he praises it for giving him the opportunity to find his voice in a new medium after years of success as a stand-up.

"The pilot of this series was the first TV writing I'd ever done, and it was a pretty major undertaking," he says. "So it was invaluable. Figuring out a universe for your show is one of the toughest things there is, and making the pilot [for Comedy Showroom] and seeing it allowed us all to see what we wanted, and then we could write the next six episodes. If they'd ask me to write all seven at once I would have screwed it up."