#1490 - Jimmy O. Yang

[0] Hey, what's up, brother?

[1] What's up, Joe?

[2] It's great seeing you.

[3] It's great seeing a fellow comedian that I don't think I've been inside a comedy club I've seen any comedian for two months now.

[4] It's weird.

[5] It's like they're trying to get it out of our system.

[6] Like, they're trying to, like, if we're junkies, if we're comedy junkies, we've gone through a rehab.

[7] You have to live like a regular person for months.

[8] It's tough.

[9] I mean, I've gotten past a phase of like, because back in the day, if I didn't do stand -up for a week, I'll get depressed because there's nothing else going on in my life.

[10] But now I got other stuff going I can do writing whatever But I feel bad for like the road guys And the open micers that's just coming up Oh yeah And I'm sure you've gotten this Are a lot of people inviting you to do virtual Virtual stand -up comedy shows on Zoom Yeah they can eat shit That is the worst idea on the fucking planet Bro even great comics look terrible on those And they can record you Whatever exactly And you record you looking terrible bombing.

[11] It's just not the right place.

[12] It's like, let's play basketball underwater.

[13] Now that doesn't work.

[14] But that shows you how desperate people are.

[15] They would put their whole material on the line to do virtual, no real people audience just to get their rocks off.

[16] Dave Chappelle's got a very unique solution.

[17] He's doing some shit in his backyard.

[18] He sent me, well, not his backyard.

[19] His friend has a wedding pavilion.

[20] So he set up this thing.

[21] at a wedding pavilion.

[22] All of it is COVID safe.

[23] Look at that.

[24] That's Dave on stage in Ohio at a wedding pavilion.

[25] Oh, wow, dude.

[26] That's awesome.

[27] That's be where people would get married.

[28] Dave's up there doing stand -up.

[29] Yeah, well, he's so good.

[30] He doesn't need, like, a low ceiling, you know, pack seats.

[31] He just needs a crowd.

[32] And, you know, he also, I think he's just, he just figured out how to improvise.

[33] He's like, there's got to be a way to get it.

[34] around this i'm going crazy yeah there's got to be a way and doing it outside separating everybody following all the covid requirements the governor actually had approved this oh really yeah yeah he's in ohio so the governor of ohio approved all this when didn't this happen like recently he's just doing he just started doing it he texted me a couple days ago saying it was going to take like four days to work the kinks out we're making history over here joe rogan yeah and then you know next thing you know he's off and run it.

[35] This, I mean, comedy clubs probably got to be the last thing to open up, right?

[36] No, not the last thing.

[37] I think like Staples Center, shit like that, arenas, big places, that's going to be the last thing.

[38] Restaurants are slowly starting do.

[39] There it is.

[40] Boom.

[41] What is this?

[42] Brooklyn vegan?

[43] Very reputable site.

[44] Don't shoot the messenger.

[45] I understand.

[46] It's just like, boy, is that fraught with peril.

[47] People that have are really into being from Brooklyn and people that are really into telling you they're a vegan, together at last.

[48] Speaking of improvisation, I'm always very jealous because I think my buddy Ben Schwartz and Thomas Midditch, they did improvising show on Netflix, right?

[49] And that is like the ultimate hack to people like us that take, like my first special took me 10 years.

[50] And now these guys can crank out five in a day because it's improvised.

[51] I'm like, what are we doing here?

[52] well i remember the first time i saw you was at the improv i saw you kill in that little tiny room of death that that lab is death everybody eats shit in that lab that is the worst ever since they remodeled it that lap half the room is a bar yes and then there's pillars in the front of the stage and right next to you is where the door is so people are coming in the door there's all those chit -chat and talking and buying tickets it's right there but you were killing and i was like damn this dude's legit funny because you have to be legit funny to killing that bizarre and I've seen a lot of people eat shit in that room I've seen a lot of people eat shit in that room it's a tough room and sometimes um you you want to start in that small room and then do another set in a big room so you go home happy I did the wrong way that's the worst feeling room then I came to a little room it was like 10 people in there and ate shit yeah and then you first said you're completely forgotten and then you're just like well I'm a piece of shit and I can't do stand -up not only that I strolled in cocky because I just killed I'm like I know how to kill.

[53] Yeah, yeah.

[54] Fucking professional here.

[55] Went up and then bombed.

[56] Yeah, it's just a terrible setup.

[57] They know it, though.

[58] They've remodeled that improv more than any other fucking club I've ever even heard of.

[59] Why?

[60] The old setup was fine.

[61] They don't listen.

[62] They just say, I got an idea.

[63] And then everybody goes, okay, great.

[64] So, like, they put a new green room that you have to duck to get into.

[65] Have you seen that new green room that's upstairs that no one's ever going to use ever?

[66] Yeah.

[67] And then you go down the stairs from that new green room and it takes you right to where the stage is.

[68] Wait, the...

[69] The one with the piano and stuff?

[70] No, that's the other green room.

[71] Okay.

[72] No, I haven't seen the other one.

[73] There's two fucking green rooms.

[74] Huh.

[75] It's the dumbest setup of all time.

[76] The main room is a great room, though.

[77] Great room.

[78] It's one of the all -time classic rooms.

[79] They haven't fucked that up.

[80] I still think the improv, in L .A., it's my favorite place.

[81] It's a great place.

[82] Yeah, and they show me love, like, early on.

[83] You know, it's really, like, Paige has been great.

[84] Page and Rita are awesome.

[85] They're the salt of the earth, both those people.

[86] It's a nice environment.

[87] It just was weird that you had to kind of, wait in the hallway before you go on stage and so you kind of got molested by weirdos who'd come out and ask your questions and shit while you're trying to get your head together Well sometimes as a single guy That's actually that might be the good move though You know I mean laugh factory You do your set you get the fuck out Right you don't get to meet nobody You know improv you do your set You hang out the bar And then you know some girls come talk to you Like you know you have to swim through some weirdos You do have to swim through weirdos It's fine And some dudes will just wedge themselves between you and a girl, too, right?

[88] If you were trying to chit -chat with a lady, they'd go, hey, Jimmy, hi, Jimmy, you were really funny.

[89] I've got to talk to you about something.

[90] I'm starting a virtual comedy club, and I'd love to have you be a part of it.

[91] There's been a lot of pitches that I inadvertently said yes to because I was half drunk at the bar.

[92] It's like, hey, man, let me tell you about the show in Silver Lake.

[93] It's kind of near Echo Park, but really it's in Boyle Heights.

[94] But great open mic, man. You know, Jamie Kennedy's done it.

[95] You got to come do it.

[96] I was like, sure, why don't you send me an email?

[97] And then the next email I get, I completely forgot about the interaction.

[98] Next email I get, he's like, so I got you on the show May 15, man. So are you good?

[99] You're going to do 15, and I'm like, well.

[100] I'm out of town.

[101] Well, I can't say that because I'm like, did I agree to this?

[102] Because I don't remember I was drunk.

[103] So I was like, sure, I'll come.

[104] And I get suckered into these terrible things.

[105] Yeah, you got to know how to say no. It's very important.

[106] Yeah.

[107] It's very important.

[108] Well, that's the thing about like the open mic community.

[109] There's always some dues, got some kind of a bringer show that they're putting something together, and it's always, it's usually it's okay.

[110] It's good at seasoning.

[111] You get on stage, you do a little set.

[112] You know, at any stage of the game, it's always good to get on stage in weird crowds.

[113] Yeah.

[114] But the problem with a lot of those shows is you'll go on after like two or three people that are death.

[115] There is no comedy left in life and you'll be convinced that nothing is funny.

[116] It's impossible to be funny.

[117] Yeah.

[118] Do you know what I'm saying?

[119] Like you see someone really, really, really bad?

[120] And, like, there's nothing to comedy.

[121] Comedy doesn't work.

[122] Because there's so many, I guess, approach to this, right?

[123] Like, I think there's one that's, like, you know, you don't want to follow someone that's too strong.

[124] Like, if I go on stage after Chappelle, kind of fucked, you know.

[125] He's both strong and super famous.

[126] Yes.

[127] It's a double hammer.

[128] Yeah.

[129] Like, people will be leaving, you know, the store or whatever.

[130] Yeah.

[131] But also, there's the other side of it, it's you want to ride a wave.

[132] Yeah.

[133] If somebody that's doing well, you want to go in there and ride that.

[134] wave but then the opposite of it is if somebody is bad you can go on you can kill it and then the crowd believes in you but if somebody is too terrible then it's dead like you have to spend your first five minutes just doing crowd work one of the signs of a terrible headliner is when they bring really bad openers just so they look really good yes they don't want anybody stealing their thunder so they're being like just complete scrubs that fucks me up though you know me too i for For me, my opener is more about energy.

[135] I want somebody's energy that matches my level, but it's funny.

[136] Or somebody that's kind of lower energy, but really smart and good.

[137] Because if you have somebody that goes super big, that's kind of hard for me to do an hour of that same energy.

[138] You know what the worst is?

[139] The guy before he does music.

[140] Oh, no. You know that shit when they start doing songs?

[141] They have songs for shit?

[142] Oh, my God.

[143] I never cared about an opening song.

[144] You know a DJ when you go on the road.

[145] It's like, hey, what song you want to come up to?

[146] I'm like, whatever.

[147] Just play some top 40 hip hop.

[148] Doesn't matter, right?

[149] But then one of my openers has a very specific trick daddy song.

[150] I got a shout out to my boy Derek Keener.

[151] Hilarious guy, right?

[152] He has a very energetic trick daddy song, and that bit kills.

[153] And it's kind of dirty, and it's cool.

[154] And I'm like, shit, I got to set my game up.

[155] Because if my opener is going up with a killer song, and I walk up the stage with nothing, you know, it just doesn't seem.

[156] Right.

[157] In the early 2000s, the late 90s, early 2000s, a lot of guys would have funny raps and they would close with a rap, like a rap parody, a hilarious rap.

[158] So things rhyme.

[159] They're loud.

[160] There's a lot of gesturing.

[161] And they're like, thank you, good night.

[162] And then you'd have to go up.

[163] So I talked to my mom today.

[164] I remember I used to do a bunch of urban clubs and Jay Spot.

[165] Remember J -Spot?

[166] Isn't that a funny name, Urban?

[167] Urban.

[168] All club.

[169] Should I say black club?

[170] Yeah, I guess it's a black club.

[171] Urban may be more offensive.

[172] I don't know.

[173] But they call themselves urban clubs.

[174] I know, but isn't that weird?

[175] That is weird.

[176] Why urban?

[177] It's a code word for black, right?

[178] It's a weird code because it also means a city.

[179] Like, all clubs are in cities.

[180] When the fuck was you, you ever done a club in the woods?

[181] Right?

[182] Clubs aren't rural?

[183] It's like the word urban and inner city for some reason.

[184] Right?

[185] Isn't that kind of the same thing?

[186] But I mean, like, there's urban clubs in L .A. that are just downtown.

[187] Oh.

[188] Right?

[189] Isn't that that one, what is that one club?

[190] Garrett Morris's club back in the day?

[191] No, there's a club downtown.

[192] That's a black club.

[193] It's supposed to be real good.

[194] I don't remember.

[195] But it's just the term urban.

[196] It's just very weird.

[197] I remember, so when I did the J -Spot, I don't know if it's still there.

[198] The J -Spot, it's opened by J. Ann.

[199] Brown.

[200] I was pretty, very green, you know, and it was on top of Yoshinoa, but it's a popping club, right?

[201] I remember DJ come up to me. My set was like 15 minutes.

[202] He was like, you got any music cues?

[203] I was like, no, just play whatever.

[204] He was like, are you sure?

[205] I was like, no, I don't have any music.

[206] He was like, you don't want me to play anything in your set?

[207] I was like, no, why would you do that?

[208] And then I realized I watched all the other comics.

[209] Everybody had like five music skits, and the crowd loved it, and they were killing it.

[210] And then I won.

[211] up was just trying to do my observational humor and just ate shit you know because it's just if everybody's doing it you're not like you're at a complete disadvantage yeah this is a famous story about Mitch headberg Mitch headberg was on the road in Ohio and he was doing this club and uh for whatever reason the manager of the club decided to book this guy who was like super high energy and he had music and I think he did like acrobatics on stage and shit like crazy stuff and got everybody riled up and then Mitch would go on there hey man and everything was like and he was bombing and they wanted to switch Mitch with him and pay him less money and it was like this big fucking deal it's like no man you fucked up it's not like Mitch isn't great you do you run a comedy club well you know who Mitch Headberg is you know he's great yeah why are you having a guy who does backflips to fucking bass beats before him you can't do that you ever do the comedy magic club Sure.

[212] One of my favorite clubs.

[213] You know, they have 10 comedians on there, but sometimes you've got to follow a magician or a juggler.

[214] Yes.

[215] You know?

[216] I stopped doing that there.

[217] I said, listen, we had a bunch of issues there.

[218] One issue, they would not let me bring up Joey Diaz.

[219] Oh, because he's not clean.

[220] He's too dirty.

[221] But I'm dirty too, but I'm like, whatever, for whatever reason I can get away with it for him.

[222] So I love the guy to death.

[223] Mike's the best, but he wouldn't let Joey go up because I love him.

[224] He's just not, my crowd is just this and that.

[225] Like, your crowd is people.

[226] They're humans.

[227] They come to see me. Trust me. It is a different crowd, and I do kind of like it, because if you just run your set at the improv or the factory or whatever, right, and then you take it on the road, sometimes it doesn't translate.

[228] But the comedy magic crowd is like almost like a Midwest white crowd, which is nice.

[229] They're the opposite of urban.

[230] Yes.

[231] What is that?

[232] There should be a code word for a white crowd.

[233] Suburb, like suburban crown?

[234] they're like gated beach community crowd yeah the one percent are in crowd older too they're like Jay Leno fans yeah yeah because Jay Leno used to work out his tonight show set every Sunday night there that was his thing he used to go there and he had all his monologue shit and he would work it out at the Comedy Magic Club on Sunday night yeah they're definitely I mean it really helped me because Richard and Mike gave me a lot of stage time coming up and they're great folks They're really nice.

[235] And the club is ran so...

[236] They actually care about the comics.

[237] Like, usually, you know, you do the improv.

[238] And there's no knock to the improv, but you got to sign a W -9 and give you five bucks in cash.

[239] That's just the way it is at the improv, right?

[240] And then you go to Comedy Magic Club.

[241] It's, I think, $50 a set, which is very nice for like...

[242] A quick set.

[243] Yeah, for like a quick set.

[244] But then if you do it on Valentine's Day, they don't tell you, hey, we're going to pay you whatever.

[245] They just come down, do Valentine's Day, because we like you.

[246] But they sell these Valentine's Day packages.

[247] And then at the end of the day, I think I opened up a check.

[248] It was like $1 ,000.

[249] They just gave all of us a $1 ,000 checks.

[250] It was like really, really nice for a comic that really needs it.

[251] The food there is really good.

[252] Real filet mignon in the comedy club.

[253] Yeah, like a real restaurant that you would go to.

[254] You'd go there as a restaurant.

[255] Yeah, yeah.

[256] That was a great spot.

[257] But it is, I don't know.

[258] It's white.

[259] It's too white.

[260] I tell my stories, like my Asian stories or whatever.

[261] But, like, you can tell, like, people come up doing, like, hey, man, that was funny.

[262] But, like, you know, like, when they talk to themselves, they're like, yeah, that Asian, that Oriental boy kind of funny.

[263] Like, you know, you know there's some kind of that going on.

[264] Like, I am so foreign to them that they found it refreshing.

[265] They're like, I can't believe that Oriental boy spoke English that way.

[266] You kind of get that vibe over there, you know.

[267] Isn't it funny that Oriental became, like, taboo?

[268] Like, the term Oriental.

[269] It's a weird one.

[270] And people that say Oriental, they never mean harm.

[271] No, they're just old.

[272] They always, they're old.

[273] Like, it's my buddies' fathers in high school.

[274] Yeah.

[275] They're like, so you and your Oriental parents, you guys, like, they're trying to be so PC.

[276] It's like when people call black people African Americans because they're too careful, you know, and that's, like, kind of weird, you know?

[277] Right.

[278] Yeah, I don't love it.

[279] Yeah, it's just, I mean, what do you?

[280] Jamaicans are tech like someone who comes from Jamaica and lives in America I mean I guess technically you'd be in African America because Africans went to Jamaica first right and then to America it's odd yeah it's all weird man it's all but just to like for Asian folks like also people get upset if you can't make the distinction yes Asians have a lot of beef amongst each other.

[281] Joe Koi has a great bit about that.

[282] There's a hierarchy for sure.

[283] What's the top of the food chain?

[284] Putting me in a spot here, but I think, look, this is, I think generally, it's you have your main, like, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and then they sometimes look down at the Southeast Asians, so whatever, Filipino, Thai, whatever.

[285] Vietnamese.

[286] Probably.

[287] But then if you call.

