Episode 1089 - Randall Park

Episode 1089 • Released January 16, 2020 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Marc:Lock the gates!

00:00:09Marc:Alright, let's do this.

00:00:10Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?

00:00:12Marc:What the fuck buddies?

00:00:13Marc:What the fuckineers?

00:00:14Marc:What's happening?

00:00:15Marc:This is Mark Maron.

00:00:16Marc:It's my podcast, WTF.

00:00:19Marc:Welcome to it.

00:00:20Marc:Right up front.

00:00:21Marc:Well, let me tell you first.

00:00:23Marc:I'm pre-recording this.

00:00:25Marc:It's a couple days before the day you'll hear it.

00:00:28Marc:I'm in Atlanta, Georgia.

00:00:30Marc:I'm sitting here in a hotel room, 22 floors above the ground.

00:00:35Marc:I shot all day today.

00:00:37Marc:I was in the studio all day today doing a bit, a bit.

00:00:42Marc:I'm doing a scene.

00:00:43Marc:These scenes that we're working on, they have to, they revolve around songs for the movie Respect with Jennifer Hudson, myself, and others, Marlon Wayans.

00:00:56Marc:And these are long and fairly complicated scenes to shoot in that there's no stunts involved, but there's singing and there's musicians.

00:01:05Marc:And it's a whole day to shoot some of these musical sequences that take place in the studio.

00:01:12Marc:But I got to be honest with you.

00:01:14Marc:uh it's been pretty great it's like i'm just i don't know what it maybe i'm just figuring out how to be on a set maybe i'm just accepting that this is a job i do it's part of the things i do with my life i don't know what it is but uh being in this character and in this situation and in the late 60s you know at atlantic records recording aretha franklin is kind of an exciting thing man

00:01:39Marc:And it just, I don't know.

00:01:41Marc:I've just sort of locked into the gig of it.

00:01:44Marc:And I'm not even talking a lot these few days.

00:01:47Marc:But I'm enjoying the work.

00:01:49Marc:Is that okay?

00:01:50Marc:Is that okay if I enjoy the work?

00:01:52Marc:Thank God.

00:01:53Marc:Thank God.

00:01:54Marc:I'm enjoying my work, folks.

00:01:56Marc:And I also want to tell you, the WTF cap mugs that were available for the holiday sold out really fast.

00:02:02Marc:As you know, they always do.

00:02:03Marc:So Brian Jones made a brand new batch.

00:02:06Marc:These are the handmade ceramic mugs I give to my guests.

00:02:10Marc:You can get one for yourself right now.

00:02:12Marc:People love these things.

00:02:14Marc:You can go to BrianRJones.com slash shop starting at noon Eastern today.

00:02:20Marc:Okay.

00:02:21Marc:So that's happening.

00:02:22Marc:Those mugs are nice.

00:02:23Marc:I've run out of them several times.

00:02:25Marc:I don't stay on top of it as well as I should.

00:02:27Marc:And Brian's churning them out.

00:02:28Marc:So there's a good chance.

00:02:30Marc:that some of you will get these over some of the guests.

00:02:33Marc:Some guests, I have to admit, leave empty-handed.

00:02:36Marc:I feel bad about it.

00:02:37Marc:I don't make choices around it.

00:02:39Marc:I don't decide who will get a mug and who won't, but some of them leave empty-handed and I don't even tell them the mugs exist.

00:02:46Marc:They don't know.

00:02:47Marc:What do they know?

00:02:48Marc:I will say this.

00:02:48Marc:My guest today, Randall Park, you know him from Fresh Off the Boat.

00:02:54Marc:You know him from the movie that he did with Ali Wong, You'll Always Be My Maybe.

00:03:00Marc:He's been around a long time.

00:03:02Marc:He's done a lot of things.

00:03:03Marc:But he brought a gift.

00:03:04Marc:He gave me a little Swiss Army pocket knife that was a crew gift for the Fresh Off the Boat people.

00:03:10Marc:And it was nice.

00:03:13Marc:Not very many people.

00:03:14Marc:um uh bring bring gifts and oddly anderson pack and randall park both brought me gifts i don't know what that's about is it the p's the p sound i don't i don't know i'm not making connections where they aren't perhaps i am maybe it is the p sound my dates let's do this i feel like i just talked to you and

00:03:39Marc:And I've really been doing nothing but shooting and trying to, you know, to not eat on set all day.

00:03:46Marc:I mean, that's been what's been going on and listening to Jennifer Hudson sing a lot and having some laughs with Marlon Wayans and hanging out with the crew, you know, doing that thing and being in Atlanta.

00:03:59Marc:But I was exhausted.

00:04:01Marc:So I'm in the room.

00:04:02Marc:Okay, I'll be honest with you.

00:04:04Marc:The reason I waited so long, because I'm recording this late at night, is The Town came on TV, the Ben Affleck movie, and I thought, I just watched a few minutes, and I watched the whole fucking thing.

00:04:14Marc:So that's what's happening in my life.

00:04:16Marc:I missed the debates, and I watched The Town, and just hoping for the best for the future with very little faith.

00:04:27Marc:So here are my dates.

00:04:29Marc:Thursday, January 30th, Cleveland, Ohio at the Agora Theater.

00:04:33Marc:This is for the tour I'm doing with Dean Del Rey.

00:04:35Marc:We're sort of half-tied.

00:04:37Marc:It's the freezing leg of the Hey There's More Tour.

00:04:41Marc:Friday, January 31st, I'm in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the Fountain Street Church.

00:04:46Marc:Saturday, February 1st, I'm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Turner Hall Ballroom.

00:04:51Marc:Friday, February 14th, Orlando, Florida at the Hard Rock Live.

00:04:55Marc:Saturday, February 15th, I'm in Tampa, Florida at the Strass Center.

00:05:00Marc:Thursday, February 20th, Portland, Maine State Theater.

00:05:04Marc:Friday, February 21st, Providence, Rhode Island at the Columbus Theater.

00:05:08Marc:Saturday, February 22nd, New Haven, Connecticut at College Street Music Hall.

00:05:13Marc:And Sunday, February 23rd, Huntington, New York at the Paramount.

00:05:18Marc:You can go to WTF.com.

00:05:19Marc:Pod.com slash tour for links to all of the venues.

00:05:25Marc:And that's that.

00:05:27Marc:Tickets are selling well.

00:05:28Marc:And I appreciate that.

00:05:30Marc:Though I've got word.

00:05:31Marc:Word came in that Grand Rapids needs a little help.

00:05:35Marc:Orlando, Florida needs a little help.

00:05:38Marc:So those are the markets that I'm having a little, that aren't moving as quickly as they could.

00:05:44Marc:Michigan and Florida.

00:05:47Marc:Grand Rapids, Orlando.

00:05:50Marc:I don't know what the connection is, but that's what's going on.

00:05:54Marc:Oh, you guys, man.

00:05:55Marc:I don't know.

00:05:58Marc:Sometimes when I'm on the road, I'm much more relaxed.

00:06:02Marc:I think I broke my back in two places.

00:06:05Marc:I'm still walking, and obviously I'm exaggerating, but I guess I've hit that age where perhaps maybe it's not a great idea to go heavy.

00:06:14Marc:Do you know what I'm saying?

00:06:15Marc:It's like, just stay in shape.

00:06:17Marc:There's no reason to go heavy.

00:06:18Marc:I think I popped a vertebrae.

00:06:20Marc:I don't know what the hell I did.

00:06:21Marc:I guess I could ask the crew doc, the doc over at the shoot, if there's a chiropractor situation.

00:06:29Marc:I've never been to a chiropractor in my life.

00:06:31Marc:I don't really know what to do.

00:06:33Marc:My best thinking gets me to the regular doctor where I get x-rays like a regular person, and I find out if there's anything seriously wrong, and then I figure out from the x-rays what the prognosis is, probably from a back guy,

00:06:48Marc:And then I weigh it out.

00:06:50Marc:That's how my brain works.

00:06:51Marc:Some people apparently are like, maybe you just drink some green juice, go to a chiropractor.

00:06:57Marc:And I don't know if that's going to hurt me more or isn't.

00:06:58Marc:But nonetheless, I think I might have done it.

00:07:01Marc:I think I might have fucked myself for the rest of my life in the back area, which happens to a lot of people.

00:07:08Marc:over lesser things.

00:07:09Marc:I did it heroically at the gym.

00:07:11Marc:I'll deal with it.

00:07:12Marc:I got to deal with it.

00:07:14Marc:I know.

00:07:15Marc:I'm not complaining.

00:07:17Marc:I'm here making a movie.

00:07:18Marc:But I realize my life revolves around a certain amount of food panic and then a certain amount of introspection.

00:07:25Marc:And the way I situate my life on the road, I come back to the room.

00:07:30Marc:I walk a half a mile to the Whole Foods.

00:07:33Marc:And I make myself dinner at Whole Foods.

00:07:36Marc:And I sit there.

00:07:38Marc:They have a beer bar at the Whole Foods downtown here.

00:07:41Marc:They're midtown in Atlanta.

00:07:44Marc:And I eat it.

00:07:45Marc:And I watch the TV there with no sound.

00:07:48Marc:That was this evening.

00:07:52Marc:I was actually there, and I forgot to tell you about this.

00:07:56Marc:I was there on the night of the Golden Globes eating a sad salad at Whole Foods, and next to me, the only other guy sitting there was a guy wearing...

00:08:08Marc:Three different types of camo, a camo hat, a different kind of camo shirt and different camo pants.

00:08:16Marc:And he was wearing sunglasses and he was five beers in to a six pack of cans of some Mexican beer.

00:08:25Marc:And I told him that I had interviewed Brad Pitt and Leo DiCaprio.

00:08:29Marc:He said he grew up by Brad Pitt, went to a different high school, but they had common friends and that he would like to listen to the podcast, but he does not have a phone or a computer and that he's a country singer songwriter, but real country.

00:08:48Marc:The conversation got weirder as the last couple beers went down.

00:08:54Marc:But I told him I'd look out for his music without knowing his name.

00:08:58Marc:And he said he'd listen to my podcast without having a phone or a computer.

00:09:03Marc:So I think that went about as good as it could.

00:09:07Marc:So, yeah, I did just change the title to my special podcast.

00:09:13Marc:It was originally going to be Jeremiah.

00:09:17Marc:This is the comedy special I just shot for Netflix because there was complications with the name Jeremiah in that the folks at Netflix thought no one would know what the fuck that was.

00:09:28Marc:Probably true that they might have to look it up.

00:09:30Marc:But I mean, on a deeper note, it was that if they saw it, would they know it was a comedy thing?

00:09:36Marc:It just in the menu.

00:09:37Marc:I took that note.

00:09:38Marc:I realized they were probably right.

00:09:40Marc:So now the name of my special is going to be End Times Fun.

00:09:47Marc:Yep.

00:09:48Marc:I'm just telling it like it is.

00:09:50Marc:I'm going straight.

00:09:52Marc:That is what it is.

00:09:55Marc:It's End Times Fun.

00:09:57Marc:That's what I tried to do.

00:09:59Marc:That is the tone of the special.

00:10:01Marc:Also, on the cat front...

00:10:03Marc:Got some good news about my cat, Monkey.

00:10:07Marc:I'm just keeping you up to speed.

00:10:10Marc:Brought him in, which was an ordeal when I was just home just last week to check his levels because he's got the hyperthyroid.

