Episode 941 - Jimmy O. Yang

Episode 941 • Released August 12, 2018 • 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 fucksters?

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

00:00:15Marc:I'm Mark Maron.

00:00:16Marc:This is my podcast, WTF.

00:00:18Marc:Welcome to it.

00:00:18Marc:I'm going to try to do the business up front the way that shows do it in the professional way.

00:00:24Marc:Today on the show, how about a little of that?

00:00:26Marc:Today on the show, I talk to, huh?

00:00:28Marc:Even with a cold, I can lock into broadcast voice.

00:00:33Marc:So today on the show, I'm going to be talking to Jimmy O. Yang.

00:00:37Marc:You might know him from Silicon Valley or his new movie, Crazy Rich Asians, which is out this Wednesday, August 15th.

00:00:46Marc:So look forward to that a little later in the show.

00:00:49Marc:Jimmy O. Yang is going to be here.

00:00:52Marc:i do still have the cold and yes jimmy oh yang is going to be here he was here and i'm going to share it with you that's how it generally generally works here but i'm going to try to do some other business up front where people do business which is kind of interesting just uh-oh did it fall out of my pocket did i just drop my new sobriety chip

00:01:16Marc:My new brass metal.

00:01:19Marc:I don't know what kind of metal it is, but my new 19-year chip.

00:01:24Marc:Did I just drop it on the floor?

00:01:26Marc:I did.

00:01:26Marc:Hold on a second.

00:01:27Marc:Oh, did I mention I had 19 years sober the other day?

00:01:31Marc:I didn't talk to you about it on Thursday, which was actually the day that it happened, because I recorded Wednesday, and who knows what could happen in 24 hours.

00:01:40Marc:You don't want to jinx it.

00:01:42Marc:I could have just lost my mind, had some sort of stroke or aneurysm and decided that the last 19 years didn't even exist and I was just having a weird dream and it was time to go get some blow.

00:01:55Marc:So I didn't tell you about it, but hold on, let me pick up my 19-year sobriety chip.

00:02:02Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:02:05Marc:Sarah the painter gave this to me.

00:02:06Marc:I don't get them at meetings anymore.

00:02:07Marc:Not all the meetings have the fancy chips.

00:02:09Marc:What was I in the middle of before I interrupted with this sort of self-congratulatory, somewhat prideful, you know, off-the-cuff announcement of my 19 years sober?

00:02:24Marc:I'll talk to you about it in a minute, but I did want to give everyone a heads up about some dates coming up.

00:02:30Marc:First of all, the general ticketing for the Beacon Theater Show in New York City, November 10th at 7.30 p.m., and tickets go on sale for the general public today, Monday, at 10 a.m.

00:02:43Marc:Eastern Time.

00:02:45Marc:The little secret code presale thing is over.

00:02:49Marc:And I sold upwards of 1,000 tickets, so I don't know where it's at now, but I would get these tickets if you want to see me in New York City at the big old Beacon Theater.

00:02:59Marc:Okay, there's that.

00:03:01Marc:On other fronts...

00:03:02Marc:I have other dates coming up at the Comedy Addict, August 30th through September 1st.

00:03:07Marc:I'll be at Acme.

00:03:08Marc:But I believe that is sold out in Minneapolis, September 6th through September 8th.

00:03:14Marc:And I'll be at the Comedy Works in Denver, September 21st and 22nd.

00:03:18Marc:And I got a show at Stand Up Live, October 13th.

00:03:22Marc:I think I'm throwing one at Largo in there somewhere before I do the Beacon.

00:03:27Marc:But those are the ones that are on the books.

00:03:29Marc:And you can get tickets for those at WTFpod.com slash tour.

00:03:34Marc:Those are where the links are.

00:03:36Marc:And the New York Comedy Festival link will be there as well.

00:03:39Marc:You know, it's a strange thing as you go on in this thing, this sobriety thing.

00:03:45Marc:A lot of people are congratulating me and...

00:03:47Marc:And saying good job and hard.

00:03:50Marc:Now it's hard work.

00:03:51Marc:The weird thing is, if you get sober and I, you know, and I have been speaking to people that are struggling lately because they are and I hear from them.

00:04:00Marc:And no one except for maybe one or two assholes, you know, tells me to, you know, quit talking to people directly.

00:04:06Marc:I don't even need to address them as I just did.

00:04:09Marc:But but because this is my my sobriety anniversary month, it's important.

00:04:15Marc:And 19 years seems like a lot of time.

00:04:18Marc:And it is.

00:04:19Marc:And it seems like something that is seemingly impossible to those people who are either trying to stop drinking or can't get any time together.

00:04:26Marc:I'm not saying that.

00:04:28Marc:It's not hard work, but when somebody says, wow, what an amazing achievement is what's supposed to happen when you get sober.

00:04:35Marc:If you if you go into recovery and you are basically diligent about doing some of the work is that you won't think about booze and drugs all the time.

00:04:45Marc:I mean, that is supposed to happen.

00:04:47Marc:The obsession will be lifted.

00:04:48Marc:It says it in the literature.

00:04:50Marc:It seems like a dream, a fantasy, something that that that could never happen.

00:04:57Marc:But this is the beautiful gift of it.

00:05:00Marc:Even if you do the basic work is that I don't know when it will be lifted for you, but you won't think about it anymore.

00:05:07Marc:It's not going to be at the forefront of your brain.

00:05:09Marc:If you put being sober and your sobriety at the forefront of your brain, eventually you won't think about it anymore.

00:05:15Marc:I work in nightclubs.

00:05:16Marc:I'm around booze all the time.

00:05:18Marc:I do not think about it and I haven't thought about it in probably 15 years.

00:05:23Marc:The idea of like, oh, fuck.

00:05:25Marc:Fuck.

00:05:26Marc:I gotta, damn it, I fucking need a drink.

00:05:28Marc:I gotta get out of here.

00:05:29Marc:I can't even look at this stuff.

00:05:31Marc:I can't be around this.

00:05:32Marc:Just the smell of it.

00:05:33Marc:What do you got there?

00:05:34Marc:Is that a line?

00:05:35Marc:Oh, my God.

00:05:36Fuck.

00:05:37Fuck.

00:05:38Marc:How much blood do you have?

00:05:39Marc:Like, how much?

00:05:40Marc:Holy shit.

00:05:41Marc:Is that a whole eight ball?

00:05:42Marc:God damn it.

00:05:43Marc:I gotta go.

00:05:44Marc:I gotta get out of here.

00:05:46Marc:That struggle goes away.

00:05:49Marc:And that I can guarantee you.

00:05:51Marc:So as much as I appreciate the congratulations, it is still one day at a time.

00:05:56Marc:It was harder work than it is now, and I'm grateful for that.

00:05:59Marc:But I will tell you this, that if you do some of the work, you won't think about it all the fucking time.

00:06:06Marc:You might think about something else, but as long as it's not ruining your life or killing you, it's all right.

00:06:11Marc:You can get a little obsessed with things.

00:06:13Marc:Lock in.

00:06:14Marc:I get obsessed with shit all the time.

00:06:15Marc:I lock in.

00:06:17Marc:What, I get obsessed with the...

00:06:18Marc:Oh, yeah, the shoe shining business.

00:06:22Marc:I didn't start a business, but I do that.

00:06:25Marc:I act out in fits and starts compulsively, and it's how I get things done.

00:06:32Marc:I can only hope for those things to happen.

00:06:35Marc:I think there's a more laid-back way to get things done, a more sort of efficient, maybe not efficient, but kind of like a more disciplined or structured way to get things done.

00:06:45Marc:But for me, I get things done in a flurry.

00:06:48Marc:Just a fucking chaotic flurry of doing it.

00:06:52Marc:And then I sit down and I'm like, holy fuck, that wasn't so hard.

00:06:55Marc:Why did I dread that for the last year?

00:06:58Marc:Why didn't I just do that?

00:07:00Marc:It took an hour.

00:07:02Marc:And I've been like putting this off.

00:07:04Marc:It's just a flurry, a compulsive flurry of chaos and...

00:07:08Marc:Closure is how I get things done.

00:07:11Marc:And then you feel good after that.

00:07:12Marc:You get the buzz.

00:07:13Marc:If you wait it out, if you procrastinate long enough and just do things in a chaotic flurry of activity, there's a buzz involved.

00:07:22Marc:And when you are a recovering addict or an active addict, 90% of what you do, try to identify the buzz you're going after.

00:07:32Marc:Yeah.

00:07:34Marc:So there are some new t-shirts.

00:07:36Marc:If you haven't checked out our new WTF shirts, go to podswag.com slash WTF or the merch section of WTF pod.com.

00:07:45Marc:So like, look, it'd been a long time since we had the WTF logo on a shirt.

00:07:48Marc:It's this weird logo.

00:07:50Marc:And we never changed it.

00:07:52Marc:If you go to iTunes or you look around, the WTF logo, which is about two-thirds of my face, it was taken from a painting by this kid, Nathan Smith, who was living up in Seattle at the time, and he gave me the painting.

00:08:07Marc:And I used it for the cover of one of the records, I think Final Engagement, maybe.

00:08:12Marc:And, um, and then we just, just locked in, but there was never a whole face.

00:08:16Marc:It's just this weird thing that because, and he designed the avatar too, because of the color turquoise and because of, uh, Jimmy Wertz, uh, lettering, which we put on there and because of Nathan Smith's, uh,

00:08:29Marc:art, we think it really popped.

00:08:32Marc:We kind of thought it was one of the main drivers of the early success of this show was that fucking weirdo logo of this painting of me.

00:08:41Marc:It's an odd logo, so we dug it back out, we put it on a shirt, and we kind of jammed that original logo into something new and trippy, and it's sort of like code.

00:08:50Marc:If you know what it is, you know what it is.

00:08:52Marc:So those are available.

00:08:54Marc:My cat, La Fonda, started peeing blood again.

00:08:59Marc:And she's 14 years old.

00:09:02Marc:And I think they just turned 14.

00:09:04Marc:She's a pretty tense cat.

00:09:06Marc:And you get scared.

00:09:07Marc:I just like, man, I can't take it.

00:09:10Marc:But again, it's interesting how...

00:09:14Marc:I don't know.

00:09:15Marc:You do what you have to do in the moment you have to do it if you're that kind of person.

00:09:21Marc:And, you know, as soon as I saw her, you know, having trouble peeing and peeing a little blood, I knew from the last time it was probably a urinary tract infection or a bladder infection.

00:09:32Marc:So this means I got to get that monster into a fucking box.

00:09:35Marc:I got bloodied.

00:09:36Marc:I got ripped up.

00:09:37Marc:My hand was a mess.

00:09:38Marc:She bit me like I was a fucking stranger and hurt in that weird way that when cats bite on purpose, it hurts in a very unique way, almost like there's a venom to their teeth.

00:09:48Marc:And I get into the vet, and this cat, as some of you know who have been with me for a while, this cat is just a knot of nerves, a little feline fist of defensive fury, a scary little fucking animal.

00:09:59Marc:And it scared she, she, La Fonda, has scared most vets.

00:10:06Marc:I get her in there, and I'm dealing with this woman who's a new vet.

00:10:10Marc:She's great, very nice.

00:10:12Marc:And I just said, look, you know, I think it's the same thing she had like six months ago.

00:10:16Marc:And I said, you can't examine her.

00:10:17Marc:She doesn't need to be x-rayed.

00:10:19Marc:She doesn't need to be probed.

00:10:20Marc:You don't need to do a urinalysis.

00:10:21Marc:Don't take blood.

00:10:22Marc:Don't do all this sort of like, you know, like add-ons.

00:10:27Marc:Let's just get her shot up with some of that stuff.

00:10:30Marc:Just shoot her up with some of that covenia and let's see if it takes.

00:10:33Marc:And then you just sort of wait.

00:10:34Marc:You don't know if these old cats are going to die on you or what.

00:10:36Marc:And she's a tough little cat.

00:10:39Marc:She was throwing up and shit, so I'd take her home, and then it happens again.

00:10:42Marc:She'd pee blood all over the beds, both beds.

00:10:45Marc:It's almost like she did it on purpose, and then she's bouncing back again.

00:10:49Marc:She's bouncing back.

00:10:52Marc:I got a cold, and she got a urinary infection the same day.

00:10:55Marc:I don't know if it's stress.

00:10:56Marc:I think this buster kitten is beating up on these old guys, so we had to cut his nails.

00:11:00Marc:It's been a lot of cat drama, but...

00:11:02Marc:everybody's okay.

00:11:04Marc:All right.

00:11:05Marc:All right.

00:11:05Marc:You just, and look, I know there are bigger problems.

00:11:08Marc:You know, she could be a person, but she's not.

00:11:13Marc:She's a cat and it seems like she's going to be okay.

00:11:16Marc:There was a car out in front of my house for like a week and a half that was wrecked and both airbags were shot and the windshield was shattered right where heads go.

00:11:29Marc:just out there i don't know what was going on with that i don't know what story what's the story behind it you know it's just like it's weird it's eerie like what is that who dumped that there what's the backstory was it stolen there was dealer plates on the fucking car so i called the number on the plates it was like a small used car dealer i told him maybe one of his cars got stolen joyridden destroyed and left and he said nope i sold that car but i'll try to

00:11:53Marc:Find those people and ask what's up.

00:11:55Marc:I'm like, I don't want nothing to do with that, but they're going to come pick it up.

00:12:00Marc:So then yesterday when my buddy Matt Sweeney would drop by because I was talking to Kurt Vile in here and they know each other and Sweeney was in town, but the cops are out front.

00:12:12Marc:He's like, what's going on, man?

00:12:13Marc:The cops are out in front of your house.

00:12:15Marc:It's not me, dude.

00:12:17Marc:Those days are behind me.

00:12:18Marc:It's not me.

00:12:20Marc:And I asked the cop, I'm like, what's up?

00:12:22Marc:He's like, no, nothing.

00:12:23Marc:I'm like, what's going on with this car?

00:12:26Marc:Just taking it away.

00:12:27Marc:I'm like, what happened?

00:12:29Marc:I can't really tell you.

00:12:31Marc:But there's a story.

00:12:31Marc:He's like, oh, yeah.

00:12:33Marc:Oh, yeah, there's a story.

00:12:35Marc:Yeah, where's that story?

00:12:36Marc:I'd like to hear that story about the car that was left destroyed in my front yard.

00:12:42Marc:Anyway, I was very happy to meet and talk to Jimmy O. Yang.

00:12:47Marc:He's got a book out.

00:12:49Marc:The book is called How to American.

00:12:52Marc:Funny.

00:12:52Marc:Got a little forward by Mike Judge in there, an immigrant's guide to disappointing your parents.

00:12:57Marc:And the new movie, Crazy Rich Asians, opens on Wednesday, August 15th.

00:13:02Marc:And of course, you can see his work on Silicon Valley.

00:13:06Marc:But I really enjoyed this conversation.

00:13:08Marc:This is me and Jimmy O. Yang.

00:13:14Guest:So we're talking about the Ice House.

00:13:15Guest:So when did you start doing comedy?

00:13:18Guest:When I was 21.

00:13:19Guest:So I'm 31 now.

00:13:20Guest:This was 10 years ago.

00:13:21Guest:Oh, really?

00:13:22Guest:Yeah.

00:13:22Guest:So the first few years I hit it super hard.

00:13:25Guest:You know, all the mics, every show I can do, bringers, you know, just... Where were you living?

00:13:30Guest:I started first in the Ha Ha Comedy Club during the summer.

00:13:35Guest:Over in the valley.

00:13:36Guest:Or in New York.

00:13:37Guest:No, no, no.

00:13:38Guest:Here in North Hollywood.

00:13:40Guest:And I had to pay $5 for five minutes of stage time.

00:13:43Guest:Yeah.

00:13:44Guest:And it was miserable.

00:13:46Guest:But I had nothing else going on.

00:13:47Guest:That was still a better alternative than whatever I had in my life.

00:13:51Guest:Five bucks.

00:13:52Guest:Five bucks.