[288] a Chinese person Japanese to get pissed, but if you call it Japanese, I don't know the exact thing.

[289] But it could get ugly.

[290] It could.

[291] And I mean, it's not just country to country.

[292] It could be like my parents, they're from Shanghai, you know, which is a very metropolitan, like Manhattan of China.

[293] So they have an elitid syndrome to them.

[294] And they look down at people from the South China or whatever.

[295] And then I grew up in Hong Kong, which was a British colony, right?

[296] And it's a very different government, we're a little more, I guess, progressive or whatever, just a different city -state.

[297] So Hong Kong people has elitist syndrome towards mainland Chinese people.

[298] My dad came from Shanghai to Hong Kong, so he spoke Cantonese, which is the local Hong Kong dialect with a Mandarin, like a mainland guy accent, and they would always make fun of him as like the mainland guy.

[299] Yeah.

[300] How does it, like when you're seeing what's going on with Hong Kong right now, you're.

[301] where they're losing their autonomy to China.

[302] Is that freak you out?

[303] Is it crazy?

[304] Well, yeah, it's very disheartening.

[305] But I think my dad saw that coming.

[306] Yeah.

[307] You know, we moved here when I was 13, the year 2000.

[308] That was three years after the British gave Hong Kong back to China after the 100 -year treaty.

[309] Yeah.

[310] I guess they're like nice colonizers.

[311] They're like, we're going to colonize you, but just 100 years, and here you can have.

[312] it back you know it seems like it's going downhill the riots in the streets or excuse me the protest because they're extremely polite protests it's like the way they part the street for an ambulance is amazing it's tough and and i think that's one of the main reasons aside from education and all that just more opportunities in america that was probably one of the main reasons why my family wanted to move out of hong kong you know to america they saw it coming they saw because my dad grew up 50s 60s communist revolution motherfuckers were killed kick down your door and take everything, both of my grandparents went to jail from both sides because they were intellectuals.

[313] I believe my father's father, my grandfather, was like a chemistry teacher, and he was considered an intellectual, and he went to jail.

[314] So they put him to jail just because he was intellectual?

[315] I believe so.

[316] I don't know the exact story, but then I know uncles that were like talking shit that also went to jail.

[317] A lot of people went to jail, dude.

[318] So they went to jail because they were complaining?

[319] I think it's a mixture of things.

[320] Yeah, they just fucking throw you in jail and they kick down your door and take your shit look now now I said that I can never do a movie in China anymore I'm sure I'm banned because you just said that yeah but who knows but it's it's I I get look I don't ever try to get political in my stand -up or whatever but I get mad when I see hipsters in their house having Chairman Mao posters or like wearing Chairman Mao T -shirts and shit chairman Mao killed a lot of people man that's like on the other side of spectrum you have like a fucking Hitler poster in your house but somehow that's cool right right right you know like it wasn't because all I know I don't know history that well but I know the stories that my parents told me during a communist revolution how they got fucked over there's something about Mao that's like it's intriguing for people that just look at it on the surface right like uh same thing with Che Guevara like he looks cool right cool looking like love revolutionary oh yeah murderer yeah murderer yeah murderer genocidal murderer.

[321] Tiana Square.

[322] Yeah, right.

[323] You know, that was after mile, I think.

[324] That was a...

[325] But still, communist dictatorship.

[326] And it's in a weird place now, right?

[327] Because it's capitalist, but it's capitalists really run by this communist government.

[328] Like, the communist government and the businesses are completely intertwined.

[329] It's interesting because they can make policies.

[330] They're less red tape because they can make policies faster because the government, whatever they say, it just goes.

[331] Yeah.

[332] But then I guess you hope that it's a decent person.

[333] you know, in control.

[334] That's the fear that people have here in the United States of competing with China is that China has these advantages because their businesses are so, their corporations are so intertwined with the government that we might do the same thing here.

[335] I mean, it's just, it's a weird sort of slippery slope as sort of laws and all your different rights get eroded.

[336] You get closer and closer to the government being in control of things.

[337] Like these new laws that they've passed recently where the government can just look into your internet searching with no warrant whatsoever.

[338] This was something that, I don't know if you know about this, part of the Patriot Act, that this was one of the things that people were furious at Senator Sanders.

[339] Because Bernie Sanders didn't, he wasn't there, he didn't show up for the vote.

[340] And if he had shown up and voted the other way, it wouldn't have passed.

[341] Why did he show up?

[342] He won't comment.

[343] Oh, wow.

[344] He won't.

[345] He's been reached out for, to comment.

[346] on it, he won't comment on it, but it's very disheartening.

[347] And a lot of people who are progressives are furious at them, and they feel very, very betrayed by this.

[348] Because now, no one even knows.

[349] Like, well, you didn't know, right?

[350] Most people don't even know.

[351] Well, the government can now look at all your dirty little searches.

[352] I don't care about that, though.

[353] Like, but you should care.

[354] It's a slippery slope, right?

[355] Is that the fear?

[356] Well, here's the fear.

[357] The government is just people.

[358] You know, I don't want any, I don't think like I should be able to just go look and at Jamie's search?

[359] Like just for whatever reason, I know Jamie's at home.

[360] What if I have some code?

[361] I can go just look.

[362] What is Jamie looking at?

[363] What is he searching for?

[364] That's creepy.

[365] Right?

[366] It's creepy.

[367] Like, privacy is privacy.

[368] It's important.

[369] You should be able to reveal what you want to reveal.

[370] And if the government, which is just a bunch of people, can peer into your life, but you can't peer into their life, it sets up abuse.

[371] It's the same, like, it's power.

[372] It's the same thing you see with cops, right?

[373] All this shit that you see with cops.

[374] For sure, racism is involved.

[375] But you know what else is involved?

[376] Power.

[377] When you see that that old man get thrown to the ground, the one that Trump said is fake in it.

[378] That bashed his head, yeah.

[379] Bleeding out of his fucking head.

[380] And Trump's like, very good actor, by the way.

[381] I mean, that's what Trump said.

[382] He said, he seemed to have fallen too easily.

[383] But yeah, he's fucking dead.

[384] He's an old man. Oh, God.

[385] The fact that he said that is this might be in Tifa, like, what?

[386] All of these conspiracy theories out there.

[387] an actor I must say if any of these people are conspiracy guys they're a they're fucking Daniel Day Lewis like they are great actors like you know like certain times I even send like dumb YouTube videos of there's a funny YouTube video of somebody's girlfriend leading his 2k NBA account and and he just destroyed you can tell it took everything for him like not to like hit her or like whatever right he just he was just destroyed he was crying And then some of my buddy's like, I don't know, man, that's fake, dude.

[388] I was like, yo, that guy is a fucking Emmy Award Oscar winning actor if that shit is fake, because that is not easy to do.

[389] No, people think everything is fake.

[390] They think so many things are fake.

[391] So many people have sent me things that you think this is fake?

[392] I'm like, oh, Jesus Christ.

[393] Yeah, yeah.

[394] Some things are fake.

[395] That old man falling the way he did and bouncing his head off the fucking concrete in the middle of a huge protest.

[396] Yeah, that was real, dude.

[397] Yeah.

[398] That's real.

[399] That's what happens when you push an old man. That's the fact that this is the president of the United States say that.

[400] Like, hey, bro, you would fall that way too.

[401] He's a Meisner trained actor and he has a blood pack in the back of his head.

[402] Like how can that?

[403] Like a pro wrestler.

[404] Like how?

[405] Yeah.

[406] He fell onto a mat that was placed there in advance.

[407] He cut himself with razors for years so that wound bleeds easy.

[408] I don't fucking.

[409] You can hear the guy's head bounce off the ground.

[410] Oh, yikes.

[411] Yeah, it's a thunk.

[412] There's a hollow coconut -like thunk when someone's head bouncing.

[413] ounces off concrete.

[414] It's fucking terrible.

[415] But the fact that the President of the United States didn't just think that, but he thought it would be a good idea to tweet that.

[416] Like, he's falling apart.

[417] All this protest shit, he's falling apart.

[418] And also the fact that they denied that they used tear gas to clear out that square so that he can go to the church.

[419] Like, hey man, there's video.

[420] There's video of tear gas.

[421] You know, oh, you want to call it, it's pepper gas.

[422] Okay, you know what?

[423] Yeah.

[424] That pepper gas they're using, you're not allowed to use that in war.

[425] Yeah.

[426] You know that?

[427] Really?

[428] Yeah, you're not allowed to use that shit in war.

[429] You can't use tear gas and it violates the Geneva Convention.

[430] It's like a bio -bio thing.

[431] Google that.

[432] Make sure I'm right about that, but I'm pretty sure I'm right.

[433] I'm pretty sure the argument that they're making is you can't use tear gas in war, but you should be able to use it in protests.

[434] And these cops are shooting rubber bullets and, you know, people are losing their fucking eyes.

[435] Here it is.

[436] The military is banned from using tear gas on the battlefield, but police can use it on crowds at home.

[437] here's why, and this is on CNN.

[438] Just think about that.

[439] The military is fucking banned from using this, but you're using it on civilians that just want to protest the torture death of a guy who was being detained by a cop who had a 14 year history of being a piece of shit.

[440] And dozens of, I mean, he had more than a dozen complaints of abusive behavior.

[441] And they're going to use tear gas in these people and just shoot rubber bullets randomly at folks.

[442] I don't know what it takes.

[443] What is the lowest comp denominator?

[444] Like, he has to murder someone like in front of you?

[445] And people will still be like, oh, yeah, yeah, or whatever.

[446] I think he's on the way out.

[447] I think it's slowly but surely, like stuff like this, he can't help himself.

[448] And under pressure, when people are angry at him because of all this, and I think it's kind of crazy, but one of the big things that started it off where he really lost his composure was all that shit that he said about Lysol.

[449] Like maybe we'd get disinfectant and put it in the body, a cleansing.

[450] When he started doing that and then the next day, they were asking him about it.

[451] I was being sarcastic to see how your reporters would call on it.

[452] Like, no, you weren't.

[453] You were rambling.

[454] Like, I've done that before.

[455] I've caught rambling, but I would say, the fuck am I talking about.

[456] I don't know how you use Lysol on a person.

[457] Why am I saying this?

[458] He's pitching.

[459] He's pitching as if, like, you're in the writer's room and he's like, yeah, if you try this idea?

[460] You know, what about you pair this character with that character?

[461] But you don't do that as the president in public about health issues.

[462] See, look at this.

[463] CDC, some Americans are gargling with bleach or putting it on food to fight COVID -19.

[464] Isn't that real?

[465] Really?

[466] I read, they did like a survey of a couple thousand people and somewhere in the range of like 4 % of people admitted to gargling and or washing stuff with bleach.

[467] Well, this is Darwinism.

[468] Yeah.

[469] Yeah, this is, if you're over 18, go do it.

[470] No, no way, but don't say that, Joe.

[471] If you're younger and you're young and you don't know any better, you're just, you're not uneducated.

[472] But at a certain age, like, you should know not to fucking gargle with bleach, right?

[473] Tide pot challenge all over again.

[474] Yeah, it's tied pot challenge, but it'll kill you.

[475] It's interesting, even, like, I stay off Twitter, all of that stuff.

[476] I don't talk about.

[477] Thank you.

[478] It's tough.

[479] I think I'm going to delete my Twitter account.

[480] It's so toxic these days.

[481] I'm in a tweet thread, or a text thread, rather, with a couple of comedians, and they'll send me the most egregious, ridiculous things that are going on on Twitter or people arguing about all kinds of crazy shit.

[482] And I'm like, man, this is toxic.

[483] Like, you're reading into these, a lot of these people have, like, severe depression and mental health issues, and they're lashing out at people, and they have these, like, witch hunts.

[484] And they go after folks for jokes from.

[485] 14 years ago and attacked them and put up screenshots and and they think there's somehow or another like doing something positive and did you do a Twitter scrub of like old tweets deleting I did that I mean I see every day the actors getting fired and shit none of my stuff was like terrible but it was just like bad jokes well the problem is with us in particular we say the most ridiculous shit to each other all the time yes and then Twitter was like a lot of it was like trying jokes out And a lot of it was like you had a hot take on something that was ridiculous and you knew it was offensive Yeah, but you're only saying it for fun.

[486] Yeah.

[487] And then people take those things out of context and they pretend that it's like your real feelings and thoughts.

[488] Like these are jokes.

[489] People say ridiculous shit that they don't really mean because they want to get you to laugh.

[490] That's all it is.

[491] And if you take those out of context, it can look pretty bad.

[492] If I'm like you're like a pretty pure comedian, you know, I have to kind of, you know, I have to kind of, I act and stuff, and that is a totally different world.

[493] That world sucks.

[494] Because you can't really say anything.

[495] So even when I do stand, like, what the fuck?

[496] What am I supposed to say?

[497] Like, I can only, I've learned, my lane is only telling my stories.

[498] You can't argue with that.

[499] Right.

[500] Like, if I'm just telling you stories about my father or like me growing up in Hong Kong.

[501] Exactly.

[502] What are you going to say?

[503] I'm a fucking asshole because I'm telling my, because I grew up a certain way.

[504] Like, so that's the only thing that I found Elaine that I guess people can't.

[505] For now, they can't.

[506] For now.

[507] But as things get more and more ridiculous, eventually one day they'll be able to get mad at you for that.

[508] Like, they just, once everything's been cleared out and people have been purified, they just move the goalposts.

[509] Yeah.

[510] And they find some new thing that's offensive to say or do.

[511] There's things that people are getting fired for today that three months ago you could say easily and people would agree with you.

[512] It's just weird, man. Say it to your friends.

[513] Don't tweet about it.

[514] I guess it's the lesson.

[515] Well, the thing is a lot of people tweeted.

[516] And, you know, fucking 2008, they tweeted it.

[517] And then someone will go back and find it 12 years later, and you get in trouble.

[518] And you get fired.

[519] People are getting fired for old tweets.

[520] Like, I'm really glad.

[521] I don't have a job job, like where someone hires me or fires me. Because just I've said a million things in the podcast, drunk or high or talking shit with comedians, where you're just trying to make it to laugh and say stupid shit.

[522] Yeah.

[523] And, you know, and then if you take that out of car, if you don't see the whole podcast and get the vibe of how we talk.

[524] in the conversation, you just make a snippet out of it.

[525] You can make someone look like a real piece of shit.

[526] But it's disingenuous.

[527] It's disingenuous.

[528] It's deceptive.

[529] They know what they're doing.

[530] They know that they're trying to paint a very distorted perception of who these people are when they're taking their tweets and taking them out of context and putting them up there and trying to get them canceled.

[531] They have rocks.

[532] It's just like a looter in a lot of ways.

[533] Like they have rocks and there's a window and they want to throw a rock in a window.

[534] You know, how the military high...

[535] hackers to hack into their own system to see how vulnerable they are.

[536] I think there should be a new job out there for comedians, celebrities, to hire these Twitter people to see if they can dig up any dirt.

[537] And I'll give them $5 grand if you can find anything.

[538] Right, just to prevent some sort of tweet storm against you.

[539] That's a good idea, actually.

[540] That's actually a good idea for actors.

[541] Like, they should do that before.

[542] Well, I know they do do that now when they hire someone for any sort of prominent whether it's you're going to be on the today's show or you're going to host some show or you're going to be a sitcom actor they'll check your fucking tweets down they want to make sure that they're not in high especially if you're a comic right they look at us like we're criminals they look at us like what do you do what have been up to what do you've been doing when no one's looking what do you've been writing on your own you fucking weirdo yeah trying to make people laugh you're ridiculous shit that's why the virtual shows are the worst imagine trying a joke on Zoom, they record it.

[543] You get canceled off a Zoom virtual show?

[544] It could happen.

[545] It could happen.

[546] Yeah.

[547] Well, you know what's interesting, though.

[548] I think, I was talking to my buddies about this.

[549] I think I'm a nice guy.

[550] If somehow there was an old tweet somebody found and it's some bullshit and they're trying to cancel me, do you think you or like friends of mine, would speak up and be like hey man he's actually a good guy i would 100 % speak up for you 100 % right so so i think the people that actually got tweets dug up about them there's two ways sometimes you get people speaking i was like no no no he's actually a good guy but most of the time it's like yeah he was an asshole yeah he actually uh didn't uh hire no black people because blah blah so i think it's the combination of both that tweet just exposes a little bit of that person and then everybody jumps on and saying yeah no you know what he's actually a dick it could be or it could be the person who's getting attacked is does not have a high profile friend and they're you know they're kind of like just starting out and maybe they got a job somewhere and none of their friends have any clout so they can't really speak up for them and if they did they'd get canceled so they're scared yeah they're scared of the mob because it really is a mob man when an internet mob comes after you you know it's um it's just not a good way to communicate you know there's an interesting guy who had a tweet about this, I'm going to pull this up.

[551] There's a gentleman named, where is there's a tweet here?

[552] There it is, okay.