00:10:17Marc:I'm giving him the medicine.

00:10:19Marc:So his thyroid now is a little low.

00:10:21Marc:So we got to bring the, you know, decrease the medicine, get the thyroid level, kidneys for his age, just starting with a little kidney disease.

00:10:29Marc:I think it told you that.

00:10:30Marc:But the blood work outside of that is spectacular.

00:10:33Marc:So I might have a little time with the old fucker.

00:10:35Marc:And I guess, you know, despite what anyone says, despite the outliers, despite the people that say, hey, man, I had a cat that died at age 40.

00:10:45Marc:He lived 40 years.

00:10:47Marc:I had this one cat was 57 years old when it died.

00:10:50Marc:I had a cat.

00:10:51Marc:We don't even know how old it was, but we think it was 102.

00:10:55Marc:Outside of those rare stories, 15 and a half is old for a fucking cat.

00:11:02Marc:I have an old ass cat and he's I think he might hang in for a little while.

00:11:06Marc:I'm hoping I need to paste these things out.

00:11:09Marc:I don't think I could handle putting another one down inside the same year.

00:11:13Marc:But if you got to do it, you got to do it.

00:11:15Marc:The other cat, Buster, Buster Kitten, bringing him in shortly to get his levels checked because he's been on the kidney food since the renal failure after he ingested what I believe to be lily pollen.

00:11:30Marc:So that's it.

00:11:31Marc:That's what's happening.

00:11:33Marc:I had Randall Park over at my house before I left, and I have to say it was really great to talk to him.

00:11:39Marc:And I talked, obviously –

00:11:41Marc:Ali Wong about him.

00:11:43Marc:And I talked to Nanachika Khan about him a bit.

00:11:48Marc:And now I'm going to talk to Randall.

00:11:50Marc:The final season of Fresh Off the Boat on ABC returns this Friday, January 17th.

00:11:57Marc:And there's a special one-hour series finale Friday, February 21st.

00:12:02Marc:This is me back at the house talking to Randall Park.

00:12:06Guest:This is the right time?

00:12:17Guest:Everything's the right time right now for me.

00:12:20Guest:You got nothing?

00:12:21Guest:Well, I got a root canal yesterday.

00:12:23Guest:Oh, really?

00:12:24Guest:It...

00:12:26Guest:For seven days, I was in severe pain.

00:12:30Guest:Really?

00:12:30Guest:Yeah, I'd had this abscess in my tooth, and I couldn't get an appointment, and I managed to squeeze in.

00:12:41Guest:Sometime with my dentist, he gave me these antibiotics, and they'll kick in, they'll kick in, seven days straight, severe pain.

00:12:47Guest:Nothing?

00:12:47Guest:I mean, I'd bite down on this tooth, I'd be rolling on the ground.

00:12:50Marc:Oh my God.

00:12:50Guest:Yeah.

00:12:51Marc:So you couldn't even enjoy the food?

00:12:52Guest:Couldn't eat.

00:12:54Guest:Oh, God.

00:12:54Guest:And then I got an emergency appointment with this endodontic specialist that my dentist said, they'll see you.

00:13:04Guest:They'll make time to see you.

00:13:06Guest:And they did some work, and I got a new lease on life.

00:13:11Thank you.

00:13:12Guest:i'm like i you caught me at like one of the greatest this is it uh this is it a high point in life right now this is uh yeah i mean i'm i'm just like walking on the cloud right now oh my god so a whole part of it is because of all the meds i'm on right now oh yeah but uh yeah but i feel i'm telling you this is uh the root canal is a wild process isn't it i got sort of kind of obsessed with the you know how the hell they think of that

00:13:37Marc:Yeah.

00:13:38Marc:To, you know, to sort of clean out these channels.

00:13:40Marc:To go inside of a tooth.

00:13:42Marc:Right, way up in there with these little brushes.

00:13:44Marc:Did they do that?

00:13:44Marc:Did you have the wires sticking out of your mouth?

00:13:46Guest:Yeah, they did all that.

00:13:47Guest:Cleaned out the channels.

00:13:48Guest:Cleaned out the channels.

00:13:50Marc:Just to keep the base so they can drill the new one on there.

00:13:53Guest:They just want to keep that tooth in there, you know, as opposed to extracting it.

00:13:57Guest:So you got a fake, like a temporary... I actually don't have anything in it.

00:14:02Guest:I just have like some temporary just paste that they put on right now.

00:14:06Guest:They...

00:14:06Guest:I had a crown on this tooth before.

00:14:08Guest:They took off the crown.

00:14:10Marc:But they filed it all down, right?

00:14:12Guest:Filed it all down.

00:14:13Marc:There's just a nub.

00:14:14Guest:Just a little nub and a hole that's filled with this.

00:14:17Guest:And I'm thrilled.

00:14:18Guest:Yeah.

00:14:19Guest:I love it.

00:14:20Guest:I love it.

00:14:21Marc:But now you're waiting for a real tooth, right?

00:14:22Marc:You're waiting for the tooth to- I don't care.

00:14:24Marc:Yeah.

00:14:24Marc:They're going to build you one, right?

00:14:26Guest:Yeah, they're going to put one in there.

00:14:27Guest:And that's fine.

00:14:28Guest:I'm just fine.

00:14:30Guest:I'm just so good.

00:14:31Guest:I'm telling you, seven days of just intense pain.

00:14:35Guest:Torture.

00:14:35Guest:Some of the worst pain I've ever felt in my life.

00:14:38Guest:Teeth are the worst.

00:14:39Marc:They're scary, man.

00:14:40Marc:I can't even go to the fucking dentist without being terrified.

00:14:43Marc:Oh, yeah, but you got to go, man.

00:14:44Marc:No, I go every six months to a year.

00:14:47Marc:Yeah.

00:14:48Marc:But the cleaning, just the scraping, I can't.

00:14:52Marc:We've been dealing with it our whole life.

00:14:53Guest:Yeah.

00:14:54Marc:But I'm just like clenched and it's just horrible because you're that one sensitive, you're just waiting for that one moment where you're like, oh God.

00:15:01Guest:That was me.

00:15:02Guest:Oh, man.

00:15:03Guest:Nothing.

00:15:04Guest:Yeah, that's the worst.

00:15:05Guest:Fucking worst.

00:15:05Guest:And afterwards, after I got the root canal, I was still scared to eat just because I'll bite down on it.

00:15:12Guest:I can't even imagine.

00:15:13Guest:I was eating matzo ball soup and the matzo ball sent me to the ground.

00:15:18Guest:That's how...

00:15:20Guest:A matzo ball sent me to the ground.

00:15:23Guest:You took me out.

00:15:24Guest:I was rolling on the ground.

00:15:27Marc:Where'd you eat matzo ball soup?

00:15:29Guest:From Arts Deli on Ventura.

00:15:32Guest:And I just, I ordered it because, you know, that's our deli.

00:15:35Guest:Is that a good deli?

00:15:37Guest:Yeah, yeah, it's good.

00:15:39Guest:I don't know anything about it.

00:15:39Guest:We go there almost every week.

00:15:40Guest:It's been there a long time.

00:15:42Guest:Yeah?

00:15:42Guest:It's like real Jewish-style deli?

00:15:44Guest:I don't know what real Jewish-style deli is.

00:15:46Guest:I think so.

00:15:47Marc:No, but I mean, I never heard of the deli.

00:15:49Marc:Like, I know one deli or two delis.

00:15:52Marc:Like, I go to Cantor's, and then there's... Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:15:55Marc:You know, there's Greenblatt's, which I never go to.

00:15:57Marc:I don't know.

00:15:57Marc:It's not something I do all the time.

00:16:00Guest:I actually grew up going to my family.

00:16:02Guest:We went to Jewish delis.

00:16:04Guest:All the time.

00:16:05Guest:We went to Factors on Pico.

00:16:07Marc:Factors out on Pico?

00:16:08Guest:That's gone.

00:16:09Marc:No, that's there.

00:16:10Marc:It's still there?

00:16:10Guest:That's still there, yeah.

00:16:11Guest:Oh, you mean by Fox?

00:16:12Marc:Yes, yes, yeah.

00:16:12Guest:Right across from... What am I thinking of?

00:16:14Guest:Juniors?

00:16:14Guest:Juniors is gone.

00:16:15Guest:It's another deli now, yeah.

00:16:17Marc:So you grew up eating at Factors?

00:16:19Guest:Yeah, my family, we went like every couple weeks.

00:16:23Guest:We'd go to Factors, and then we'd go to Juniors.

00:16:25Marc:Yeah.

00:16:26Marc:So were you grew up in that part of town, the west side?

00:16:28Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:16:29Guest:Your whole life?

00:16:29Guest:Born and raised, yeah.

00:16:31Marc:But your folks are not from here?

00:16:33Guest:No, they immigrated from Korea in the early 70s.

00:16:37Guest:Was that like a time where a lot of people immigrated or they just came?

00:16:41Guest:You know, they came, I think, before the bigger wave.

00:16:44Guest:Yeah.

00:16:45Guest:Yeah.

00:16:45Guest:But but that's when that's when a lot of Koreans started.

00:16:48Marc:And how come?

00:16:49Marc:Why do you think they settled in Los Angeles?

00:16:51Marc:You have family here?

00:16:52Guest:Well, my dad had a job here.

00:16:55Guest:So my dad was here before my mom.

00:16:57Guest:And I don't know what exactly brought him to LA.

00:17:01Guest:He lived in San Francisco.

00:17:02Guest:A lot of Asian immigrants, they go to San Francisco.

00:17:07Guest:Why is that?

00:17:08Guest:I don't know.

00:17:09Guest:Other people like them there, I guess.

00:17:11Marc:I guess because it's where I never, I guess there's a deeper history to a lot of that stuff.

00:17:15Marc:Cause like I living here, you know, apparently it's like a huge Armenian community.

00:17:20Marc:Yeah, that's right.

00:17:20Marc:A lot of Koreans here too.

00:17:22Marc:Yeah.

00:17:23Marc:I just don't know how that starts or who makes the decision.

00:17:25Marc:You know what I mean?

00:17:27Marc:Like, is there a newsletter that goes out that we've decided this is it?

00:17:31Marc:I think it's just friends and family.

00:17:34Guest:And they say, hey, it's safe here.

00:17:37Marc:Right.

00:17:38Marc:There's enough of us here to find solace and protection.

00:17:43Guest:If one of us gets attacked, there'll be a couple of us to help out.

00:17:46Marc:To watch our back.

00:17:47Guest:Yeah.

00:17:48Marc:So he started in San Francisco and came down here?

00:17:50Guest:Started in San Francisco, yeah.

00:17:51Guest:And then he was a busboy at this restaurant in Sausalito, this French restaurant.

00:17:57Guest:And then he ended up in Paris.

00:18:00Guest:Paris?

00:18:01Guest:Yeah, studying French.

00:18:03Guest:I don't know.

00:18:04Guest:I don't fully.

00:18:05Marc:This part of your dad's wife is vague.

00:18:07Marc:A little bit.

00:18:08Marc:A busboy in Sausalito and then Paris.

00:18:11Guest:Yeah, and then Paris.

00:18:12Guest:And I think the owner of the restaurant in Sausalito had something to do with him.

00:18:17Guest:He really liked my dad.

00:18:19Guest:Right.

