One of Australia’s favourite comics has been named among 10 comedians to watch by Variety as his star continues to rise in the US.

Fisk star Aaron Chen features on the industry entertainment bible’s list of “10 Comics to Watch for 2026″ ahead of a live showcase in at the New York Comedy Festival next week.

“His mullet, every single word choice and his quiet, calm but confident delivery had me dead,” writes Ali Wong.

“His comedy is silly but smart, weird and completely unpredictable. He’s truly one of the most exciting new voices in stand-up, and I cannot wait to see what he does next.”

Sydney-born Chen has become one of Australia’s most recognisable comedy exports in recent years, with his shining roles on favourite TV comedy Fisk (he will be part of the cast again when it returns for its third series next year), Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee and Taskmaster Australia.

Chen, 31, famously broke into standup at the tender age of 15, when he won the Melbourne Comedy Festival’s standup competition for high school kids.

“I would make jokes and stuff. I wasn’t really loud or anything, but I would say funny things when called upon,” he told Esquire magazine earlier this year about whether he was a “class clown”.

Chen’s mother died of cancer when he was just five. He grew up in Sydney with his father and sister – spending much of his childhood alone, on his computer.

“I’d figure out a lot of things by myself,” he told Esquire. “I was pretty early on the internet because I was good at the computer. I was really good.”

That first Melbourne Comedy Festival win was followed by more – best newcomer (he also nabbed that one at the Sydney equivalent), director’s choice and the 2024 people’s choice award for highest ticket sales.

Chen and wife Esther Shim on the red carpet for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards in 2025. Photo: AAP

Then, after a move to New York in late 2023, came a successful Netflix special, Funny Garden, about adjusting to life in the US.

“Did any of you come to the show because you know me from Fisk?” Chen asks his audience in Funny Garden, to a chorus of enthusiastic whoops.

“It changed my life,” he tells them.

Chen’s role as probate clerk and self-styled “webmaster” George in Fisk won him a Logie in 2025. Its launch on Netflix gave him a surprising US profile, discovered only when he moved across the Pacific.

“It felt like starting from the middle, when I first got here,” he told The Guardian earlier this year.

“People still had to get to know me, but it was kind of a sped-up process, because I had been doing comedy for so long. And then I started touring in America, which was really fun and interesting.”

There has also been Technology, a tour of Australia and New Zealand and a one-night special in Tokyo earlier this year.

In a big year, Chen has also had recent appearances in Apple TV comedy The Dink (produced by Ben Stiller), and British absurdist comedy mockumentary series Make that Movie with fellow Australian and buddy Sam Campbell.

Most recently, he was named part of men’s health campaign Movember for 2026. He joins another comedian, John Crunkshank, as they attempt to grow moustaches (with questionable results).

But Chen admits it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Asked by Variety about bombing on stage, he said: “At a private club for wealthy elites. I saw some things I should not have seen. It was hard to get laughs as people were more interested in some disturbed rituals.”

These days, despite all the TV success, Chen still has the most time for where he started.

“The highlights are always doing standup comedy,” he told The Guardian.