00:13:53Guest:And after that, I went back to school in San Diego.

00:13:57Guest:It's weird though.

00:13:57Guest:It's not a bad room, is it?

00:13:58Marc:It's not.

00:13:59Marc:It's fun.

00:14:00Marc:Yeah.

00:14:00Marc:I mean, it's tight, small, right?

00:14:02Marc:Yeah.

00:14:03Marc:Was it the dark one or the newer one?

00:14:05Marc:I know there was the Ha Ha Club.

00:14:07Marc:You walk in, there's a little bar there, and then there's like 30 seats.

00:14:11Marc:It's barely a room, right?

00:14:12Marc:Or is it the dark, weird one?

00:14:13Guest:It's slightly bigger with a fake brick wall in North Hollywood on Lancashire.

00:14:18Guest:Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:14:19Guest:They had since moved.

00:14:20Guest:Okay, okay, yeah.

00:14:21Guest:But yeah, it's not a bad room.

00:14:22Guest:And it's a good mix of like there's white people, black people, Latinos, a lot of Armenians because the owners were Armenian.

00:14:28Guest:So it skews a little more urban.

00:14:31Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:14:31Guest:Which has always been my style more.

00:14:35Guest:And then I went back to San Diego and I really developed in San Diego.

00:14:39Guest:I couldn't imagine developing in L.A.

00:14:42Guest:yeah well there's so many people here it's a it's very easy to get lost you don't have much room for yourself there's no stage time like right the only real shows were like bringer shows when you first start yeah how do you develop in an open mic when nobody cares you know yeah when it's all comics just waiting to get on and their friends waiting to watch them it's hard so you're in san diego going to college though right yeah i was finishing college uh on my economics degree oh yeah and i hated every bit of that degree

00:15:07Guest:And I hated every bit of college, really.

00:15:09Marc:Well, I mean, I guess we should talk about how you got here because, I mean, like the book, I was going through it.

00:15:14Marc:I didn't have time to read the whole thing.

00:15:16Marc:How to American.

00:15:17Marc:Yeah.

00:15:18Marc:It's funny, but it's inside all the humorous stories.

00:15:22Marc:I mean, it's like a real kind of journey and struggle to sort of adapt.

00:15:26Marc:Right.

00:15:27Marc:Right.

00:15:27Marc:I can't, like, I can't, I don't, I have no sense of what that would be like.

00:15:31Marc:I mean, I get uncomfortable if I go to another country where English isn't the primary language.

00:15:36Marc:In a day, I'm sort of like, oh, God, this is, I can't, how am I going to go to the bathroom?

00:15:42Marc:What am I going to, you know?

00:15:44Guest:Yeah, that was my life when I was 13.

00:15:46Guest:But do you remember Hong Kong, though, like from when you were a kid?

00:15:49Guest:It's interesting.

00:15:49Guest:I think there's a switch because the language changed.

00:15:52Guest:Because in Hong Kong, I never really spoke English.

00:15:54Guest:And then when I came here, I spoke English.

00:15:56Guest:So there's a part of my brain that the memory comes out when I start speaking Cantonese.

00:16:01Guest:When I do go back to Hong Kong, the memories come back.

00:16:03Guest:But in general, they're not there.

00:16:05Guest:In general, from 1 to 13, I don't really remember anything.

00:16:09Guest:But if I asked you about it, you could remember things?

00:16:12Guest:If you ask me in Cantonese, I would remember it a little better.

00:16:17Guest:But I vaguely remember stuff, but not as much as I should.

00:16:22Guest:How many siblings do you have?

00:16:23Guest:I have one older brother.

00:16:24Guest:He's five years older than me.

00:16:27Marc:And so your family, they were fine.

00:16:30Marc:They didn't have to run away from Hong Kong.

00:16:32Guest:What was the story?

00:16:33Guest:So, well, my parents grew up in Shanghai during the communist revolution where they got fucked over.

00:16:39Guest:Really?

00:16:39Guest:Like people were really kicking down doors, taking whatever shit they wanted.

00:16:44Guest:And they threw both my grandparents in jail for like, I don't know, talking bad about the government and stuff like that.

00:16:49Guest:For the original Mao trip.

00:16:51Guest:People don't know this.

00:16:52Guest:People have fucking Mao posters in their house.

00:16:55Guest:That's like having a Hitler poster in your house.

00:16:57Guest:To a Chinese person.

00:16:59Guest:Seriously.

00:17:00Guest:Well, there's some Chinese people that's pro-communist, I'm sure.

00:17:02Guest:Sure, right, right.

00:17:02Guest:But to the people that experienced the purge.

00:17:05Guest:People that got fucked with.

00:17:05Guest:It was literally the purge.

00:17:07Guest:Like from the stories that my dad was telling me, he wanted to go to college, but he was just sitting at home for 10 years because he couldn't go anywhere.

00:17:12Guest:Yeah.

00:17:13Guest:And then they'll assign you to your jobs.

00:17:16Guest:It's real communism in a way.

00:17:17Guest:Yeah.

00:17:18Guest:My uncle got assigned to a field somewhere and a farm and he almost fucking died from like dissonary.

00:17:23Marc:And what was his practice?

00:17:25Marc:Like what was he trained to do?

00:17:27Marc:What did he do before that?

00:17:28Marc:Do you know?

00:17:28Guest:He just graduated high school.

00:17:29Guest:You weren't trained to do anything.

00:17:31Guest:Oh, I see.

00:17:31Guest:And one of my other uncle, they said he got lucky.

00:17:33Guest:He got sent to the grocery market.

00:17:36Guest:Yeah.

00:17:37Guest:And he was just selling fish and produce, and that was a good, chill gig.

00:17:41Marc:Yeah, because you're not out there all day long in the sun getting beat up.

00:17:46Marc:Exactly.

00:17:46Guest:So everyone went through the shits.

00:17:48Guest:What did your dad end up doing?

00:17:50Guest:I think he wanted to join the Air Force, but he couldn't because he was flat-footed.

00:17:55Guest:So he's always had a grudge against that.

00:17:59Guest:I think he just ended up studying English on his own.

00:18:03Guest:I think he got out of some stuff.

00:18:05Guest:I'm not really sure.

00:18:06Guest:He never really talked about it.

00:18:07Guest:My mom got lucky.

00:18:09Guest:She worked at a candy store, which is like a dream job.

00:18:13Guest:But then eventually my dad got the golden ticket to go to Hong Kong because I had a rich uncle that was already established in Hong Kong.

00:18:19Marc:Right.

00:18:20Marc:And this is a British colony at the time.

00:18:22Guest:It was a British colony for 100 years.

00:18:24Guest:Yeah.

00:18:24Guest:So it was westernized.

00:18:26Guest:It was free.

00:18:27Guest:It wasn't communist.

00:18:28Guest:So it was a real ticket out.

00:18:30Guest:It was the real ticket out.

00:18:31Guest:It's like, you know, I guess the equivalent of a Mexican immigrant, you know, finally getting approved to go to America.

00:18:39Guest:Like it's like the golden ticket or a Nigerian immigrant, whatever.

00:18:42Guest:Right.

00:18:43Guest:Yeah.

00:18:43Guest:So my dad went there and my mom went there with him and that's when they had me and my brother.

00:18:49Guest:So kind of growing up in a way, I already felt like a foreigner in Hong Kong because my family was so different than the Cantonese Hong Kong families.

00:18:57Guest:Hong Kong people are elitist, man.

00:18:59Guest:They think they're better than their mainland counterparts.

00:19:01Guest:Yeah.

00:19:02Guest:In some ways they are maybe.

00:19:03Guest:In some way, you know, the city's cleaner, you know, for the most part.

00:19:06Marc:They have their own government.

00:19:07Marc:They can choose their own jobs.

00:19:08Guest:Exactly.

00:19:09Guest:That's big.

00:19:10Guest:That's big.

00:19:11Guest:Yeah.

00:19:12Guest:So, yeah.

00:19:13Guest:And then I grew up in Hong Kong and we moved here to America when I was 13 and my brother was 18.

00:19:20Marc:But like, okay, so like when you're 11, 12, and 13, like when you're that age, I mean, like...

00:19:27Marc:There's social systems in place.

00:19:29Marc:You're in school.

00:19:31Marc:So you were actually able to compare what it's like to be a kid who's 13 in Hong Kong and a kid who's 13.

00:19:40Marc:It's a very awkward time.

00:19:42Marc:Absolutely.

00:19:42Marc:For anybody.

00:19:43Marc:Yeah, so what are the differences?

00:19:45Marc:What were you doing in Hong Kong to impress people or to sort of keep, you know what I mean?

00:19:51Marc:Just in school, what was the dynamic like?

00:19:53Guest:What was the hierarchy?

00:19:54Guest:It's interesting because everybody in Hong Kong was Asian.

00:19:59Guest:Everybody in Hong Kong was Chinese.

00:20:00Guest:Right, right.

00:20:01Guest:So in a way, everybody was kind of on the same page.

00:20:04Guest:We all ate the same food.

00:20:06Guest:We all love the same food.

00:20:07Guest:We all love certain things.

00:20:08Guest:After school, we go to this video game store and bought bootleg DVDs.

00:20:13Guest:The pirated American video.

00:20:16Guest:The pirated version of FIFA.

00:20:18Guest:If you bought the real version of FIFA, you're an idiot.

00:20:21Guest:Nobody bought that.

00:20:22Guest:We made fun of this kid for buying the, he had a real box.

00:20:25Guest:Yeah.

00:20:25Guest:Like with the real nice FIFA.

00:20:27Guest:Yeah.

00:20:27Guest:And we just made fun of him.

00:20:28Guest:We're like, what the hell's wrong with you?

00:20:29Guest:Like it's, it's $4.

00:20:30Guest:Yeah.

00:20:31Guest:Like if you bought the fake one.

00:20:32Guest:Yeah.

00:20:33Guest:But everybody was just kind of same page.

00:20:34Guest:Video game was big, you know, TV shows.

00:20:37Guest:Yeah.

00:20:37Guest:It's not like now, especially now, like there's a thousand TV shows out there.

00:20:42Guest:Everybody's watching different things.

00:20:43Guest:Yeah.

00:20:44Guest:In Hong Kong, everybody just watched the show at eight o'clock.

00:20:46Guest:Yeah.

00:20:46Guest:You know, this Cantonese drama.

00:20:48Guest:Everybody just watched this.

00:20:49Guest:One channel.

00:20:50Guest:Yeah.

00:20:50Guest:Stephen Chow movie.

00:20:51Guest:There's usually two channels.

00:20:52Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:20:53Guest:There's the J channel, and that's called TVB, and then the Asian something channel.

00:20:59Guest:Yeah.

00:20:59Guest:And then those two channels each have a sister channel that has English programming.

00:21:03Guest:So like the Simpsons, WWE, things like that.

00:21:06Guest:They would come?

00:21:06Guest:Yeah, they would come.

00:21:07Guest:Yeah, I remember watching Simpsons when I was younger.

00:21:09Guest:I didn't understand a bit of it.

00:21:10Marc:That was the first thing that was international that was on TV there, I bet.

00:21:14Guest:It was Simpsons and Hulk Hogan.

00:21:16Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:21:16Guest:Yeah.

00:21:17Marc:So did you watch wrestling?

00:21:18Guest:I did.

00:21:19Guest:I watched a little bit of wrestling.

00:21:20Guest:Oh, and movie-wise, all the action heroes, those were big.

00:21:24Guest:John Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport.

00:21:26Guest:Arnold Schwarzenegger, we watched every Schwarzenegger movie.

00:21:30Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:21:30Guest:Yeah, we watched Terminator 2 every other Saturday in my house.

00:21:34Marc:You and your friend?

00:21:34Marc:My family?

00:21:35Guest:Yeah, my family.

00:21:36Guest:And the thing is with Hong Kong- Every other week.

00:21:38Guest:The main difference, I feel like, is the family structure.

00:21:43Guest:And we never really had friends over.

00:21:45Guest:Yeah.

00:21:46Guest:Like kids here would have friends over.

00:21:47Guest:They have sleepovers.

00:21:48Guest:Yeah.

00:21:49Guest:They go out and just go frolic in the street.

00:21:51Guest:It's very freeing, I find.

00:21:52Marc:Right, you play ball in the street, hang out at the corner.

00:21:55Guest:Yeah.

00:21:55Guest:Whatever, yeah.

00:21:56Guest:I can't do that.

00:21:56Guest:My mother would yell at me.

00:21:58Guest:We just, nuclear family, four of us, we just did everything together.

00:22:03Marc:And was that sort of also because you were different, you weren't Cantonese?

00:22:08Guest:No, I think it's just we find most of our happiness and contentment from family.

00:22:13Guest:You do?

00:22:13Guest:In general or you?

00:22:15Guest:Me and also Asian people in general.

00:22:19Guest:So here's a lot of finding yourself, the independence, finding your own creed, your own group of friends.

00:22:26Guest:Whereas I feel like in Hong Kong and China, it's you know who you are.

00:22:29Guest:This is your family and this is who you hang out with.

00:22:31Guest:Your cousins are your best friends.

00:22:33Guest:You might have one or two other best friends, but usually it's all about family outings.

00:22:37Guest:No kidding.

00:22:37Guest:When it comes to Chinese New Year, that's the biggest holiday there.

00:22:43Guest:So it's two weeks.

00:22:45Guest:Every day you will go to somebody's house and your family friends, your relatives, and beg for the red envelope as a kid.

00:22:56Guest:What's the red envelope?

00:22:57Guest:Oh, the red envelope is your older relatives will give the kids money in the red envelope.

00:23:02Guest:Right.

00:23:02Guest:And that's how you teach kids financial sense.

00:23:05Guest:And if you come from a poor family, unfortunately, your parents would probably just take those red envelopes.

00:23:09Guest:Right.

00:23:09Guest:So, it's a give and take.

00:23:10Guest:Yeah.

00:23:10Guest:You give the doorman and your apartment complex, you know, a little $10 red envelope.

00:23:15Guest:But it's like somebody really close, your grandma will give you 100 bucks, you know, 200 bucks or whatever.

00:23:20Guest:And then you build it up.

00:23:20Guest:Hopefully, by the time you're 18, you can, you know, go start your own business or something.

00:23:25Guest:So, that was the plan.

00:23:26Guest:Yeah.

00:23:26Guest:It's like an ongoing bar mitzvah.

00:23:28Guest:Oh yeah, every year.

00:23:29Guest:Yeah, every year.

00:23:30Marc:You're supposed to save it though.

00:23:31Marc:You're supposed to save it.

00:23:32Marc:Well, I mean, there's got to be some bad Asian kids that just go spend it on shit.

00:23:36Guest:Yeah, I guess.

00:23:37Guest:Did you save yours?

00:23:39Guest:I think I saved mine.

00:23:40Guest:I don't know what I did with mine.

00:23:42Guest:I never had a concept of money until I graduated college.

00:23:44Guest:Right, yeah.

00:23:45Guest:Because I was never cool.

00:23:47Guest:I never used it to go to movie theaters, take girls on dates or anything like that.

00:23:51Guest:I just chilled at home and played football with my friends, which is just free.

00:23:56Guest:Yeah.

00:23:56Marc:So when you're in Hong Kong as a 12, 13-year-old, your brother's older, but you're just hanging out with your mom and dad, so I guess you like them.

00:24:06Guest:Well, you have to.

00:24:09Guest:Yeah.

00:24:09Guest:Well, they liked me.

00:24:10Guest:Yeah.

00:24:11Guest:Right.

00:24:11Guest:In a way, I think Chinese parents put a lot more focus on their kids.

00:24:17Guest:Yeah.

00:24:18Guest:And also more focus on keeping the family together.

00:24:21Guest:Yeah.

00:24:21Guest:I've always said that if my parents were white, they would have gotten divorced a long fucking time ago.

00:24:26Guest:Right.

00:24:27Guest:Like they, I don't think they like each other.

00:24:29Guest:No.

00:24:29Guest:There was never love involved or anything like that.

00:24:31Guest:Why are they married?