00:18:20Guest:And then he ended up in L.A., went back to Korea, met my mom, who was still in college at the time.

00:18:27Guest:And when she finished, she came down here with my dad.

00:18:30Guest:Does he know French?

00:18:32Yeah.

00:18:32Guest:He can still do it.

00:18:36Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:18:37Guest:And what did he end up doing?

00:18:39Guest:He ended up, well, for a good part of my childhood, he worked for this stuffed toys company, just like in the offices.

00:18:47Guest:And apparently I was named after one of his coworkers that he liked.

00:18:52Guest:Yeah.

00:18:53Guest:At the Stuff Toy Factory?

00:18:55Guest:Yeah, at the Stuff Toy Factory.

00:18:56Guest:And then that company moved and he didn't want to move the family out to another state.

00:19:03Guest:So he ended up just working a bunch of different jobs.

00:19:06Guest:And then eventually he ran a one-hour photo, his own one-hour photo.

00:19:12Marc:He had a franchise?

00:19:13Guest:No, no, just one little shop.

00:19:15Guest:Yeah.

00:19:15Guest:One little shop on Main Street in Santa Monica.

00:19:18Guest:And then the digital age just kind of wiped that out.

00:19:22Guest:Pushed him out?

00:19:23Guest:Yeah.

00:19:23Marc:He was the bitter one-hour photo guy.

00:19:27Guest:Yeah.

00:19:27Guest:Yeah, we had our time.

00:19:29Guest:Yeah, it was just bad timing.

00:19:31Marc:Yeah.

00:19:31Guest:Like, it's just all, you know.

00:19:34Guest:And then he, now he works, he's actually at a souvenir shop and working with family members on Hollywood Boulevard.

00:19:44Guest:Oh, really?

00:19:45Guest:Yeah.

00:19:47Guest:Yeah.

00:19:48Guest:He can't stop working.

00:19:49Guest:Yeah.

00:19:49Guest:He doesn't want it.

00:19:50Guest:He doesn't want it.

00:19:51Guest:What about your mom?

00:19:52Guest:My mom, she's retired, and she ended up working at UCLA for like 30 plus years as an accountant for the student store.

00:20:01Marc:So that's where the family got the health insurance.

00:20:05Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:20:06Marc:Your mom had the stable.

00:20:07Guest:She had the stable job.

00:20:09Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:20:09Guest:Yeah, and she was there for a long time.

00:20:11Guest:When I was a student there, she was working there.

00:20:13Marc:And you got a lot of siblings?

00:20:15Guest:Yeah.

00:20:15Guest:Older brother.

00:20:16Marc:Oh, that's it?

00:20:16Guest:What's he do?

00:20:18Guest:He works at an optometrist office in Los Feliz.

00:20:24Marc:So you're the only one that's in show business.

00:20:28Marc:The only one, yeah.

00:20:30Marc:And now, how did that... Because it seems to me that certainly people I've talked to...

00:20:38Marc:Children of immigrants.

00:20:39Marc:Yeah.

00:20:40Marc:There's a lot of pressure.

00:20:42Marc:I've talked to several to sort of really kind of like be the one that, you know, that really becomes a success in an unquestionable way.

00:20:51Marc:Yes, yes.

00:20:53Marc:Because the parents, you know, sacrificed their lives.

00:20:57Marc:Yeah, it's a lot of pressure.

00:20:59Guest:You didn't get that pressure?

00:20:59Guest:I did.

00:21:00Guest:You did?

00:21:00Guest:Of course I did.

00:21:00Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:21:02Guest:I mean...

00:21:03Guest:I got a lot of that pressure growing up.

00:21:06Guest:Yeah.

00:21:07Marc:What did they want you to do?

00:21:08Guest:Come on, Mark.

00:21:09Guest:Dr. Lawyer.

00:21:10Guest:You know this.

00:21:12Marc:I do.

00:21:13Marc:Dr. Lawyer.

00:21:14Marc:That was it?

00:21:15Marc:That was it.

00:21:16Marc:Because I don't know.

00:21:17Marc:Are those still good jobs?

00:21:18Marc:Are they still considered good jobs?

00:21:20Marc:I mean, I know they're respectable.

00:21:21Marc:The doctors are at least.

00:21:22Marc:But I don't know.

00:21:22Marc:Is lawyer really something parents want their kids to do still?

00:21:25Guest:They make money.

00:21:26Marc:Yeah, I guess so.

00:21:27Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:21:28Guest:I mean, they're safer bets in terms of, yeah, if you follow this path, if you take these classes.

00:21:35Marc:Security, they want to know.

00:21:36Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:21:38Marc:They don't want it to be questionable.

00:21:40Marc:They know that if you take these steps, you will get to this place.

00:21:43Guest:Yes, yes.

00:21:43Guest:Whereas if you start out being an actor or a comedian, it's like there's no path.

00:21:49Marc:Yeah, and I'd like to think that most of the judgment that parents have about that stuff is concern.

00:21:56Guest:Yeah.

00:21:57Guest:Like more than anything else.

00:21:59Guest:You know, it took me a long time to kind of realize that, you know, I think early on it was a lot of- Judgment, you thought it was just judgment?

00:22:06Guest:Yeah, just that you don't believe in me, you don't think I'm talented, you know, which they didn't, but- But-

00:22:13Guest:But ultimately, maybe it comes from a good place.

00:22:15Guest:It totally comes.

00:22:16Guest:Yeah, they love us.

00:22:17Guest:So they don't want us to, you know, be broke and struggling.

00:22:21Marc:And a burden on them.

00:22:22Guest:Yeah, and a burden on them.

00:22:23Guest:All of those things I was for a good part of my adult life.

00:22:27Marc:So when do you, like, were you, did you make any movement towards being a doctor or a lawyer?

00:22:34Guest:Well, when I was in college at UCLA, I...

00:22:40Guest:I was not going to be a doctor or a lawyer, but I thought maybe I'd be a professor.

00:22:46Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:22:47Guest:Yeah, and I thought maybe.

00:22:48Guest:Of what?

00:22:49Guest:I was thinking of Asian American studies, history, things that I was interested in at UCLA.

00:22:54Guest:And I thought that I would, as a professor, publish books and write.

00:22:59Guest:And that sounded pretty good to my parents.

00:23:02Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:23:02Marc:You sold them?

00:23:03Marc:Yeah, I sold them.

00:23:04Guest:So I kind of started gearing myself towards that route even though at the time I had co-founded this theater company on the college campus and I was spending most of my time doing that stuff.

00:23:19Marc:Oh, really?

00:23:19Marc:Yeah.

00:23:20Marc:So you studied, you did study, what was the focus?

00:23:26Guest:I majored in English, in creative writing.

00:23:29Guest:Yeah, me too.

00:23:29Guest:And then I minored in Asian American studies.

00:23:33Guest:I ended up doing a two-year master's program in Asian American studies.

00:23:36Guest:Oh, really?

00:23:37Guest:And thinking I was going to become this professor.

00:23:39Guest:Of Asian American studies.

00:23:41Marc:Yeah.

00:23:42Marc:What is the reach of that when it seems like it's pretty broad?

00:23:46Marc:Yeah.

00:23:47Marc:So what do you study exactly?

00:23:48Guest:Well, I mean, my like primary interest was actually in like...

00:23:54Guest:media you know like an asian american kind of representation and uh and the depictions of asian americans in media so it was always like geared towards this this interest that i had in my heart you know yeah you're putting the the philosophical foundations of your of your acting career yeah yeah and then meanwhile i was doing this theater company what was the theater company

00:24:18Guest:It was this Asian American theater company that I was involved with, and I had co-founded on campus.

00:24:25Marc:So what was that called?

00:24:27Guest:It was called LCC, or it was called Lapu the Coyote That Cares Theater Company, and it's still going on to this day.

00:24:34Marc:Really?

00:24:34Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:24:36Guest:Ali Wong was a member of that company.

00:24:38Marc:That's crazy.

00:24:39Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:24:41Marc:Are you older?

00:24:42Marc:Older, yeah.

00:24:43Marc:Than Ali?

00:24:44Marc:She joined after I graduated.

00:24:47Marc:So, cause you guys did that great movie together and, uh, and she's written for fresh off the book.

00:24:52Marc:Like you guys have a long, but you didn't know each other in college.

00:24:55Guest:Uh, we did know each other when she was in college.

00:24:58Marc:Yeah.

00:24:58Guest:And, uh, and I was just out of, out of grad school and, uh, you know, still kind of hanging around that theater company.

00:25:05Guest:Cause I didn't, you know, didn't know.

00:25:07Guest:Yeah.

00:25:07Marc:Was it a comedy driven thing?

00:25:09Guest:You know, it was, but it was for sure.

00:25:12Guest:But it wasn't kind of a conscious, like, we're going to do comedy.

00:25:16Guest:It was just kind of, I think that was just kind of our natural, that's what we'd like to do.

00:25:20Guest:And sort of the intent of it was to sort of bring Asian Americans together to... Well, you know, at the time it was primarily these, what we called South Campus majors, which was like...

00:25:33Guest:Asian-American kids who were majoring in math and sciences and becoming doctors and who kind of wanted to do this kind of thing, just kind of as a hobby.

00:25:45Guest:So we had a lot of these kids who were- Brainy kids.

00:25:50Guest:Yeah, or at least artists who were trying to please their parents.

00:25:54Guest:And we provided them this kind of outlet to-

00:25:57Guest:Kind of like I was, you know, at the time.

00:26:00Guest:And yeah, we just put on, we wrote all our own original like plays and material.

00:26:07Guest:And you would perform it at the school?

00:26:09Guest:Perform it at the school.

00:26:10Guest:We did a show every quarter.

00:26:11Guest:And it was, I mean, that was pivotal for me.

00:26:14Guest:That was when I was like, okay, I know I want to do this.

00:26:17Guest:I know like I'm supposed to become a professor now, but this is what I really want to do.

00:26:22Guest:And we'll see what, you know, if I ever do.

00:26:25Marc:Did you maintain, did you keep that sort of the spirit of like your knowledge of a lack of representation being one of the driving forces?

00:26:33Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:26:34Guest:I think at that time it was definitely, you know, I was in college.

00:26:39Guest:I was...

00:26:40Guest:for the first time in my life, surrounded by Asian Americans and very kind of suddenly conscious to these things, whereas growing up, I didn't think about it.

00:26:50Guest:You weren't surrounded by Asian Americans growing up?

00:26:53Guest:No, no.

00:26:54Guest:I mean, I had a couple Asian friends that I grew up with, but it was predominantly everyone else.

00:26:59Guest:It was a part of L.A.

00:27:02Guest:that was very mixed, but there weren't a ton of other Asians, yeah.

00:27:07Guest:So, you know, we grew up...

00:27:09Guest:knowing about race stuff because we were all so, you know, of different backgrounds.

00:27:15Guest:But it wasn't like this kind of conscious Asian American identity.

00:27:21Marc:Right.

00:27:21Marc:And so did you find that at the time when you were in college that that was sort of the first wave of that awareness culturally?

00:27:28Marc:For me, yeah.

00:27:30Marc:But in general, because I don't know much of anything, but you start to realize as a white person and one that now has to admit a certain amount of privilege because it's true, but you don't think in those terms before because you're ignorant.

00:27:48Marc:I don't think it's racist, but you're just sort of like you take everything for granted.