[553] Alex Levinovitz, I'm sure I'm saying this right, Levinovits, Alan, I'm sorry, Alan Levinovitz, trying to read his last name, I can't even, I glossed over his first name, but he had a really interesting point that what we're eating when people get sick.

[554] sick, you're eating highly processed food, right?

[555] You're not eating healthy, natural food.

[556] When you're consuming tweets and you're getting a lot of your information from Twitter and social media, you're getting highly processed information.

[557] And he was saying, it's just as bad for you as processed food, and then it's unnatural, and it doesn't come in a natural form.

[558] And I was like, that's a very excellent point, the way he put his Twitter handle is Alan, A -L -A -N -L -E -V -I -N -O -V -I -T -Z.

[559] I'm going to have him on the podcast, too.

[560] He's an author and a professor.

[561] He's just a, the point was excellent.

[562] Like, I've said, I had a similar point that I said too many people, like, you're consuming gossip and bullshit, and you're watching stupid television shows, reality shows, and your mental diet is very poor, but I think the way he formed it is actually even better, that it's really highly processed because the form where you're getting tweets right you're getting 280 characters that form of like data and information there's no social cues there's no context there's no nuance and you're you're getting this very weird message and you can decide good or bad good message bad person good person yeah like it's hard it's it's and then anger you know there's no there's no real way to commute it's a bad way to exchange information with other human beings.

[563] What's the anonymity of it?

[564] Like, people wouldn't say that shit to your face.

[565] They're either going to get beat up or just, there's a common courtesy when you's talking face -to -face.

[566] I wouldn't say certain things to you.

[567] If you're a kind of person, yeah.

[568] But when you're anonymous and then you're angry, that's, it's not.

[569] It's also convenient you can demonize someone and attack them.

[570] And you don't care if you get them fired because they had a weird Halloween picture.

[571] They dressed up like an Indian in 1988, you know?

[572] You know what I mean?

[573] like there's a lot of that shit going around um we should all have delete our twitters i don't know why people have twitters anymore well it's good for promoting shows when we used to have shows right yeah yeah i never my twitter never caught on because my shit is so vanilla you know because i don't ever say controversial shit and that's how you get followers well you're smart yeah well it helps i i used to retweet a lot of cool shit that people sent me but then i had to stop listening reading things that people were sending me the one thing i ever really recently tweeted about was I don't even want to mention this but the whole Shane Gillist thing with the SNL I was sitting in my trailer I was just angry as an Asian person reading this and then I just said oh this guy should not be here blah blah you know like almost I became the mob but I was just angry and I never thought about it and then I got so much flack you know even saying something that I thought was right for my experience what I thought and then ever since then I was just like forget it You know, I'm only going to retweet other people's shit.

[574] I have no opinions.

[575] Yeah.

[576] The Shane Gillis thing was very weird because, like, they're talking shit, right?

[577] They're trying to be offensive, to be funny.

[578] And no one was listening, right?

[579] When they were doing it and there's, like, you know, 1 ,000 people downloaded their podcast.

[580] They just thought they were just being offensive and saying ridiculous shit because you can and because you make each other laugh.

[581] I don't think he's racist I don't think he's a bad guy I think he's just talking shit It's the casualness of it though I think that was what got to me It's like damn There's just white people in their rooms Talking about us like that Like that sucks you know And I think they probably wouldn't talk like that If no one was around It's weird It's like you're talking like that Because you know it's taboo to talk like that It's part of the fun of doing it It's not It's I mean you know Oh you're a racist Apologist I'm not I'm not apologizing for it, but I am saying that that's what a lot of those kind of guys do.

[582] There's like a shock aspect to certain comedy where they try to make each other laugh by saying shit you're not supposed to say.

[583] And he had some fucking great sketches.

[584] There was a great sketch that he put up that Norm MacDonald retweeted because Norm was upset that he got fired for it all.

[585] And it was about people taking things the wrong way.

[586] and misunderstanding and running with the worst possible scenario and it just, like, compounded.

[587] It was a really great sketch.

[588] I shouldn't even if I brought that up, and now people are you going to tweet at me, you're fucking an asshole comic trying to get another comic fired, but...

[589] No, I get it.

[590] Look, I get it, man. Especially being a minority in America, I get it.

[591] Being an Asian, like, I say this in my stand -up, it's like, people coming up, thanks for representing Asian.

[592] I love Asians.

[593] I love Americans, but it wasn't a choice.

[594] When you wake up Asian, when you wake up Asian, you get only representations.

[595] And there's some kind of responsibility.

[596] So I was talking to Steve Ayoki about Bruce Lee.

[597] You know, I'm a giant Bruce Lee fan.

[598] And we were talking Bruce Lee stories.

[599] And he was saying that, like, when he was a kid, it's like, Bruce Lee was like, finally, like, Asians had this representative, this badass representative, you know, what just didn't exist before in popular culture.

[600] Like, that's how unique Bruce Lee is, if you really stop and think about it.

[601] Like, there was literally no one any, even remotely like him in pop culture before him.

[602] And then burst onto the scene.

[603] And then there was, like, a ton of fake ones.

[604] There was Bruce Lye.

[605] Do you know about Bruce Lye?

[606] No, what's Bruce Lye?

[607] When Bruce Lee died, they had this guy named Bruce Lye.

[608] They want him dressed like Bruce Lee and do very similar movies to Bruce Lee.

[609] And Bruce Lee fans, like myself, we like, all right, I'll take it.

[610] It's like, you know.

[611] He was Asian, though, right?

[612] Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[613] I mean, Bruce Lee was huge.

[614] I mean, you can tell his impact.

[615] Forty years later, he is still one of the most Asian, famous Asian sex symbols.

[616] Yeah.

[617] And representation, it's extremely important in that sense because I have had girls tell me. This is just anecdotally can't hate me for the story.

[618] But I mean, it's just a fun story.

[619] But this girl told me she was like a white girl.

[620] She was like, you know, when I watched The Crow, which is Brandon Lee's movie, his son, He was like, when I watched a crow, I felt like that was my sexual awakening when I was 15 years old.

[621] And guess what?

[622] I had sex with her that night.

[623] You know what I mean?

[624] Like, that shit matters, bro.

[625] Like, I swear when Crazy Rich Asians came out and everybody was watching it, people want to start fucking Asian dudes.

[626] Yeah.

[627] That makes sense.

[628] Sadly, I don't know, statistically, you know, I think it did some research on like plenty of fish or something.

[629] Asian dudes and black women are the least likely to get match on dating apps I don't know it's probably much bigger systematic conversation because we were you know emasculated blah blah but um I think with representative if we had like 10 more Bruceleys you know or 10 more crazy rich Asians that really helps just the media representation you or me I'm just need to blow the fuck up I'm doing fine you know I'm doing fine you You know, I need some other brothers to, or some white girl to be watching my stand -up and be like, you know, I'm going to go fucking Asian guy tonight.

[630] That's important, man. That's my dream in this business is to help other Asian brothers get laid.

[631] I think you can do it.

[632] I hope so.

[633] I have faith in you.

[634] I might just do porn, Joe.

[635] You should do that too.

[636] Whatever.

[637] You should be the only guy that has a dual career, like successful comedian, successful porn.

[638] There's something about right if you decide to become a porn star it taints you for everything else The comedy though?

[639] Yeah, I think so Really I don't think like my acting career would be over Just started slinging dick that would be hilarious It would be kind of funny, but do you think that it would taint his comedy career at all?

[640] How's this dick game though How's his dick game?

[641] I bet it's pretty fucking strong if a strong dick game.

[642] I think it'll help You think so?

[643] I think so maybe Maybe somebody's got to be brave enough to do it Do you remember when Snoop Dog was like hosting?

[644] He was?

[645] Yeah, he was hosting him.

[646] Yeah.

[647] What does that even mean?

[648] Well, he would be like in the room, like, oh shit, people fucking...

[649] Like he was doing things...

[650] He was doing things with porn.

[651] I'm sure I'm right about this.

[652] But who wants that?

[653] I'm not doggy style, yeah.

[654] Yeah, doggy style.

[655] So he had like porn that he was like put...

[656] Look, Snoop Dogg is beyond reproach.

[657] He's so cool.

[658] He's going to get away with everything.

[659] Yeah.

[660] He can get away with everything and anything, no matter what it is.

[661] But that's about...

[662] idea to start with i don't even like uh the dude talking shit when he's like fucking you know i don't i don't want any noise from the man like i i i like this one guy i think his name is a like a a black porn star like wesley pipes i don't know you know maybe i know too much about but he'd be talking some shit in his pores i'm like yo shut up dog like let me let me let me just concentrate yeah dude trying to be very careful here but just sure you guys oh yeah we can't really uh see this right no yeah but this on the it's available to find and so so the girls were like doing all their stuff and he's like he's not doing porn but he's like producing it right he's not in the same room right he's like i don't think so that's a good move probably had good advisors like hmm let's uh keep you in the other room yeah this was back when like we had the authorized button on cable boxes which just doesn't really exist anymore.

[663] You remember that?

[664] No. That's like how you bought pay -per -views.

[665] You had a press a button?

[666] You go to the channel and then like if you wanted it you hit authorize.

[667] And then like for 399 you get to watch whatever was on.

[668] I don't really remember that.

[669] And that's how it's like like, uh, it's like when cable boxes first came out.

[670] You press it on the box itself?

[671] On the, on the on the remote controller, there's an authorized button.

[672] So there's a DJ.

[673] It's a whole party and then it becomes porn.

[674] Looks like it.

[675] I mean, I'm no detective, but that girl's got a pants off.

[676] Oh, there you go.

[677] And now we see some.

[678] There we go.

[679] Jeez Louise.

[680] I think it's like the after parties after the show.

[681] Yeah.

[682] But that this is, oh, there's Snoop.

[683] And they're all dancing and everybody's having a good time.

[684] Okay.

[685] Seen enough.

[686] I don't know.

[687] I don't know if I like that.

[688] I don't know if I like that.

[689] You know, it's too casual.

[690] The fucking is too casual.

[691] Right, right.

[692] It's out in a party.

[693] Everyone's out in the open in the middle of like, it seems like they're by a pool.

[694] Yeah, yeah.

[695] I don't know about that.

[696] Kind of a pool party, fuck party type of vibe.

[697] Yeah.

[698] Maybe I'll consider a point, career.

[699] We'll see.

[700] But it's weird, right?

[701] Because everybody wants to fuck, but nobody wants you to fuck on film.

[702] Mm. It could taint you.

[703] Like, if you found out that Scarlett Johansson was having sex, you'd like, of course she's having sex.

[704] He's a beautiful girl.

[705] She probably likes men and she has sex.

[706] But if you said Scarlett Johansson wants to have sex on film and you can watch her, everybody be like, what's wrong with her?

[707] Yeah.

[708] But, I mean, look, like Sasha Gray, porn star, who became kind of an actress from those Soderberg movies.

[709] How many did she do?

[710] The girlfriend experience, I know she did, and a couple of things.

[711] She's an odd case, right?

[712] She's very smart.

[713] Yeah, she's, I think, a decent actress, but she'll never make it to that next level because she was a porn star.

[714] Now, has anybody done the reverse?

[715] where they're actor and then became a porn star and then went back to acting because you establish yourself as an actor I don't think they've ever gone back it's one of those Hail Mary last dish effort things I think Dustin Diamond after his career Yeah I think he did He did porn right Did he I'm sure he did But that was after he hasn't acted And he didn't he stab somebody That too He stabbed somebody Yeah he did a lot of shit He did stand up Stab somebody Fuck people Did a lot What had of rich life I like how stand up It's grouped into that rock bottom.

[716] It is, though.

[717] We're grouped into porn stars and strippers.

[718] I think he did stand up after he did porn.

[719] I think it's porn, stand -up, stabbing people.

[720] I think it was stand -up, stabbing people, porn.

[721] But I might be wrong.

[722] We're all just one step away from stabbing porn.

[723] Do you know about, do you know Vincent Gallo, the actor?

[724] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[725] Yeah.

[726] Great actor, but ruined his career by getting a real blowjob in a movie that he produced.

[727] Well, that's, that's, you know about that?

[728] I think, yes, I think I heard about that.

[729] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that got, that was recent.

[730] Well, no, no. No?

[731] It was like more than a decade ago at least.

[732] Oh, okay, no, no, no, no. Yeah, I want to say 2000, early 2000s.

[733] I want to say 2004, maybe something like that.

[734] That sounds, I don't know what the stories, but that sounds kind of shady and me too if you're the producer and the star and you're getting, you know, a blow jab.

[735] Yeah, for sure.

[736] Yeah, you could definitely see that.

[737] 2003, yeah, Brown Bunny.

[738] So it's with, I don't know how to say her name, Chloe Svengelagie, how do you say her name?

[739] Sevenier, is that right?

[740] Is that how you say it?

[741] I don't know.

[742] She's bounced back, but I don't necessarily believe that he has.

[743] And he's a really interesting, like, what is it, Buffalo 64?

[744] Is that what the name of that movie is?

[745] It's a really weird, interesting movie.

[746] He did some interesting shit.

[747] What is that his Buffalo movie?

[748] Buffalo 66.

[749] Really interesting movie He's a great actor But he decided I think he was like You know he's out there right He's a real artist And probably also a pervert And he's like listen How don't you just suck my dick for real And Chloe's like let's do it I'm an artist too And so she really sucked his dick And it was pretty hot But people got very mad They got very mad Because his They went to see the film Like critics were fucking furious Because they went to see it And instead of it being like simulated, it was actual sex.

[750] It's weird, right?

[751] Like, you could simulate violence, right?

[752] Like John Wick movies.

[753] I fucking love John Wick movies.

[754] But it's a, bang, bang, brains are splattered.

[755] Dudes are getting stabbed the eyeball.

[756] Everybody's fine with it because you know it's not real.

[757] Yeah.

[758] Could you have simulated sex if you know for sure it's a rubber dick and a plastic pussy?

[759] Fine.

[760] Like show penetration.

[761] Fine.

[762] It's fake penetration, folks.

[763] No need to worry.

[764] Nobody felt really good while they were doing this.

[765] This was just rubber on plastic.

[766] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[767] We had a, there was a robot, the robot was pushing, and it's a fake dick, and it's all CGI.

[768] Would everybody be cool with that?

[769] Well, you know what's interesting?

[770] Now that you're talking about, like, real sex scenes inside of a movie, those movies nymphomaniac?

[771] What's that dude's name?

[772] Van something, like he's a European guy.

[773] Oh, I don't know about those.

[774] And that was like, there was like real sex scenes and I think real double penetration in those movies.

[775] But it was like, I guess, like a good, considered a really good envelope pushing type of movie.

[776] So maybe if you're European, you can get away with it.

[777] Yeah, they have different standards.

[778] I was in Germany, and I was flipping through the channels one time, and just raw porn was on regular TV.

[779] Uh -huh.

[780] I was like, oh, okay, just raw porn, just regular porn.

[781] People are fucking.

[782] It's kind of cool.

[783] I guess.

[784] For them, they're like, do you want to watch people fuck?

[785] Here you go.

[786] I don't get the appeal of it because there's porn hub now.

[787] I think what people are trying to do is what I'm saying about violence.

[788] Like, why are we so okay with overt, like, spectacular violence?

[789] But we're not okay with, like, if you knew, like, CGI is so good now.

[790] It's so good.

[791] You know, you can have monsters that aren't really there.

[792] They're all created by a computer.

[793] Yeah.

[794] Why can't you have, could you have CGI sex?

[795] Would people be okay?

[796] with that or are we so freaked out by penetration that we don't even want to watch fake penetration and nobody wants to get a boner next to their family in the theater maybe maybe it's a shame thing like they feel we're so distorted we don't care if someone gets their brains beaten in like one of the scenes on television that made me abandoned walking dead was when that was his name Negan is that his name he beat Glenn to death with a baseball bat I'm insane beat him over the head, his fucking eyes hanging out, and he's smacked.

[797] I'm like, this is murder porn.

[798] Like, what is this?

[799] Why are you making me watch this?

[800] This is not fun.

[801] I don't want to watch someone get literally splatter.

[802] Like, he's beating him over the head.

[803] His brain is splattered like a watermelon that dropped off the top of a building.

[804] It was terrible.

[805] Yeah.

[806] That's okay.

[807] But you couldn't, if you had a scene in that movie where a man went down on a woman who was eating her pussy, and you could see him eating her pussy, people are like, this is outrageous.

[808] This is disgusting.

[809] Get it off the TV She's enjoying it Every minute of it She's got her feet up in the air Mowing He's here Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah She's happy People would be like This is a terrible movie You're a piece of shit I can't believe you did this I think it's shame You gotta everybody Watch us porn and jerks off But Not everybody Really?

