Queer X Presents A Night of Comedy with Robin Tran

Come for the laughs, stay for the thoughtful conversation about comedy today! 

Robin Tran is a critically-acclaimed stand-up and roast battle comedian. Her punchy queer comedy draws from her experiences as a Vietnamese American transgender lesbian. Join us at this not-to-be-missed Queer X Humanities event on the ASU Tempe campus where Tran will perform an hour of her latest stand-up! 

After her stand-up set, Tran will be joined on stage by ASU’s own Professor Jed Samer for an interview about her process and what it’s like to be doing queer and trans of color comedy when one’s civil rights are up for debate and comedy as an art form supposedly dead. Samer is an associate professor of film and media studies and a 2025-26 ASU Humanities Institute fellow. Their current book project, “The Transgender Joke Book,” looks at the history of “trans jokes” before theorizing the role of comedy in the wake of 2014’s “transgender tipping point.” A hilarious but also introspective and analytical comedian, Tran is an important interlocutor for Samer’s book project. This event invites audience members to revel in the joyful and critical possibilities at the intersection of research and artistic practice. Tran’s visit to ASU will challenge a variety of narratives we tell ourselves about who and what is funny and why. 

Doors open: 3:30 p.m.

Comedy set: 4 p.m.

Q&A: 5 p.m.

Closing reception: 5:30 p.m.

Robin Tran was a breakout star at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023, receiving 5-star reviews. She was named one of Just For Laugh’s New Faces of 2021. You can see her perform on “That’s My Time with David Letterman” on Netflix. Robin started her life presenting as a male named Robert Tran. 

In 2015, she came out as a transgender woman and has been performing as Robin ever since. In 2018, she appeared on Comedy Central’s “Roast Battle” and wrote for Netflix’s “HISTORICAL ROASTS.” Other recent credits include Comedy Central’s “Featuring,” “We Need To Talk About America” on FUSE TV, “The Roast of Whitney Cummings,” “Howie Mandel’s All Star Comedy Gala” on the CW, and Netflix’s “Are You Still Listening?.” Robin has received millions of views of her standup on her social platforms. 

Jed Samer is an associate professor in the Department of English’s film and media studies program. They are the author of “Lesbian Potentiality and Feminist Media in the 1970s” (2022) and co-editor of “Su Friedrich: Interviews” (2022). Samer's debut feature documentary, “Tip/Alli,” about feminist science fiction writer James Tiptree, Jr., aka Alice B. Sheldon, is in post-production. They are currently writing “The Transgender Joke Book” with the support of a 2025-26 ASU Humanities Institute fellowship. At ASU, they teach courses on “Race and Gender in US Media” and “Comedy as Social Discourse.”

The Queer X Humanities initiative, co-directed by Julia Himberg and Sa Whitley, is a research hub and intellectual community at ASU dedicated to new directions in Queer Studies and Transgender Studies. 

For a full listing of Humanities Institute events, visit our events page.