00:27:52Marc:You're just going through life.

00:27:53Marc:Yeah, as a white person.

00:27:56Marc:Everything's working out.

00:27:58Guest:Well, that was me growing up too, though.

00:28:01Marc:Right.

00:28:01Guest:You know, I was just, this is great.

00:28:03Guest:Yeah.

00:28:04Guest:You know, I'd watch Indiana Jones and I'd put myself in the boots of Indiana Jones.

00:28:10Guest:Sure.

00:28:10Guest:Not short round, you know what I mean?

00:28:14Guest:And I thought, hey, short round's funny.

00:28:16Guest:Right.

00:28:16Guest:But that's not me.

00:28:17Guest:I'm Indiana Jones.

00:28:19Guest:Yeah.

00:28:20Guest:You grow up a little bit, step out in the world, and everyone's like, you're short round.

00:28:24Guest:I'm like, no, I'm Indiana Jones.

00:28:26Guest:You don't get it.

00:28:27Guest:I got the hat and everything.

00:28:28Guest:Yeah, I got the hat and the whip.

00:28:32Marc:But you did feel, you come up against that, you felt that.

00:28:35Guest:In college.

00:28:36Guest:Yeah.

00:28:36Guest:Yeah, in college.

00:28:37Guest:And I think that's what led to the formation of that theater company.

00:28:41Marc:Well, in college, in which sense?

00:28:43Marc:In the sense that because just being in the population of college and actually in acting?

00:28:52Marc:Because I don't know when bullying happens and I don't know when that sort of separation happens.

00:28:57Marc:I mean, when we're younger, everybody sort of integrates.

00:29:00Marc:Yeah.

00:29:00Marc:But when you do get to college, it's odd because groups aggregate for whatever reason.

00:29:07Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:29:07Guest:And you felt that there first?

00:29:10Guest:Yeah, I know.

00:29:10Guest:I mean, growing up, I got bullied.

00:29:13Guest:I got bullied.

00:29:14Guest:It wasn't always, at least in my mind, because I was Asian, but in retrospect, that might have played a part of it.

00:29:20Guest:I don't know.

00:29:22Guest:But...

00:29:23Guest:But yeah, I think just being around a community that was that was thinking of these things, you know, that was thinking of issues of representation and.

00:29:32Marc:Yeah, because like it seems that everybody gets characterized a certain way and lumped together.

00:29:40Marc:Yeah.

00:29:40Marc:You know, even but it's weird because even you saying like, you know, like all these kind of like these kids that were trying to please their parents by doing math majors and biology majors had an outlet to at least pursue something.

00:29:52Marc:Yeah.

00:29:52Marc:There was something.

00:29:53Marc:So the whole sort of like I think that that expectation of immigrant parents kind of help set sort of the context of how Asian Americans are judged in a way.

00:30:06Marc:In terms of their ambitions and what they're supposed to do.

00:30:10Marc:For sure.

00:30:10Guest:But the parents aren't thinking of that, of the stereotypes.

00:30:15Guest:My parents, to this day, they don't care about the issues that I think a lot of us Asian Americans who were born here or at least who spent a good part of our childhood here.

00:30:28Guest:to hear about.

00:30:29Guest:They're just trying to provide.

00:30:31Guest:Right.

00:30:31Marc:Yeah.

00:30:32Marc:And so, were you guys writing to this?

00:30:37Marc:Were you creating pieces around this stuff?

00:30:39Guest:Yeah, we were.

00:30:40Guest:We were.

00:30:40Guest:I mean, pretty bad stuff.

00:30:44Guest:But yeah, we were writing about, you know, kind of everything.

00:30:48Guest:We didn't know what the hell we were doing.

00:30:49Guest:Right, sure.

00:30:50Guest:Because we didn't, we just didn't have, a lot of us, it was new for all of us.

00:30:56Guest:We didn't go to plays growing up.

00:30:59Guest:No, right.

00:31:03Guest:know what it meant to write a play.

00:31:05Guest:But you watched sketch shows.

00:31:07Guest:We watched sketch shows.

00:31:08Guest:Yeah, we watched movies.

00:31:09Guest:We watched TV.

00:31:10Guest:And we were just kind of figuring it out.

00:31:13Guest:And it was so fun because of that.

00:31:15Guest:We didn't know what the hell we were doing.

00:31:17Marc:We had no rules.

00:31:19Marc:Did anybody step in?

00:31:20Marc:Was there anybody among you that knew how to direct or anything?

00:31:24Marc:How many people were in the core group?

00:31:26Guest:I think there must have been like 12, 13 in that core group.

00:31:30Marc:And did you register it as a club on campus?

00:31:34Marc:Yeah, we did.

00:31:35Marc:So you had your own room and you had a space.

00:31:37Guest:We had space to rehearse.

00:31:38Guest:We had a theater on campus, the Northwest Campus Auditorium, which was kind of tucked in by the dorm.

00:31:44Marc:And you set all this in motion?

00:31:46Guest:Me and two others.

00:31:48Marc:Yeah.

00:31:48Guest:Three of us.

00:31:49Guest:Yeah.

00:31:50Guest:We put it together and I can't believe it's still going on.

00:31:53Guest:It's crazy.

00:31:54Marc:Have you checked back in with it?

00:31:56Guest:Do you ever go to the shows?

00:31:57Guest:No.

00:31:58Guest:No.

00:31:59Guest:Over the years, though, I mean, here and there, I would come back and talk to the kids and I think I'm due to come back.

00:32:07Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:32:08Guest:Yeah.

00:32:08Marc:So they know that you're the guy that started it?

00:32:11Guest:I think so, yeah.

00:32:12Marc:You're like the historical figure, this small picture of you somewhere hanging.

00:32:17Marc:Maybe, I don't know, yeah, yeah.

00:32:19Marc:Out of that original crew, how many people sort of went into show business?

00:32:24Marc:A bunch.

00:32:26Guest:Really?

00:32:27Guest:We made a lot of parents mad.

00:32:29Guest:You succeeded in your revolution.

00:32:31Guest:Yeah, a bunch of us, especially from that early group.

00:32:37Guest:I don't know, I'd say a third of that early group ended up going into it.

00:32:43Marc:Are they still in it?

00:32:44Guest:Yeah, thriving, a lot of them, in different capacities, writers, executives.

00:32:52Marc:Are you guys still in touch?

00:32:55Guest:Yeah, yeah, we all keep in touch.

00:32:57Guest:That's wild.

00:32:57Guest:Yeah, and when we had our Always Be My Maybe premiere, you know, Ally was in the company, and we had a bunch of, and it was, our premiere was at, in Westwood, right, by UCLA.

00:33:07Guest:So a bunch of us from the old, back in the day, came to the premiere, and it was real cool.

00:33:14Marc:That's like, that's great.

00:33:15Guest:Yeah.

00:33:16Guest:Yeah.

00:33:16Guest:It was really cool.

00:33:17Marc:Now, do you have you do you feel that there?

00:33:20Marc:Well, obviously, there's been progress.

00:33:23Marc:Do you feel in terms of representation and in terms of like, because it seemed like it's a really odd thing.

00:33:29Marc:The struggle for African-Americans to to against this depiction of them.

00:33:34Marc:in general, in film and television, you know, was always part of the cultural awareness.

00:33:40Marc:But I don't think that, you know, I really took into mind, you know, the struggle of Asian Americans to sort of find that place.

00:33:46Marc:I knew there were movies, but it was always really a big deal when a movie was made about a multi-generational Asian family.

00:33:54Marc:Like, look at the food.

00:33:56Marc:There's always a lot of food involved.

00:33:57Marc:Oh, yeah, there's always food involved.

00:34:00Yeah.

00:34:00Marc:But do you feel that now that there is a broader acceptance?

00:34:06Marc:Yeah.

00:34:06Guest:Yeah.

00:34:07Guest:I think I think.

00:34:08Marc:Well, Fresh Off the Boat's a good example.

00:34:09Marc:Ali Wong's success is a great example.

00:34:11Guest:I think so.

00:34:12Guest:I think so.

00:34:13Guest:And, you know, just kind of the fact that these projects and these people are out there in the mainstream, not just performing for other Asian Americans or Asian people.

00:34:22Marc:That's usually what happens, too.

00:34:24Guest:Yeah.

00:34:24Guest:It's it's amazing.

00:34:25Marc:Yeah, I mean, it's a broad... I mean, Allie's success is like... It's insane.

00:34:30Marc:It's amazing.

00:34:32Marc:It's amazing.

00:34:33Guest:I mean, it's not surprising to me.

00:34:35Marc:No, of course not.

00:34:35Guest:Yeah, but it is amazing.

00:34:37Marc:And I have to assume that those audiences aren't all Asian American.

00:34:41Marc:Yeah, no.

00:34:42Marc:90 shows that she's doing in San Francisco.

00:34:45Yeah.

00:34:45Guest:I know, she's doing 90 shows.

00:34:47Guest:It's crazy.

00:34:49Guest:It's crazy.

00:34:50Guest:She did like 40 here in L.A.

00:34:52Guest:at the one on Wilshire.

00:34:56Guest:We're at the... Wiltern.

00:34:57Guest:Oh, at the Wiltern.

00:34:58Guest:Yeah, she did a ton.

00:34:59Guest:It's crazy.

00:35:00Guest:Yeah, it is crazy, but it's great.

00:35:02Guest:It is.

00:35:02Guest:It's great, yeah.

00:35:03Marc:And I think it's empowering for not just women, but obviously for Asian-Americans too, right?

00:35:09Marc:Totally, totally.

00:35:10Marc:It's just—it's so—I don't know why I'm—sometimes I find, like, I don't talk to a lot of Asian Americans, and now you're the representative.

00:35:18Marc:But it's just—it's so amazing how much, you know, white people take for granted.

00:35:26Marc:You know, like—because, you know, we've all been eating Chinese food or Thai food or Korean food.

00:35:31Marc:Whatever we eat, it's usually where it starts.

00:35:34Marc:You know, we go to that restaurant—

00:35:35Marc:But I don't know, it's just sort of a lack of empathy to connect lives and struggle to the people whose foods you're eating.

00:35:41Guest:Yeah, for sure.

00:35:42Guest:But it's all there.

00:35:43Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:35:44Guest:I think that's why you see it so much in our projects, because it is such a huge part of who we are.

00:35:52Marc:So you did a master's in what?

00:35:54Marc:In Asian American Studies.

00:35:57Marc:So you really kind of hung in there with that.

00:35:59Guest:Yeah, for sure.

00:36:01Guest:It was something I was very interested in.

00:36:04Guest:And that was two years?

00:36:05Guest:It was two years, yeah.

00:36:07Marc:And then when did you just decide, I'm going to act?

00:36:10Marc:How did you go about it?

00:36:11Guest:Well, I think it was many, many years after that.

00:36:16Guest:Oh, really?

00:36:17Guest:Yeah.

00:36:17Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:36:18Guest:I mean, I think, you know, the expectations of my parents were, you know, it was like they were just fighting up against what I really wanted to do.

00:36:25Guest:And I kind of after grad school, I just kind of worked these regular jobs.

00:36:31Guest:I was a graphic designer, just trying to figure it out.

00:36:34Marc:Were you fighting with your folks?

00:36:36Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, a little bit.

00:36:38Guest:And then, you know, and slowly I'd kind of hint to them, yeah, I think I want to do this.