[810] It's like 40 or 50 people That don't even touch it That's tough It's just out there drinking water And running Yeah Yeah I don't trust those people I used to My old rule roommate um uh uh we used to watch game of thrones together and uh great show you know but there's certain seasons that's slower than the other seasons and i didn't like it because i was like oh i wish the storyline would go faster or the you know character would get developed faster and my buddy terrell he was just like man i'm going to stop watching the show there's there hasn't been any fucking in the last four episodes and i i didn't understand why he doesn't just go watch porn hub or something like why does he he watch game with stones only for the fucking yeah some people are unique yeah they have a different take on things but this uh brown bunny man that tanked vincent gall's career i mean you don't hear about him anymore he was a big star like he was in a lot of like really interesting movies that were well respected and it was a big deal and this one movie 17 years ago fucking what's he doing now he might as well just double down and do point No, I think he went back to doing movies, and I think he just does, you know, kind of obscure art house movies probably that, is that the case, Jamie?

[811] That people don't really know about that much.

[812] You just don't hear his name, and it's a shame, because he's a really fucking great actor.

[813] He just had this idea, and his logic, it's, you know, it's trackable.

[814] Like, you get it.

[815] Like, why I'm going to, she's going to actually blow me for real instead of, like, a scene where a woman, like if there was a scene, they're making out and the girl goes down and you just see her head and he's like, oh, and we're fine with that.

[816] We're fine with that.

[817] Yeah.

[818] We don't want to actually see a dick in a woman's mouth though, even though we know that's what it's supposed to be.

[819] Well, but also maybe it's because he produced it or wrote it.

[820] Like, that's like me writing a sex scene for myself.

[821] That's gross.

[822] Yeah.

[823] Like, that's me too for sure.

[824] Well, unless your girlfriend was the actress and you guys talked about it and she's cool with it and she wanted to do it.

[825] Yeah.

[826] I don't know what kind of relationship he had with Chloe Chauvinjvind But But that's the real Like Especially today In the Me Too era You could fucking never get away with that Unless it was the girl's idea You know And like you'd have to get her on video Saying it's my idea to suck your dick I want to do it Like you don't You have to like You'd have to get lawyers involved They'd have to sign NDAs People have to sign consent forms I sadly have I don't think I've ever had a sex scene In anything I don't think that's sad You should Yeah I just feel, I'm like, oh, what, am I not, like, not a sex symbol?

[827] Is that what's bothering you?

[828] A little bit, I mean.

[829] Time to write a movie, bro.

[830] Yeah, yeah, I've been, I've been.

[831] I still, I still can't write my own sex scene.

[832] Somebody got to write it for me. Wasn't that a part of that ridiculously bad movie called The Room?

[833] The guy wrote his own sex scene, didn't me?

[834] Oh, so gross.

[835] So gross.

[836] But the James Franco movie version was it, was quite funny.

[837] And it's obviously kind of making fun of this guy.

[838] He has some, you know, some redeeming qualities.

[839] He's just like a dreamer, you know, good for him.

[840] But it's making fun of the guy.

[841] But he doesn't care.

[842] He just wants to, like he was next to James Franco on stage at the Golden Globes and stuff.

[843] He just wants that fame.

[844] Yeah, he just wants attention even if he's the nail.

[845] He doesn't need to be the hammer.

[846] You know what the most insulting thing I've gotten?

[847] This is recent.

[848] I don't even know I should talk about it.

[849] But anyways, I should because it's just funny.

[850] You know, I'm at the final.

[851] at this point in my career, people sends me scripts if I want to do it, which is very flattering.

[852] I'm like, oh, great.

[853] So there's an email my agent sent me. He's like, either you're going to be really angry at this or really happy about it.

[854] And I was like, oh, fuck.

[855] Not a good way to start an email from your agent.

[856] And they're like, they want you to play a lead in this biopic.

[857] I was like, oh, shit, what's up?

[858] You know?

[859] Like, I'm ready.

[860] And then they're like, yeah, but it's the biopic of William Hung.

[861] I was like, brother.

[862] Are you kidding me?

[863] Is that the Virginia's shooter?

[864] No, no, no, no, no. No, no. Oh, that's that guy who's a terrible singer.

[865] She bangs, motherfucker.

[866] Oh, I met that dude.

[867] Look, nothing wrong with the guy.

[868] That was definitely something wrong with him.

[869] Well, yeah, yeah, but yes, yes, yes.

[870] But he's not malicious.

[871] No, no, no, no. Might be a little Asperger or something.

[872] I don't know what it is.

[873] But I thought it was that one dude who was a shooter.

[874] I read.

[875] Yeah, that's tough, too.

[876] I read all 115 pages of that script.

[877] I've never been so angry reading a script.

[878] Like I wanted to fucking vomit And why were you angry Well you gotta understand I think William Hung Set us back like 10 years Look Nothing wrong with that brother It's not his fault Right Maybe there's a very nuanced way To write this movie of Why American Idol producers Picked him out of the crowd And featured him just to make fun of him And why the rest of America laughed at this guy that might be an interesting story but wasn't that the whole thing about American Idol it's like you had real talent but then you also had delusional people and the delusional people was part of the Oh it was funny I love watching that but I think it just cut so deep as an Asian guy it's the opposite of Bruce Lee William Hong is the exact opposite of Bruce Lee and and but he's there's something wrong with him I mean as a human being like there's something to be said like I get that the guy signed a And I get that that's part of the fun with the show.

[879] But there is kind of a difference between people that are mentally challenged and someone is just not very talented.

[880] But people are laughing at him.

[881] That's what I'm saying.

[882] He's mentally challenged.

[883] There's something wrong with him.

[884] When I say there's nothing wrong with him, I don't mean he's not autistic, mentally challenged, whatever it may be.

[885] I'm saying there's nothing wrong with his intentions.

[886] Right.

[887] He's a dreamer.

[888] He want to make it.

[889] Right.

[890] Right.

[891] So there is, sure, a very nuanced way to write about William Hunt.

[892] um that could work but we just shouldn't make that movie have we ran out at asian people out there that i can do biopics about and a fucking william hung script lands on my desk well isn't that that's a part of the problem with reality tv in general right it's like what they're trying to do is there's some reality tv that's based on actual events that are taking place but a lot of it is like they're taking you have to sign these releases on a lot of these shows that allow them to edit your words in a very distorted way.

[893] Like you can, you and I can have a conversation.

[894] You could have an answer to one question and they'll put that answer on another question that's totally unrelated.

[895] It makes you look like a real piece of shit.

[896] And they're 100 % allowed to do that.

[897] And they do that for the storyline.

[898] They do that for the narrative.

[899] They don't care about your reputation.

[900] They don't care about what happens when you go back home.

[901] People like, how can you fucking say that, Jimmy?

[902] Like, I didn't.

[903] You don't have access to the raw tapes.

[904] You can't release.

[905] You know, no one's going to believe you.

[906] But that's, they victimize people on purpose.

[907] just so that they can make a good what they call a good show yeah but they're doing that with him it's different because he's got a problem it's not like he's a guy like it's not like if i decided i was going to be a singer and i went on american america's got talent i was terrible yeah and i'm singing and everybody just they hit the buzzer you get the fuck out of here like i'm i can i'm a normal person like if you think i suck like i probably suck yeah but if i have a problem like a mental problem like there's something wrong with me yeah And I do that, and you know there's something wrong with me, and you still put me on television.

[908] That's where we're getting weird.

[909] That's where we're getting like, are you, you're profiting off of people.

[910] Taking advantage of somebody.

[911] Yes, yes.

[912] You're profiting off of someone who's clearly mentally handicapped in some way, shape, or form.

[913] If there's a spectrum of mental disability, he's on that spectrum.

[914] It's not you.

[915] It's not Jamie.

[916] It's not me. It's not like, oh, there's a regular guy.

[917] Yeah.

[918] You know, we're all different, but regular.

[919] Like, you can talk to them.

[920] Yeah.

[921] That guy's off.

[922] You know he's off.

[923] Yeah.

[924] But they like, perfect.

[925] Run it.

[926] Perfect.

[927] Line him up.

[928] Because people laugh.

[929] They know people laugh.

[930] And why are people laughing?

[931] You know, look, it's tough being, I guess, one of few Asian actors in America, right?

[932] I'm very fortunate to be in that position.

[933] We all kind of know each other.

[934] It's a small circle.

[935] I'm very proud of all of us.

[936] But early on in my career, I got some flack from Silicon Valley.

[937] My character, you know, it was an accented character, which, I mean, for me, it's a little different because I came to this country when I was 13.

[938] I couldn't really speak English.

[939] So I was like, okay, I'm just going to play an earlier version of myself.

[940] I understand.

[941] I'm going to try to put some humanity in this character.

[942] But then some articles or whatever, it's like, this is an offensive stereotype, blah, blah.

[943] And that really looked into that.

[944] I was like, okay, I get it.

[945] Eventually, the character became a more three -dimensional character because the joke's no longer on him just being foreign.

[946] it's on him being like a diabolical coder person.

[947] But it's tough being an Asian actor because now not only do I have to decide on playing a part of not by looking at, oh, is this a good script?

[948] I got to look at the cultural ramifications.

[949] Is this good representation?

[950] Because there's so few of us, each of us that does something means so much more, right?

[951] That was the beef with the Apu character because there wasn't a lot of Indian, And then you character or a childish, whatever.

[952] Now, that's what's great about Crazy Rich Asians.

[953] And I had a lot of fun on that movie because for one of the first times, I wasn't the only Asian dude on set, and I can just play a character.

[954] My character is an asshole in that movie, but I can just lean into that and be a character actor and play it.

[955] And it's a powerful, funny movie.

[956] It's a great production.

[957] It came out excellent.

[958] Everybody enjoyed it.

[959] It's all good.

[960] And there's a whole spectrum of Asians.

[961] It's not just one Asian representing all Asians.

[962] It's your handsome Asians, your asshole Asians, the romantic lead, and also the bitchy ex -girlfriend, whatever.

[963] So we can just actually be actors for the first time and not be actors slash Asian representative.

[964] So when something like William Hung comes to the table, just can't do it, man. I mean, come on.

[965] I get it.

[966] You know, it's interesting that that it's like when someone gets offended at racial stereotypes, society puts it through this filter of whether or not it's valid.

[967] And I'll give you an example, the Sopranos, the Italian -American Anti -Defamation League or whatever the fuck it is.

[968] I don't know.

[969] They were pissed at the Sopranos.

[970] They were pissed that it was reinforcing negative stereotypes about Italians.

[971] And I'm Italian.

[972] And everyone I know that's Italian was like, what?

[973] The fuck are you talking about?

[974] Those are real people.

[975] I know guys like that.

[976] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[977] This is offensive?

[978] What's offensive?

[979] Reality?

[980] Is the mob real?

[981] Are those fat guys real?

[982] Do they eat pasta like that?

[983] Yeah.

[984] That's real.

[985] Yeah.

[986] Like that's not a...

[987] Because Italians aren't really discriminated against.

[988] So it's...

[989] It doesn't hold any water.

[990] What also, you are Italian.

[991] There's a ton of Italian actors, comedians out there.

[992] So Sopranos is not the only place where you see Italians.

[993] Right.

[994] It's not the only representation.

[995] So that waters it down and it's fine.

[996] Yeah.

[997] Because white people, you can play whatever, mentally handicapped guy, not so smart guy or complete asshole.

[998] Because there's a million other white people.

[999] But as soon as you play a mentally handicapped guy, it's over.

[1000] That's a very dangerous.

[1001] That was Robert Downey Jr. Oh, he was...

[1002] Tropic Thunder.

[1003] Never go full retard.

[1004] Never go full retard.

[1005] But didn't he get an Oscar nomination for being in blackface?

[1006] I hope he did.

[1007] I mean, we talked about it on the podcast, and he was a...

[1008] It was like, thank God, we talked about it on the podcast months ago.

[1009] And we didn't talk about it today.

[1010] Because today, I wouldn't even bring it up.

[1011] Today, people getting can't.

[1012] The guy who's the fucking editor of Bon Appetit, he got fired for a photograph that he took dressing up like, I guess he's Puerto Rican, like that was a costume that he did.

[1013] Like a brown face or something like that?

[1014] No brown face at all.

[1015] Just gold chains and a hat that said the Bronx or something.

[1016] Yeah.

[1017] I mean, it's, I think they said, they called it racially insensitive.

[1018] Well, but that was kind of what I was talking about earlier, though.

[1019] Adam Rappaport, I'm a big fan at Bon Appetit.

[1020] Until, like, maybe then, and then I got to, okay, what's going on here?

[1021] Because, okay, the news came out with him on that picture.

[1022] But it's not that picture, and then his staff, there's this girl that was one of the only minorities on camera.

[1023] She started saying, yes, I agree.

[1024] Not just that picture, but I'm the only maybe non -white person on camera that's not getting paid.

[1025] fairly they just want to push me on camera for diversity but I get paid fractions of whatever the other paid people and then even other white people spoke up and be like yeah we have some systematic stuff here we should look into oh at the yeah at the organization yeah so it's like so it's a combination yeah so if I have a Puerto Rican picture of me I don't think people would start jumping on me and be like yeah he is kind of a dick but here's the example if someone had a picture of them pretending to be Italian nobody would give a fuck.

[1026] If he had a tank top on with spaghetti stains on it and his hair greased back no one would give a fuck the problem may be that there's not enough representation in a positive way of Puerto Ricans in the media.

[1027] Because like you have who's like who are the most, there's a lot of famous Puerto Ricans.

[1028] Yeah.

[1029] Like who are a fake?

[1030] Give me examples of I don't want to get the wrong nationality with famous actors but I'm very aware that there's a lot of famous Puerto Ricans but maybe not enough maybe like because if if man maybe it's a maybe it's a timing of immigration to like my grandparents when they came here my I talked to my grandfather a lot about it they were horribly abused and there was a lot of racism against Italians when they were initially immigrated in the early 1900s but by the time I was a kid it was gone I mean I experienced a little bit of it in Boston and with Irish kids it would make fun of me for being Italian or shit on me for being Italian but by the time I was a great kid it was a great kid I mean I was a own man it's like that kind like anti -italian racism is non -existent basically because you guys is just white kind of it's like covid in italy right now it's you can't even can't even find it like you see the new cdc they were talking about uh covid like the the the the viral load in italy right now so small it's barely registering oh wow really yeah because they were rough they had it rough for a while yeah they're not healthy again these are my people they fucking eat pasta drink wine all smoke cigarettes.

[1031] They live on top of each other.

[1032] No one's washing their hands.

[1033] Yeah.

[1034] There's no exercise.

[1035] Try find...

[1036] I was just having this conversation with Sebastian yesterday.

[1037] We were joking around about this.

[1038] He's like, he's like, try finding a fucking good gym in an Italian hotel.

[1039] And it's totally true.

[1040] Every time I'd go there, it'd be like some cable machine with some fucked up pulley system that's broken.

[1041] And I just wound up doing push -ups and sit -ups and just run up the rocks or something.

[1042] Like, there's no gyms.

[1043] Like the gym is a joke.

[1044] No one's over there is working out.

[1045] Well, the thing is, I don't think.

[1046] I want to say that or I could say that.

[1047] I can't just do a bit about Italians not having gyms and being fat.

[1048] Right, but Sebastian Manasalco can do that.

[1049] I can do that.

[1050] But I'm saying you can do that.

[1051] But you could too.

[1052] We wouldn't give a fuck.

[1053] No one can't.

[1054] Somebody would.

[1055] You and Sebastian wouldn't, but somebody might.

[1056] Those people are assholes.

[1057] Whoever would, it would be like those Italian -American anti -defamation people that got mad at the Sopranos.

[1058] Like, shut up.

[1059] There's no anti -I mean, the anti -Italian sentiment in this country is.

[1060] so small it's you can't even measure it it's a it doesn't count you can't complain you can't complain where you see what Asian people have to go through black people have to go through Mexican people have to go through Muslim people have to go to you can't complain if you're Italian yeah you can it's ridiculous yeah you know uh Lonzo Bolton uh said this jokingly to me after you know my set because my set has a lot of Asian stuff my stories you know and some complaints and then he's like you know uh I like how you're talking about race because you got minor inconveniences.

[1061] Black people get shot, you know?

[1062] And I was like, oh shit, should I never talk?

[1063] But he's a friend.

[1064] He was joking, but he has a point, you know.

[1065] But that's kind of what you're saying, you know.

[1066] It's a point.

[1067] It's a real good point.

[1068] But yeah, it's a point.

[1069] But it's weird that we have like hierarchies of racial discrimination in this country.

[1070] You know, there's hierarchies.

[1071] And then there's like positive racial stereotypes, right?

[1072] Black guys, big dicks.

[1073] Asian guys good at math.

[1074] I go, are those okay?

[1075] Like, are those stereotypes okay?

[1076] Apparently not.

[1077] I don't think, I don't think it is.

[1078] It's, I wonder when as a culture will get, I mean, I really honestly believe this.

[1079] And I'm a very, I'm a forever optimist.

[1080] I really believe that this moment, the reason why these people are in the streets, the reason why there's all, take away the looting, just to peaceful protests.

