Ed Hill (born 1984 in

Taipei, Taiwan Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

)Williams, Kaidie
"Serious comedy: Ed Hill trades in the business of laughter,"
''The Ubyssey'', 14 November 2013. Accessed 23 May 2014. is a

Taiwanese Canadian Taiwanese Canadians are Canadians, Canadian citizens who carry full or partial ancestry from the East Asian island country of Taiwan or from History of Taiwan, preceding Taiwanese regimes (Taiwan under Qing rule, Qing Taiwan, Taiwan under Japanes ...

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

and

podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...

. He began performing in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and regularly tours

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. He currently resides in Vancouver.

Early life

Hill is of Taiwanese descent. His parents immigrated from Taiwan to Vancouver when he was ten years old. Hill holds a master's degree from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

and an undergraduate degree from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. Hill also holds a performance degree in concert piano and worked as a professional Disk Jockey prior to stand up comedy.Klassen, Kelsey
"Comedy King of the Hill"
Westender, 26 February 2015. Accessed 15 May 2015.

Career

Hill is a touring performer and has been featured in various national and international comedy festivals. He was voted by Westender Magazine in

as "Best Comedian" in 2016 and 2015 and "Best Local Stand Up 2015 Runner-Up" by The Georgia Straight. He has also appeared on Season 5 of ''Gotham Comedy Live'' on

AXS TV AXS TV is an American cable television channel. Majority-owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, it is devoted primarily to music-related programming (such as concert films, documentaries, and reality series involving musicians) and combat sport ...

, Season 1 of ''Up Late Northwest'' on

KING-TV KING-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Everett-licensed independent station KONG (channel 16). Both stations share studios at the Home Plate ...

Bite TV Makeful (formerly known as BiteTV) is a Canadian pay television channel owned by Blue Ant Media. It has transmittered from 299 Queen Street West since at least 2012. The channel was first launched on March 5, 2005, as BiteTV, and primarily aired ...

's ''Stand Up & Bite Me'', Comedy Time TV,

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

, and Sirius XM's Satellite Radio. His performances have also garnered notable media attention throughout Canada, the United States, and Asia. In 2018, Hill was noted by

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

Magazine as one of "22 Canadian Comedians to Watch Out For". In 2015, Hill was featured on the cover of Canadian Immigrant Magazine as "Comic to Watch". In 2021, Hill became the first stand up comedian of Taiwanese-Canadian descent to release a one hour comedy special titled "Candy & Smiley", named after his parents. The special is distributed worldwide by Comedy Dynamics, a Nacelle Company in 2021. The special was named top 15 stand-up comedy special of 2021 by Paste Magazine and best of 2021 by NPR Radio.

Other work

Ed is the creator and host of the ''Son of Smiley'' Podcast, which is titled after Ed's father, Smiley. Hill hosts weekly episodes ranging from 10 to 15 minutes focusing on a short story from his childhood. Ed is also the co-host of the "Model Mythology" Podcast, which is a podcast that explores and uplifts all Asian voices as a way to combat the Model Minority Myth. As co-creator of the ''Ex is Forever'' podcast, Hill hosts biweekly episodes alongside fellow comedian Jeff Penner. The 30- to 40-minute episodes, which are accessible through iTunes, focus on the past relationship of an invited guest, allowing them to explore both the positive and negative aspects of their breakup. The show went on hiatus in 2014 after 21 episodes.

Personal life

Hill's website and social media names often begins with "King Ed". Hill explained he selected this name due to a street in Vancouver named "King Edward" and he does not have any royal affiliation.

Discography

* 2013: ''Canasian'' (CD) * 2016: ''Weirdo Whisperer'' (CD) * 2019: ''Son of Smiley'' (CD)

Filmography

* 2021: ''Candy & Smiley'' (Comedy Special)

References

External links

Ed Hill's Official Website

Ed Hill's Weekly Podcast - "Son of Smiley"

Ed Hill and Jeff Penner's Podcast - "Ex is Forever"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Ed 1984 births Living people Comedians from Taipei Canadian people of Taiwanese descent Canadian stand-up comedians Comedians from Vancouver