00:36:45Guest:And they'd be like, no, no, you're not going to do well in that.

00:36:48Guest:It's so hard.

00:36:49Marc:So the character in the movie is sort of like something you could relate to.

00:36:52Marc:Yeah.

00:36:53Marc:Yeah.

00:36:55Marc:Yeah.

00:36:55Marc:Like that could have been your destiny.

00:36:57Guest:It could have.

00:36:57Guest:Yeah, it was.

00:36:58Guest:I mean, I was in my 30s living at home.

00:37:01Guest:Yeah, because I was, well, at that point, I was like actually pursuing acting, but I wasn't really telling my parents because every time I tell them, they would stress how much of a failure I would be.

00:37:19Guest:Really?

00:37:20Guest:Yeah.

00:37:20Guest:I mean, because look, my mom worked at UCLA and she she worked with a lot of students or former students who had just graduated UCLA and were now pursuing acting.

00:37:31Marc:Yeah.

00:37:31Guest:But needed a job on the side.

00:37:33Guest:So they'd work in this accounting department with my mom.

00:37:35Guest:And she'd like see their like reels, you know.

00:37:37Guest:Yeah.

00:37:39Guest:Yeah.

00:37:39Guest:I remember she showed me one of her coworkers reels and was like, this guy is incredible, but this guy's working with me.

00:37:47Guest:That's how hard it is.

00:37:53Guest:And I remember looking at this guy's reel.

00:37:55Guest:I was like, this guy is incredible.

00:38:00Guest:Yeah.

00:38:00Guest:So it scared me.

00:38:02Marc:She's trying to scare you straight.

00:38:03Guest:Yeah.

00:38:04Guest:But I mean, again, it was because she loved me and she didn't want me to have a tough time.

00:38:09Marc:So you were at home in your 30s.

00:38:10Marc:Yeah.

00:38:11Guest:Yeah.

00:38:12Guest:And I had a tough time.

00:38:13Guest:And you were a graphic designer?

00:38:15Guest:Yeah.

00:38:16Guest:Because when I was at the theater company in college, we'd have to make flyers for our shows.

00:38:22Guest:And we had to put them all around campus.

00:38:23Guest:Right.

00:38:24Guest:So I picked up some...

00:38:25Marc:That's where you got your chops?

00:38:28Guest:Pretty basic graphic design skills that carried me into these jobs post-college.

00:38:34Marc:But didn't your parents know that you were kind of unhappy and wallow or floundering in that?

00:38:40Marc:What were they expecting to happen with the graphic design?

00:38:43Guest:I think they were hoping that I would kind of be like, okay, I'm done with this.

00:38:47Guest:I'm going to go to law school.

00:38:50Marc:I think that's where they go.

00:38:52Marc:It's only a matter of time.

00:38:53Guest:Any day now.

00:38:54Guest:Yeah.

00:38:54Guest:So meanwhile, I was going to these auditions.

00:38:56Guest:I was doing improv.

00:39:00Guest:I was doing stand-up for a little while.

00:39:02Guest:You did?

00:39:03Guest:I did.

00:39:05Guest:At a certain point, Ally had moved up to San Francisco.

00:39:08Guest:I'd go up to San Francisco, and she'd show me all around the rooms.

00:39:12Guest:I'd perform with her at all these different rooms in San Francisco.

00:39:15Guest:I met a bunch of your friends up in San Francisco at the time.

00:39:19Marc:Okay, so you're sneaking around doing this stuff.

00:39:24Marc:Yeah, it's a 30-year-old.

00:39:24Marc:Because you're living at home, and you're doing graphic design, and then you'd go.

00:39:30Marc:So when you went up to San Francisco, how many times did you do stand-up?

00:39:34Marc:I mean, a bunch of times.

00:39:35Marc:Oh, really?

00:39:36Marc:Yeah, a bunch of times.

00:39:37Guest:How was it for you?

00:39:38Guest:It was great.

00:39:39Guest:It was so fun.

00:39:40Guest:Yeah, I loved it.

00:39:43Guest:Especially going up there.

00:39:44Guest:And I wish that I had lived up there sometimes because it was a real community of comedians.

00:39:51Marc:Oh yeah, it's a comedy city.

00:39:53Marc:It is here too, but it's different here.

00:39:55Guest:It's different here.

00:39:55Marc:here i mean if you're if you were where i was at at the time yeah you couldn't book a you couldn't book five minutes and no i guess it was really before all the bringer shows and everything yeah yeah but i was doing those bringer shows and i was you know i was performing ali middle for me up there she featured for me once when i was at the punchline i remember oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so crazy so that's crazy so what how how how much time did you were you in college together are

00:40:22Guest:We weren't.

00:40:22Guest:Well, I had graduated.

00:40:23Marc:Oh, so you were in a master's program, right.

00:40:25Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:40:26Guest:It was right when I had graduated that program is when she joined the company.

00:40:31Marc:And you guys stayed friends.

00:40:32Marc:Yeah, we stayed friends.

00:40:33Marc:I like these stories.

00:40:35Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:40:36Marc:Because I've known comics for 30 or 40 years, but when you both kind of do different things and still stay friends.

00:40:43Marc:Beforehand, yeah, yeah.

00:40:44Marc:It's pretty cool.

00:40:45Marc:Did she feel bad for you?

00:40:46Marc:Were you like when you were back then?

00:40:49Guest:Yeah.

00:40:50Guest:Like sort of like, oh, no.

00:40:52Guest:Well, I don't think so.

00:40:53Guest:I mean, she lived in San Francisco at the time because she had moved back up.

00:40:57Guest:Her folks were there?

00:40:58Guest:Her family was there.

00:40:59Guest:Yeah.

00:41:00Guest:And I was just doing, you know, I was just trying to make it down here.

00:41:04Guest:I don't think she, you know, she kind of saw too much of my struggle.

00:41:07Marc:Well, when did you sort of get like any sort of thing going?

00:41:12Marc:Like what happened?

00:41:13Guest:You know, it was just a slow, slow build, you know, just like I book a commercial, you know, and I'd be like, oh, wow.

00:41:20Guest:I, you know, I felt like I made it.

00:41:22Guest:I booked my first commercial.

00:41:25Guest:It was just like it was on the Asian channel.

00:41:26Guest:It was all in Mandarin.

00:41:27Guest:I didn't even know what the hell I was selling.

00:41:31Guest:Yeah.

00:41:31Guest:But I was like, oh, I think, man, I made it.

00:41:34Guest:And then, you know, and then a year would pass.

00:41:36Guest:I'd book another commercial, and I'd be like, oh, this one's in English.

00:41:39Guest:And, you know, and then another one.

00:41:42Guest:Oh, this is a national one.

00:41:43Guest:Okay.

00:41:43Guest:You know, it's just kind of, and then a co-star on a show, and then.

00:41:46Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:41:47Marc:So, like, all this auditioning, it didn't beat you up?

00:41:49Marc:I mean, you weren't.

00:41:49Marc:It beat me up.

00:41:50Marc:It did beat you.

00:41:53Marc:I think permanent damage.

00:41:54Marc:Every time.

00:41:54Marc:Every time you come home and see your mom.

00:41:57Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:41:58Guest:You couldn't even tell her, could you?

00:42:00Guest:No, I couldn't tell her when I booked something because it would be like, okay, how much did you get paid?

00:42:05Guest:What does that lead to?

00:42:07Guest:Well, nothing.

00:42:08Guest:It just kind of airs and disappears.

00:42:10Guest:It's a commercial if you all watch it together.

00:42:12Yeah.

00:42:13Guest:You didn't have any lines in that.

00:42:15Guest:I know, but I was featured prominently.

00:42:21Guest:So it was just that for many years.

00:42:25Guest:Yeah, for many years.

00:42:27Marc:So what was the co-starring role you got?

00:42:33Guest:My first one was a show called Fastlane.

00:42:35Guest:It was on Fox.

00:42:37Guest:Right.

00:42:38Guest:So you had representation at some point.

00:42:40Guest:I had representation and I had a commercial agent at least and just kind of kept at it.

00:42:47Guest:And I kept doing these live shows, these sketch shows.

00:42:50Guest:Where were they?

00:42:51Guest:They were all around town.

00:42:53Marc:So you're part of that, the UCB trip?

00:42:55Guest:I wasn't.

00:42:56Guest:I wasn't.

00:42:57Guest:What were the sketch shows?

00:42:58Marc:Were they Asian sketch shows?

00:42:59Guest:uh some of some of them were and some of them were were just kind of uh with friends from these comedy schools that i was in at the time you went to comedy schools well i mean like you know like improv kind of uh there was this place called acme oh yeah yeah it was kind of like you know the ground it was like on the bray or something yeah exactly yeah yeah i was i was you know acme comedy theater yeah yeah and they had their own kind of uh improv school and what happened in that place

00:43:26Guest:I don't know.

00:43:27Guest:It kind of went away?

00:43:28Guest:Yeah, I think they just, it's a rental space now, I think.

00:43:31Guest:I don't really know what's going on.

00:43:32Marc:Didn't take.

00:43:32Marc:No.

00:43:34Marc:So you're just learning those kind of skills, doing group improv?

00:43:37Guest:Yeah, really just to keep doing stuff.

00:43:40Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:43:40Guest:Because that was my thing was like, you know, I'm not like booking jobs.

00:43:44Marc:Right.

00:43:44Guest:I just want to keep doing stuff.

00:43:46Guest:everything.

00:43:46Marc:So you didn't lose your mind and sadness.

00:43:48Marc:Yeah.

00:43:49Guest:It felt like I was actually like acting and doing comedy and so I just kept doing it or else I would definitely like quit and try to become a lawyer.

00:44:00Guest:Yeah.

00:44:02Marc:So when did, what was the first tangible?

00:44:05Marc:The first big.

00:44:07Marc:What was the first one you could really be proud of and show your parents?

00:44:11Marc:You know what?

00:44:12Guest:You still haven't told them yet?

00:44:13Guest:I still haven't showed them anything.

00:44:15Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:44:20Guest:Soon, soon.

00:44:20Guest:Well, you know, I think, gosh, I think the interview was, ironically, of all projects, the kind of one that really my parents were like, oh, he's like.

00:44:32Guest:He's working.

00:44:33Guest:He's working and he's taking care of himself.

00:44:38Guest:Oh, right, right.

00:44:39Marc:Because, well, they saw you in other movies.

00:44:41Guest:Yeah, yeah, but you know- But in small parts.

00:44:44Guest:Small parts and little- Didn't add up to a life.

00:44:47Guest:Didn't add up to a life.

00:44:48Marc:Right.

00:44:48Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:44:50Guest:But I think at a certain point, they would just see me on TV all the time, and I think they really kind of put it together.

00:44:56Guest:Like, oh, he's working, which is amazing.

00:44:59Guest:And working towards

00:45:00Marc:You did soap operas and everything.

00:45:03Guest:I did anything, man.

00:45:05Guest:I would do anything.

00:45:06Guest:I literally needed the money.

00:45:08Guest:At a certain point, I moved out of the house, got my own place, had to move back, and then moved out again.

00:45:16Guest:Oh, really?

00:45:17Guest:Because I kept becoming broke.

00:45:19Marc:Oh my God.

00:45:20Marc:So you had these parents and you'd have to kind of go back.

00:45:26Guest:Yeah, but that's the thing.