[1081] The reason why all this is happening is because there's a lot of parts of our culture that haven't caught up to the zeitgeist, to the way people feel about things, the way people are disgusted by racism, the way people are disgusted by discrimination, and then people are united and they're getting together to try to show that.

[1082] Like it's a cultural shift that's represented by this mass movement of human beings.

[1083] I think it's, I think everything, if you follow like Stephen Pinker's work where he talks about violence and if you go back and look at crime.

[1084] a hundred years ago versus now you see this very steady decrease in crime and violence and people are getting better we're getting better at everything and I feel like this is a cultural moment where people are going to get better at racism yeah I hope so not better at doing it better yeah yeah no no no no no no we're sneakier at it yeah I mean really about better just we're all humans man and then the only difference is is you know that we came from different climates and to pay attention to that and focus on that above all else it's just it's so it's it's annoying yeah it's dumb it's a an artifact of the past you know yeah yeah I wanted to get to the point where you can make fun of everybody and no one gives a fuck well yeah it's just fun and also you want to like like when I talk to my black friends I'm not asking them yo man tell me about black lives matter educate me or whatever like we're past that like when I'm talking I'm talking about girls you know like right life but but I think when you you're uncomfortable, that's when you're like, hey, Joe, so you're Italian, huh?

[1085] Like, imagine if that's my conversation, that's weird.

[1086] Like, if you come up to me, I walk in this door and the first thing he asked me is Asian shit.

[1087] When did you learn to use chopsticks early on?

[1088] We're not friends.

[1089] Like, we're just, you know, you're just, I'm your Asian consultant or whatever.

[1090] So I think, yeah, it's good to get past that point where, sure, we can just talk about anything that's beyond that.

[1091] But, yeah, there's so much work to be done.

[1092] And I think it's, what's happening is very, it's a great turning point.

[1093] When I look back and we're like, yeah, yeah, that happens.

[1094] There's great things happening.

[1095] And then there's also the feeding frenzy, like the online mob feeding frenzy is happening too.

[1096] There's like this whole broad range of things that are happening all at once.

[1097] And there's great things and bad things.

[1098] But that's just part of being human.

[1099] Like, you have to see the bad things and just go, this is fucking gross.

[1100] Like, let's get away from this.

[1101] And this is better.

[1102] And then you see, you know, like, when.

[1103] when people see things that give them hope and you see all those like heart signs or people love things and like things and say this is amazing and then they share it and repost it and retweet it's like that's it's it's spreads through people we should all be looking for more things that make us feel good whether it's our own actions or things that we can find online like more more things that like that resonate with how we want the world to be yeah yeah yeah absolutely and Yeah, I mean, I don't have anything to add to that.

[1104] And pussy.

[1105] Oh, I mean, that makes you feel good.

[1106] All these things are good.

[1107] And Dick for the ladies and the gay felks, folks.

[1108] And pussy for the ladies that are into ladies.

[1109] So the conclusion of that entire conversation is, I should do porn.

[1110] That's what we're taking away.

[1111] In a subtle way.

[1112] Okay.

[1113] The past hour and a half, bro.

[1114] I'll reconsider my career.

[1115] You can do it.

[1116] Yeah, I could.

[1117] Well, you don't know my dig game.

[1118] You don't know my dig game.

[1119] I've heard your jokes about your.

[1120] your dick game, so I'm assuming your dick game's pretty good.

[1121] I got to represent, bro.

[1122] Gotta do a dick game joke, you know, to represent.

[1123] I'm tired of this shit.

[1124] Yeah.

[1125] Do you feel like comedy has less opportunities for Asian guys?

[1126] Stand -up in itself?

[1127] Stand -up, I think, I look at stand -up as such a utopia.

[1128] I have such a love for it because it's...

[1129] It's a meritocracy.

[1130] It is a meritocracy.

[1131] And the weirder you are, the less fitting in you are in society, the better you're probably going to be.

[1132] You have an angle.

[1133] And when I first started, I was able to do some, say, Brea Improv or whatever, shows that I would never have gotten to do one year in because there were Asian shows.

[1134] So I was able to fit something, you know.

[1135] So that, it could be, I always say this.

[1136] I think it's, it could be easier if you have an angle, whereas it's a race thing or something, some specialty of yours to get into acting, to get into comedy.

[1137] But when you get to a certain level, it becomes less work, I think.

[1138] Interesting.

[1139] Yeah.

[1140] Like, gives you an angle to break in, but once you're broken in, then it might not be.

[1141] I've had conversations with my female friends about stand -up, female friends that are comics about stand -up, the ones that are really good all seem to think it's a meritocracy and the ones that are not very good seem to think there's some discrimination interesting yeah the one like you talk to Ali Wong Ali Wong and I had a conversation about it and she goes do you think it's a meritocracy I go I do she goes I do too I think it's because like look she's fucking murdering it right killing it absolutely smash she did like some insane number of sold out shows in San Francisco she's a beast she's no denying that, right?

[1142] Also a woman.

[1143] But there's other women that'll tell you, like, it's hard for women to get on the lineups.

[1144] It's hard for women to get promoted.

[1145] I'm like, hmm, okay.

[1146] I think it's harder for women to go on stage.

[1147] It's harder for, first of all, if a woman goes on stage and does stand up, almost automatically, her political opinions, nobody wants to hear.

[1148] Men don't want to hear your political opinions.

[1149] Men don't want to hear you telling them things that they don't already know.

[1150] Men don't want you to, like, if you talk talk about sex, like, man, like, you got to be like a broken, slutty kind of a girl to talk about sex on state.

[1151] And then they'll go with it.

[1152] But if you're just like a regular girl with no problems and you want to talk about sex, it's like you're, you get scrutinized, I think.

[1153] So you have to be better.

[1154] You have to, I think, like for a woman to like, like a Whitney Cummings or a Lyser or someone to like rise through the ranks, like you, you have to be undeniable.

[1155] You have to be able to go into any crowd and slay, you know, but some women along that process of like figuring out that there's a sort of a narrow window that you can fit your jokes through in the beginning at least, they stumble into that and they bounce off those walls, they don't, they don't get the, like a guy can like right away talk about politics, talk about sex, talk about anything.

[1156] For men, it just has to be funny.

[1157] It's basically wide open, but men discriminate a lot of men do.

[1158] I don't want to generalize.

[1159] A lot of men discriminate when they see a woman go on stage.

[1160] They go, oh, great, a woman comic.

[1161] Some woman I don't know.

[1162] Is she going to suck?

[1163] What is she going to talk about politics?

[1164] Shut the fuck up.

[1165] Like, some men don't want to hear a woman talk.

[1166] Yeah, that's tough, man. It's tough.

[1167] I thought about that.

[1168] Women have to be better.

[1169] And I guess do you think it's harmful or is it helpful to start in that narrow lane, whereas it's a girl talking about dirty sex stuff or an Asian comic talking about being Asian, and then you can expand to other jokes.

[1170] Well, I think we all start with training wheels, right?

[1171] We all talk about jerking off in our first five minutes.

[1172] You have to.

[1173] Yeah.

[1174] Well, how old were you when you started stand -up?

[1175] 21.

[1176] Me too.

[1177] Yeah.

[1178] I didn't know anything.

[1179] I was a moron.

[1180] Like, sex was the only thing that I was even interested in.

[1181] So that's all I talked about on stage.

[1182] Right, right, right.

[1183] And I don't...

[1184] You're just surviving.

[1185] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1186] Whatever you can get a laugh, you know?

[1187] 100%.

[1188] You do it.

[1189] Yeah.

[1190] I think it's harder for women.

[1191] the beginning parts are harder it's harder it's harder to do that it's harder to just you can't just talk about sex I think they have to be a little more undeniable they have to be they're a little more scrutinized and again a lot of it is like men don't necessarily a lot of men again I'm generalizing don't necessarily want to hear a woman on stage see there's a thing about stand -up too like like you're a smooth guy when you're on stage I love your delivery your presentation you're very easy to watch you're very casual but because of that because you're so comfortable it gives you the illusion that anyone can do it right because you're just talking right I can talk too I can go up there and do what he's doing I know how to talk he's talking I can talk I'm gonna do stand -up yeah and so it gives the it gives the so dopey men already think they can do what you do and when a woman does it dopey men that are sexist automatically think they can do better than that woman and they don't want to hear her Huh.

[1192] Yeah.

[1193] Yeah.

[1194] It's an easy.

[1195] It's like acting.

[1196] It's like acting seems easy.

[1197] Just being himself.

[1198] Just talking.

[1199] They don't know the writing that puts into it like for us comics and then the training for actors.

[1200] It's not like we're driving an airplane, you know, or flying an airplane.

[1201] Well, when you get to that like Daniel Day Lewis style of acting, like, bitch, you can't do that.

[1202] Stop pretending you could do that.

[1203] You get to like my left foot or some of the crazy shit that he did, you know.

[1204] I would say something about acting.

[1205] There are naturals.

[1206] Like, Jennifer Lawrence, never take an acting class.

[1207] She's great.

[1208] Probably crazy as fuck.

[1209] Who knows?

[1210] That's what I would say.

[1211] Yeah, just really good at something, whatever the skill says.

[1212] At pretending and lying something, right?

[1213] And you're just really good.

[1214] A really good at knowing the human condition somehow.

[1215] But comedians, even if you're a fucking natural, you suck in the first five years.

[1216] Yeah, you suck.

[1217] You suck.

[1218] I mean, you might get a couple of good sets here in there.

[1219] Have you seen anyone that's just like immediately good?

[1220] Some guys that have gone through Alcoholics Anonymous.

[1221] are really good right off the bat because that's like their stage training yeah yeah yeah yeah uh there's a dude that i knew back in boston who was hilarious well quite a few guys actually in boston started out in aa but this guy dave fitzgerald and i remember uh he was a grown man when i was a boy i was like 21 and he was you know late 30s and that's when he was starting stand up but he was way advanced because he just had this ability because he would do the he was an alcoholic for years so he would he had these great fucking stories of all the times he did coke and drank so much that he didn't remember what he was doing and, you know, got arrested and he would tell these crazy drug -fueled stories on stage at an AA meeting and people would be dying laughing.

[1222] And he had this sort of way of doing it.

[1223] And then I believe it was, I forget who the comic was that was in the audience.

[1224] It was also in AA that grabbed him and said, hey man, you ever thought about doing stand -up?

[1225] you're fucking funny you could do stand -up because he was killing at AA meetings so then when he would go to because you gotta think it's stage time yeah hey my name's Dave and he had this like crazy raspy voice he had a hard life Boston accent hot life and he's a funny fucking dude and he would go on stage at a comedy club the way he would go on stage at an AA meeting and murder so he was he was killing way before me killing real early on because he had months of stand -up.

[1226] Maybe even years.

[1227] I'm not sure how long you had done the AA meetings before he actually got on stage at a club, but he had an advantage.

[1228] Yeah, yeah.

[1229] But that's still stage time.

[1230] It's like he's been doing open mics for five months.

[1231] Also, super supportive open mic nights.

[1232] Like, hi, my name's Dave, I'm an alcoholic.

[1233] Hi, Dave.

[1234] You know, everybody's there where you get a little more comfortable, get loose, and you're around a bunch of other fellow junkies who fucked up their lives.

[1235] Yeah, yeah.

[1236] You know what's interesting?

[1237] Like speaking to like being supportive, comics were very, like we make fun of each other.

[1238] That's what we do.

[1239] It's like you walk off a stage, like the first, like if you bomb and you walk out of the stage, like what are you doing, a fucking one -man show?

[1240] You know, which is, in a way now, it's a compliment.

[1241] If you can do a one -man show, you're killing it.

[1242] But we just break each other's balls, right?

[1243] But I remember the first time I took improv classes.

[1244] I was so uncomfortable because everybody's so supportive.

[1245] You know, it's like, zip, zap, zoom!

[1246] one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

[1247] Let's do these exercises and shit.

[1248] And then I was like, oh, my God, if my buddy Terrell saw me doing this, I would not, oh, my, I would not hear the end of it, you know.

[1249] But there's something really nice about that when you get to a certain level in acting or when you get over yourself as a stand -up, you want to, you should be around supportive people.

[1250] Yeah, once you get to a certain level.

[1251] But then when people bust balls, like if someone gets off stage and has a terrible set and their friend bust their balls, usually they'll laugh they're like dude I just ate shit you ate plates of shit son let's have a drink and there's laughter it's like there's there's fun to it it's like they're picking up your spirits by making fun of you and then you get to laugh at that and like we all know it's a process you trust the process and one of the things you have a stand -up special that's out right now yeah on Amazon is it right now right right right right when did it come out when did it come out it came out two weeks ago I think okay beautiful so when did you film this November Oh so you got in Pretty early Yeah yeah It's funny I start my set by saying Asians we had a couple of good years I guess not so true anymore You know after the whole COVID thing You got in right before COVID became gigantic news Yeah yeah yeah It was pretty tough I mean before so the special came out what In May Yeah early May right And I was like I was kind of kicking myself I was like shit if it would have been later My whole material would have changed like blah, blah, but it's like good to kind of have that out there and have people kind of see a glimpse of how good life was maybe six months ago, you know, like how positive it was, because now it would have been a little more somber tone, I think.

[1252] Yeah, it's hard now.

[1253] I mean, it's hard to figure out, like, what to say.

[1254] It's going to, it's going to take a while for everything to, like, settle in the place where people can accept even what's happened.

[1255] I mean, how many people you're dealing with in the audience that have lost their job?

[1256] How many people you're dealing with that, you know, there's no job for it.

[1257] it doesn't exist anymore.

[1258] Their business is gone.

[1259] Yeah.

[1260] And they just want to laugh.

[1261] And, like, maybe there's some wounds that you don't want to scratch up.

[1262] We're going to have to navigate those weird waters.

[1263] Yeah, I don't know.

[1264] Like, when we go back, do we open with talking about COVID and quarantine?

[1265] Because that's what's on everybody's mind?

[1266] Or do we talk about something totally different?

[1267] I think I'm going to not talk about COVID.

[1268] I might talk about the riots.

[1269] Fascinate me. Because it's what I've always said.

[1270] Like, people have said to me, like, why do you have guns?

[1271] Like, why are you into self -defense?

[1272] Like, why are you in all this stuff?

[1273] I'm like, civilization is a thin veneer.

[1274] Like, we have only been civilized for the last 10 ,000 years or so.

[1275] Before that, we were fucking barbarians for hundreds of thousands of years.

[1276] We have that same DNA of those barbarians.

[1277] It's in our blood.

[1278] And we keep it together with religion and societal norms and community and love and friendship.

[1279] But when things go sideways, you get to see what people.

[1280] people are really capable of and that's what we saw during the looting and the riots when people have an excuse and a reason particularly when people are backed into a corner because they couldn't work for three months and then there's a justification the system is fucked up this guy that killed that the cop that killed that guy is a piece of shit there's there's riots and then you see cops that are fucking shooting tear gas at people and you're like fuck you they just want to smash and loot you see that thin layer of what a what a human being really is the The civilization veneer gets removed, and you go, oh, look at the real, the real thing under there.

[1281] This is an animal.

[1282] Humans are animals.

[1283] We're a weird talking animal.

[1284] And we want to survive, and we have ideas of fairness and rules, and we have a mob mentality.

[1285] There's a weird thing that will happen, that it's probably built into us from thousands of years of surviving hand -to -hand combat and war.

[1286] When shit goes crazy and you're around, you lock into.

[1287] chaos mode and if you've ever been around a mob like that's going crazy and nutty you can feel it man you feel it in your skin you feel it in the air i'm fascinated by that and i'm probably going to talk about that and you're the most prepared guy if some shit comes to shit you can fight you got you got weapons right but i'm to be the first to get the fuck out of here too i'm the last to stay and fight i'm like get the fuck out of here you can't win this yeah this is not a winnable situation this is not a home invasion this is this is the world going sideways like you got to get the fuck out how does it feel to be uh uh martial arts experts somebody that can fight like do you feel more confident going outside do you like you like you know because i i'm always looking around like okay make sure that guy doesn't fuck me up he can he can totally kill me like you like you know whatever people can always shoot you they can always shoot you they could always stab you they can always hit you over the head when you're not looking there's always danger in being a person especially when you're around bad people right but if I'm in a situation when there's some guy who's a dick and you know I think like I've seen people get beat up man that couldn't defend themselves and it's horrible to watch it's sad I mean we've seen many videos online of people just getting beat up by somebody yeah because they don't know how to fight and you see some person really doesn't even know how to fight and they're beating the fuck out of someone and hurt them really bad yeah that's not gonna happen to me uh -huh I like that I like that if some asshole tries to do that to me I can I can hurt them I can detain them I can I could submit them yeah but it doesn't ever get to that point have you have you gotten in fights lately I'm not a fighter I mean I know how to do it but I'm a nice person so it's just knowing that having a self -confidence that feels good that feels zen it helps yeah but there's a lot of sketchy people out there man we've all seen videos and I watched a video yesterday some guy punching some girl in the face for like no reason and knocking her unconscious I'm like, what the fuck?

