Belly Laughs Festival 2025
We are so grateful to have attended the first-ever Belly Laughs Festival at LA Live!
It was a two-day comedy and food festival, held from July 12 to 13, 2025, celebrating Asian-American culture with an impressive comedy lineup and food and beverage vendors curated by Mama's Night Market across multiple venues at LA Live, including inside the iconic Peacock Theater and outdoor spaces.
Getting to see so many of our favorite comedians perform for the first time back-to-back was an absolute fever dream, especially after watching their stand-up specials on various streaming platforms for years. The lineup was insanely talented with over 30 comedians, from the king's jester, Hasan Minhaj, the one-in-a-billion auntie, Zarna Garg, our favorite Deli Boy, Asif Ali, the iconic Margaret Cho, surprise guest Atsuko Okatsuka, Kumail Nanjiani, Bobby Lee, Nimesh Patel, Hari Kondabolu, and so many others.
There were even musical performances by Nikki Nair, Raaginder, Rei Ami, and more on the stages outside throughout the night market! Having just seen the hit Netflix movie K-Pop Demon Hunters before this weekend, where Rei Ami provided the singing and rapping vocals for the character Zoe, we were delighted to see her perform live, and she brought a great energy to the festival!
Our cheeks were so sore from smiling and laughing all weekend long, and our bellies were always full thanks to all the delicious food!
While it was impossible to try everything, some of our favorites from Mama's Night Market were as follows:
Spicy Korean-Chinese BBQ lamb skewers, grilled over open flames from Feng Mao, a popular restaurant in LA since 2008.
Beautifully presented mango sticky rice from Yum Sະlut, a pop-up restaurant focused on Lao cuisine.
Mouthwatering biryani and samosa from Biryani Kabob House, highlighting South Asian cuisine from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Karage, a Japanese dish of bite-sized chicken marinated, deep-fried, and cooked to perfection, from Tenkatori.
Korean fried popcorn chicken with a kimchi vodka sauce from Jilli.
Our absolutely favorite thing we ate that we got to try for the first time was Kakigori from Kura Moto Shavery with ice brought in from Japan!
Kakigori is a traditional shaved ice dessert that dates back to the Heian period (794-1185), when it was a luxury reserved for the aristocracy. Today, it's a popular street food, especially in the summer, and is best described as an elevated Japanese version of a snow cone (comparing it to traditional American snow cones doesn't really do Kakigori justice!). It's made by finely shaving blocks of ice into a fluffy, snow-like texture that is then topped with flavored syrups and sweet ingredients. We tried the matcha and hojicha (a type of Japanese green tea) flavored kakigori on the first day. It was so refreshingly delicious under the hot LA sun that we had to get another one the next day, opting for the yuzu & berry, and they were both amazing! If this festival were longer, we would have gladly waited in line each day to try a different flavor.
Apart from laughs and noms, there was so much to experience in the festival itself, like:
Cooking demos by chef Tue Nguyen, who runs DiDi restaurant and is the author of the cookbook Di An, celebrating the vibrant flavors of Vietnamese cuisine.
Rivera Seafood Club live tuna cutting presented by Bluefina.
A Bibigo x Lakers eating contest.
Mahjong set up by the Mahjong Mistress, Angie QQ's, East Never Loses.
Exclusive merch from 99 Ranch.
Random surprise appearance by former presidential candidate, Andrew Yang.
And more!
We really enjoyed seeing, hearing, tasting, and experiencing so much in a festival setting where we could go and come as we pleased to different areas, as opposed to traditional stand-up shows. Where else can you see this many comedians and try a plethora of diverse foods, all in 2 days? It was quite the fusion combo that was right up our alley, celebrating community and culture through laughter and flavor!
As this was the first Belly Laughs Festival, there were a few things we thought could be improved on:
While we appreciated the opportunity to see the same comedians on both days, especially if they were at the same time as something else. Maybe diversifying the lineup more or ensuring that the comedians had different material if they were performing on both nights would have been a huge value add.
There was no indication where VIP or General Admission should line up to enter the Peacock Theater. Although we were VIP, there were some GA attendees near us at the front of the theater who were asked to move later. It would have been smoother for the staff if there were better parameters in place letting people know where they could or could not enter/sit before the event.
Although the Peacock Theater doesn't allow photography or filming inside, many people still filmed on their brightly lit phones throughout the show, and not just grabbing a quick clip here and there. The security personnel were visibly conflicted because there were no clear guidelines to refer to in the sitting areas of the theater, and it was a constant issue.
It was quite crowded and congested at the night market and outside venues, especially for food vendors that had higher demand with longer lines on Saturday night. Each vendor had to take it upon themselves to verbally corral attendees and organize to have some semblance of order and efficiency. It did improve a bit on Sunday, but we also think it's because there were fewer people in attendance and the vendors had figured out what works for their unique location.
As individuals who love attending festivals of all kinds and making memories with unique experiences like these, we expect some odd things, but believe there is always room for improvement. At the end of the day, it's important to keep a positive attitude, shift your mindset, and be intentional when you show up for something, whatever it may be. For instance, we spent a good bit of money traveling across the country for this trip to LA, and we wanted to ensure we made the best of it while remembering to have fun. The networking opportunities alone were well worth it to us! It was the best of both worlds, and something we truly enjoy about being small business owners.
We do hope Belly Laughs continues, and that there are more successful events in the future! The truth is that there aren't enough festivals celebrating the many diverse cultures in this country. While there are celebrations surrounding specific holidays and the traditions that come with them, it's great to see a diverse range of people come together to celebrate and share the unique backgrounds they all come from under a shared cause. It is through events like these that education, understanding, and compassion can be expanded upon through the use of humor, music, and food as social tools, bringing us all closer together.
Our favorite moment of the whole weekend was, hands down, meeting Asif Ali outside as we were leaving Saturday night! He was so incredibly sweet to take the time to speak to us and take a selfie. We even got to give him one of our stickers that he absolutely played up for our video as we gave it to him. Something we noticed throughout the whole weekend was how he was so patient, kind, and attentive with every fan he met. Even on day 2, as all the comedians came out for one last standing ovation and thank you, he stuck around talking to people and taking pictures for quite a while. We were already fans of his for his comedy, acting, and advocacy, but after meeting him in person and seeing how he interacts with his fans, we're even bigger fans of the human he is!
To wrap things up, we had a wonderful time, and we're so thankful to everyone involved who made the whole weekend possible because every organizer, comedian, and vendor absolutely brought their A-Game to celebrate Asian American excellence in comedy, food, and beyond!