00:24:32Guest:The set up?

00:24:33Guest:I asked my dad, I'm like, after 35 years, do you love mommy?

00:24:37Guest:He's like, love, are you serious?

00:24:39Guest:Your mom married me to escape communism.

00:24:44Guest:It's true.

00:24:46Guest:And look, it's a companionship.

00:24:49Guest:I'm glad they still live together.

00:24:51Guest:They have a dog now, so I don't have to worry about them.

00:24:53Guest:Right.

00:24:54Guest:Right.

00:24:55Guest:I would feel really bad if my dad lived by himself.

00:24:57Guest:Yeah, right.

00:24:58Guest:Which for a while did happen because my mom did move back to Shanghai for 10 years.

00:25:02Guest:Really?

00:25:02Guest:Before- Yep.

00:25:03Guest:When I was like 15, I think.

00:25:05Guest:Oh, oh.

00:25:06Guest:Yeah.

00:25:06Marc:Oh, she went back.

00:25:07Guest:Yeah, and that was kind of hard.

00:25:08Marc:For 10 years?

00:25:09Guest:For 10 years.

00:25:09Guest:It was like a de facto divorce in a way, but they're still married on paper.

00:25:14Guest:And now she's back?

00:25:15Guest:Now she's back.

00:25:16Marc:Why'd she go to Shanghai?

00:25:18Marc:She just didn't want to be here anymore?

00:25:19Guest:She just wasn't happy.

00:25:20Guest:This is like a lot of stuff that people don't talk about like in the immigrant story.

00:25:23Guest:Yeah.

00:25:24Guest:It's your family kind of, maybe you guys are together in a new country.

00:25:28Guest:Yeah.

00:25:29Guest:But everybody needs to assimilate.

00:25:31Guest:Right.

00:25:31Guest:I assimilated differently because I was 13.

00:25:33Guest:Right.

00:25:34Guest:I was able to become more American.

00:25:36Guest:Yeah.

00:25:36Guest:I learned how to play football.

00:25:37Guest:I learned about hip hop music.

00:25:39Guest:Yeah.

00:25:39Guest:So I try to be as American as possible, and I'm way more Americanized than even my brother, who came here when he was 18, and he sat in his ways.

00:25:47Guest:He went to Santa Monica College, but he would always go hang out with his friends in Monterey Parks and Gabriel Valley, where all the Chinese food is, Asian people is.

00:25:55Guest:And he never really had that many American friends.

00:25:57Guest:Interesting.

00:25:57Guest:Because he was already sat in his ways, and he has much more of an accent.

00:26:01Guest:Oh, yeah, still?

00:26:02Guest:Yeah.

00:26:02Guest:Absolutely.

00:26:03Guest:I think your brain sets when you're like 13, 14.

00:26:05Guest:So luckily I came here in a good cusp.

00:26:07Guest:I have maybe a little bit of an accent sometimes.

00:26:10Guest:And my parents, my dad's English is pretty good.

00:26:14Guest:He's a great businessman.

00:26:15Guest:So he got a job at Merrill Lynch working as a financial advisor.

00:26:19Guest:He caught on pretty well.

00:26:20Guest:But still, even with that job, he needs to go out and find his own clients.

00:26:25Guest:Yeah.

00:26:26Guest:He was working at the Beverly Hills office.

00:26:28Guest:Who's going to trust this foreign Chinese man that just came to this country?

00:26:32Guest:Yeah.

00:26:32Guest:You know?

00:26:33Marc:So, you got to go find Chinese clients.

00:26:35Guest:Exactly.

00:26:35Guest:That's the hope when they hired him, like to get some rich Hong Kong people to come and invest in Merrill Lynch.

00:26:41Guest:And then my mother- Did it work?

00:26:43Guest:I think.

00:26:44Guest:I think he did okay.

00:26:46Guest:He did all right.

00:26:46Guest:He had a Pontiac and then he upgraded to like a Chrysler Sebring convertible.

00:26:50Guest:All right.

00:26:51Guest:Like the poor man's midlife crisis car.

00:26:54Guest:And your mom-

00:26:55Guest:And my mom just never got her footing in a way.

00:26:57Guest:Her English wasn't that great.

00:26:59Guest:She worked at telemarketing for Chinese people.

00:27:02Guest:She worked at a Chinese bank.

00:27:03Guest:Whereas back in Hong Kong, she was a very fashionable lady.

00:27:07Guest:She was a general manager of this high fashion store.

00:27:10Guest:So she just never found a fulfillment here.

00:27:12Guest:And even with friends, she never had that friend group that she found.

00:27:15Marc:It's a weird, that whole status shift in terms of jobs is like, it's got to be daunting in the sense of, because I remember when I lived in a building in Queens, the guy who owned the building was Dominican, I think, and he moved, he was a dentist.

00:27:28Marc:Yeah.

00:27:28Marc:And he come here and like he had money, enough to invest in real estate, but he couldn't be a dentist.

00:27:33Marc:Exactly.

00:27:33Guest:Like all those Russian people, I think it's a movie trope now, like a Russian guy mopping the floors in a university.

00:27:40Guest:You're right.

00:27:40Guest:He used to be a freaking engineer or something.

00:27:42Guest:But it's true.

00:27:43Marc:Absolutely.

00:27:43Marc:Even if it's not a big job, just even social status or whatever, like the shift has got to be pretty monumental if you're an adult.

00:27:50Guest:But in a way, it speaks volumes that being a janitor in America is somehow still better than being an engineer in a different country.

00:27:58Marc:I guess we'll see after this presidency if that's holding.

00:28:01Yeah.

00:28:02Marc:I don't know.

00:28:03Marc:I think the one thing he might succeed in doing is really making people in other countries be like, yeah, maybe it's not so bad here.

00:28:09Guest:Yeah, maybe I'll just be a chemical engineer in Russia.

00:28:12Guest:Why not?

00:28:13Marc:Okay, I'll stay put.

00:28:14Marc:Exactly.

00:28:15Marc:So, but like when you, did you do sports or anything?

00:28:18Marc:Before, like did you do, like I saw part of your book, like everyone in China plays ping pong.

00:28:23Marc:Plays ping pong.

00:28:23Guest:ping pong it's a real thing it's a real thing i was uh i was competing in the youth tournaments like under 13 that's the sport i was on tv that was like the big sport that was my first tv debut when i was like 10 years old i was a really cute very small kid yeah and they had me like demonstrate playing some ping pong with some pros yeah and i was interviewed by the news yeah and uh yeah getting laughs yeah i was like yeah i was getting laughs i was like the local celebrity people thought i was like big cheese in my school yeah

00:28:50Guest:But I actually couldn't.

00:28:51Guest:My form was nice, but I actually couldn't play that well because I was just like a little tiny kid.

00:28:55Guest:Yeah.

00:28:56Guest:And then- How's your game now?

00:28:58Marc:I need to practice.

00:29:00Marc:But is it like you've been playing all your life, so it's kind of second nature?

00:29:03Marc:Like you could probably beat most people, that kind of thing?

00:29:05Marc:Yes.

00:29:06Guest:But say something like Drew the Freelander, who's actually like, he plays and he's great.

00:29:10Marc:Is he actually world champion?

00:29:12Guest:I think he's actually good.

00:29:13Guest:And I don't think there's no way I can beat him now.

00:29:15Guest:I need to practice to beat him.

00:29:16Marc:He's your, that's your guy, that's your nemesis, ping pong nemesis?

00:29:20Guest:We should do like a 30 for 30 of me training to beat Judah Freeland.

00:29:24Guest:In ping pong.

00:29:25Guest:In ping pong.

00:29:27Guest:I didn't know he was good at that.

00:29:28Guest:How do you know Judah?

00:29:29Guest:Just from comedy?

00:29:29Guest:Just from the ping pong community.

00:29:32Guest:Really?

00:29:32Guest:No.

00:29:34Guest:I know he's, because ping pong is so understated here.

00:29:40Guest:It's like a stupid party sport.

00:29:42Marc:Yeah, it's like, yeah, we got the table when we were kids, but no one uses it anymore.

00:29:46Guest:It's more like shuffleboard.

00:29:48Guest:It's an arcade game.

00:29:49Guest:It's not a real sport.

00:29:51Guest:But in Hong Kong, everybody got mad skills, you know?

00:29:54Marc:Are there parks where there are like 20 tables or places?

00:29:57Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:29:57Guest:Yeah.

00:29:57Guest:Big gyms.

00:29:58Guest:Big gyms.

00:29:58Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:29:59Guest:Yeah.

00:29:59Marc:So, they're like pool halls, but with ping pong tables.

00:30:01Guest:Or every, say, swimming pool, like club place would have like five, six ping pong tables.

00:30:07Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:30:07Guest:In a separate area.

00:30:08Marc:And you just hear that clacking all the time.

00:30:11Guest:Oh, yeah, man.

00:30:11Guest:And everybody got form.

00:30:13Guest:Everybody knows how to play.

00:30:14Guest:Like here, you know, you just like ping pong rally on.

00:30:16Guest:You just tip the ball up and the other guy hits it back.

00:30:18Guest:Everybody got spin.

00:30:19Guest:Everybody knows how to hit it.

00:30:20Guest:Yeah.

00:30:21Guest:So it's a real thing.

00:30:23Guest:And it was that and soccer growing up for me.

00:30:26Marc:Well, I remember they tried to, like, I remember ping pong was kind of a thing here for a minute when I was a kid.

00:30:32Marc:You know, because I remember playing with guys that were into it.

00:30:35Marc:But it didn't take off.

00:30:37Marc:Like soccer either.

00:30:38Marc:But I guess we're the only ones in the world that don't like ping pong and soccer, I guess.

00:30:42Guest:I was never that good in soccer in my school.

00:30:44Guest:I'll always be like the backup of the backup on the team in Hong Kong.

00:30:48Guest:But when I came here, I remember I was like super good because nobody played soccer.

00:30:53Guest:Like I was scoring like five goals in PE class.

00:30:56Guest:Everyone was impressed.

00:30:57Marc:Yeah, everyone thought I was cool.

00:30:59Marc:That was your superpower.

00:31:01Guest:Yeah, playing a sport that nobody cares about.

00:31:03Marc:That's my life.

00:31:05Marc:Being good at things that nobody cares about.

00:31:07Marc:Yeah.

00:31:09Marc:But it's nice to be impressive, especially when you come from another place.

00:31:13Marc:If you show up and you've got a skill, people are like, oh, shit.

00:31:16Guest:Yeah.

00:31:17Guest:I think that's, I was always like, I'm small and I look like, I don't look like a jock or the most athletic kid.

00:31:23Guest:Yeah.

00:31:24Guest:But I've always been fairly coordinated and like, you know, athletic.

00:31:29Guest:So that was like how I coped with fitting in a lot.

00:31:33Guest:I was pretty good at sports.

00:31:34Guest:Yeah.

00:31:34Guest:Even like the first day playing football, I was fast, you know, I can jump pretty high.

00:31:39Guest:Yeah.

00:31:39Guest:That's how I got away from getting bullied and trying to be funny, trying to talk shit to people.

00:31:45Guest:But yeah, it helped in the assimilation process, but it was hard.

00:31:50Marc:Yeah.

00:31:51Marc:So when you got here when you were 13, it was like right out of the gate.

00:31:53Marc:You moved to where?

00:31:55Marc:LA.

00:31:55Marc:You were here in LA?

00:31:56Guest:Eighth grade, LA, John Burroughs Middle School.

00:31:59Guest:What part of town is that?

00:32:00Guest:So that was on Highland and Wilshire, pretty central LA.

00:32:03Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:32:04Marc:Wow, yeah.

00:32:05Marc:So that was a place, and they threw you right in there.

00:32:08Guest:They threw me right in eighth grade.

00:32:10Guest:Yeah.

00:32:10Guest:The last year of middle school, meaning that everybody already knew each other for at least two, maybe eight years.

00:32:15Marc:Yeah, so how'd it work out?

00:32:17Guest:They put me in ESL classes.

00:32:18Marc:What's that, Accelerator?

00:32:20Guest:No, no, no.

00:32:20Guest:It's the opposite.

00:32:21Guest:It's...

00:32:23Guest:English as second language.

00:32:25Guest:Okay.

00:32:25Guest:That's ESL.

00:32:26Guest:Which is a good concept on paper, but I don't know if it actually works.

00:32:31Guest:Yeah.

00:32:32Guest:Because everybody is foreign in that class, but not foreign in the same way.

00:32:35Guest:You got me, the Chinese kid, you got Filipino kid, Nigerian kid, Sri Lankan kid.

00:32:39Guest:Yeah.

00:32:40Guest:Like, how am I supposed to learn English faster if I'm with other foreign kids?

00:32:44Guest:Yeah, it was...

00:32:45Guest:How did it go?

00:32:46Guest:It was fine.

00:32:47Guest:And that was when I made some of my first friends.

00:32:50Guest:Yeah.

00:32:51Guest:One of my first friends was like this Nigerian guy, this Sri Lankan guy.

00:32:54Guest:Because we're all just as lost as the other ones.

00:32:56Guest:Yeah.

00:32:56Guest:Right.

00:32:57Guest:Sure.

00:32:57Guest:Blind leading the blind.

00:32:58Guest:Right.

00:32:59Guest:And yeah, we just, I remember just observing from an outsider point of view, like seeing like this white girl in eighth grade that was like 5'10 and looks like fucking like Molly Sims.

00:33:11Guest:And I was like, oh my God, this is America.

00:33:13Guest:Like this one day, someday.

00:33:15Guest:Yeah.

00:33:15Guest:Someday, you know, maybe, maybe she'll be my girl.

00:33:21Guest:And then watching.

00:33:22Guest:Has that happened yet?

00:33:23Guest:Well, yeah, yeah.

00:33:24Guest:I've had sex with a couple of white women.

00:33:25Guest:Is that your question?

00:33:26Guest:I don't know.

00:33:28Guest:But still, there's a part of me.

00:33:30Guest:It's like white dudes, like Asian girls.

00:33:31Guest:It's exotic to me.

00:33:33Guest:White people are still kind of exotic.

00:33:35Guest:Yeah, sure.

00:33:35Guest:You know, it's like my dream growing up.

00:33:38Guest:It's so ridiculous to think about it now.

00:33:40Marc:Yeah.

00:33:41Marc:It's interesting, though, the two sides of that, though.

00:33:43Marc:There are certain types of Americans that are obsessed with Asian women, but I don't know.

00:33:47Guest:Right.

00:33:48Guest:See, that creeps me out, the fetishizing of Asians.

00:33:51Guest:I mean, I've gotten laid a few times because a girl is a huge anime fan.

00:33:55Guest:Yeah.

00:33:55Yeah.

00:33:55Guest:Or she has a K-pop poster in her apartment.

00:33:59Guest:Yeah.

00:34:00Guest:And I know I was going to fuck.

00:34:01Guest:Yeah.

00:34:02Guest:You know?

00:34:02Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:34:03Guest:Like she has a proclivity for Asians.

00:34:04Guest:Yeah.

00:34:05Guest:Thank God, right?

00:34:06Guest:Thank God.

00:34:07Guest:And hopefully it's getting better and better, you know?

00:34:09Guest:And because it wasn't not too many people is into Asians.

00:34:14Marc:Well, I mean, when you were a kid, though, I mean- Back in the day.

00:34:16Marc:Yeah.

00:34:16Marc:But I mean, in LA, though, there must have been other Asians at school, right?

00:34:21Marc:Yeah.

00:34:21Guest:A lot of Koreans.

00:34:22Guest:Ah.

00:34:23Guest:Yeah.

00:34:23Guest:And you know, the most painful part, I wrote about this a little bit in my book, the most painful part was not that the black kids, white kids, Latino kids didn't accept me, because I expected that.

00:34:33Guest:I was the foreign guy coming from Hong Kong, whatever.

00:34:35Guest:The painful part was the other Asian kids wanted nothing to do with me.

00:34:39Guest:Yeah.

00:34:39Guest:Because they were the ABCs, like Asian-born Chinese or Asian-born Koreans.