[1288] People are assholes.

[1289] There's a bunch of people that are abused, and they come from horrible backgrounds.

[1290] They're abused by their parents or their family, and they're a mess.

[1291] And they walk amongst us free until they commit crimes and they get locked in jail.

[1292] So if somebody wants to fight me, what I do, I just run.

[1293] Yeah, I get the fuck out of there, bro.

[1294] You've got to see it coming.

[1295] Seeing it coming is real, that's a real important part of it.

[1296] Like, seeing it coming right away, seeing sketchy people and knowing, you've got to have that spiky sense you gotta get the fuck out of there but it's exciting to be around danger that's for you not me it's exciting to be in weird areas and be around weird people it's like when things are a little bit a little sketchy little seedy people enjoy that there's like a it's like what do you what would you rather have would you rather have everything be fucking boring and vanilla and just right everything is hermosa beach or you know every now and then you want something to be just a little bit fucking dirty.

[1297] It makes you feel a little alive.

[1298] When you do the shitty mics or like random spots here and there, there's a grittiness to it.

[1299] That I think especially stand -ups, we really gravitate to that.

[1300] Yeah, I think...

[1301] It feels live.

[1302] We like a little danger.

[1303] Yeah.

[1304] We also, like, what you're doing when you're doing stand -up is you're kind of exposing these truths that everybody kind of knows about but doesn't talk about.

[1305] And it frees him in a way.

[1306] Like, yes!

[1307] Yes!

[1308] Like, there's thoughts that are, they're there, but you got to, unearthed them.

[1309] You've got to dust them off and show them to people.

[1310] And they're like, yes.

[1311] Yeah.

[1312] There's a danger to that, right?

[1313] There's a riskiness to what we do.

[1314] Yeah, for sure.

[1315] It's a weird job, man. And everybody does it different, right?

[1316] You get the Hedgeburg.

[1317] He does it.

[1318] Mitch does it, did it one way.

[1319] You do it a different way.

[1320] Joey Diaz does it a different way.

[1321] Everybody's got a different way of doing it.

[1322] But it's ultimately, you're trying to find those points that get find that those perspectives find find find use those comedy weapons to to pop through on these people and break into their mind and get those sparks flying what do you think separates a good comic to like the next level great comic so a lot of things I think it's really dependent upon the person but I think a lot of it is focusing on comedy and like really working on your shit and making sure you're you're you're a real objective about what you're doing also a lot of reps man yeah putting in A lot of reps. Reps are giant, man. Yeah.

[1323] I think that's, there's no denying that.

[1324] And then also different things that you do.

[1325] One of the things that I do is I do stand up.

[1326] I listen to that stand up.

[1327] And then I write.

[1328] I write on stage.

[1329] I listen to my sets.

[1330] I write off stage.

[1331] I mean, I write on stage and I'll come up with ideas.

[1332] I'll free ball.

[1333] I take chances on stage.

[1334] but then I sit down and I write right.

[1335] I sit down in front of a computer for hours.

[1336] Wow.

[1337] And every now and then, I'll sit down maybe for four hours and I'll come up with like one line.

[1338] But it's worth it.

[1339] But that one line I would have never gotten.

[1340] Yeah.

[1341] And some of those lines are like the best lines in my act came from me just sitting in front of a computer.

[1342] Yeah.

[1343] Just writing.

[1344] It's constantly, I guess the danger and the fearlessness of comics is also the willingness to try new shit.

[1345] Four pages of new shit That maybe only one line works Because I know many people That I came up with That are much funny Than I mean naturally I think But they're stuck in that 15 You know They keep doing that 15 Because they feel good That's their drug That's the 15 minutes They get to go away from their wife And have fun So they don't want to risk that And have a shitty night Right they want to kill They love that feeling of killing Yeah Well that's what I was getting at earlier Like you just did a special One of the exciting things about comedy is we all become beginners after we do a special.

[1346] You do a special and then you start from scratch.

[1347] You're a beginner again.

[1348] So, like, I know you're a great comic.

[1349] I know you're really funny.

[1350] But if I see you and you're eating shit, I'm going to laugh at you because I know you're good.

[1351] I'm like, dude, this new shit's rough, son.

[1352] And we would be laughing.

[1353] We'd be like, ah, ha, ha, ha.

[1354] It'd be fun.

[1355] We could laugh together at pain.

[1356] I'm still insecure.

[1357] I'm still insecure in a way that, okay, sure, I got to go write some new shit now.

[1358] And the hit in a weird point Now I can't come up with new shit Because we can't go to comedy clubs So I'm kind of stuck We're all going to be beginners All of us But I'm still afraid that Even though I don't need another acting job From somebody watching me in standem I don't need to impress a manager In the audience or another comic There's still an insecurity Like I don't want to tank In case somebody I like is watching me For the first time Yeah You know I mean But that's where alcohol comes in Yeah, shot of Jack Hit of a joint And just fucking let the good times roll Woo I guess you can't think about it Because imagine that time You just walk by and saw me in the lap For the first time And I just ate a dick You know like I I'd be like everybody eats a dick in that lab Yeah well that's true I'd be like he's eating a dick just like I have Yeah Yeah So I don't know if that ever goes away I know what you mean But it's the But there's like the thought process of like, well, you should work out your shit at the ha -ha or at the ice house or at flappers, a little bit off the beaten path.

[1359] You don't want to do it at the improv.

[1360] You don't want to do it at the store.

[1361] I disagree.

[1362] I disagree.

[1363] You have to, you have to be taking chances.

[1364] You have to swing.

[1365] I've, I've flopped at the store a bunch of times where I pull out a joke that I have like roughly in my head.

[1366] But it's also preparation is important too.

[1367] Like you got to, I think even when I have a new bit, like, I just, sometimes I'll go up with just a seed.

[1368] And sometimes I'm like, no, I need like a plant that I could like just dig a hole and shove that in there.

[1369] I need a full plant.

[1370] Yeah.

[1371] You know what I mean?

[1372] Yeah.

[1373] But it's really dependent upon the subject matter.

[1374] Like I remember when the Harvey Weinstein shit broke.

[1375] I had a bit that night.

[1376] I'm like right away.

[1377] I'm like, oh, I know my angle.

[1378] My angle is that if Harvey Weinstein did that to my daughter, I would, I found out that was sexist because if Harvey Weinstein did that to my daughter, I would fucking kill him.

[1379] But if Harvina Weinstein came to my son with a solid contract, I'd be like, dude, you're going to be Batman.

[1380] Right, right, right, right.

[1381] And I had this whole bit that blossomed that night.

[1382] Like that line, dude, you're going to be Batman.

[1383] That came the first night on stage.

[1384] Because it was like, right when he was getting arrested, I was like, wow.

[1385] And I was like, how would I feel if that was a woman, It was like this disgusting woman That was like Harvey Weinstein in a dress That was trying to fuck my son I'd be like come on just do it bro Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah do you think working in a coal mine's fun Huh you gotta do what you gotta do to get by in this world Yeah come on pussy and and that that bit became a bit like it blossomed on stage I just had a seed I just had an idea that's the best feeling that's like you freestyle it's amazing because it was like hours after he was arrested It was like hours after it went down.

[1386] Yeah.

[1387] And it just, it just popped.

[1388] And then it became a bit that I wrote and I worked on it and I, you know, I honed it on stage.

[1389] But that bit was just, that was just a seed.

[1390] But then there's other bits that like, they took a lot of real thinking and like, oh, this is like, these are mind -filled terrain that I'm going through here.

[1391] I got to make sure I make sure that I really.

[1392] I really dot all my eyes and cross all my T's when I'm talking about this.

[1393] Because this is a controversial subject.

[1394] I don't want anybody to misconstrue what I'm saying here.

[1395] Right, right, right, right, right, yeah.

[1396] That's also the tough part, the message that you're sending, because that's beyond just being funny.

[1397] Oh, yeah.

[1398] So you've got to be responsible at that point, and that's really hard.

[1399] Yeah, you want to, like, say if you're doing a joke and in the joke, you reference gay people, you want, like, if there's a gay couple in the audience, you want, like, if there's a gay couple You want those folks to know you love them.

[1400] Like, I don't have any zero animosity to anybody.

[1401] Like, I love gay people.

[1402] I love straight people.

[1403] I love everybody.

[1404] But I'm going to make fun of you.

[1405] I'm going to make fun of something that I see, that's something that gay people do.

[1406] But I want you to know, there's got to be a way that I want you to know before I do this.

[1407] This is not homophobic.

[1408] Yeah, yeah.

[1409] Like, if I'm saying this, I'm saying this just because it's funny.

[1410] We're all funny.

[1411] So I have to figure out a way to navigate those waters Do you, I guess what I try to do now Especially with the landscape of the stand -up comedy specials I see The one that really pop and I like it Where a lot of it like Hassan Menages or Hannah Gatsby's Not funny in that sense Hannah Gatsby's per se right Like a lot of comics, it's not funny Like a TED talk Yeah but I think there's a point to that I think that's cool That actually gets a message across So I always try to, her thing is probably like maybe 50 % tech talk and then 50 % comedy, if that.

[1412] I try to do like 80 % comedy and then maybe 20 % I'm just telling a story that's a bit.

[1413] You know, like I have a story where I almost got deported a couple times, you know, when I was being an idiot.

[1414] It's not that funny, but there was some kind of a point to it.

[1415] Right.

[1416] But you're like a pure comic.

[1417] You're like 100 % stand up.

[1418] Do you like that one -man show stuff?

[1419] Because I was, I've troubled to see, like, am I kind of being a sell -out here by doing that, you know?

[1420] No, I don't think it's being a sellout.

[1421] Look, people obviously like Hannah Gatsby.

[1422] Like, I had this conversation with comics about it.

[1423] Like, I thought it was weird when they were trying to say that she's redefining comedy or uncommating comedy.

[1424] Like, no, you're not.

[1425] No, you're not.

[1426] No, you're not.

[1427] This is what you're doing.

[1428] You're doing your thing.

[1429] Your thing's, like, people are enjoying.

[1430] It's resonating.

[1431] It's huge.

[1432] Yeah.

[1433] So her thing, people are enjoying.

[1434] It doesn't unvalidate or invalidate Donnell Williams, or Donnell Rollins, rather, or Harlan Williams, I was going to say, or, you know, who's, like, totally silly.

[1435] You know, Harlan Williams is just completely silly.

[1436] Or Donnell is just wild and loud, and, like, that's great, too.

[1437] Or, you know, good thing, Joey Diaz.

[1438] It's like, it's not invalidating Joey Diaz.

[1439] It's not invalidating people that also do a different thing that people love as well.

[1440] It's just you're doing something where you're talking about your, like, Hannah Gatsby's talking about her own pain, right?

[1441] She's talking about her own issues.

[1442] She's talking about her own life.

[1443] And it resonates because it's honest and it's real.

[1444] It doesn't have to be funny.

[1445] The people that enjoy it, maybe they don't want to just see stand -up.

[1446] Right.

[1447] They want to see something.

[1448] They want to see something interesting.

[1449] But if you go see Donnell Wrongs, he's just going wild.

[1450] He's having fun.

[1451] Yeah.

[1452] Like, that's comedy.

[1453] It's wild comedy.

[1454] That's okay, too.

[1455] All things are okay.

[1456] Al Madrigal's okay.

[1457] Everything's okay.

[1458] It's like different genres of movie.

[1459] Right, but people who get weird.

[1460] They do.

[1461] They get hateful about it.

[1462] Yeah, they get angry.

[1463] Like, you know, I only like blues music.

[1464] This rock and roll bullshit.

[1465] That's really what it's like.

[1466] That is what it is.

[1467] Like, I've heard people say that about Harlan Williams.

[1468] It's one of the reason why I brought up Harlan.

[1469] It was like, he's so silly.

[1470] And if you saw Harlan on paper, you'd be like, what is that?

[1471] Hey there, butternut, flapjack, peachy pie.

[1472] Yeah, me and you would have done his set.

[1473] It would not work.

[1474] I would eat shit every time.

[1475] I'd quit comedy.

[1476] But Harlan, there's something about his delivery, and that's what he really thinks is funny.

[1477] And it's like, you can't tell me it's not funny.

[1478] I watch him kill.

[1479] Oh, he's amazing.

[1480] Amazing, right?

[1481] So, like, that's his way.

[1482] And then, you know, you've got John Malaney.

[1483] He's got a different way.

[1484] It's also very good.

[1485] And then you've got Anthony Jess on there because just mean with great writing.

[1486] Right.

[1487] But it's also very good.

[1488] It's his way.

[1489] There's a bunch of different ways to do this thing.

[1490] And for one person to decide, like, oh, Hannah Gadsby's real comedy, comedy's dead, she just killed comedy.

[1491] Like, you don't know comedy, and you should just shut the fuck up.

[1492] Right.

[1493] Because what you're saying is nonsense.

[1494] That's like saying rap music killed Beethoven.

[1495] It's dumb.

[1496] What you're saying is dumb.

[1497] Mm -hmm.

[1498] Yeah.

[1499] Yeah.

[1500] That's great.

[1501] That's all fucking comedy or whatever it is.

[1502] Yeah.

[1503] It means it's comedy till it's not comedy.

[1504] You know, it's comedy until you decide to tell a story that's not funny, but it's also interesting.

[1505] Yeah.

[1506] Even within stand -up itself, there's so many different genres.

[1507] There's no wrong way.

[1508] I love that.

[1509] Yeah, 100%.

[1510] Yeah.

[1511] I mean, one of the things I always loved about Headberg is that, like, it's so absurd.

[1512] And that's not my style of comedy, but it's so silly and absurd.

[1513] Or Stephen Wright, same thing.

[1514] Yeah.

[1515] Just non -sequitur after non -sequitur, bizarre, weird.

[1516] I used to work at a fire hydrant factory Couldn't park anywhere near the place Like that kind of comedy I would never write a joke like that But with him, with his bizarre look And his bizarre style of murders You know, I didn't know about stand -up comedy When I was growing up Never heard of it Really?

[1517] Because I grew up in Hong Kong What was the first stand -up you saw?

[1518] B -T Comic View Wow!

[1519] When I was 13 Which one?

[1520] Who was hosting?

[1521] I think it was Jay Anthony Brown that year Or Bruce Bruce around then It was so interesting to me Because this wasn't even an art form That existed in my childhood In Hong Kong I'm sure there were some stand -ups But you never heard of it Never heard of it Never heard of it And then I came to America And I was trying to learn English Just by watching TV And then It seems like Just completely different genres In this new art form It's like I heard music for the first time And I was like holy shit There's rock and roll music And there's you know Hip Pop So it was so interesting Because I remember I really gravitated towards a comic view.

[1522] That was so interesting because it wasn't just jokes or me trying to learn English.

[1523] It was me also trying to like learning about culture, how each race saw each other, blah, blah, even though there were stereotypes, you know, that they're joking about.

[1524] But it was cool.

[1525] Whereas I watched that Comedy Central Premium Blend didn't really laugh.

[1526] I don't know what.

[1527] So I always gravitated to it once urban comedy, you know?

[1528] Well, they're having more fun.

[1529] Yeah, exactly.

[1530] Because I was watching the performance of it.

[1531] It's like there's hip -hop fans that like a song because of the beat, and then there's hip -hop fans that don't care about the beat and only listen to the lyrics.

[1532] I was more like the beat guy, you know, and I just loved that side of performance.

[1533] And then only later on when I got into comedy, I was like, oh, wow, everyone that's doing that premium blend stuff, maybe not my cup of tea, but it made me laugh.

[1534] like as an adult because I understood how hard that was yeah I found out about comedy from my parents took me to see Richard Pryor live at the sunset strip when I was 15 in the movie theater watching Richard Pryor on stage going this is crazy I couldn't believe how funny he was like I'd seen all these funny movies but to watch this guy just talking on stage I was fascinated he's one of those guys when you watch you like I can do that because he's just talking He just, did he write this?

[1535] But there's so much insane talent.

[1536] Like Michael Jordan makes basketball look easy.

[1537] But I mean, I guess.

[1538] Sort of.

[1539] You know you can't jump that high.

[1540] You know you can't dunk.

[1541] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1542] Yeah, there's so many different ways you can get introduced to comedy.

[1543] It's, I love hearing, like, when people, like, when the seed get planted in people's heads, like, when did you know that you were going to try to do this?

[1544] People ask me that question, and I hear, like, great stories.

[1545] like the Richard Pryor story or like, it's like me and my brother, he's just sneak in the movie theater, watch Eddie Murphy live after you had a heart attack.

[1546] I promise I'll be a comedian.

[1547] Like, really?

[1548] You know, amazing.

[1549] I don't have that.

[1550] I was, I think it was a desperation that made me want to do comedy.

[1551] Desperation.

