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Speaking as an East Asian - in my experience our verbal abilities as a group are so strikingly poor that I sometimes wonder that people don't generally think that we are kinda dumb. All the more so since verbal intelligence is the most apparent form of intelligence; you generally aren't going to be able to judge someone's math skills in casual conversation. In the workplace, among friends, at school, I find it hard not to notice the general inability of otherwise competent Asians (including myself) to put together coherent, grammatical sentences on the fly like everyone else does. Sometimes one has the pleasure of meeting startlingly articulate people. They are never East Asian. I'm not sure I can name a single very articulate East Asian. Even writers I enjoy, like Dan Wang, turn out to be not great at speaking. On the other hand there are plenty of very articulate black public intellectuals, for instance (and I say that not in a condescending way).
Interesting thought, though I want to defend our East Asian's "verbal abilities" here.
First question, are we talking about East Asians or American East Asians?
If it's American East Asians, I think there are plenty of famous American East Asian comedians (Ronny Chieng, Troy Iwata, Jimmy Yang, Ali Wong) . And yes, I am using "famous comedians" as correlation for "verbal abilities".
If it's East Asians, then maybe more exposure to more East Asian media might show that there can't possibly be a lack of good writing or verbal spars in East Asia. We have Nisio Isin whose entire career spanning novels and manga is built on Japanese wordplay (notice how his pseudonym is a palindrome). Chinese couplets, especially the combative kind (where one writer challenges and another respond) are to me essentially proto-rap battles. But I especially adore the subversive ways Chinese netizens subvert censorship
Second question, are we talking about American humor / verbal abilities in English?
I think we have to take into account that maybe the humor is just different. I was born and grew up in an East Asian country until I'm 18 (albeit at an international school). But after nearly a decade in the US, I can't really enjoy the humor of my home country the same way when I watch their TV anymore. We definitely can't really say that there is lacking in "verbal abilities" when examining historical works or contemporary entertainment industries for countries like China/Japan/Korea. The professionals in those countries are definitely not out of work or love from their audiences (love Stephen Chow).
On the other hand, I do think East Asia's general culture of being deferential means less biting comedy and a general tendency to follow well-worn life paths (doctor/lawyer/engineer) means there are less going into the "chatty" careers (journalism, comedian, writers, youtubers).
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Francis Fukuyama and John Yoo come immediately to mind.
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