00:34:42Guest:Yeah.

00:34:43Guest:And they...

00:34:44Guest:In their mind, they're American, which is true.

00:34:46Guest:They are American, right?

00:34:47Guest:So it's unfair to say that they're the foreigner.

00:34:50Guest:But I was the foreign kid, and they don't want to associate themselves with me because they don't want to be thought of as the foreign kid.

00:34:56Guest:And that was the most painful part.

00:34:58Marc:I think if I understand correctly, that happens with all ethnicities.

00:35:04Marc:You know, like with Mexicans, you know, and even with, I think in the African-American community, the difference between like a ghetto black person and somebody who's middle class.

00:35:13Marc:Like there's always that distancing from the more primitive or the more ethnic.

00:35:19Marc:Yes, absolutely.

00:35:19Marc:Because you don't want to be grouped in.

00:35:20Marc:And also the class issues too.

00:35:22Marc:But yeah, so that happens.

00:35:24Marc:That must be painful to be like, you know, alienated from your own people.

00:35:29Guest:Yes.

00:35:29Marc:Because you're too Chinese.

00:35:31Marc:Yes.

00:35:31Guest:Yeah, and like also the Korean kids, there wasn't a lot of Chinese kids.

00:35:35Guest:The Korean kids would call me like, hey, China boy or like Chinese boy or whatever like that.

00:35:40Guest:And they'll say maybe in a friendly way, but I never really made a true friend in middle school the first year.

00:35:47Guest:I was just getting my footing.

00:35:48Guest:That was like my basic training.

00:35:50Marc:Just you and the Nigerian.

00:35:51Guest:Yeah, we'll hang out, have some lunch, you know.

00:35:54Marc:but basically that was like it's so it's so classic though just that sort of alienation you know it's a you know it's like that scene in animal house at the frat house where the three foreign guys are like this is did you meet raj and you know but that's like how it happens that's how these these horrible clicky hierarchies work when you're a kid it's i mean when you're that age it's clicky anyway yeah i know but i was never able to kind of find my click because in high school it's all about clicks yeah

00:36:21Guest:You got skaters, you know, stoners, jocks, whatever.

00:36:26Guest:Even you have the Mexicans hanging out, the black people hanging out.

00:36:29Guest:You got cliques, whatever you base it on.

00:36:31Guest:Sure.

00:36:32Guest:Ethnicity, interest, or whatever.

00:36:33Guest:Emo kids or whatever.

00:36:35Marc:So where do you find some footing?

00:36:38Marc:What do you start doing?

00:36:39Guest:I joined the Chinese culture club.

00:36:41Guest:There was a Chinese art teacher in high school.

00:36:43Guest:So there was three Chinese kids and we just chilled there at lunch.

00:36:46Guest:That was like my safe refuge.

00:36:48Guest:So I wasn't eating my sticky rice by the lockers by myself.

00:36:52Guest:Yeah.

00:36:52Guest:You know what I mean?

00:36:53Guest:So I had somewhere to hang out with, but I always felt...

00:36:56Guest:unsatisfied doing that because i came all the way to this country not to just hermit in the chinese pocket yeah you know i mean i know a lot of people that do that yeah if you go to like your brother yeah my brother you go to little armenia you go to monterey park people only stay in that community but i wanted to be american i want to understand and be excited about the super bowl yeah i want i wanted that white girl yeah you know i i wanted to understand american humor yeah you know

00:37:22Guest:So I wanted to, as painful as it was, I needed to kind of break out of that kind of bubble.

00:37:31Guest:So I just went out and I started trying to make some random friends.

00:37:35Guest:And one of my first friends I met, I guess, in America and in high school-

00:37:40Guest:It's still my best friend today.

00:37:42Guest:Persian guy named Jeremy.

00:37:44Guest:And he was kind of like a jock.

00:37:46Guest:He's like really athletic.

00:37:47Guest:He was a football player.

00:37:48Guest:But we just met in art class.

00:37:49Guest:He was kind of nerdy.

00:37:50Guest:He plays like, you know, video games.

00:37:52Guest:And he was like one of the only first people that didn't judge me as the foreign Chinese guy.

00:37:58Guest:We just kind of like...

00:37:59Guest:joked like as if it was an old friend from Hong Kong.

00:38:02Guest:Right.

00:38:02Guest:And I started hanging out with him, his cousins, and I got a bunch of Persian friends.

00:38:05Guest:Yeah.

00:38:06Guest:And then they got their own group of friends that we had a table upstairs in the patio of the cafeteria.

00:38:16Guest:Uh-huh.

00:38:16Guest:And it was Jeremy, his cousin Phil, two Persian guys, Persian Jews.

00:38:20Guest:And then my buddy Zaki, who's Bengali.

00:38:24Guest:This kid Derek, who was Chinese.

00:38:26Guest:Bo Kim, who was a Korean immigrant.

00:38:28Guest:And then my buddy Chris, who was like this really hip-hop, you know, what back in the day they were called Uyghur.

00:38:37Guest:kid.

00:38:38Guest:He's like half white and half Native American.

00:38:40Guest:So none of us really fit into any group, but that was like the group of misfit that we found each other and that became my best friends in high school and still some of my best friends now.

00:38:50Marc:How did you, since you were so conscious of wanting to be an American, what did you sort of consciously set out to do?

00:39:00Guest:What did you decide to

00:39:02Guest:I think I saw America from such an outsider view.

00:39:08Guest:Mm-hmm.

00:39:08Guest:What's presented to me on screen, on TV, and media, that was what I thought America was.

00:39:13Guest:Right.

00:39:14Guest:Big football players.

00:39:15Guest:Yeah.

00:39:15Guest:BET Rap City.

00:39:17Guest:Yeah.

00:39:18Guest:Hip-hop music videos.

00:39:19Marc:You saw BET Rap City?

00:39:20Marc:Oh, when you were a kid.

00:39:20Marc:That was- Not in China.

00:39:21Guest:Yeah, I mean here, when I got here.

00:39:26Guest:So, I was just trying to fit in by being as American as possible.

00:39:29Guest:So, I started emulating a lot of that.

00:39:31Guest:Football rap.

00:39:32Guest:I started playing football, right?

00:39:33Guest:And I started making hip hop music.

00:39:36Guest:Yeah.

00:39:37Guest:And BET was amazing.

00:39:41Guest:Yeah.

00:39:42Guest:I never seen anything like that.

00:39:43Guest:Yeah.

00:39:44Guest:You know, the only black people I really seen was in back in Hong Kong was like the NBA.

00:39:49Guest:All right.

00:39:50Guest:You know, Wesley Stipes, maybe.

00:39:52Guest:Yeah.

00:39:52Guest:But like BET was like a real insider look of what real American urban culture was like.

00:39:59Guest:Uh-huh.

00:39:59Guest:And it was mind blown.

00:40:00Guest:Yeah.

00:40:00Guest:Because everything was in a way so flamboyant and flashy.

00:40:05Guest:Yeah.

00:40:05Guest:What kid didn't want to live like Ludacris or like Jay-Z, Big Pimpin'?

00:40:09Guest:Yeah.

00:40:09Guest:Right?

00:40:10Guest:Like, just a hundred women on a yacht with champagne pouring on their face.

00:40:13Guest:Like, oh, I want to do that.

00:40:15Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:40:16Guest:So watching that, I was like, holy shit, this is what I want to do.

00:40:19Guest:Yeah.

00:40:19Guest:You know?

00:40:20Guest:I want to get there.

00:40:21Guest:I want to get... That was my American dream.

00:40:23Guest:Each music video on BET was...

00:40:27Guest:The epitome of three minutes of an American dream.

00:40:30Guest:Right.

00:40:30Guest:Right?

00:40:31Guest:Yeah.

00:40:31Guest:So I wanted to do that and then I started just like making hip hop music.

00:40:34Guest:Yeah.

00:40:35Guest:I couldn't rap.

00:40:36Guest:But you were serious about it.

00:40:37Guest:I was making beats.

00:40:38Guest:Yeah.

00:40:38Guest:I was serious about it because that was kind of what made me just a little cool.

00:40:42Guest:Yeah.

00:40:42Guest:Even though I was weird as shit.

00:40:43Guest:Yeah.

00:40:44Guest:And I was foreign.

00:40:45Guest:Yeah.

00:40:45Guest:It's like, okay, this kid made beats.

00:40:47Guest:He's cool.

00:40:47Guest:Or in my mind, I thought I was cool by doing it.

00:40:50Guest:And you were good at it?

00:40:51Guest:I was good at it.

00:40:52Guest:I got to a point where I actually sold some beats.

00:40:54Guest:I started a rap group.

00:40:56Guest:It was me, my black friend Julian, and then my other friend Yuji, who's half black and half Japanese.

00:41:03Guest:So we had one and a half Asian dudes and one and a half black dudes, and we called ourselves the Yellow Panthers.

00:41:07Guest:Yeah.

00:41:08Guest:So the Yellow Panthers never sold any records.

00:41:10Guest:Yeah.

00:41:10Guest:But I will make beats for the Yellow Panthers.

00:41:12Guest:Yeah.

00:41:12Guest:I didn't really rap on it, but I'll make beats.

00:41:14Guest:And my beats became pretty good, and I started selling it online.

00:41:17Guest:Ah.

00:41:18Guest:And I made a couple hundred bucks, and one of the first people that pay me for a beat was this dude named LaRon James.

00:41:24Guest:Uh-huh.

00:41:25Guest:Leron James was a stage name for porn.

00:41:29Guest:Oh, okay.

00:41:30Guest:He owned a website.

00:41:31Guest:It's this black dude with like a 12-inch penis.

00:41:34Guest:Yeah, sure.

00:41:34Guest:And he owned a website.

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

00:41:36Guest:Yeah, okay, yeah.

00:41:39Guest:I've heard.

00:41:40Guest:It's been rumored.

00:41:42Guest:Yeah.

00:41:44Guest:He owned a website called fudgestick.com where Leron was a performer and he would have sex with MILFs, quote-unquote.

00:41:52Guest:Yeah, uh-huh.

00:41:52Guest:And he called me out of blue one day because I'll post my beats online.

00:41:55Guest:He was like, hey, is this Doc West?

00:41:58Guest:I was like, yeah.

00:41:59Guest:Because that was my producer name.

00:42:01Guest:I combined Dr. Dre and Kanye West.

00:42:03Guest:My name was Doc West.

00:42:05Guest:And it was so fucking hacky now to think about it.

00:42:09Guest:And he was like, are you Christian?

00:42:10Guest:I was like, no.

00:42:12Guest:He was like, yeah, because a lot of conservative people doesn't like what I do.

00:42:14Guest:I was like, what do you do?

00:42:15Guest:You sell drugs or something?

00:42:16Guest:I'll sell beats to whoever.

00:42:17Guest:He was like, no, I actually want to use one of your beats for my porno trailer.

00:42:20Guest:I was like, yes.

00:42:22Guest:Yes.

00:42:22Guest:Absolutely.

00:42:22Guest:So I sold him one of my beats and the next week it ended up on like a porno trailer where literally this lady was like just like sucking him off and then like he's like, it's ridiculous.

00:42:35Guest:But that was, I still have that video.

00:42:38Marc:Yeah, of course.

00:42:38Marc:It was your big break.

00:42:39Guest:That was my big break.

00:42:41Guest:Exactly.

00:42:42Guest:And you used to do live shows too?

00:42:44Guest:No, I never really did live shows.

00:42:46Guest:I just sit in my parents' house and in my room just make beats eight hours a day.

00:42:51Marc:Was that your first exposure to the comedy as well on BET?

00:42:56Guest:Comic View.

00:42:57Marc:You were watching a lot of Comic View?

00:42:59Guest:There was really no stand-up in Hong Kong.

00:43:02Guest:Stand-up comedy wasn't really a thing.

00:43:04Guest:There wasn't a Comedy Central Presents or a BET Comic View, nothing like that.

00:43:09Guest:Traditionally in China, I think there's a two-man act.

00:43:12Guest:It's more like a sketch.

00:43:13Guest:Lauren Hardy, vaudeville kind of going back and forth.

00:43:15Marc:I did stand-up in Hong Kong once.

00:43:17Marc:Oh, yeah?

00:43:18Marc:Yeah.

00:43:18Marc:Yeah, some guy used to book Hong Kong and Shanghai and Beijing.

00:43:23Marc:So I did stand-up in Beijing, and then that was weird, mostly for expats.

00:43:30Marc:And then in Hong Kong, I did it too.

00:43:32Marc:But the place where they did the show wasn't quite built yet.

00:43:37Marc:But I liked being there.

00:43:40Marc:Beijing was just mind-blowing to me.

00:43:41Marc:It's like you can't see, because the air stinks.

00:43:45Marc:But I've never seen so many types of bicycles.

00:43:48Guest:like so many so many things that aren't cars with wheels yes in my life a lot of two-wheelers yeah all those asian countries it's crazy and then there's there's markets where you're like is this for pets or for eating right everything's live we value freshness yeah you see like a fresh toe jumping around chickens running around yeah like that's our free range chicken we let you see it's free right yeah yeah look it's there go get it yeah yeah

00:44:13Guest:Because, I mean, the cultural difference is, I remember in America, when I first came here, what people are used to is going to Ralph's or going to Costco once a week, maybe once a month, stocking up your fridge, and that's what you ate for the whole week, whole month.

00:44:26Guest:In Hong Kong and China, you go to the market fresh every day, and you prepare a four-course meal every day for your family.

00:44:33Guest:That was the difference.

00:44:34Guest:Yeah, I think it's better.

00:44:35Guest:Oh, of course.

00:44:37Guest:Yeah.

00:44:37Guest:Just the fact that, you know, you're actually making something every day and you're seeing where the food comes from, like seeing them slaughtering the chicken or like, you know.

00:44:45Marc:Yeah.

00:44:46Marc:You know, someone's got to be in charge of that shit because it's a job.

00:44:49Marc:Yeah.

00:44:49Marc:I can't imagine that to make a four course dinner every day and have snacks and shit.

00:44:53Marc:Absolutely.

00:44:53Marc:But you have rice in the rice cooker.

00:44:55Guest:Yeah.

00:44:56Guest:Every day.

00:44:56Guest:That was my responsibility.

00:44:58Marc:Yeah.

00:44:58Guest:So me and my brother was responsible for cooking the rice and laying the table setting.

00:45:03Guest:Uh-huh.

00:45:03Guest:And if we fucked the rice up, my dad would be so mad because that would fuck the whole meal up.

00:45:07Guest:Right.

00:45:07Guest:Because it's either we put too much water, become soggy.

00:45:10Guest:Yeah.

00:45:10Guest:Or too little water, then it's not cooked and you can't really eat it.

00:45:13Guest:Yeah.

00:45:13Guest:Because my dad would work, you know, from like eight to five and then go to the market, come home and cook like a four course meal.

00:45:19Guest:Yeah.

00:45:19Guest:And he would kind of wouldn't let my mom cook because he didn't think she was that good of a cook.

00:45:23Guest:All right.

00:45:24Guest:So he kind of enjoyed cooking, but he'll never let people know that.

00:45:26Guest:Like he'll probably be mad at me if he listens to this podcast.

00:45:28Guest:He's like, you can't tell me why I love to cook.

00:45:30Guest:Because to him, it's very emasculating.

00:45:32Guest:Yeah.

00:45:32Guest:He used to pull me aside.

00:45:34Guest:While he's cooking, he's like, Jimmy, don't be doing what the fuck I do.

00:45:37Guest:Yeah.

00:45:38Guest:Okay?

00:45:38Guest:Cooking is supposed to be a woman's job.

00:45:40Guest:Okay?

00:45:41Guest:You don't do that when you grow up.

00:45:42Guest:Let your wife do that.

00:45:43Guest:Yeah.

00:45:43Guest:And then he'll go back to cooking.

00:45:45Guest:It's his secret.

00:45:46Guest:Yeah.

00:45:47Guest:It's a bit of misogyny and irony.

00:45:49Guest:Yeah.