[1552] I never thought that was even a thing, right?

[1553] Like, because you don't go into arts when you're Asian.

[1554] That's not a real job, you know.

[1555] Is it because your family would discourage it?

[1556] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1557] And also, nobody in my family did it in the arts.

[1558] Like, anybody that made money was in finance, whatever, real jobs, quote -unquote.

[1559] You know, so I was just, I was about to graduate college with an economics degree.

[1560] And I hated the internship I had in finance and shit.

[1561] And I just saw my life flash in front of me. I'm like, oh, my God, for the next 40 years, I'm behind this desk.

[1562] Fucking mutual funds, who cares, you know?

[1563] So I just tried, I had like a quarter life crisis, right, when I was about to graduate.

[1564] I was like, I got to do something to meet new friends, to meet girls, to whatever.

[1565] So then I took jiu -jitsu classes for like two months.

[1566] Horrible.

[1567] I was the smallest guy and the weakest guy in the class.

[1568] They would team me up with the girls and they would twist me up like a pretzel.

[1569] It was very discouraging.

[1570] I quit after like two months, if that.

[1571] And then I tried like different things, like boxing classes, gyms, whatever, you know.

[1572] And then I say the story.

[1573] I wrote this book and I say in the book, like, typing in local open mics in your Google search, it's one step away from typing in what's the best way to kill myself.

[1574] It is that desperation that you need, that I need it.

[1575] So then I just Google local open mics, went through a ha -ha, paid $5.

[1576] You have to pay $5 for five minutes to stage time to ha -ha.

[1577] So five other comics can not laugh at you.

[1578] It was, you know, horrific.

[1579] But that still felt better than me sitting at home making no friends because I saw a camaraderie.

[1580] I was like, if I'm good, I can make some friends like here in the open mic.

[1581] And there's a new world out.

[1582] There's an out for me. So soon after, I think I quit that finance, you know, internship, very promising internship.

[1583] And I just try to do stand -up.

[1584] You know, I did everything.

[1585] I worked at door at the Comedy Palace in San Diego, this Greek restaurant.

[1586] that would turn into a comedy club at night.

[1587] I worked the door, folded envelopes, did everything.

[1588] If they let me sleep there, I would have slept there, answer the phones and everything.

[1589] I just dove into it, not just for the love of comedy and the arts, but for the love of this new life, this is a new fraternity that I found.

[1590] Oh.

[1591] You know?

[1592] That's awesome.

[1593] So a lot of it, it was an improvement on my life that was, that interested me in stand -up.

[1594] And through stand -up, I got laid for the first time.

[1595] You know what I mean?

[1596] So, like, it worked out for me. And I kind of had a crisis where, okay, I'm doing fine.

[1597] You know, I have a lot of friends now.

[1598] I have, you know, I go on dates.

[1599] Like, it's fine.

[1600] Like, my life is fine.

[1601] And I started making money on Silicon Valley, you know.

[1602] So I stopped doing stand -up.

[1603] I was like, I don't really need this, you know.

[1604] But then after a while, like, I wasn't getting depressed either.

[1605] So it was a really good feeling because it wasn't a, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, a crutch, it wasn't an addiction I needed to feed.

[1606] And then eventually I did stand up, finally, I think, for the love of it.

[1607] I was like, you know what?

[1608] I do miss this.

[1609] I'm going to go do it on my own terms, not just because I'm trying to make friends and trying to pull girls.

[1610] I'm doing it because I enjoy the process of it.

[1611] So let's fucking do it.

[1612] And that's the recent, I guess, resurgent of energy.

[1613] How much time did you take off?

[1614] To, oh, from stand -up, on and off like a year or two.

[1615] two.

[1616] A couple seasons during Silicon Valley, I would do stand -up maybe at max.

[1617] I would just go down to comedy magic club once every two months just so I can, you know, talk to some friends or something.

[1618] But I wasn't in it.

[1619] Yeah.

[1620] Just to do it, dust it off.

[1621] Yeah, but it was stuck in that same old material, wasn't filling it.

[1622] And the reason for the special really was I kind of got pissed.

[1623] I was because everybody that was coming up to me in the streets like, yo, Jing Yang, Silicon Valley, whatever.

[1624] And there's some YouTube clips people watching me doing it.

[1625] I was like, oh, I didn't know this motherfucker can do stand -up, you know?

[1626] And blah.

[1627] I'm like, man, I am a stand -up.

[1628] I started as a stand -up.

[1629] I think I'm a better stand -up than I am an actor, you know?

[1630] So let me prove to the world, I'm not just like a vine guy or actor trying to do stand -up.

[1631] I am an actor who used to be a stand -up, and that is my fucking forte.

[1632] That's awesome.

[1633] I had a similar thing when I was on news radio.

[1634] I kind of stopped writing for a while, like a couple years.

[1635] I was just doing the same old material.

[1636] Just phoning it in.

[1637] Yeah.

[1638] Because when you're making money, you're doing fun.

[1639] It's hard.

[1640] You've got to find a new motivation.

[1641] And then I had some people come to see me and I bombed one night at the comedy store.

[1642] Then I woke up.

[1643] I was like, I got to get back to work.

[1644] I'm just doing the same old shit.

[1645] I knew the material was stale.

[1646] It was flat.

[1647] I didn't have any connection to it.

[1648] was just saying it because like I was using it like a tool like a screwdriver you know wasn't there was no like people understand they've they feel what's going on in your head when you're talking about things and if you're not totally tuned into what you're saying they don't want to hear it yes yes it's it's I think stand -ups can all be great actors and we all have the a base for that because one of the magic tricks in stand -up is you told that joke a thousand times but you got to make it sound like it's the first time and if you just mailing it in and you're just telling it as if you're reading a script in your head.

[1649] It's like watching bad acting on TV.

[1650] If the guy ain't filling it, you're not going to be filling it.

[1651] Yeah.

[1652] I always describe it as mass hypnosis.

[1653] That it's like there's a vibe that you're putting it out.

[1654] You're hitting a frequency.

[1655] And the audience, if the words are well worked, if you have a good economy of words, the things you're saying resonate, it all makes sense.

[1656] You have confidence.

[1657] You have focus.

[1658] All these things are correct.

[1659] Your delivery is comfortable.

[1660] it makes people feel good, they just let you think.

[1661] Like, go, Jimmy, think for me. I want to hear what you have to say.

[1662] And they're not judging.

[1663] They're just like letting you take them for a ride.

[1664] And it's kind of a, like when someone's really killing, when you watch someone on stage killing, your eyes are open, your jaws are over, you're like, ah, you're just going along with it.

[1665] You're going along with whatever they're saying.

[1666] You know, it's, you know, Owen Smith.

[1667] Owen Smith's killing.

[1668] Like, I think the way he's thinking.

[1669] Like, I'm allowing him to lead my mind.

[1670] You can't wait till you hear his next stop.

[1671] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're not like going, I would have said this, or he's, well, I'm bored with what he's saying.

[1672] No, no, you're letting, if someone's got a well -crafted act, but that's the thing is, like, creating that act, like, boy, you're going to have some weird hiccups when you put it together, when you got new shit, and it's clunky and it's awkward, and maybe you go down a road that you don't want to go down.

[1673] You're like, I've got to get out of this bit, and you don't know how.

[1674] And one bad new joke in an hour set.

[1675] Like if you just have one bad new joke 20 minutes in, you need the next 10 minutes to prove your worth again.

[1676] Yes.

[1677] Because they're like, ah, this guy, I don't know.

[1678] Yes.

[1679] Yeah.

[1680] And you got to be real careful if you want to open up with a new joke.

[1681] Woo!

[1682] They say never do that.

[1683] I mean, I don't agree with that.

[1684] I don't think there's any never do that.

[1685] Right, right, right.

[1686] I don't think there's any never do that other than, you know, I mean, there's definitely a few never do that.

[1687] But if you've got an idea and you know it's fire, you know it's going to crack.

[1688] You're like, just let me just run this on stage.

[1689] I know I got a real bit I can do if this doesn't work.

[1690] Like have a nice segue into a real bit.

[1691] Right, right, right.

[1692] In case this tanks, I'm just going to cut it in half and then go into my old bit.

[1693] But when some shit just happened like three hours ago and you go on stage, there's a certain energy to that too, where the audience is like, this is a fucking guy has no idea if this is any good.

[1694] Like you just, you have a hot take on something.

[1695] that just happened a few hours ago.

[1696] There's energy to that.

[1697] Yes, yes, yes.

[1698] And some things that you know it's an old joke that you've done, say, for two years, and you're like, man, this killed.

[1699] What happened?

[1700] Yeah, you lost the energy.

[1701] Why is it not?

[1702] And then you try to force some energy into it.

[1703] Still, it's not there.

[1704] No. Because to you, it's fresh, and maybe there's an amazing actor or you can put some acting skill into that to pretend, but it's still not there.

[1705] You have to really be interested in what you're saying.

[1706] Yeah, yeah, you can't fake that.

[1707] No, it's comedy, it's a weird thing going on that's not defined between us and the audience.

[1708] It's very weird.

[1709] Yeah, and sometimes even you think you're saying it with energy and with that same rigor.

[1710] You watch yourself on the tape, you're like, no, I'm just going through emotions and reading lines in my head.

[1711] Yep, yeah.

[1712] Same thing with acting.

[1713] You don't want to do too many takes.

[1714] Oh, yeah.

[1715] You know when you really tell when you're high?

[1716] If you go to the movies when you're high, you go, this guy's phoning it in.

[1717] Yeah.

[1718] You can see it.

[1719] There's like sometimes you go to the movies and you're high and it's just like seamless.

[1720] You just go on this little journey.

[1721] You believe every word.

[1722] Yeah.

[1723] And every now and then someone will pop out like, look at this motherfucker acting.

[1724] Yes.

[1725] Yes.

[1726] I never forget.

[1727] I went to see The Hulk with Eric Banna.

[1728] Remember that guy?

[1729] He was one of the many hulks.

[1730] There's this one clunky scene.

[1731] Maybe they did it too many times or whatever.

[1732] I'm like, ew, acting.

[1733] Because I was barbecued.

[1734] I'm in the audience watching this.

[1735] And I was like, this is so acting.

[1736] Like, I'll never forget in that moment.

[1737] I'm like, this guy's act.

[1738] This is fake.

[1739] So there's the Space Force show that I just did.

[1740] How is that?

[1741] Great.

[1742] It's on Netflix, right?

[1743] Netflix is Steve Carell, John Malkovich, Greg Daniels.

[1744] I mean, that's a great fucking fast right there.

[1745] Fucking dream come true.

[1746] And it's interesting because sometimes if you're kind of unprepared, you go do a scene and you don't have your lines members.

[1747] summarize, somehow you pull it off because it's fresh.

[1748] It's as if you're saying the line.

[1749] But sometimes when you rehearse, I remember just one scene in this one episode.

[1750] I don't think other people would know, like, people aren't actors.

[1751] But I watch it myself, because I remember the day when I was doing that scene, I was like, oh, I'm killing it.

[1752] I'm riffing.

[1753] I'm like, you know, me and the girl that I'm tawny that I'm doing the scene with, just going back and forward.

[1754] This feels good.

[1755] It's like a little boxing match.

[1756] But then when I watched it, I was like, damn, seems a little rehearsed.

[1757] Because I think I rehearsed in my mind.

[1758] I know she's going to say this.

[1759] I'm going to say this.

[1760] Even though it felt good, it felt like it flowed.

[1761] It lost a little bit of that natural singing for the first time.

[1762] And that was tough for me to watch that myself.

[1763] And I don't even want to say which scene it is because I don't think people could tell.

[1764] But I could.

[1765] And it kind of kills me. That makes sense.

[1766] Like you know, but also like you know what you're going to say.

[1767] There's no surprise.

[1768] When someone is watching the scene, there's all this surprise.

[1769] to it because like they're kind of like watching a magic trick like where's his hands i don't even know what he did yeah you know like you're talking and they don't have any idea where you're going and they just follow along you know everything you're going to say before you say it so you watch yeah the weirdness and i know what she's going to say yeah when you know everything i mean a really great actor you're supposed to know everything everything and then you use your skills to pretend you you've heard it for the first time right which is a stand -up yeah also real And sometimes you forget that, you just like, yeah, it feels good, but it's not.

[1770] It's practice.

[1771] It looks like practice.

[1772] Did your family give you a hard time about wanting to do stand -up?

[1773] Yeah, dude.

[1774] There's quite the story there.

[1775] It's a feel -good story.

[1776] Let me preface with that.

[1777] So, yeah, my dad was in finance.

[1778] He hooked me up with that finance job.

[1779] And when I was like, I don't know, I just don't want to do this.

[1780] He was like, what, do you have another job?

[1781] I was like, no, I'm going to give this stand -up thing a try.

[1782] And this was like a year or two in.

[1783] Obviously, I was making any money.

[1784] So he was very disappointed He was hoping it was just a phase He doesn't even know what stand -up was Old Chinese guy He just like a talk show Like he just keeps calling a talk show Still till today A talk show Just never got it So I was finishing my last year of school in San Diego I got just random jobs I worked at a used car lot During the day I worked at that comedy palace Collecting tickets and trade for like stage time In the evening After that I'll go put another show as a DJ at a strip club just so I was like trying different things you know and I didn't want to lock myself into something and then eventually the acting starting to do a little better you know my first job was two broke girls at two lines you know and I was so proud I was so proud of myself I was finally making some money I called my dad I was like dad you know why don't you know watch CBS tonight you know I'm going to be on there and stuff he was like I don't I don't have to be CBS I was like, who doesn't fucking have CBS?

[1785] You stick a piece of tin phone in the back of your TV, you get CBS.

[1786] So he was just really not down, right?

[1787] And then eventually, when I got on Silicon Valley, the old man understands what a contract is, a serious regular job on HBO.

[1788] He's acting.

[1789] He got it.

[1790] So he was finally happy.

[1791] I was financially secure.

[1792] So instead of ever giving it up and say, like, hey, Jimmy, good job.

[1793] I'm proud of you.

[1794] Maybe I was wrong.

[1795] good for you.

[1796] You know what he said?

[1797] He was like, oh, if it's so easy, you can do it.

[1798] I can probably do it.

[1799] And he started becoming an actor.

[1800] I was like, okay, dad, you know what?

[1801] If you think it's so easy.

[1802] Dude, I was like, Dad, if you think it's so easy, I was with a very small agency at the time.

[1803] I'm like, you know what?

[1804] I'm going to sign you up with her see if she needs an older Asian guy because there's not a lot of older Asian guys out there competing.

[1805] So she signed him.

[1806] And then I was like, good, good, good.

[1807] Now you're going to go to auditions.

[1808] and understand how fucking hard my life is.

[1809] All the rejections I face, all the nerves I got to deal with.

[1810] But then the plane completely backfire because he went to those auditions and killed it.

[1811] He booked, like, his first six out of 10 jobs, which is like an unheard of ratio.

[1812] You know what I mean?

[1813] Yeah.

[1814] Like, you'd be lucky to book, like, 5 % of jobs, but he was killing it.

[1815] A lot of, like, non -union gigs.

[1816] He even got on this show.

[1817] I talk about this a little bit of my stand -up.

[1818] He even got on the show that shot in San Francisco as a Chinese show.

[1819] We thought it was no big deal, low -budget Chinese show.

[1820] Became the biggest show in China.

[1821] Became like the fucking modern family of China.

[1822] And then my aunt from Shanghai would call the houseman.

[1823] I'm like, Richard, you're such a good actor.

[1824] Your son must have taken after you.

[1825] I was like, what the fuck?

[1826] Right?

[1827] But now I've accepted it.

[1828] That's who he is.

[1829] I'm happy that me and my dad's in the same business in a way.

[1830] That's crazy.

[1831] And it's a fun story to tell me. people, right?

[1832] So I was jokingly saying that story to John Malcovic, Ben Schwartz on, you know, Space Force.

[1833] Everybody gets a kick out of this little story.

[1834] Episode 9 and Space Force comes around.

[1835] We're doing a table read.

[1836] And it's a China versus America thing in this episode.

[1837] And they needed a couple older Chinese scientists that are authentic Mandarin -speaking Chinese people.

[1838] After the table read, Greg Daniels, the showrunner, he's like, you know, just, I don't know, it's always the same guys, you know, just whatever.

[1839] And John Malcovich was the one that said, hey, what about Jimmy's dad?

[1840] Have you thought about Jimmy's dad?

[1841] And I didn't have thick enough skin to volunteer my dad.

[1842] And then that night I went home, I cut together an acting reel for my dad, and I sent it to Greg.

[1843] All I said was like, Greg, maybe give the old man a chance.

[1844] He's got a good look.

[1845] I think he fits this older scientist in China.

[1846] Just let him come in an audition.

[1847] But I guess Greg was so impressed with the tape.

[1848] He just hired him.

[1849] Wow.

