Comedian From Monterey Park Stabbed in N.Y.

A Taiwanese comedian known as the “Bob Hope of Taiwan” was listed in fair condition Friday after a man armed with a dagger stabbed him in the chest during the finale of a benefit show, authorities said.

Chiang Kuang-Chao, 52, a popular comedian in Taiwan and Hong Kong before moving to Monterey Park, Calif., was treated at St. Clare’s Hospital in Manhattan following the Thursday night attack.

Police said the attack occurred near the end of a 2 1/2-hour show at the Town Hall theater in the heart of the New York theater district.

Stagehands and some of the 1,200 patrons caught the alleged assailant in an alleyway and restrained him until police arrived, according to The World Journal, a Chinese-language newspaper that was reporting on the show. Two small daggers were recovered, the newspaper said.

Rene Cordova, 41, who lives in Manhattan’s Chinatown, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Police said they did not have a motive for the attack.

The show was sponsored by the Asian-American Cultural Foundation, whose parent group, the Asian-American Republican National Federation, raises money for Republican political candidates.

A cast of 14 performers, including Chiang, were about to sing the finale, “Tomorrow Will Be Even Better,” when a man raced to the front of the theater, climbed onto the stage and stabbed Chiang, the newspaper said.