00:45:50Guest:He cooks on the down low.

00:45:51Guest:Yeah.

00:45:52Guest:He cooks on the down low.

00:45:53Guest:He's not out of the closet when he's cooking.

00:45:55Guest:I guess I'm outing him now.

00:45:56Guest:But he's a great cook.

00:45:58Guest:Yeah.

00:45:58Guest:Are you good?

00:46:00Yeah.

00:46:00Guest:I can cook, but I just don't.

00:46:02Guest:I live by myself.

00:46:02Guest:So if I cook like a thing of pasta, I have to eat it eight meals in a row.

00:46:07Marc:Yeah, but I think it's true about just the freshness of it.

00:46:12Marc:But where did you start getting into the comedy bug?

00:46:16Guest:It was Comic View.

00:46:17Guest:I remember it was Cedric the Entertainer, J. Anthony Brown, Bruce Bruce, all those hosts.

00:46:22Guest:And then seeing all these five-minute sets, 10-minute sets, I didn't understand...

00:46:27Guest:what they were talking about.

00:46:28Guest:Not just the subject matter, but the way they talk.

00:46:30Guest:I could not understand anything.

00:46:32Guest:That was to me like the highest level of English.

00:46:35Guest:I felt like if I could understand that, I could understand anything.

00:46:39Guest:Comic view?

00:46:40Guest:Yeah.

00:46:40Guest:Look, if you understand comic view, you understand America.

00:46:43Guest:You have mastered the English language at that point.

00:46:46Guest:And it was just so intriguing to me because comedy is so cultural, especially that kind of comedy.

00:46:52Guest:Because a lot of it was talking about white people do this, black people do that.

00:46:56Guest:One comic was talking about, because you know how all black people got bad transmissions.

00:47:00Guest:I was like, they do?

00:47:01Yeah.

00:47:01Guest:I didn't know that.

00:47:03Marc:So you were learning the stereotype lesson.

00:47:05Guest:I was learning the stereotype.

00:47:06Guest:I was learning about America, how one American feels about, thinks about the other Americans.

00:47:11Guest:And it was not just like a funny comedy thing.

00:47:14Guest:It was like a cultural lesson to me.

00:47:15Guest:And it was so intriguing.

00:47:17Marc:Do you think the, like, because I guess the idea is like, well, obviously not all black people have bad transmissions.

00:47:23Marc:Right.

00:47:23Marc:Of course, you know, but like I did you have to actually put that stuff into some sort of context like you would hear it and then you just walk through the world assuming like, well, there's a black person's got to have a bad transmission.

00:47:34Marc:Or were you able to realize like, well, they're they're stereotyping to make a point and make it funny.

00:47:39Guest:I think I understand it's for the sake of comedy.

00:47:42Guest:Yeah.

00:47:42Guest:But at the same time, I was just so new and foreign.

00:47:45Guest:Yeah.

00:47:45Guest:That basic information helped me at least get a footing on what any of this means.

00:47:52Guest:Yeah.

00:47:53Guest:So it's like painting the broad strokes from my mind first.

00:47:56Guest:Yeah, right.

00:47:57Guest:And then when you actually meet black people in real life, when I go hang out with my black friend at Julian's house and his mom is making a certain type of food, how they behaved and stuff like that.

00:48:06Guest:That was my detailed look into American families.

00:48:09Guest:Right.

00:48:09Guest:When I go to my Persian friend's house and they're making a certain meal and they live a certain way, their furniture's a certain way.

00:48:14Guest:Sure.

00:48:15Guest:That's when I got the more detailed lines and really filled out the paintings.

00:48:20Marc:So, okay, so you got the beats going through high school.

00:48:26Marc:Seems like there's a real kind of a premium put on education and success.

00:48:32Marc:Like an inordinate amount of pressure.

00:48:34Guest:Yeah, it's all about following this path.

00:48:37Guest:Education leads to success.

00:48:38Guest:And there are certain jobs that are considered legit.

00:48:40Guest:And then here in America, it's pursuing your dreams.

00:48:43Guest:That was one of the hard things to like, you know, reconciling the two mindsets.

00:48:47Guest:So I grew up a certain way.

00:48:48Guest:There's an expectation for my parents to, you know, do the traditional jobs, you know, in, you know, what they want you to be.

00:48:56Guest:A general sense, obviously a doctor, lawyer, accountant, finance, but just anything that's legit, that's considered a job.

00:49:04Guest:And security.

00:49:05Guest:Exactly.

00:49:06Guest:Yeah.

00:49:06Guest:Because there's a premium to that because my dad wished he would have went to college.

00:49:10Guest:He could have went to college during the communist revolution and had a regular job, but he didn't have that opportunity.

00:49:16Marc:But he'd have to be a communist.

00:49:17Guest:Yeah.

00:49:19Guest:So he wanted me to do that.

00:49:20Guest:They wanted the best for their kids.

00:49:22Guest:Is that one of the reasons they left?

00:49:24Guest:Absolutely.

00:49:25Guest:For opportunity.

00:49:27Guest:Because in Hong Kong, yeah, you can go to university.

00:49:29Guest:But if you graduate from Hong Kong University versus a kid that came back with a degree from UCLA, they will hire a kid from UCLA.

00:49:37Guest:And also, it's just Hong Kong, the opportunities are slightly limited.

00:49:41Guest:It's finance and mostly finance and real estate.

00:49:45Guest:Other than that, it's not like...

00:49:47Guest:It's not like I can just go pursue the arts in Hong Kong.

00:49:49Guest:My dad always told me it's like, and he's not wrong because that's how he grew up.

00:49:53Guest:It's like, oh, you want to be an artist?

00:49:55Guest:That's how you become homeless.

00:49:56Guest:Right.

00:49:57Guest:Like artistry and homelessness is synonymous, you know, to him and to a lot of old school people.

00:50:02Marc:Sure.

00:50:02Marc:A lot of brilliant artists on the street.

00:50:04Marc:Absolutely.

00:50:05Marc:Yeah.

00:50:05Marc:Because they didn't take care of themselves.

00:50:06Guest:Yeah, because the value is obedience, following the path and doing what your family does.

00:50:12Marc:But it's interesting though, because like, you know, from even early on, whether you knew it or not, whether it was just self-expression, I mean, that's the other thing about being in LA and being in America is that like, you know, you can make money.

00:50:23Marc:uh-huh you know as an artist like you know they just don't they i guess it happens in all cultures around entertainment though they just think it's a long shot and it might be but you can point to people you know jay-z made some money right right right so you know it's possible but it's like they seem to think that there's a guarantee if you do this other path

00:50:44Guest:absolutely but in a way there isn't my buddy's in medical school he couldn't get placed in residency 25% of people can't get placed it's not that safe now because there's so many fucking doctors out there yeah it's like being okay you might not make it as an actor like that okay that of course comes down to talent and a bit of luck also of course you drive and everything but there's so many things you could do in entertainment if you just work hard enough yeah if it's a real job

00:51:10Marc:Yeah, I mean, it is.

00:51:11Marc:And the smarter people, like I've said this before, the smarter people that I know who were comics when we all started out, just stand-ups, the ones that were smart were the ones that realized, like, I'm never going to be one of the big guys.

00:51:26Marc:Right.

00:51:27Marc:But I'm good at this writing or the joke writing, and I'm good at that.

00:51:30Marc:Exactly.

00:51:30Marc:And they figure out how to make real life out of it as opposed to putting it all in one barrel and waiting to be the biggest stand-up in the world.

00:51:39Guest:Exactly.

00:51:40Guest:Yeah.

00:51:40Guest:And I don't blame those people.

00:51:42Guest:They are actually smart and more logical than me.

00:51:45Marc:That's right.

00:51:47Marc:For saying this is not a career.

00:51:49Marc:No, I'll tell people that.

00:51:51Marc:They're like, well, what should I do as a young stand-up?

00:51:53Marc:I'm like, learn how to work with other people.

00:51:55Marc:Learn how to write.

00:51:57Marc:Figure out how to act.

00:51:58Marc:Do something.

00:51:59Marc:Because when I started, I'm like, I'm going to be a comic.

00:52:01Marc:That's all that's important.

00:52:02Marc:And then you're stuck.

00:52:04Marc:Exactly.

00:52:05Guest:Even if you become a successful booker and you make $1,000 booking shows or something, a lot of failed comics end up running comedy clubs.

00:52:12Guest:That's a job.

00:52:13Guest:Yeah, it's a job.

00:52:14Guest:That's a job you still love and it's great.

00:52:15Marc:It's annoying when they give themselves the best spot, but you know-

00:52:19Guest:We don't have to name any names.

00:52:22Guest:No.

00:52:24Marc:You just got to ask them for a little more money, those guys.

00:52:27Marc:They take it for granted.

00:52:28Marc:That's the racket of the produced show.

00:52:31Marc:It's sort of like, dude, because they think you just want stage time, right?

00:52:34Marc:And I'm like, who's making all the money from selling this room out?

00:52:36Marc:Oh, I'm a professional comedian.

00:52:39Marc:You're going to have to give me more than the $25.

00:52:41Guest:If there's one day ever, like stand-up comedians could unionize.

00:52:46Guest:They've tried.

00:52:47Guest:That would be the day.

00:52:48Marc:They've tried.

00:52:49Marc:They have?

00:52:49Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:52:50Marc:Over the years.

00:52:51Marc:I don't remember when it was, but they tried to do a comedian's union within AFTRA at one point.

00:52:58Marc:Oh, wow.

00:52:59Marc:Yeah, there have been attempts.

00:53:00Guest:What is the bar, though?

00:53:02Guest:Because there's no barrier of entry.

00:53:03Guest:Like SAG, you got to get three vouchers.

00:53:05Guest:You got to get Taft Hartman or whatever.

00:53:06Guest:Yeah, right.

00:53:06Guest:What is it?

00:53:07Guest:You got to do three open mics?

00:53:08Guest:No.

00:53:08Marc:You got to get a pass at the store?

00:53:09Marc:Well, I think you'd have to... Right.

00:53:13Marc:No.

00:53:13Marc:Who are the union comics and the non-union comics?

00:53:16Marc:It would have to be dependent on, I would think, on some sort of income or pay-in or buy-in.

00:53:21Marc:Because now everyone just says they're a comic.

00:53:23Marc:Right.

00:53:24Marc:Like when you were coming up, there's these mics all over.

00:53:26Marc:When I was younger, there were no mics.

00:53:27Marc:You had to go to the fucking club on their night.

00:53:29Marc:They had an open mic night.

00:53:31Marc:Right.

00:53:31Marc:But now there's fucking mics everywhere.

00:53:33Marc:Right.

00:53:33Marc:Everyone.

00:53:34Marc:And then anybody who does two mics a week can be like, hey, I'm doing stand-up now.

00:53:37Marc:Are you, though?

00:53:38Marc:Yeah, exactly.

00:53:39Marc:I'm not as annoyed about it as I used to be because, like, who gives a fuck?

00:53:42Marc:Sure, say you're a stand-up as long as you want.

00:53:45Guest:Yeah, it's not too precious anymore.

00:53:47Marc:It used to bother my, ruffle my old veteran feathers.

00:53:52Marc:Like, you're not a real comic.

00:53:53Marc:Are you getting paid?

00:53:54Marc:Are you getting paid to work?

00:53:55Marc:No.

00:53:55Marc:Can you do an hour?

00:53:56Marc:No.

00:53:57Marc:Fucking quit calling yourself a comic.

00:53:58Marc:Now I'm like, do what you want, man.

00:54:00Marc:Good luck.

00:54:01Marc:Good luck with everything.

00:54:02Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:54:03Marc:So you go to school for what?

00:54:05Marc:Economics, you said?

00:54:05Marc:Economics, man.

00:54:07Marc:But you had no desire, no compulsion.

00:54:09Guest:I hated college in general.

00:54:11Marc:Were you still, when you go to college, were you still into the music?

00:54:14Marc:Was that still your thing?

00:54:15Guest:I was still doing my thing.

00:54:15Guest:That was the only thing that was keeping me sane.

00:54:17Guest:Yeah.

00:54:18Guest:I would just lock myself in the room, not even go to class and make beats.

00:54:21Guest:Yeah.

00:54:21Guest:And I'll start selling some beats and stuff like that.

00:54:23Guest:But I just couldn't, I would love to have been a producer, but at the same time,

00:54:27Guest:That's also being locked in a studio in a way.

00:54:30Guest:And I was kind of fearful of that.

00:54:32Guest:I just didn't know what I wanted to do.

00:54:34Guest:Like most college kids.

00:54:35Guest:I think college, first of all, is the biggest fucking racket.

00:54:37Guest:Everybody graduating college with this debt.

00:54:40Marc:With this debt.

00:54:41Marc:And also sort of like you kind of waste the time because there's an idea about college.

00:54:45Marc:Like I'm going to do whatever I want.

00:54:47Marc:Some people actually knew.

00:54:48Marc:Some people's parents beat it into their brains hard enough that they knew I'm here to work to get this thing done so I can do this other thing.

00:54:54Marc:But a lot of us are like, we're going to party and think about stuff and experience some things.

00:54:59Marc:I often wished I could go back to college as a grownup.

00:55:03Marc:I don't really want to.

00:55:04Marc:But then at least you could take some of this shit in and process it and learn something.

00:55:09Guest:It's insane that we are telling kids by 18 years old, you have to choose a major.

00:55:14Guest:The major that technically means this is what you're going to do for the rest of your life.

00:55:17Guest:And none of it guarantees anything anymore.

00:55:19Guest:No, man.

00:55:21Guest:Yeah.

00:55:21Guest:So you're there.

00:55:22Guest:You're miserable.

00:55:23Guest:I was miserable.

00:55:25Guest:It took me five years to get an economics degree.

00:55:27Guest:And I just had odd jobs.

00:55:29Guest:I didn't know what I wanted to do.

00:55:30Guest:I had an internship at Smith Barney, a pretty prestigious financial firm that my dad hooked me up with.

00:55:36Guest:Yeah.

00:55:36Guest:And they offered me a job.

00:55:37Guest:They were like, whenever you graduate, we'd love to have you come back to work for us.

00:55:41Guest:Yeah.

00:55:42Guest:Yeah.

00:55:42Guest:But I just remember working an internship.

00:55:44Guest:At first, it's kind of fun.

00:55:45Guest:You're meeting new people.

00:55:46Guest:That's like every job.

00:55:47Guest:You can work at McDonald's the first month.

00:55:48Guest:It's going to be fun.

00:55:49Guest:Sure.

00:55:50Guest:And then it just slowly deteriorates.

00:55:51Guest:And then I just see my life flash in front of me.

00:55:53Guest:Yeah.

00:55:54Guest:Like I'm 60 years old, you know, and I'm just sitting in front of my computer doing the same old shit.

00:55:59Guest:And I just fucking hate myself.

00:56:01Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:56:01Guest:Like that gave me a fucking panic attack.

00:56:03Guest:Yeah.

00:56:03Guest:So, I didn't know what to do.

00:56:05Guest:I had three jobs after I graduated.

00:56:07Guest:I definitely didn't go back to Smith Barney.

00:56:09Guest:I worked as a used car salesman.

00:56:11Guest:You did?

00:56:12Guest:Yeah.

00:56:12Guest:I worked at the Comedy Palace in the evening after my used car salesman job.

00:56:17Guest:Comedy Palace.

00:56:18Guest:Yeah.

00:56:18Guest:This Greek restaurant turned comedy club at night in San Diego.

00:56:22Guest:In San Diego?

00:56:23Guest:Okay.

00:56:23Guest:Yeah.

00:56:24Guest:So, I'll do some sets there.

00:56:25Guest:I'll work the door and stuff like that.

00:56:27Marc:So, when did you just start to ... What made you ... When did you first go up?

00:56:29Marc:Like, what was the ... Like, how did that unfold?

00:56:32Marc:Yeah.

00:56:32Guest:I think it was desperation.

00:56:34Guest:It was just, I didn't know what I wanted to do.