00:45:27Guest:And I only realized this with perspective now is that they were supporting my dream all along.

00:45:33Guest:They were like literally housing me and feeding me during this time.

00:45:39Marc:Right.

00:45:39Marc:I guess they could have held a harder line.

00:45:42Marc:Yeah, yeah, they could have.

00:45:44Marc:And said, you know, you can't come back.

00:45:45Guest:Yeah, yeah, they could have.

00:45:47Guest:They didn't.

00:45:48Guest:They would never do that.

00:45:49Guest:I mean, to this day, they take me in.

00:45:51Guest:You know, they're great parents, you know.

00:45:54Guest:But, yeah, yeah.

00:45:56Guest:I think when the interview came out, or kind of came out, because it didn't really come out.

00:46:02Guest:But at least you had some notoriety.

00:46:05Guest:I was in the Korean newspaper, put it that way.

00:46:08Yeah.

00:46:08Guest:They were getting calls from Korea.

00:46:10Guest:Yeah, from their family.

00:46:12Guest:I mean, so I think at that point they were like, wow, he's playing a big part in a big movie.

00:46:19Guest:And I think they kind of turned around there.

00:46:22Marc:Well, I mean, that part was a very specific part.

00:46:25Marc:Yeah.

00:46:27Marc:To play Kim Jong-un.

00:46:29Marc:Yeah.

00:46:30Marc:I mean, were they nervous?

00:46:32Yeah.

00:46:32Marc:No.

00:46:33Marc:Okay.

00:46:34Guest:No, but the entire rest of the world was, you know?

00:46:37Marc:But your parents were just happy you were working.

00:46:39Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:46:41Guest:I actually, like, you know, I talked with them before I even took the part, like, do you think this is, like, going to be a problem or, you know?

00:46:51Guest:And they were like, no.

00:46:52Marc:What, do you mean to play the dictator?

00:46:55Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:46:56Guest:I talked to a bunch of people because I didn't, you know, I...

00:47:00Guest:really wanted to do it.

00:47:01Guest:I loved the script.

00:47:02Guest:I felt like it was... What were your concerns?

00:47:05Guest:Well, I mean, I didn't know enough about everything.

00:47:09Guest:Oh, the dynamics of North and South Korea or who that guy was?

00:47:12Guest:I mean, I knew a little bit, you know, growing up, but I didn't know enough and I learned a lot during that time.

00:47:18Guest:What'd you learn?

00:47:19Marc:That kind of gave you enough confidence to do it?

00:47:24Guest:Well, I learned that it wasn't...

00:47:29Guest:At least in my head, or at least from what people would tell me, it wasn't as scary a threat as everyone to South Korea.

00:47:44Guest:Oh, right, right.

00:47:46Guest:As far as- They've been living with it for years.

00:47:49Guest:Yes, exactly.

00:47:50Guest:I don't know.

00:47:54Guest:Everything that eventually happened was a big surprise, put it that way, as far as just the- In terms of the whole world freaking out?

00:48:02Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:48:02Marc:That he was that sensitive and we thought we were on the precipice of nuclear war because of you?

00:48:10Guest:Yeah.

00:48:10Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:48:12Guest:And yeah, and my parents were just like thrilled.

00:48:16Guest:They were.

00:48:17Guest:People know who you are now.

00:48:19Guest:Yeah, kind of.

00:48:20Guest:Right.

00:48:21Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:48:22Guest:And yeah, so when that came out, it was insane.

00:48:26Guest:And then it just kind of one day all just stopped.

00:48:29Guest:It was, you know, the next news item came on and that thing just got pushed aside.

00:48:33Guest:Did you have to move back into the house?

00:48:35Guest:No, no.

00:48:36Guest:No?

00:48:37Marc:No.

00:48:38Marc:After that, you were out on your own?

00:48:40Guest:Well, at that point, I was married.

00:48:42Marc:Oh.

00:48:42Guest:Yeah.

00:48:43Guest:So you were working and everything was good.

00:48:45Guest:Yeah.

00:48:45Guest:We had a kid.

00:48:47Guest:How many kids you got?

00:48:48Guest:Just one.

00:48:49Guest:One.

00:48:49Marc:But you were doing, it seems like you were doing a lot of TV bits.

00:48:53Guest:I was.

00:48:54Marc:And you had some funny shit.

00:48:56Guest:I was.

00:48:57Guest:At a certain point, the work just became steady, and I kept working.

00:49:03Guest:Yeah.

00:49:03Marc:Now, at that time, though, were you feeling, given your past studies and also some of the intentions around creating the theater company, did you feel that you were being treated as something other than an Asian prop for the most part?

00:49:22Guest:Uh, I think, well, early on, I definitely felt that a lot.

00:49:27Guest:Yeah.

00:49:27Guest:Uh, but I, I needed money, you know?

00:49:30Marc:No, no, I, I'm not judging it.

00:49:31Guest:I'm just saying, like, you know, given what you were coming from intellectually.

00:49:34Guest:Yeah.

00:49:34Guest:I mean, an Asian prop in the sense that, you know, I was there to kind of add color to a scene.

00:49:39Marc:Right.

00:49:39Guest:You know, I was there to, to, to, to.

00:49:42Guest:Create the world around these main characters.

00:49:44Marc:Did you ever have those moments?

00:49:45Marc:Because I notice it all the time where you see this kind of like multicultural group of friends and you realize like that would never happen.

00:49:53Guest:You know, yes, but also that was my childhood.

00:49:56Marc:It does happen.

00:49:57Guest:Yeah, it does happen.

00:49:58Marc:It's not all contrived.

00:49:59Guest:I mean, my childhood, it was a Benetton ad.

00:50:04Guest:It was just completely diverse.

00:50:07Marc:That's what America is, really, I think, for the most part.

00:50:10Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:50:11Marc:Maybe I'm wrong.

00:50:12Guest:But when I do see that, yeah.

00:50:13Guest:I mean, especially being an actor and playing that, you do realize that it's really, you are kind of a prop.

00:50:21Guest:You are there to...

00:50:22Guest:to show the world that this main character isn't racist.

00:50:28Guest:He has friends of color.

00:50:30Marc:It's so hard for me to judge what is real and what isn't, because I've lived the life of a comic for so long.

00:50:35Marc:I don't go to a workplace.

00:50:36Marc:I don't have regular friends that just have regular jobs.

00:50:40Marc:I have no idea how anybody fucking lives.

00:50:43Marc:Maybe it's all a lot more integrated than I know.

00:50:47Marc:I don't know about that, but...

00:50:49Guest:But certainly my life has been that, especially my childhood.

00:50:55Marc:I saw somewhere at some point you wrote and acted in some movie, a feature.

00:51:00Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:51:01Guest:Well, aside from Always Be My Maybe, there was one way back in the day that a friend and I just wrote.

00:51:08Guest:Yeah, and shot it?

00:51:09Guest:And just made it independently, and it was real scrappy and...

00:51:13Guest:Made it.

00:51:14Guest:Were you still in college or?

00:51:15Guest:No, no, I was out of college at that point.

00:51:17Guest:I was definitely.

00:51:18Guest:What was that about?

00:51:20Guest:Gosh, it was it was called American Fusion and it was.

00:51:27Guest:I don't even remember, man.

00:51:31Guest:I don't remember, but it was definitely, for me, kind of my first taste of actually seeing something I wrote in feature form.

00:51:42Guest:And that was really thrilling and definitely kind of planted the seed where I got to do that again.

00:51:49Guest:And I didn't do it again, so it'll always be my maybe.

00:51:52Marc:Oh, really?

00:51:53Marc:You didn't do shorts or anything else?

00:51:54Guest:I mean, oh yeah, I did a ton of shorts.

00:51:55Guest:I mean, after that, I started making stuff.

00:51:57Guest:Yeah.

00:51:58Guest:And I was making shorts and web series, and there is this group called Channel 101 in L.A., and just this web series kind of showcase slash competition.

00:52:09Guest:I was involved with those.

00:52:11Guest:those people and, and kept making web series and shorts and, uh, just, you know, exercising that muscle.

00:52:17Guest:So it was all rooted in that college theater company where they just wrote stuff and, and, and performed it and got to see it.

00:52:23Marc:And it also gives you a little more control.

00:52:25Marc:Yeah.

00:52:26Guest:Yeah, for sure.

00:52:27Guest:And it keeps you sane.

00:52:28Marc:Yeah.

00:52:29Marc:Oh yeah.

00:52:29Marc:I can't, I like, I don't, hold on one sec.

00:52:32Marc:I told these guys to come and,

00:52:33Marc:This is like the bane of my existence.

00:52:37Marc:Are they in your yard?

00:52:39Marc:Yeah, of course they are.

00:52:40Marc:But like, you know, I called the guy yesterday and I said, can you come, make sure they come between 11 and 1.

00:52:48Marc:Yeah.

00:52:49Marc:No dice.

00:52:50Marc:No.

00:52:51Marc:It's okay.

00:52:53Marc:People have learned how to deal with it.

00:52:54Marc:I'm okay with it.

00:52:55Marc:Yeah, it doesn't read as much as it bothers me, apparently.

00:52:59Marc:But the idea of, because just being an actor, I've noticed this because I've been doing acting lately and it came to it very later in life.

00:53:07Marc:You're amazing.

00:53:08Marc:Oh, that's very nice.

00:53:08Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:53:09Marc:Is that, you know, like to actually have that be your life and to be beholden to other people and just waiting for material and then just showing up to do it as satisfying as it might be incrementally.

00:53:20Marc:It's really a compromised position in a weird way, especially if you're not in the power.

00:53:25Marc:You don't have power over, you know, or enough traction to really decide what you want to do.

00:53:31Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:53:32Guest:I mean, I'd imagine you as a stand-up for all these years, you are telling your story.

00:53:37Guest:Yeah, right.

00:53:37Guest:And then when you're acting in someone else's thing, you're telling a story.

00:53:42Guest:Right.

00:53:42Guest:But it's not your story, necessarily.

00:53:44Marc:Yeah, and I didn't think of it, and you're just sort of like a guy working there.

00:53:49Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:53:51Guest:Which I'm fine to do just from all those years of just like, oh, I just need to work.

00:53:57Guest:I'm happy to do that.

00:53:59Guest:But it is a very special feeling to create your own stuff.

00:54:04Marc:So what was the process?

00:54:05Marc:Because I talked to Ali.

00:54:07Marc:I think like...

00:54:09Marc:Wow.

00:54:09Marc:I mean, I talked to Ninochka about the movie, but I didn't talk to Allie specifically about the movie because I think when I talked to her, she was just starting to break as a comic.

00:54:19Guest:Yeah.

00:54:19Marc:So I don't know that when you started working on it, but I talked to Allie and she breastfed in front of me.

00:54:27Guest:Yeah, I remember that episode.

00:54:29Marc:I think I handled it pretty well.

00:54:32Marc:But that was really in promotion for Baby Cobra.

00:54:34Marc:So were you guys already working on it then?

00:54:36Guest:No, no, we weren't.

00:54:37Guest:We weren't.

00:54:37Guest:It was after Baby Cobra.

00:54:42Guest:Well after Baby Cobra, the New Yorker did a profile on her.

00:54:46Guest:That's how big she was.

00:54:48Guest:The New Yorker did a profile on her.

00:54:50Marc:But at the time, though, she was writing for Fresh Off the Boat, right?