00:56:37Guest:I wasn't getting laid and I wasn't making new friends.

00:56:41Guest:I was stuck playing video games with the same group of friends.

00:56:43Guest:I love them, but it's like, I need to expand my heart.

00:56:46Guest:I live my life, man.

00:56:47Guest:And so I tried different things.

00:56:50Guest:This was, I think, two of my senior year of college.

00:56:53Guest:I tried like jujitsu, boxing or whatever.

00:56:57Guest:I'm horrible at those things.

00:56:59Guest:And then I was just like, fuck it.

00:57:01Guest:So many times people have such a good story of how they started stand-up.

00:57:05Guest:I saw Eddie Murphy Raw when I was six years old with my brother.

00:57:10Guest:And then when my brother died with a heart disease, he told me on his deathbed, he was like, I want you to be a stand-up to make us proud or some shit like that.

00:57:18Guest:Live your childhood.

00:57:19Guest:I don't have any of that.

00:57:20Guest:My parents don't even know what the fuck stand-up comedy is.

00:57:23Guest:For me, it was a complete desperation.

00:57:26Guest:For me, Googling local open mic is one step away from me Googling how the fuck to kill myself.

00:57:32Guest:Yeah, you know what I mean?

00:57:33Guest:That's the last straw, man.

00:57:34Guest:To embarrass yourself, to pay $5 for five minutes to embarrass yourself, you might as well just fucking kill yourself.

00:57:41Guest:You weren't that depressed though, were you?

00:57:44Guest:I was that desperate.

00:57:45Guest:It was depression and I just felt like I hit a dead end.

00:57:48Guest:I was like, I'm fucking like 21 years old.

00:57:50Guest:Like, what the fuck?

00:57:52Guest:I hate my life.

00:57:52Guest:And everybody's telling you college, the best four years of your life.

00:57:56Guest:And I'm like, no, this is miserable.

00:58:00Marc:So where'd you do it?

00:58:01Marc:Did you write an act down or how'd you handle it?

00:58:03Guest:So it was the Ha Ha Comedy Club.

00:58:05Guest:Oh, so it was Ha Ha.

00:58:05Guest:You came up here.

00:58:06Guest:It was in the summer.

00:58:07Marc:Oh, so you were working up here in the summer and you were like, this is it.

00:58:10Guest:It was in the summer.

00:58:11Guest:I was like just really lost because I was about to go back to like the last semester of college.

00:58:17Guest:And I was like, fuck, what am I going to do?

00:58:18Guest:So this was when I tried all the things and then I went to Ha Ha Comedy Club.

00:58:22Guest:Did you write an act?

00:58:23Guest:I did.

00:58:24Guest:It was really hacky stuff.

00:58:26Guest:Yeah.

00:58:27Guest:You know, about jerking off and shit like that.

00:58:29Guest:Yeah.

00:58:29Guest:I think one of my bits was like my closer was I was jerking off on my computer, but then I always have the TV on on ESPN SportsCenter on repeat.

00:58:40Guest:So like by accident, sometimes they show a top 10 highlight and I'm jerking off and I turn around, it's Michael Vick, so I just came in Michael Vick's face.

00:58:47Guest:Or something so stupid and hacky that every open mic girl would do.

00:58:51Guest:Right.

00:58:51Guest:And then I just remember after that, I felt good.

00:58:55Guest:It was just a sense of community.

00:58:57Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:58:58Guest:I didn't feel good about the joke, but it was just a sense of community.

00:59:01Marc:Oh, because you got off and all the other miserable comics are there.

00:59:03Guest:Or hang out.

00:59:04Guest:I found a group of misfits, these friends that I'm fitting in.

00:59:08Guest:And I remember this dude, he gave me a tag.

00:59:10Guest:Like he was like, yeah, you know, that jerk off joke is good.

00:59:13Guest:What if you just say like, now every time I see Michael Vick, I just come a little bit.

00:59:17Guest:I was like, oh shit, like this guy's treating this like an art form.

00:59:21Guest:I was just talking about jerking off to Michael Vick.

00:59:24Guest:And I just remember there's just a sense of community.

00:59:26Guest:Yeah, sure.

00:59:27Guest:For all my adult life, my young adult life at that point was me trying to fit in.

00:59:34Guest:Yeah.

00:59:34Guest:Me living like my MO was I was the immigrant.

00:59:38Guest:I didn't fit in, I was the outsider.

00:59:39Guest:But stand up, it's like this is where all the weirdos came.

00:59:42Marc:That's exactly right.

00:59:43Guest:And it didn't matter if you're black, white, Asian, fat, short, whatever gender you are.

00:59:49Guest:Creepy.

00:59:50Guest:The weirder you are, the better off you are in stand up.

00:59:53Guest:Yeah.

00:59:54Guest:And I felt like I really found my creed there.

00:59:56Guest:And that...

00:59:57Guest:That was what really spoke to me.

00:59:59Guest:It was the high on stage.

01:00:00Guest:That felt good.

01:00:01Guest:Yeah.

01:00:02Guest:You know, getting some attention.

01:00:03Guest:That felt good, but that wasn't it.

01:00:04Guest:It was the camaraderie of hanging out afterwards is like, oh shit.

01:00:08Guest:Yeah.

01:00:08Guest:I found a way out.

01:00:10Guest:Yeah.

01:00:10Guest:This is a new group of friends and these friends got other friends.

01:00:13Guest:Yeah.

01:00:14Guest:And we're doing something.

01:00:15Guest:Yeah.

01:00:15Guest:And now I can expand my horizon.

01:00:17Guest:I'm not just playing Madden, you know, with my high school friends.

01:00:19Guest:Yeah.

01:00:20Guest:Right.

01:00:20Guest:You know?

01:00:21Guest:That's great.

01:00:21Guest:So I worked used car salesman like nine to five, go to Comedy Palace at seven.

01:00:25Guest:Were you good at it?

01:00:26Guest:I was very good.

01:00:27Guest:Yeah.

01:00:27Guest:I was a very good salesman because I look trustworthy.

01:00:29Guest:Yeah.

01:00:29Guest:I'm not saying I'm not, but I look like an innocent kid that wouldn't scam you out of a car.

01:00:33Guest:Right.

01:00:34Guest:So I never learned sales techniques, but I was just honest with people.

01:00:38Guest:Yeah.

01:00:38Guest:And they trusted me.

01:00:39Guest:I was very good at that job.

01:00:40Guest:And then I did the Comedy Palace.

01:00:42Guest:And then at night, I was a DJ at a strip club.

01:00:46Marc:Yeah, that was always- With your beats or just- No.

01:00:49Guest:But that was always like my dream.

01:00:51Guest:Yeah.

01:00:51Guest:Growing up hip hop.

01:00:52Guest:You did it.

01:00:53Guest:You lived it.

01:00:53Guest:I lived it, man.

01:00:54Marc:So, you were the guy putting on like what songs?

01:00:58Marc:Those horrible, like rock songs?

01:01:01Guest:Oh, Girls, Girls, Girls.

01:01:03Marc:Sure.

01:01:03Guest:There was a rule in that club where every five songs, every three stripper rotation, I have to do a showcase.

01:01:10Guest:Yeah.

01:01:11Guest:And the showcase has to be accompanied with Girls, Girls, Girls.

01:01:13Guest:Yeah.

01:01:14Guest:Yeah.

01:01:14Guest:All the strippers will have to go on stage and I would force each customer to go get a lap dance.

01:01:20Marc:Oh, you would force them?

01:01:21Marc:Like you're on the mic?

01:01:22Marc:High pressure sales.

01:01:23Marc:Oh yeah.

01:01:24Guest:Yeah.

01:01:24Marc:But like on the mic in the back, how would you do it?

01:01:26Guest:Yeah.

01:01:27Guest:I was like, all right, ladies and gentlemen, ready for your showcase.

01:01:31Guest:You got the sexy J coming to stage.

01:01:33Guest:Milan, saucy.

01:01:35Guest:You guys had your eyes on these ladies.

01:01:36Guest:Don't be shy with your wallet.

01:01:38Guest:And don't be shy, gentlemen.

01:01:39Guest:Two for one lap dances coming up right now.

01:01:42Guest:Get two lap dances with your favorite girl or get two girls for one lap dance.

01:01:47Guest:vip going on right now two for one lap dances don't be shy i want everybody in the vip two for one lap dances in the next 10 minutes something like that yeah yeah and then you put on girls girls girls and then i would do that i yell that over girls girls girls oh yeah so it was a a mixture of salesmanship that i learned from the car lot right and the stand-up comedy microphone skills that i learned at the comedy so you're in the strip club now like how was that for you did you

01:02:12Guest:It was, I think, every stupid 22-year-old's dream that watched too much hip-hop videos.

01:02:18Guest:It's like, dude, oh my God, I'm going to bang all these strippers.

01:02:21Guest:This is going to be fucking awesome.

01:02:23Guest:This is gangster as fuck.

01:02:23Marc:Sure, that's a real gift.

01:02:26Marc:That's the funniest thing about that whole thing.

01:02:29Marc:It's like, hey, man, I did it.

01:02:30Marc:I'm dating a stripper.

01:02:32Marc:Oh, great.

01:02:33Guest:I think everybody had a dream of dating a stripper, and then you're like, wait a minute.

01:02:37Guest:You know, they're just people with problems.

01:02:40Guest:I actually, I never had sex with one of the strip clubs.

01:02:42Guest:No.

01:02:42Guest:Because I was scared, honestly.

01:02:44Guest:Yeah.

01:02:44Guest:I was like this kind of innocent kid going in, wanting to work at the strip club.

01:02:49Guest:But then I realized everybody that the owner, his name was Shooter.

01:02:52Guest:Yeah.

01:02:52Guest:And this dude's name was Beast and like, everybody had nicknames from like prison.

01:02:57Guest:Yeah.

01:02:58Guest:Because they've been in the prison many times and then no choice but to work at a strip club.

01:03:01Guest:Right.

01:03:02Guest:They wish they can just go work at a subway.

01:03:03Guest:Yeah.

01:03:04Guest:You know, but they can't.

01:03:05Guest:Yeah.

01:03:05Guest:And here I am wanting to work at a strip club and all these strippers are fucked up.

01:03:08Guest:Yeah.

01:03:09Guest:It wasn't like a glamorous, like cheetah strip club.

01:03:12Marc:So it was a, well, yeah, but I mean, they're all, I mean, it's different degrees of what it is.

01:03:17Marc:I mean, did it diminish a little bit of your sense of the reward of America?

01:03:22Guest:Ah, yes.

01:03:24Guest:It's a more realistic view of what it is.

01:03:29Guest:That's the first time when I realized, oh, these music videos are just music videos.

01:03:35Guest:People don't actually live like this in a happy way.

01:03:40Guest:I can't just go become a gangster.

01:03:42Guest:I wasn't born in the hood.

01:03:45Guest:You know what I mean?

01:03:45Guest:Yeah.

01:03:45Guest:So, that was just all me emulating and it was kind of sobering.

01:03:49Guest:I was like, yo, I got to find myself and be real with myself.

01:03:52Guest:I can't just emulate people and do these lives that's not me.

01:03:57Guest:Yeah.

01:03:57Guest:How long did you work there?

01:03:58Guest:I think I worked there for like a good three, four months.

01:04:01Guest:And it got too gangster.

01:04:04Guest:Got scared?

01:04:05Guest:It was fucked up.

01:04:06Guest:Yeah.

01:04:06Guest:I thought it was still cool.

01:04:08Guest:I remember Christmas Day I worked at the strip club.

01:04:10Guest:Christmas Day.

01:04:11Guest:Yeah.

01:04:12Guest:And it was so sad.

01:04:13Guest:We closed down early and these two college kids were like yelling outside, like cussing us out.

01:04:17Guest:I was like, yeah, on the internet, it says that you guys open till two.

01:04:21Guest:Like, what the fuck, dude?

01:04:22Guest:We want to see some titties or something.

01:04:23Guest:Yeah.

01:04:23Guest:And then I just remember the bouncers went outside and started like beating them.

01:04:27Guest:Yeah.

01:04:27Guest:Like just like fucking them up, right?

01:04:28Marc:Merry Christmas.

01:04:29Guest:And then I just stared into this picture.

01:04:31Guest:I was like, wait a minute.

01:04:33Guest:I'm one of these college kids.

01:04:35Guest:Yeah.

01:04:35Guest:But I'm on the other side of the fucking gangsters and shit.

01:04:38Guest:Yeah.

01:04:39Guest:And I'm like, dude, I can't do this.

01:04:42Guest:You don't want to live in that world.

01:04:43Guest:Yeah.

01:04:44Guest:And the owner actually really liked me.

01:04:45Guest:Yeah.

01:04:47Guest:He was like a biker gang gangster guy.

01:04:49Marc:But you got frightened for your own corruption in a way.

01:04:51Guest:Like, you know, where do you cross over?

01:04:53Guest:That and also getting sucked in too deep to the point of no return.

01:04:57Guest:Right, right.

01:04:57Guest:Like, this was the last bit where, like, I can make a choice.

01:05:00Guest:Do I get out of this or do I keep doing this?

01:05:02Guest:Right.

01:05:02Guest:The owner, he came to me.

01:05:03Guest:He was like, yo, I just came to some money and I want to open up a new club and I want you to run it.

01:05:09Guest:So that sounds very appealing to a 22-year-old kid that watched too much hip hop.

01:05:12Guest:Yeah.

01:05:13Guest:But...

01:05:13Guest:Like luckily I had a mentor, my buddy Sean Kelly, who was a comic in San Diego, like an old school dude.

01:05:19Guest:And he's really smart, business smart.

01:05:21Guest:He was like, Jimmy, this is not funny.

01:05:23Guest:Like I was telling these stories to like my buddies at the comedy club, like bragging.

01:05:27Guest:You know how people in the bag in the comedy store is like, yo, I just banged this chick and then I almost got beat up by a boyfriend.

01:05:31Guest:Like it's funny.

01:05:32Guest:Yeah.

01:05:33Guest:But then like Sean, I was telling Sean about this Christmas strip club story.

01:05:37Guest:He's like, Jimmy, this is not fucking funny, dude.

01:05:39Guest:You didn't get the fuck out.

01:05:40Guest:You're funny, dude.

01:05:41Guest:Like go to, go to LA, you know, and try to get an agent and do your thing, man.

01:05:46Guest:Like you need to get the fuck out of here before it's too late.

01:05:48Guest:Yeah.

01:05:49Guest:So I'm glad I had him to really sober me up and like, tell me like, get the fuck out of here.

01:05:54Marc:Oh, man.

01:05:55Marc:That's a real crossroads.

01:05:57Guest:Yeah, man.

01:05:58Marc:Yeah.

01:05:58Marc:So then you did.

01:06:00Marc:You come up here and you just started hitting it?

01:06:02Guest:Came up here.

01:06:02Guest:I had nothing.

01:06:03Guest:I had like $2,000 in my bank account that I saved up from a strip club and a bus car lot.

01:06:08Guest:Yeah.

01:06:08Guest:I didn't want to live with my parents because they don't understand what stand-up is.

01:06:12Guest:Right.

01:06:12Guest:They were very disappointed in me at that point because I didn't do what they wanted.

01:06:17Guest:I graduated with a college degree and I'm meandering.

01:06:20Guest:So I rented this dude's apartment for like 300 bucks on Craigslist, his living room.

01:06:26Guest:Yeah.

01:06:26Guest:And I was just grinding it out.

01:06:27Guest:I was trying to do $50 gigs in Paso Robles for some standup and whatever I can get just to scrape by so I can live another day to maybe find an agent, find an audition.

01:06:39Guest:Yeah.

01:06:39Guest:And everybody was telling me, oh, I did this one commercial and it paid me 60 grand for one day of work.

01:06:43Guest:So I was just trying to do that.

01:06:45Guest:I never thought to be an actor.

01:06:46Guest:Yeah.

01:06:47Guest:At all.

01:06:47Guest:I was just trying to scrape by so I can keep doing comedy and figure myself out.

01:06:51Guest:Yeah.

01:06:51Guest:My goal was to develop a college act and I can make two grand a night doing college shows.

01:06:57Guest:Yeah.

01:06:58Guest:That was my fucking dream.

01:06:59Guest:Yeah.

01:07:00Guest:To find a college agent.

01:07:01Guest:Did you do it?

01:07:02Guest:I did it eventually, but oh my God.

01:07:04Guest:It's not great, right?

01:07:05Guest:I did those NACA conferences.

01:07:06Marc:Yeah, the worst.

01:07:07Guest:It was, I remember just sitting in a hotel room in like Minneapolis after I bombed.

01:07:12Guest:I paid myself, I was broke, but I paid to fly out to Minneapolis.

01:07:15Guest:I paid to showcase fees and all that.

01:07:17Guest:All your pictures.

01:07:18Guest:Everything.

01:07:18Guest:And nobody wanted to fuck with me.

01:07:20Guest:Yeah.

01:07:20Guest:And I booked like maybe one or two colleges that was like 1,500 bucks.

01:07:24Guest:Yeah.

01:07:24Guest:And after commission and whatever.

01:07:25Marc:What a racket.

01:07:27Guest:Oh my God.

01:07:28Guest:Yeah.

01:07:28Guest:And that was that.

01:07:29Guest:And I thought about quitting standup in that hotel room in Minneapolis.

01:07:33Guest:I'm like, okay, either I just completely, in a way, sell out and just do a shit hacky college act for these college kids, or I just, I can't, like, how am I going to make money doing this?

01:07:45Marc:That was another point of that where your idea got shattered.

01:07:49Marc:Yeah.

01:07:50Marc:Like, do I sell my soul to the gangsters or to the college kids, or do I figure something else out?

01:07:56Marc:Exactly.

01:07:57Marc:Yeah.

01:07:57Guest:Like, at that point, I would rather go back to the strip club than do a fucking college act.

01:08:01Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:08:02Guest:Oh, my God.

01:08:03Guest:Because I just, you hear other friends, you're like, oh, my God, he just booked 100 colleges and now he's fucking rich.

01:08:09Guest:Yeah, I know.

01:08:09Guest:I'm like, yo, I'm funnier than that motherfucker, you know?

01:08:11Marc:Like, what the fuck?

01:08:12Marc:No, it's not what you want to be doing.

01:08:14Guest:Yeah.

01:08:15Marc:Yeah, so how did it end up happening?

01:08:17Marc:What stepped in to make you stay in it?

01:08:20Marc:I don't know.

01:08:21Marc:I was still just meandering.

01:08:22Guest:It was to a point that I was- But you're doing stand-up though, right?

01:08:25Guest:Two, three times a week or what?

01:08:26Guest:I was, but it was hard in LA.

01:08:28Guest:I was nobody.

01:08:29Guest:Nobody was giving me stage time.

01:08:30Guest:I was back at the fucking ha-ha.

01:08:32Guest:Yeah.

01:08:32Guest:You know what I mean?

01:08:33Guest:And I would just get far and in between.

01:08:35Guest:If I get a 20-minute set for 50 bucks in fucking wine country in Santa Barbara, I was happy as hell.

01:08:42Guest:Yeah.

01:08:42Guest:But now this college thing was a bust.

01:08:45Guest:I really didn't see a way to make it.

01:08:47Guest:And then eventually this agent took a chance on me.

01:08:51Guest:Really, really small one-woman agency in Manhattan Beach.

01:08:56Guest:Really?

01:08:56Guest:And then she just started sending me on auditions.

01:08:58Guest:Yeah.

01:08:59Guest:Like, you know, game show host, random non-union bullshit.

01:09:03Guest:Yeah, right.

01:09:04Guest:But then-

01:09:04Guest:foreign in between like maybe once every two months i'll get a good one like a two-line part on like modern family or something actually one of the favorite part of my of the book is i have a 101 uh auditions audition log yeah before the silicon valley audition yeah and it's all these shit auditions like uh you know

01:09:21Guest:Did you really keep a log?

01:09:23Guest:I did keep a log.

01:09:24Guest:Yeah.

01:09:24Guest:Because it was so important to me.

01:09:25Guest:I know if I just landed one of these, two lines on Modern Family or whatever the fuck, that would change everything.

01:09:30Guest:Yeah.

01:09:31Guest:To me, like getting in SAG and getting one of those two line parts, it would change anything.

01:09:34Guest:Yeah.

01:09:34Guest:Everything.

01:09:35Guest:But I was so bad at auditions.

01:09:37Guest:I took an acting class in college.

01:09:38Guest:I didn't know how to act.

01:09:39Guest:Yeah.

01:09:40Guest:So I'd spend all the money I had to, you know, on acting classes, audition classes, which is a fucking different sport, right?

01:09:46Guest:Like even auditions.

01:09:48Guest:Yeah.

01:09:48Guest:It's completely different.

01:09:49Guest:It's the worst.

01:09:50Guest:And finally I found my footing.

01:09:53Guest:I don't think anybody likes it.

01:09:54Guest:You just tolerate it.

01:09:55Marc:Yeah.

01:09:55Marc:And I wasn't, but I wasn't cut out for it.

01:09:57Marc:I mean, for years, I mean, I didn't, I didn't even have an agent like that.

01:10:00Marc:Because I just, I can't, I'm not the guy.

01:10:04Marc:You know what I mean?

01:10:04Guest:You walk into those things, I'm like, I'm not the guy they want.

01:10:07Guest:Look at this shit.

01:10:08Guest:I think it falls to you.

01:10:10Guest:Eventually, the universe kind of answers.

01:10:12Guest:Yeah, if you keep work at it.

01:10:13Guest:It's not like I can pick and choose, like, okay, I would love to be an actor or I would love to just be that comedy store guy that eventually gets on Comedy Central and stuff like that.

01:10:22Guest:Comedy store never fucked with me.

01:10:24Guest:I was never passed or whatever, you know?

01:10:26Guest:But this agent fucked with me, so that was like, that led me to my answer eventually.

01:10:30Guest:And, yeah, man.

01:10:32Guest:So, you did other TV parts before Silicon Valley?

01:10:35Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:10:35Guest:Just a lot of small parts here and there.

01:10:37Guest:Yeah.

01:10:37Guest:My first job was two broke girls.

01:10:39Guest:Uh-huh.

01:10:39Guest:Just two lines.

01:10:40Guest:Yeah.

01:10:41Guest:And that gave me my sad card.

01:10:43Guest:And then that led to, you know, some bigger things.

01:10:45Guest:Yeah.

01:10:46Guest:Like a guest star on Always Sunny.

01:10:47Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:10:48Guest:Some commercials that never aired.

01:10:49Guest:So, I never made money.

01:10:50Guest:But I was like, oh, shit.

01:10:52Guest:The most important thing, I think, being an artist is seeing that upward mobility.

01:10:55Guest:Yeah.

01:10:56Guest:Or with any job.

01:10:57Guest:Yeah.

01:10:57Guest:You might only be making 50 bucks at, say, you know, Santa Barbara.

01:11:02Guest:Yeah.

01:11:02Guest:But last week you were making nothing.

01:11:04Guest:So that was huge.

01:11:05Guest:Yeah, right.

01:11:06Guest:And then the next day maybe you're making 200 bucks on a non-union commercial.

01:11:09Guest:That's huge to me.

01:11:10Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:11:10Guest:It's just a step up.

01:11:11Marc:I remember like when having like two grand in your bank account, you're like, fuck yeah.

01:11:14Marc:Yeah, I'm fucking rich, dude.

01:11:16Marc:I'm good.

01:11:16Marc:I can get through the next month's rent, whatever, you know.

01:11:19Guest:Exactly.

01:11:19Guest:It's all about counting, okay, this two bro girl's job, I got paid on a weekly rate, two grand.

01:11:25Guest:Oh shit, that's three months of rent, like four months of rent.

01:11:27Guest:Like, yes.

01:11:28Marc:That's how you think.

01:11:30Marc:That's always how you think as a comic.

01:11:33Marc:It's like, I got enough to pay for this, but you don't want to fuck with the money.

01:11:36Marc:You still can't treat yourself.

01:11:38Marc:Yeah.

01:11:39Marc:You know, because I might not get anything.

01:11:41Guest:It's all about how many months of rent you got in your bank account.

01:11:45Guest:Exactly.

01:11:45Guest:How many months you can stay afloat.

01:11:47Guest:And if you got six months lead weight, that is huge.

01:11:51Guest:Great.

01:11:52Guest:That is great.

01:11:52Guest:You're like, oh, in six months, I can come up with some money.

01:11:54Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:11:55Guest:Or in six months, I can figure something out.

01:11:57Guest:Right.

01:11:58Guest:Right?

01:11:58Guest:And maybe that was, if I bust out in six months, I bust out.

01:12:01Guest:I move home with my parents and go do finance or whatever the fuck.

01:12:04Guest:Yeah.

01:12:04Guest:So how did Silicon Valley happen?

01:12:07Guest:It was one of those auditioning parts.

01:12:09Guest:Oh, yeah?

01:12:10Guest:It was a very small role.

01:12:12Guest:I auditioned for it.

01:12:12Guest:Actually, I auditioned for it twice.

01:12:14Guest:The first time I auditioned for it- Was it for the first season or second season?

01:12:17Guest:First season.

01:12:17Guest:It was first season?

01:12:18Guest:Yeah.

01:12:18Guest:I auditioned for it for the first time when it was the pilot, and it was one of the main characters.

01:12:22Guest:And-

01:12:23Guest:I didn't get it.

01:12:24Guest:Never heard back.

01:12:25Guest:And then I auditioned a second time.

01:12:26Guest:It was only a two, three line part.

01:12:28Guest:And I got it.

01:12:29Guest:Didn't think much of it.

01:12:30Guest:It's just another guest star, like two poor girls.

01:12:32Guest:Yeah.

01:12:32Guest:20, you know, 900 bucks a day.

01:12:35Guest:Yeah.

01:12:35Guest:Single camera shoot.

01:12:36Guest:And I did it.

01:12:37Guest:They liked me.

01:12:38Guest:They brought me back for another episode.

01:12:40Guest:Yeah.

01:12:40Guest:And me and TJ had a scene and that was like, we really felt some kind of chemistry there.

01:12:44Guest:Yeah.

01:12:44Guest:Just something very Lauren Hardy about this duel.

01:12:47Guest:And then we did one more episode.

01:12:50Guest:I didn't think much of it.

01:12:51Guest:Yeah.

01:12:51Guest:I was just happy.

01:12:52Guest:Yeah.

01:12:52Guest:That was my first recurring gig.

01:12:54Guest:Yeah.

01:12:54Guest:Which again, only pay me 900 bucks times three, $2,700.

01:12:58Guest:Yeah.

01:12:59Guest:But it wasn't about that.

01:13:00Guest:It was about the upward mobility.

01:13:01Guest:Yeah.

01:13:01Guest:I was one-off guest star to now a recurring guest star.

01:13:04Guest:I can put that shit on my resume.

01:13:05Guest:Right.

01:13:06Guest:Yeah.

01:13:06Guest:But we didn't know if the show was going to be a hit, and I definitely didn't think I was going to come back for a second season or anything.

01:13:11Guest:Yeah.

01:13:11Guest:So I actually used that $2,700 to buy a 2006 Prius for a down payment so I can drive Uber to stay afloat.

01:13:21Guest:Because now you can just stay afloat.

01:13:22Guest:Yeah.

01:13:23Guest:If you can drive Uber, it's like teaching a man to fish, teaching a man to drive Uber.

01:13:26Guest:You can just fucking live in LA now.

01:13:28Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:13:28Guest:You know, so, and then eventually, it is a crazy story that happened between season one and season two.

01:13:37Guest:I was still auditioning.

01:13:38Guest:Yeah.

01:13:38Guest:Right?

01:13:39Guest:And I auditioned.

01:13:40Guest:I got this other part as a series regular on a Yahoo series.

01:13:44Guest:Yahoo was trying to do the whole streaming thing.

01:13:46Guest:Yeah.

01:13:47Guest:And a series regular, that was fucking huge.

01:13:50Guest:Yeah.

01:13:50Guest:Right?

01:13:50Guest:Of course.

01:13:51Guest:And that would be life changing.

01:13:52Guest:Yeah.

01:13:53Guest:Yeah.

01:13:53Guest:But they said if you do this, you can't do Silicon Valley or HBO show because they're competitors.

01:13:58Guest:Yeah.

01:13:58Guest:Streaming and HBO might not have let me.

01:14:01Guest:So I have to pick one or the other.

01:14:03Guest:Yeah.

01:14:04Guest:And I was like, holy shit.

01:14:05Guest:Like they gave us the deadline.

01:14:06Guest:Like literally it's like a fucking like movie.

01:14:08Guest:It's like you got until 12 p.m.

01:14:10Guest:to call us back.

01:14:11Guest:Yeah.

01:14:12Guest:Or else the deal is off the table.

01:14:13Guest:Yeah.

01:14:14Guest:And then of course I was like, holy shit.

01:14:15Guest:I think it was like $7,500 an episode for 10 episodes.

01:14:19Guest:75 grand for a comic.

01:14:22Guest:Yeah.

01:14:22Guest:That just, driving Uber to stay afloat, living in a one bedroom apartment with three fucking roommates.

01:14:28Guest:Yeah.

01:14:28Guest:That was a huge fucking deal.

01:14:30Guest:But then I'm like, dude, like, what if Silicon Valley comes back?

01:14:31Guest:Like, I need to do Silicon Valley.

01:14:33Guest:Like, that show.

01:14:34Guest:I think at that point, like, maybe we got nominated for an Emmy.

01:14:36Guest:Yeah.

01:14:37Guest:And also HBO's prestigious.

01:14:39Guest:Absolutely.

01:14:39Guest:Yahoo's Yahoo.

01:14:40Guest:So my agent at the time, like, who the fuck, who has a Yahoo streaming app on their Apple TV, right?

01:14:47Guest:Yeah.

01:14:47Guest:So at that point, I think.

01:14:48Guest:Is it even around anymore?

01:14:49Guest:That was their one and only season of any shows.

01:14:52Guest:They did two shows, and that was one of them.

01:14:54Guest:Seems like you did the right thing.

01:14:55Guest:What did your agent say?

01:14:56Guest:She was like, well, I don't know.

01:14:59Guest:And then I was like, well, I think I really want to do Silicon Valley.

01:15:02Guest:Let's see if we can play hardball.

01:15:03Guest:And she was like, you know what?

01:15:04Guest:Let me call Silicon Valley.

01:15:06Guest:See if they will match the serious regular offer.

01:15:08Guest:And I was like, no, you're fucking crazy.

01:15:11Guest:You're stupid.

01:15:12Guest:My judge is going to think I'm a fucking asshole.

01:15:14Guest:They're never going to call me back again.

01:15:16Guest:Are you serious?

01:15:17Guest:I had like five words in the first season.

01:15:19Guest:And then I guess they liked me enough they matched the offer of making me a serious regular.

01:15:25Guest:And then I just remembered.

01:15:27Guest:This was 11 a.m.

01:15:30Guest:I was at the Grove.

01:15:31Guest:I didn't know what to do with myself.

01:15:32Guest:I was drinking a beer at the farmer's market.

01:15:34Guest:Yeah.

01:15:35Guest:11 a.m.

01:15:35Guest:is just a bunch of other fucking alcoholics.

01:15:38Guest:And I was so fucking stressed out waiting for my agent to call me back.

01:15:41Guest:I was in my sweats.

01:15:44Guest:And on the Grove trolley, you know, they have this decorative trolley.

01:15:49Guest:On the trolley.

01:15:49Guest:And then I just remember I got the phone call.

01:15:51Guest:My agent's like, Silicon Valley is going to make you a series regular.

01:15:55Guest:Yeah.

01:15:55Guest:and i just started like weeping it on the fucking trolley i was like fuck yeah like just that was i know that moment was going to change my life and you know it did that that was the breaking point yeah so you're half drunk and crying on the trolley at the grove at 11 30 a.m

01:16:11Guest:Yeah, it was incredible.