00:54:53Marc:Right.

00:54:53Guest:I think she was... Or just stopping?

00:54:57Guest:I think she was all fresh off the boat at that time.

00:54:59Marc:But you've been fresh off the boat since the beginning.

00:55:01Guest:Six seasons, yeah.

00:55:03Guest:Yeah, we just got canceled.

00:55:05Guest:You did?

00:55:06Guest:Yeah.

00:55:07Marc:But isn't a new season starting?

00:55:09Guest:This is our sixth.

00:55:10Marc:Oh.

00:55:10Guest:Sixth and final.

00:55:11Marc:When did you hear that it was done?

00:55:13Guest:A month back.

00:55:15Guest:Oh, really?

00:55:15Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:55:16Guest:So we just finished our last episode a couple weeks ago.

00:55:20Marc:And you did, what were the cycles?

00:55:22Marc:They were 13 a season or 23 a season?

00:55:24Guest:First season was 13.

00:55:25Guest:After that, it was mostly 20s all the way through.

00:55:28Guest:And this last season was 15.

00:55:29Marc:So there's enough to syndicate.

00:55:32Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:55:32Marc:Yeah, we hit 100.

00:55:33Guest:Yeah.

00:55:34Guest:Yeah, we hit 100, and it's been great.

00:55:39Marc:Okay, I guess before we get to this.

00:55:41Marc:So how did you get cast on that?

00:55:45Marc:Is it during the movies or after the movies?

00:55:48Guest:You know, I was doing it.

00:55:50Guest:Jake Kasdan was directing this movie, and he's a producer on it.

00:55:54Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:55:56Guest:Nice guy.

00:55:57Guest:Yeah, great guy, and I was doing a bit part, another bit part in a movie that he was directing.

00:56:03Guest:We were shooting in Boston, and his- Which movie?

00:56:08Guest:It was called Sex Tape.

00:56:09Marc:Yeah.

00:56:09Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:56:12Guest:Yeah, and his co-producer, Melvin Marr, was there, who also produces Fresh Off the Goat, and he knocked on my trailer door and-

00:56:21Guest:I was just doing a couple days on that movie, but he handed me this book called Fresh Off the Boat and was like, hey, read this book.

00:56:28Guest:We want to turn it into a TV show.

00:56:29Guest:And we're thinking about You for the Dad.

00:56:33Guest:And I was like, yeah, good luck with that.

00:56:37Why?

00:56:37Guest:Because there were no Asians on TV like that at the time.

00:56:41Guest:Right.

00:56:42Guest:I mean, the last one before that was- Margaret?

00:56:45Guest:Margaret.

00:56:46Marc:Right.

00:56:46Guest:Yeah, and that was like 20-something years before that.

00:56:49Marc:Is that true?

00:56:50Guest:An Asian family on network TV.

00:56:52Guest:I guess that's true, huh?

00:56:52Guest:Yeah.

00:56:52Guest:And so I was like, that's a great thought.

00:56:57Guest:It probably won't happen, but I will read the book.

00:57:01Guest:And I read the book because the book's amazing.

00:57:04Guest:And it's still not going to happen.

00:57:06Guest:And then one day I get a call.

00:57:09Guest:We're going to make a pilot.

00:57:11Guest:We want you to play the dad.

00:57:14Guest:And I was like...

00:57:16Guest:I can't believe that.

00:57:17Guest:Well, let's shoot a pilot.

00:57:18Guest:Yeah.

00:57:19Guest:And because that's all there's going to be is a pilot.

00:57:21Guest:So let's have fun on this pilot.

00:57:23Marc:You know, you really had the good attitude going.

00:57:26Guest:Well, I mean, you think about that.

00:57:27Marc:Sure.

00:57:28Guest:You know.

00:57:28Guest:Yeah.

00:57:28Guest:What are the possibilities?

00:57:29Guest:Well, yeah.

00:57:29Guest:What's the possibility of any pilot going to series?

00:57:32Marc:Right.

00:57:33Guest:Let alone an Asian American, an Asian family with me as the lead.

00:57:37Guest:I'm doing a day on sex tape and I'm going to be the lead of a show, you know, like not going to happen.

00:57:43Marc:Boy, the notion of failure really got pounded into you.

00:57:47Guest:Pounded into me.

00:57:50Guest:And completely okay with it.

00:57:52Guest:That's how pounded it was.

00:57:53Guest:I'm so used to failing.

00:57:56Guest:And then we made the pilot, Lynn Shelton.

00:58:01Guest:The great Lynn Shelton directed it.

00:58:03Guest:It was great.

00:58:04Guest:It was so fun.

00:58:05Guest:I was like, there's no way.

00:58:07Guest:There's no chance.

00:58:08Guest:We're going to get picked up the series.

00:58:10Guest:And we got picked up the series.

00:58:12Guest:I was like, let's enjoy this one season.

00:58:16Marc:I guess there's something good about looking at things like that.

00:58:19Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:58:20Marc:In a way that keeps your expectations in check.

00:58:23Marc:Totally.

00:58:24Marc:Yeah.

00:58:24Guest:And it's not even in a dark way, in a great way.

00:58:27Marc:Sure.

00:58:27Guest:Like in a real, like, let's really just enjoy this.

00:58:30Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:58:31Guest:And you did.

00:58:32Guest:I did.

00:58:32Marc:Yeah.

00:58:32Guest:I did.

00:58:33Guest:And then after that season, hey, they want to do another season.

00:58:38Guest:No.

00:58:39Marc:Really?

00:58:39Marc:Well, this is definitely it.

00:58:42Guest:This is definitely it.

00:58:43Guest:And then we kept going for six seasons.

00:58:45Marc:It's so nice.

00:58:46Marc:And then did your parents come to the set and stuff?

00:58:49Marc:No.

00:58:52Marc:Did they watch it on television?

00:58:54Marc:No.

00:58:55Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:58:55Marc:Yeah.

00:58:55Marc:No, no.

00:58:56Marc:They did.

00:58:57Guest:They actually watched every episode.

00:58:59Guest:They didn't tell me that.

00:59:00Guest:So, like, recently.

00:59:01Guest:Oh, really?

00:59:03Guest:Oh, my God.

00:59:04Guest:They watched every episode.

00:59:06Guest:They're very proud.

00:59:07Guest:Yeah.

00:59:08Marc:And they're able to show that.

00:59:10Marc:yeah oh that's nice i mean i think they're happy because i'm i'm taking care of myself right of course and the family so uh and there's no hint of them saying like if it still doesn't work out you know you don't feel that no not at this point not at this point because like you know when you think about dr ken he had to deal with that shit like he he actually did he did what was expected of him yeah and now it took him years to even stop renewing his license to practice medicine

00:59:36Guest:And then he pivoted, and that's kind of the ultimate, what he did.

00:59:42Marc:Right, right.

00:59:42Marc:He shut his parents up, because he can always say, I can always go back to being a doctor.

00:59:48Guest:Yes, he still had his license, and he amazes me, that guy.

00:59:54Guest:I can't believe he pulled that off, but yeah.

00:59:57Marc:I remember the first time I talked to him, I had to fight the urge to, you know, I had some, I thought I had some health issues.

01:00:04Marc:Like they came very close to me asking him for medical advice.

01:00:08Marc:I think I might've called him once to get some medical advice.

01:00:12Marc:that's funny i don't blame you yeah i don't blame you like this past week i i was on the verge of calling i'm in pain man are you guys friends yeah yeah so six seasons and this is it this is it well so now how did that was um with with in terms of writing the the uh you'll always be my maybe which how'd that movie do ultimately

01:00:36Guest:It did great.

01:00:37Marc:Yeah?

01:00:37Guest:Yeah, yeah, it did great.

01:00:38Guest:I mean, I think it was in the first four weeks, the 32 million households.

01:00:45Marc:Oh, that's nice.

01:00:46Guest:Which is real nice.

01:00:47Guest:I mean, I don't know what any of that really means, but supposedly it was something to be proud of.

01:00:53Marc:I thought you were great in it.

01:00:53Marc:I thought that character was sort of heartbreaking.

01:00:56Marc:And I think it's...

01:00:58Marc:across the board, relatable.

01:00:59Marc:Yeah, yeah.

01:01:00Marc:You know, when she goes back, the band, whatever.

01:01:04Guest:The band, yeah.

01:01:06Marc:It's so harsh, man.

01:01:08Guest:But that was sort of the equivalent of you living at your parents' house.

01:01:11Guest:It was totally the equivalent, yeah.

01:01:12Guest:Like you knew that guy.

01:01:14Guest:That was me, yeah.

01:01:16Guest:and what was the writing process how'd you guys do it it was fun we you know we we uh who had the idea of the story uh i think we just kind of came up with it together we just we just met regularly talked it through and started working on an outline and put as much of our lives in it that made sense you know and yeah and made up a bunch of other stuff and it just it felt super organic and i think it helped that we were old friends and and uh

01:01:43Guest:We ended up bringing in another friend who was a writer who had been doing real well in the industry as a writer who also came from that theater company in college.

01:01:51Marc:Oh, really?

01:01:52Guest:And the three of us ended up crafting the script.

01:01:55Marc:And there was a deal with Netflix?

01:01:58Guest:Once we finished a draft of the script, we sent it to Netflix.

01:02:02Guest:netflix i was like do you want to do this and nanotchka was always on board not at that point oh really she was attached to another movie oh okay she was supposed to direct another movie as her like directorial debut and then that one kind of fell through and then we were like we got to get her and she was cool she was open to it yeah because we were working with her on fresh off the boat for so long we love her and yeah and worship her in many ways yeah and uh and she was down and we felt so lucky and

01:02:31Marc:What happens now?

01:02:32Marc:What have you been doing?

01:02:34Guest:I'm unemployed.

01:02:35Guest:Yeah.

01:02:35Guest:But I'm feeling, again, I'm feeling incredible.

01:02:38Guest:Because of the tooth.

01:02:39Guest:Because of the root canal.

01:02:40Guest:The root canal worked out.

01:02:41Guest:Yes, I don't care.

01:02:42Guest:I don't know.

01:02:43Guest:Today, you don't give a shit.

01:02:45Guest:Tomorrow, I'll be miserable.

01:02:49Marc:But, like, in terms of...

01:02:53Marc:I'm going to wait until they get off the porch.

01:02:55Marc:Oh.

01:02:55Marc:I can feel them vibrating.

01:02:57Marc:I've lost my shit about this before.

01:02:59Marc:Oh, really?

01:03:00Marc:And it's, like, completely within my control.

01:03:01Marc:But I thought I took care of it yesterday.

01:03:03Marc:I texted the gardener, and I said, could you tell them to come between 11 and 1?

01:03:08Marc:Because I got to interview Lily Tomlin in a couple hours.

01:03:11Guest:Oh, wow.

01:03:11Marc:Oh, wow.

01:03:11Marc:You know, and I didn't want to.

01:03:13Marc:I just didn't want it to.

01:03:14Guest:Well, better them doing this on me.

01:03:17Guest:Yeah.

01:03:17Guest:You know, I like that.

01:03:21Guest:I like that stuff.

01:03:22Guest:When I listen to podcasts and I hear police sirens in the back.

01:03:26Marc:The noise?

01:03:26Marc:Sure.

01:03:26Guest:I love it.

01:03:27Marc:Yeah, no, I think it really adds texture to the thing.