01:16:13Guest:I still remember that.

01:16:14Guest:That's an uplifting moment.

01:16:15Guest:Yeah, and it comes with a bit of right place, right time, right?

01:16:23Guest:I guess there was also some pretty good agenting on her part.

01:16:26Guest:For sure, for sure.

01:16:27Guest:And I will always thank her in the book.

01:16:30Guest:I'm not with her now.

01:16:31Guest:She's a bit smaller.

01:16:33Guest:but i'll always thank her like she did that for me you know and she was the first one that believed in me yeah when nobody did like i i remember i went to like a fucking like apartment uh rental office to audition for an agent and i read a staples commercial yeah and i got rejected uh-huh

01:16:49Guest:you know and and then this lady took a chance on me and um yeah and then what's your name too jane shulman she's with vesta talent agency i think she's still around um and and i gave her a shout out on the book yeah i mean like you know i always give people credits too and all the casting directors that helped me out along the way sure you know uh like wendy o'brien she was the one that cast me for always sunny and um

01:17:12Guest:actually the yahoo show that eventually led to my serious regular role i gave her a shout out and then the assholes like uh the guy the fucking guy on modern fan that cast modern family jeff greenberg or something yeah that guy's a fucking dick like i don't i don't i'm not trying to start beef with anyone but like literally like i was i was just it was one of my first auditions and i was in modern family nervous as shit you know reading two lines yeah and and then he gave me a note and i was like oh so you mean i'm actually genuine i'm not lying to her you know i was just trying to get my foot in here he's like

01:17:42Guest:jesus christ just tell me just do what i tell you just like yeah i was just like innocent young actor like how could it just shook my confidence man you know but like how could you do that how could be so mean to some guy i just never done nothing to you so fuck him fuck him now i can say i don't ever plan on being a modern family fuck him yeah good i'm happy to like yeah it's weird the ones you carry with you isn't it

01:18:05Guest:Yeah.

01:18:05Guest:And it's good.

01:18:06Guest:I actually don't, deep down, I don't care.

01:18:09Guest:Yeah.

01:18:09Guest:You know?

01:18:10Guest:But when you think about that moment, you're like, oh, fuck that guy.

01:18:12Guest:I don't fucking need that.

01:18:13Guest:Yeah.

01:18:13Guest:It just, it feels good almost to sell someone.

01:18:16Marc:It does.

01:18:16Marc:To have somebody in your mind to tell the fuck off.

01:18:18Marc:Absolutely.

01:18:19Marc:Yeah.

01:18:19Marc:So you and TJ had a thing, you know, and it really paid off.

01:18:22Marc:Were you upset when he left?

01:18:24Marc:I was sad.

01:18:25Marc:I was very sad.

01:18:27Marc:Did you see it coming?

01:18:28Guest:Was he sort of like coming unhinged somehow?

01:18:31Guest:I didn't see it coming myself.

01:18:33Guest:He's like my best friend on the show.

01:18:35Guest:He's my buddy.

01:18:35Guest:Every scene of me was with him.

01:18:37Guest:And honestly, without TJ, I don't know if I would have made it.

01:18:40Guest:My character would have made it.

01:18:42Guest:I don't know where it is now.

01:18:44Guest:And we're just such a chemistry.

01:18:45Guest:We trusted each other.

01:18:46Guest:And it was just great.

01:18:49Guest:It was just some kind of magic happened between like season two, season three.

01:18:52Guest:And then he just called me in the middle of the night.

01:18:54Guest:He was like, I'm not coming back.

01:18:55Guest:you know and i try to convince him to come back and um but his mind was made up you know he wanted to go be a movie star he want to move to new york with his wife yeah you know and uh yeah i was sad and also scared in a way yeah because i didn't know where my character was going to go without tj but i think it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for my character selfishly i would love to still be working with tj but

01:19:19Guest:It just became a thing where my character get to fly a little more and kind of have its own plot line, have its own opinions and kind of mess with the other characters a little more.

01:19:32Marc:You turn out to be great this past season.

01:19:33Marc:You can do like a dynamic.

01:19:35Marc:You can evolve a dynamic with all the other guys.

01:19:37Guest:Exactly.

01:19:38Guest:Instead of just a me and TJ relationship.

01:19:40Guest:Right.

01:19:41Guest:Which I would have been happy to do for the next 15 years.

01:19:43Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:19:44Guest:It was fun.

01:19:45Guest:It was very fun.

01:19:47Guest:I just know I was going to go on set and have fun and would throw ideas out.

01:19:51Guest:Yeah.

01:19:52Guest:It might not work, but it will be... I think that's the best part about the show is we would throw ideas out and they would throw outlines out.

01:19:59Guest:And it's a very...

01:20:00Guest:um, collaborative environment.

01:20:03Guest:Yeah.

01:20:03Guest:Everybody's so good.

01:20:04Guest:Oh, it's great.

01:20:05Guest:And that was my first show and I'm so spoiled.

01:20:07Guest:Now I'm doing movies and other shows.

01:20:09Marc:Is it, is it over or you do, is they doing more Silicon Valley?

01:20:12Marc:There's more.

01:20:12Guest:Yeah.

01:20:12Guest:There's more.

01:20:13Guest:Um, we'll, we'll, we'll come back.

01:20:15Guest:Uh, I, I don't know exactly when cause I think, uh, Alec and Mike is busy running, you know, Barry and Mike's other show, Tales on the Tour Bus, which is a very good show.

01:20:24Guest:Uh, but it, it'll come back.

01:20:26Guest:Uh, we've taken a little longer hiatus, but it should come back.

01:20:28Marc:And you just did the, um,

01:20:30Marc:What's that big movie?

01:20:31Marc:Oh, Crazy Rich Asians.

01:20:32Guest:Crazy Rich Asians.

01:20:33Marc:Is that going to be funny?

01:20:34Marc:That's going to be great.

01:20:35Guest:Yeah?

01:20:35Guest:I'm not just saying that.

01:20:37Guest:There's movies I've done where I'm like, you don't need to go fucking see that.

01:20:39Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:20:40Guest:But that's going to be great.

01:20:41Guest:Oh, real quick, HBO told me that I have to.

01:20:43Guest:Right?

01:20:43Guest:I have to say.

01:20:44Guest:Oh, I'll take care of it.

01:20:45Guest:Okay, you got it.

01:20:45Guest:Okay.

01:20:47Guest:The DVDs of the first three seasons, is that what it is?

01:20:49Guest:Yeah, or first five now.

01:20:50Guest:First five.

01:20:51Guest:I think the fifth season is coming out on DVD in September.

01:20:53Guest:Okay.

01:20:53Guest:Crazy Rich Asians, I mean, that is something I'm extremely, extremely excited about.

01:20:59Guest:Yeah, I've heard a little bit about it.

01:21:00Guest:What is it about?

01:21:01Guest:It's based on three books.

01:21:03Guest:Yeah.

01:21:03Guest:The first book's called Crazy Rich Asians.

01:21:05Guest:Yeah.

01:21:05Guest:It's a bestselling novel about kind of like a satire about like these billionaire Singaporeans, but have like ridiculous problems.

01:21:13Guest:And it's a really heartfelt story about this girl in New York meeting this guy, didn't know he was actually a billionaire, going back to their family for a wedding and then realizing she's not accepted by the family.

01:21:23Guest:So the themes are very universal, family acceptance, classism, things like that.

01:21:29Guest:Yeah.

01:21:29Guest:But it's the first studio movie in 25 years that's with a full Asian cast.

01:21:35Guest:Oh.

01:21:36Guest:Since Joy Luck Club.

01:21:37Guest:It's like historic.

01:21:38Guest:Yeah.

01:21:38Guest:historic so at first when I read the script I'm like okay this is something I have to do like I would love to do it I would love to be part of it it's such an ensemble cast I think it's a very fun part I play like a really insane asshole in this which I love

01:21:53Guest:Yeah.

01:21:54Guest:It's in a way like the kings of comedy, but the kings of in general of you have like beautiful model looking Asians, like the really talented Asians from everywhere, great actors, funny Asians.

01:22:06Guest:And it's the first time that I felt...

01:22:09Guest:I'm not kind of judged by, because here's the thing.

01:22:13Guest:Sadly, when you do Silicon Valley, whatever, you're usually the only Asian person there.

01:22:17Guest:Yeah.

01:22:18Guest:And Asians are underrepresented in, you know, mostly in most media.

01:22:23Guest:So you get judged.

01:22:24Guest:Like, are you being a good representation of Asian or bad representation of Asian?

01:22:29Guest:Yeah.

01:22:30Guest:But I just want to be judged for my performance.

01:22:32Guest:Like, am I funny?

01:22:33Guest:Am I not funny?

01:22:34Guest:Yeah.

01:22:34Guest:Like when you go do your show, you don't get judged by like, oh, Mark Maron's a good white man or a bad white man.

01:22:40Guest:Yeah.

01:22:40Guest:It's just either Mark Maron's a good actor or a bad actor.

01:22:43Guest:Yeah.

01:22:43Guest:I want that.

01:22:44Guest:Right.

01:22:45Guest:I don't want to have to worry about being that.

01:22:47Guest:But I get where that's coming from.

01:22:48Guest:Right.

01:22:48Guest:Because each of us carries so much weight when we are on screen because we're one of the few.

01:22:53Guest:So now it's just all of you.

01:22:55Guest:This is all of us.

01:22:56Guest:I could just be as crazy, as funny, as ridiculous as I want.

01:23:00Guest:And it just felt so fucking good, man.

01:23:01Guest:Yeah.

01:23:02Guest:And we shot in Malaysia and Singapore and everybody was on the same page, dude.

01:23:05Guest:That was like me finding my creed again, you know, in the acting community.

01:23:09Guest:Everybody had parents that didn't wish they were actors.

01:23:13Guest:Everybody down to eat

01:23:14Guest:food in a way that you know i don't have to convince it's like mark if i come to you i'm like hey mark let's go get some chinese food i have to kind of convince you i'm like this place is cool you're gonna like it it's not gonna be some weird shit you can handle it yeah but no over there we all just down to like try the you know whatever authentic stuff and all that yeah and you got you know the best asian people from uh uh australian asians american asians singaporean asians and we all in the lobby of this hotel in fucking singapore yeah

01:23:42Guest:It was incredible.

01:23:43Guest:Yeah.

01:23:44Guest:Because I don't know about you, but every show I've done, every movie I've done, even Silicon Valley, I've been there for five years.

01:23:49Guest:I have two people that I'm actually close with that I hang out with.

01:23:51Guest:Mike Judge, TJ, that we actually talk, we hang out.

01:23:54Guest:Everybody else, very nice, friendly.

01:23:56Guest:We're acquaintances.

01:23:56Guest:We work together.

01:23:57Guest:We're colleagues.

01:23:58Guest:Right.

01:23:58Guest:But on this Crazy Rich Asians, we're like family.

01:24:01Guest:Yeah.

01:24:01Guest:Like I'm going to the director's wedding next week.

01:24:03Guest:Oh, wow.

01:24:04Guest:You know, and every time somebody come from England and they're in the movie, we hang out.

01:24:09Guest:Yeah.

01:24:09Guest:You can crash my house.

01:24:10Guest:I can crash your house.

01:24:11Guest:Yeah.

01:24:11Guest:We're just family, man.

01:24:12Guest:That's great.

01:24:12Guest:They're just such an understanding.

01:24:14Guest:That's exciting.

01:24:15Guest:I'm excited for the movie.

01:24:16Guest:Open soon, right?

01:24:17Guest:August 15th, and it's actually just a fun, nice movie.

01:24:22Marc:Yeah, it sounds great.

01:24:23Marc:I love Ken.

01:24:24Guest:Yeah, he's so funny.

01:24:26Guest:He's funny.

01:24:26Guest:And you don't have to be Asian to watch it, man.

01:24:28Guest:It's just so fucking fun, and it just feels warm and fuzzy, I think, for everyone.

01:24:33Guest:It makes you cry.

01:24:33Guest:It makes you laugh, so I think it's going to be great.

01:24:35Marc:Oh, that's great to hear.

01:24:36Marc:It sounds like a great experience.

01:24:38Marc:And you're working with Steve Byrne on that thing?

01:24:40Guest:Yeah.

01:24:40Marc:You just finished that?

01:24:41Marc:The opening act.

01:24:42Marc:How'd that come out, you think?

01:24:42Marc:How'd that feel?

01:24:44Guest:We just wrapped yesterday, actually.

01:24:46Guest:I'm completely exhausted.

01:24:48Guest:It's his story, right?

01:24:51Guest:It's his story, a very detailed look into stand-up comedy.

01:24:55Guest:It's a movie, so...

01:24:58Guest:And some great, great comics.

01:25:01Guest:Cedric the Entertainer, Alex Moffat from SNL, Russell Peters, Brett Ernst was there yesterday, Ken Jeong's in it.

01:25:09Guest:I mean, just every who's who.

01:25:12Marc:That's great.

01:25:13Marc:Yeah.

01:25:13Marc:Well, I'm glad, you know, because he did the TV show.

01:25:15Marc:He keeps plugging away, Steve.

01:25:17Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:25:17Guest:And you like the script.

01:25:19Guest:I like the script.

01:25:19Guest:It was very heartfelt.

01:25:20Guest:Very honest.

01:25:21Guest:As a stand-up, I think it will make you feel some kind of way.

01:25:26Guest:And also, it gives a normal audience a really in-depth look.

01:25:30Guest:It's called the opening act.

01:25:31Guest:So, the movie takes place throughout the whole weekend of this guy, me, my first weekend.

01:25:39Guest:Yeah.

01:25:40Guest:at a comedy club, at an improv.

01:25:42Guest:Uh-huh.

01:25:42Guest:You know, just trying tribulation, like trying to impress the headliner.

01:25:45Guest:Right.

01:25:45Guest:Trying to, should I go out drinking or not?

01:25:48Guest:Yeah.

01:25:48Guest:Should I quit my job back home?

01:25:49Guest:Stuff like that.

01:25:50Guest:And it's in depth.

01:25:51Guest:The whole movie, it's just this one weekend from Thursday to Sunday.

01:25:55Guest:Oh, okay.

01:25:56Guest:And I think it turned out great.

01:25:57Guest:It's my first time playing a lead, so I was really fucking stoked for it.

01:26:01Guest:But it's an indie, so it was exhausting.

01:26:03Guest:Yeah.

01:26:03Guest:19 days, 12 hour days.

01:26:05Guest:I was in every fucking scene.

01:26:06Guest:Yep.

01:26:07Guest:And...

01:26:07Guest:I mean, I'm completely spent, but it's something I think we can all be proud of.

01:26:12Guest:And hopefully looking back, we'll all be happy about it.

01:26:15Marc:Great, man.

01:26:16Marc:And the book is out, How to American.

01:26:19Marc:And it's great.

01:26:20Marc:You got a lot going on.

01:26:21Marc:It's great talking to you.

01:26:22Marc:It was real fun.

01:26:23Marc:Thank you, Mark.

01:26:23Marc:Thanks, buddy.

01:26:24Marc:Appreciate it.

01:26:30Marc:That was Jimmy O. Yang.

01:26:32Marc:Funny guy, quirky guy, smart guy.

01:26:34Marc:Very engaging.

01:26:35Marc:I enjoyed that conversation immensely.

01:26:38Marc:Again, the Beacon Theater tickets are on sale to the general public starting Monday at 10 a.m.

01:26:43Marc:Eastern.

01:26:44Marc:Also, new shirts are available now at podswag.com slash WTF or the merch page at WTFpod.com.

01:26:52Marc:And that's what happens.

01:26:54Marc:That's where we're at today.

01:26:56Marc:That's it.

01:26:58Marc:All right?

01:27:00Marc:Maybe I'll play something.

01:27:01Marc:I've got the other guitar out here.

01:27:02Marc:There's something wrong with my arm, man.

01:27:12guitar solo

01:27:42Guest:Boomer lives!