01:03:29Marc:Yeah, it's real.

01:03:31Marc:But I get...

01:03:32Marc:There's some days with this thing where you when you live in L.A.

01:03:37Marc:where you realize there isn't really an hour or two where it's not happening somewhere close by.

01:03:42Marc:Like I notice that now.

01:03:43Marc:Like and it just like if I lock into it, it drives me nuts.

01:03:46Marc:Yeah.

01:03:47Marc:Because if it's not my yard, it's across the street or next door.

01:03:49Marc:Yeah.

01:03:50Marc:It's just it's ongoing leaf blower noise.

01:03:53Guest:But you have no control over that.

01:03:55Guest:You know, it's like.

01:03:56Marc:Well, how are you letting go of things?

01:03:58Marc:You don't get obsessed with shit.

01:03:59Marc:I just got a root canal, Mark.

01:04:02Guest:I'm cool with anything.

01:04:03Guest:I don't care.

01:04:04Marc:What drugs are you on?

01:04:05Marc:What did they give you before you left the dentist?

01:04:09Marc:But there was no pain with the root canal, right?

01:04:11Marc:No.

01:04:12Guest:It was just the seven days before intense pain.

01:04:17Marc:I just can't.

01:04:18Marc:I got so upset.

01:04:19Marc:Like, I kind of got I was sort of like, who the hell this figured that out?

01:04:23Marc:Like, it's like it's almost like making jewelry that they like they did.

01:04:28Marc:Yeah.

01:04:28Marc:And they're scraping out these nerve canals.

01:04:31Guest:Yeah.

01:04:32Guest:Yeah.

01:04:32Guest:It's unbelievable.

01:04:33Guest:It's amazing.

01:04:34Marc:Only to fill them up to make a post for a fake tooth as opposed to bolt one into your head.

01:04:39Marc:It's amazing.

01:04:40Marc:It really is.

01:04:40Marc:Yeah.

01:04:42Marc:All right, so you're done.

01:04:43Marc:Yeah, done, done.

01:04:46Marc:But now, is it in syndication?

01:04:49Marc:I mean, I don't really, I don't know what that means nowadays.

01:04:52Marc:I don't either, yeah.

01:04:53Guest:I don't know.

01:04:53Guest:I mean, technically, yes.

01:04:54Guest:Yeah.

01:04:55Guest:Yeah, technically, yes.

01:04:58Marc:So that's nice, because you've done enough episodes to where, like, even if you don't work for a year, you're probably making enough residual money to keep your health insurance.

01:05:05Marc:Are you saying I'm not going to work for the next year?

01:05:07Marc:Well, I'm just, no, no, I'm saying that, sorry, you've influenced me.

01:05:14Marc:I'm just saying you won't have to go back home at this point.

01:05:17Guest:Yeah, no, you're right.

01:05:18Guest:You're right.

01:05:19Guest:It's incredible.

01:05:21Marc:You're vested in the union.

01:05:24Marc:I usually, as I get older, it's what I think about as health insurance.

01:05:28Marc:I don't care if you work for a year, but as long as you can keep the insurance.

01:05:33Marc:That's it.

01:05:33Guest:That's it.

01:05:34Guest:I mean, so during the seven days of extreme pain...

01:05:42Guest:At one of the days I was in so much pain, my wife was like, why don't you just go to urgent care?

01:05:49Guest:Right.

01:05:50Guest:But because of all those years of being broke and not having health insurance, I had it stuck in my head that I will never go to a doctor.

01:06:02Guest:Right.

01:06:02Guest:I don't care what's happening.

01:06:03Guest:Right.

01:06:03Guest:I will not go to a doctor because I can't be saddled with those bills.

01:06:07Marc:Right.

01:06:07Guest:And it's just that kind of stayed with me.

01:06:09Guest:I didn't even think of it as an option.

01:06:11Marc:It's sort of terrifying and it's a weird scramble.

01:06:15Marc:But you realize that like so many people don't do.

01:06:17Marc:That's why so many people get sick.

01:06:18Marc:Yeah.

01:06:19Marc:Because they're afraid to go to the doctor.

01:06:21Marc:Yeah.

01:06:21Marc:Because it'll bankrupt them.

01:06:22Marc:It'll bankrupt them.

01:06:23Marc:What a dumb country we live in.

01:06:25Marc:But what are you thinking about doing?

01:06:28Marc:Are you thinking about writing more?

01:06:29Marc:Do you want to branch out?

01:06:31Marc:Do you want to direct things?

01:06:33Marc:Yes, for sure.

01:06:33Guest:I actually directed the series finale of our show.

01:06:36Guest:Oh, you did?

01:06:37Guest:Yeah, I did.

01:06:37Guest:And that was really fun.

01:06:39Marc:Were you in it, though, too?

01:06:41Marc:I was in it, too.

01:06:42Guest:It's kind of tricky.

01:06:42Guest:Right.

01:06:42Guest:It was a little tricky.

01:06:43Guest:It was a little tricky.

01:06:45Guest:But, you know, I'd been on the show for six years.

01:06:47Guest:Right.

01:06:47Guest:At that point.

01:06:48Guest:And you knew what was expected of you.

01:06:50Marc:I had a lot of help.

01:06:51Marc:I had a lot of help.

01:06:52Marc:Yeah.

01:06:52Marc:It's a nice way to enter the guild.

01:06:55Marc:Yeah.

01:06:56Marc:The best way.

01:06:56Marc:And to sort of get the one under the belt.

01:06:59Marc:For sure.

01:06:59Marc:But like you don't really feel like you're really directed.

01:07:03Guest:No.

01:07:03Guest:Because, yeah, it's a show.

01:07:04Marc:Because you're jumping out in front of the camera every five minutes.

01:07:07Marc:Yeah.

01:07:07Marc:And then you're looking at playback.

01:07:08Marc:Yeah.

01:07:09Guest:It's a show that has been around for a while and has its own style, has its own, you know, and everybody on the set at that point knows what to do.

01:07:16Marc:You didn't need to be an auteur.

01:07:17Guest:You weren't breaking any rules or pushing the envelope.

01:07:22Guest:No, I was not doing any single shot sequences.

01:07:25Marc:But now you get to pay money to be in the guilds.

01:07:27Marc:You're in.

01:07:27Marc:Yeah, yeah.

01:07:28Guest:You're ready to go.

01:07:29Guest:For sure.

01:07:30Guest:That's something I'd love to do.

01:07:33Guest:Are you writing now?

01:07:34Guest:Writing now.

01:07:35Guest:You are?

01:07:36Guest:Yeah, started this production company.

01:07:38Guest:We got a deal over at the 20th.

01:07:40Guest:Oh, really?

01:07:40Guest:Yeah, so with two friends from my college.

01:07:43Marc:From the group?

01:07:44Guest:Yeah.

01:07:45Guest:That's crazy.

01:07:45Guest:It's crazy.

01:07:46Guest:It's crazy.

01:07:46Guest:And they're writers or one of them's a writer.

01:07:48Guest:One of them had become an executive and a producer.

01:07:52Marc:And so he's working with you at the production company of us.

01:07:54Marc:Yeah.

01:07:55Marc:That's your production company.

01:07:56Guest:Yeah.

01:07:57Guest:We're like we want to tell Asian American stories.

01:07:59Guest:Yeah.

01:08:00Guest:Who wants to who wants to give us a deal.

01:08:02Marc:Right.

01:08:02Guest:And we got a lot of offers.

01:08:04Guest:And I was like, I can't believe this, that we're getting offers to tell these stories.

01:08:07Marc:Yeah.

01:08:08Guest:In college, you know.

01:08:09Marc:It's amazing.

01:08:10Marc:You're doing exactly what you set out to do.

01:08:13Marc:Yeah.

01:08:13Marc:Yeah, it is amazing.

01:08:14Marc:And it honors your intellectual sort of ambition.

01:08:18Marc:Yeah.

01:08:19Marc:Now you are sort of a professor.

01:08:21Guest:And I'm working with friends.

01:08:22Guest:Oh, that's interesting.

01:08:23Marc:Yeah.

01:08:24Marc:What you're able to teach in light of what you wanted to teach, you probably have a much broader and bigger audience to do it now.

01:08:31Guest:Yeah, yeah, and I'm having more fun.

01:08:34Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:08:35Guest:And doing it with friends, which was always the goal.

01:08:38Marc:Well, what are some of the first projects?

01:08:39Marc:Have you got anything on the docket?

01:08:42Marc:No.

01:08:42Marc:Nothing.

01:08:42Marc:It just started.

01:08:43Marc:It just started, yeah.

01:08:44Marc:Well, that's exciting.

01:08:45Marc:So are you taking submissions and that kind of shit?

01:08:48Guest:We're doing all that because I write and we have another writer in our little group that we're kind of creating stuff in-house and just trying to find it.

01:08:58Marc:We've got offices on the lot?

01:08:59Marc:Yeah, yeah.

01:09:01Marc:Wow.

01:09:01Guest:It's super cool.

01:09:02Marc:That's pretty big time.

01:09:03Marc:So you're down by where you grew up.

01:09:06Guest:Yeah, right where I grew up.

01:09:07Guest:You can go right to Factors a couple times a week.

01:09:10Guest:It's right down the block.

01:09:11Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:09:13Marc:And I do that.

01:09:14Guest:I do that.

01:09:14Guest:I'll cruise over to Factors.

01:09:16Marc:Do your folks still live in the area?

01:09:17Guest:Yeah, they're right there.

01:09:19Guest:Same house.

01:09:20Marc:No.

01:09:20Marc:I grew up in, yeah.

01:09:21Marc:And your office is down the street?

01:09:23Guest:Right down the street.

01:09:23Guest:I played Little League across the street.

01:09:25Guest:From Fox.

01:09:26Guest:Yeah.

01:09:26Guest:That's hilarious.

01:09:27Guest:Yeah.

01:09:28Guest:Yeah.

01:09:29Guest:It's all very surreal.

01:09:30Marc:So now you can have lunch with your mom?

01:09:31Guest:Yeah.

01:09:32Guest:All that.

01:09:33Guest:Oh.

01:09:33Guest:Yeah.

01:09:34Guest:It's really nice.

01:09:34Marc:Well, congratulations.

01:09:35Guest:Thanks, Mark.

01:09:36Guest:It's great talking to you, man.

01:09:37Guest:Great talking to you, too.

01:09:38Marc:I'm glad I got you on the upswing with the tooth.

01:09:42Marc:Oh, man.

01:09:42Marc:Best day ever.

01:09:43Marc:Thank you.

01:09:46Marc:What a pleasant conversation that was.

01:09:51Marc:That guy's great.

01:09:52Marc:He's funny.

01:09:53Marc:He's sharp.

01:09:53Marc:I really enjoy talking to him.

01:09:56Marc:The final season of Fresh Off the Boat on ABC.

01:09:59Marc:It starts Friday, January 17th.

01:10:02Marc:And there's a special one-hour series finale on Friday, February 21st.

01:10:07Marc:You can go to wtfpod.com slash tour for links to the tickets for the winter tour dates with me and Del Rey, Orlando,

01:10:16Marc:And Grand Rapids, step up, step up.

01:10:21Marc:No music today.

01:10:22Marc:I'm in a hotel room in Georgia.

01:10:26Marc:Boomer lives.

01:10:37Boomer lives.

01:10:43you