[1850] Episode 9 of Space Force My dad is in it He's great He comes in No fear And a scene is toe to toe with John Malcovich Wow And how long has he been acting I mean Two years If that Never taken no classes That's so crazy Yeah Wow I practice with him On Skype You know For that scene You know Because I was like that Don't make me look bad Don't fuck this up Make sure you remember your lines, right?

[1851] And then he was practicing me. He's like, can you screen grab me, record me so I can see my own performance, you know?

[1852] And actors were all very self -conscious.

[1853] I hate to watch myself.

[1854] So I recorded him.

[1855] I sent him that tape.

[1856] And then he looked at it.

[1857] He was just like, wow, I'm really good.

[1858] Look at me. Like, I'm like listening to every.

[1859] I'm good at this.

[1860] I was like, sure, go for it.

[1861] But it's that blind sense of confidence and also the fact that.

[1862] that he never thought to be an actor, so there's no fear.

[1863] Yeah.

[1864] I was nervous as hell my first day with John Malcovic and Steve Carell.

[1865] My dad came in with just chilling.

[1866] That's so funny.

[1867] Yeah.

[1868] It's so funny that it totally backfire.

[1869] Yeah.

[1870] But now it's fine.

[1871] It's a fun father and son's story.

[1872] That's a great story.

[1873] It's so funny that he saw you doing it.

[1874] He's like, I can do that.

[1875] And he could do it.

[1876] He's a talented guy, you know.

[1877] He wants to do stand -up now.

[1878] Really?

[1879] He was like...

[1880] How old is he?

[1881] He's 70 something.

[1882] 72, 3.

[1883] Wow.

[1884] And he was like, well, Jimmy, you think I can do some stand -up?

[1885] I was like, sure.

[1886] Just go sign up for an open mic at the laugh factory.

[1887] I'll put your name in the hat.

[1888] How about that?

[1889] He was like, oh, no, no, no, no. I'm not doing open mics.

[1890] Can I do some theater or something?

[1891] I was like, no. A theater?

[1892] Yeah, he was like, no, I'm not doing front of five people.

[1893] I need to do it.

[1894] If I do it, I need like 500 people.

[1895] Oh, my God.

[1896] I was like, that's not how it works.

[1897] But who knows?

[1898] Maybe when he does it in front 500 people, he fucking kills.

[1899] What if your dad gets a fucking Netflix special next year?

[1900] What if your dad just starts murder and puts together some whole routine?

[1901] Do you imagine how crazy that would be?

[1902] If your dad's just a murderer, just up with the on stage crushing, punchline.

[1903] Bang, bang, bang, bang.

[1904] I want to say I would be happy for him, but there's probably a part of me that's like, oh, gosh.

[1905] How could it not be?

[1906] He's always been the funny one in the family, though.

[1907] He's always a ballbuster and everything.

[1908] Really?

[1909] It kind of came naturally to him.

[1910] Wow, there he is.

[1911] Yeah.

[1912] Yeah, I don't know if you can find that Space Force scene in episode nine, but completely fearless, very natural.

[1913] Has he written stand -up?

[1914] Does he have any ideas of stuff he would talk about?

[1915] You know what?

[1916] I should have him write a set to see what the materials would be.

[1917] Yeah.

[1918] Hmm.

[1919] Hmm.

[1920] I don't know.

[1921] I, that I got offended.

[1922] The acting stuff, because I always felt like I snuck into it.

[1923] acting I wasn't trained at Juilliard or whatever right so that was so it's kind of like a similar path he snuck into acting I snuck into acting whatever but the stand -up thing kind of offended me you know I'm like I fucking put in 10 years dude you can't just go do a goddamn theater what if he does he I mean maybe he can open for me one day or my next special that would be fun if you have them open it would be interesting because that's a rough spot anyway even for a regular comment you got to warm everybody up for a few minutes for the they start rolling.

[1924] Yeah, but if I introduce him as like my dad.

[1925] That would help.

[1926] And people heard the story on the show, right?

[1927] Or in my stand -up, then people would love it, but you've seen you've seen like a Viner or like a YouTube or trying to do stand -up.

[1928] The five minutes, the crowd is crazy because they love this person and they're laughing.

[1929] But then it's hard to keep that momentum going if you actually don't have the goods.

[1930] That's what they say about famous people doing stand -up in particular.

[1931] Like you get a couple of minutes where happy to see you.

[1932] Mm -hmm.

[1933] And then after what I was like, oh, this guy's fucking terrible.

[1934] That happened to me when I first transitioned from just unknown stand -up to the guy from Silicon Valley doing stand -up.

[1935] I remember the first couple of minutes were like so hot, I couldn't follow my own hype kind of, you know.

[1936] And it's interesting because my character on Silicon Valley, he's like, he has an accent, he's an immigrant, you know, like we were talking about earlier.

[1937] So a lot of people for a while coming up to me in the street.

[1938] When they didn't know I was a stand -up, they didn't know I acted beyond that show.

[1939] They were like, oh, shit, are you Jing Yang from that show?

[1940] I was like, yeah, yeah, sure, thanks for watching.

[1941] And then they were just like, oh, shit, I don't even know you speak English in real life.

[1942] So imagine the stand -up crowd seeing that.

[1943] They have to get over that first.

[1944] They're like, oh, shit, this motherfucker speak English.

[1945] So that takes two minutes of all.

[1946] And then they started accept me as a stand -up.

[1947] Do you address that right away?

[1948] I say this, yes, in my special.

[1949] sometimes um and people laugh because it's true that that's what they think when they see me or when they saw me it was years ago you know yeah yeah no that it would be really hilarious if your dad became a killer comic i should train them oh fuck yeah i should help them write bits we thought about doing like not a reality show but like a little adventure show me and my dad and i take them to try to find an agent go to auditions and like uh uh uh bring them to the comedy store to get advice from you guys so you can be a comic.

[1950] Maybe I should go ahead with that.

[1951] I don't know.

[1952] Tony Hinchcliff's mom went on stage at Kill Tony one night.

[1953] He wrote bits for her and he taught her how to do it and she fucking murdered.

[1954] Really?

[1955] Murdered.

[1956] His mom's hilarious.

[1957] Just natural, no stage fear.

[1958] She's, you know, she's a woman who's had a long life and she's experienced a lot of shit.

[1959] And Tony wrote stuff for her and everybody was happy to see her.

[1960] And she went up there and fucking killed.

[1961] What do you think she did, Jamie, about four minutes, five minutes?

[1962] That's a lot for the first time.

[1963] Dude, she fucking killed.

[1964] Really?

[1965] I mean, she fucking killed.

[1966] I mean, killed.

[1967] Like, I was laughing.

[1968] Like, I was laughing.

[1969] I think Dom Irera was with me on the stage.

[1970] I think he was, I think it was Dom.

[1971] He was laughing.

[1972] We were all laughing hard.

[1973] Like, she was, like, Tony wrote the bits, which helped a lot.

[1974] Obviously, he's a great writer.

[1975] But she was delivering them like a killer.

[1976] It was funny.

[1977] I would not.

[1978] right for my dad.

[1979] I want him to eat shit a couple of them.

[1980] You have to get somebody respect your craft, man. Right, because he doesn't respect acting.

[1981] Yeah.

[1982] Yeah.

[1983] Or not that he doesn't respect.

[1984] He just thinks he's a little easy.

[1985] He's a genius.

[1986] I don't know if it's a lack of respect for the arts or is it overconfident in his own ability.

[1987] But is it overconfident if he pulled it off?

[1988] And so much about acting is it is confidence.

[1989] Yeah.

[1990] Not being shaken, being yourself it's the correct amount of confidence it is a correct dude he's so relaxed i have a video i got to find on my phone and show you um so it's in the hallway between setups me and malcovich just running lines and i'm i'm nervous you know and malcovich works hard like at his level he still works hard he's amazing we're running lines you know in between takes the camera pans pans pans a bunch of empty chairs and and pans to my dad and an actor chair fell asleep just instead of sleep so relaxed chilling and he's about to work with John Malcovic that's hilarious no nerves wow yeah does he know who John Malcovich is he does absolutely wow and he still didn't give a fuck no I think maybe it comes with age you know when you're 70 something you kind of you've seen so much he is such a fanboy like he loves taking selfies with people at first it started off which is like crazy rich Asians or like Patriots day this movie I did with Walberg in the premiere I'll take him to the premiere my parents and just to kind of finally get their approval you know and he gets it he gives it up he was like very emotional you know after crazy rich Asians and all that but his his goal is not to celebrate with a son there his goal is to get selfies in the after party you know those Chinese Roman theater this premieres you know at the Chinese theater there he is right there Mark Wahlberg And he just keep doing selfies And like I was sitting in a table And then Mark has his table And his boys and his security And then my dad just leaned over to me And it was like, hey, you think we can go get a picture with Mark?

[1991] I was like, I don't want to ask him Because I have fought so hard to not ask for pictures With people I work with I want a picture of Mark I want a picture of Malcovich But at the same time I want to just be a colleague I don't want to be a fan But then my dad forces me to do that He was like, come on, just go ask him.

[1992] I bet Walberg's used to that, though.

[1993] He probably just...

[1994] Exactly.

[1995] If I ask, I think it's still kind of lame.

[1996] But if it's like, hey, Mark, my parents are big fans.

[1997] Can they get a picture?

[1998] And they're just cute old Chinese people.

[1999] So that was...

[2000] Everybody kind of gets a kick out of him.

[2001] He played my dad in Patriots today.

[2002] Really?

[2003] He has a very small scene.

[2004] That's an interesting...

[2005] That's how he got his sack card.

[2006] That's hilarious.

[2007] Talk about nepotism in Hollywood, huh?

[2008] That is nepotism.

[2009] That's how it works.

[2010] Well, but you know what?

[2011] I was actively trying to improve that movie.

[2012] Because the movie was very serious.

[2013] It's about the Boston Marathon bombing.

[2014] And I was playing a based on real -life Chinese person.

[2015] You know, very detailed stuff.

[2016] Like, he speaks with a Chinese accent, but it's a Sichuan Chinese accent.

[2017] When he mixes his L's and T's, I forget what it was.

[2018] But I studied it for a long time.

[2019] It's not just a generic Chinese accent, right?

[2020] And then his parents, of course, speaks the Sichuan dialect, or at least just a very proper Mandarin.

[2021] And the actor they first hired to play my dad, it's just a Skype scene, very simple.

[2022] The actor they first hired to play my dad spoke Mandarin with a Cantonese accent.

[2023] So I wanted to Pete Burke, the director.

[2024] I was like, Pete, man, I got to say something, man. The whole point of this movie is honoring these heroes and be authentic.

[2025] And this guy, you guys might not be able to tell.

[2026] I know and the Chinese audience will know this guy's from Hong Kong or from Guangdong or something he's not from Sichuan or mainland China you know so he's like yeah sure we'll find another guy and I was like yeah I was sitting with you had some auditions and stuff if you want he was like yeah sure we're already shooting in Boston might take a long time I was like Pete why don't you just hire my dad and that was it they hired my dad that's hilarious yeah yeah that's hilarious but it's it's for the art it's for the authenticity dude I'm not so secretly hoping your dad kills.

[2027] I would just think it'd be the best story.

[2028] I want to have you back on after your dad has just murdered a few times on stage.

[2029] And you're like, what the fuck?

[2030] Oh, my God.

[2031] If he comes on this podcast and everything, he'll be a huge star.

[2032] I don't know if I can handle that.

[2033] Because right now it's very much like I'm hooking him up.

[2034] I'm still the star.

[2035] You know, he's just my dad.

[2036] But what if I'm starting known as Richard's son and acting?

[2037] That would be kind of rough.

[2038] that's going to be hard he's going to have to really do something special to pull that off we'll see maybe he have his own Hannah Gadsby -esque special I mean and just only talk shit about me in the special that would be funny of like you and Tony whoever a bunch of great writers and great comedians start plotting against me for his success you know write for him and help him oh my God with strategies for how to how to kill oh my God He loves it, man. That's great, though.

[2039] That's so cool.

[2040] It's a good father and son bonding.

[2041] What did your dad used to do for a living?

[2042] What was his...

[2043] He was always, like, a really successful salesman.

[2044] He had his own medical device company that he sold in...

[2045] Salesman?

[2046] Yes.

[2047] That's a thing where you have to have personality, and you have to know how to read a room.

[2048] Yeah.

[2049] Like, we were talking about Alcoholics Anonymous as like a good gateway into comedy.

[2050] I think maybe salesman might be, too.

[2051] And then when he came to America, he became a financial advisor.

[2052] So that's people to people.

[2053] You've got to give presentations.

[2054] So he was always a great public speaker, and I think I took after him.

[2055] I never really had much stage fright.

[2056] So he's a natural.

[2057] And you say bust balls, so he's always joking around.

[2058] He's the funny one in the family table.

[2059] Oh, my God.

[2060] Yeah.

[2061] I think he's going to kill.

[2062] Richard.

[2063] Ay, yeah, yay.

[2064] I hope he does.

[2065] I really do.

[2066] Yeah, well.

[2067] You got to hope he does.

[2068] Maybe we would do a two -man show for Netflix.

[2069] Bro, the odds of him being better than you are very slim.

[2070] Let's just be honest.

[2071] But don't you just want him to do well?

[2072] Wouldn't it be great?

[2073] I really do.

[2074] I think it's really, I joke about the jealousy.

[2075] I really don't care.

[2076] He's an old man. Let him live his bucket list and act with John Malcovich.

[2077] You know what I mean?

[2078] Like I'm just being a good son trying to hook my dad up now.

[2079] Oh, man. I can't wait to see how this plays out.

[2080] When is he going to do stand -up?

[2081] Do you have a timeline?

[2082] Was he going to try it?

[2083] No. Clubs get back open again?

[2084] Well, I think once I told him he can't just do theaters, he kind of became disinterested.

[2085] He doesn't want to do open mics.

[2086] But you got to.

[2087] Or maybe he doesn't got to.

[2088] I mean, it depends on how much of a perspective he has.

[2089] If he has, like, real takes on things that he could just go on stage with.

[2090] You never know, man. Here's the thing.

[2091] If he goes on stage without the context of this is Jimmy.

[2092] he's dad and he's just an old man doing a set i i don't know just that's a that's a long road but if i bring him up and he's my dad i think people just kind of eat it up give him a little more slack maybe but that might help you accept the fact that he kills what if he goes on stage without any recognition of you whatsoever he just just someone introduces him he goes on stage and just fucking murders that would be hard to take that would be hard yeah because if you bring him up and you give him a little training wheels and you push him you give him a little boost ready go it's like exactly what i was saying how you can't immediately be good in stand -up you need to put in that five 10 years but if he's just good yeah i would question myself like i would be like well fuck i must be doing so please tell me when he's going to do it please okay we're going to tell me when he's going to do it and i want to go i want to go watch don't encourage him i don't want Just people show it up.

[2093] I want to, if please do it in town, please do it in L .A. But if I was an older guy, though, I'd be really worried about COVID.

[2094] Yeah.

[2095] So, like, it's going to be a while before he's probably willing to go to a comedy club or something, right?

[2096] Yeah, and yeah, yeah, speaking of that, I mean, I try to see him every week.

[2097] So I'm, like, very careful, you know, because I don't want to kill him, you know.

[2098] But, yeah, we'll see.

[2099] Maybe he would do one of those virtual Zoom rooms.

[2100] Don't have him do that That's setting him up the wrong way You know what I should completely let go on my ego And write for him Or should I not do that Should I see how good he is without You gotta see how good he is first Let him do it first Yeah Don't warn him Just let him do it Has he been to a live performance by you Yes How many shows has you seen live I think only one or two Because he's disinterested In stand -up It's not his thing He gets movies, he gets TV.

[2101] He doesn't get stand -up.

[2102] And one time I was doing a Brad Garrett's club in Vegas, MGM.

[2103] I was like, oh, Chinese people understand Vegas.

[2104] I'm going to hook him up with a nice room.

[2105] I was, I think, opening or middling.

[2106] It was years ago.

[2107] I was like, finally, they're going to see me in MGM because they know that's a nice place going to the comedy club.

[2108] I crushed it that night.

[2109] I could set, and you know afterwards, you and the headliner and everyone's out there shaking hands, meeting people.

[2110] My parents walked out, right?

[2111] My mom's all smiles.

[2112] She's very just positive, you know, general.

[2113] And then my dad walked out, and then my buddy Jack was next to me. He was the middle.

[2114] I was the opener.

[2115] Yeah, my buddy Jack Cohen, older comic.

[2116] He went up to my dad.

[2117] He was like, oh, my God.

[2118] Hey, Richard, aren't you so proud of his son?

[2119] He's so good, right?

[2120] And then my dad just looked at me in front of the entire audience of everyone else shaking hand.

[2121] He's like, no, Jimmy's not funny.

[2122] Yeah.

[2123] Wow.

[2124] Yeah, and I don't know if he was, years later, he said, that was a joke, because, because it's not, he said this, he said, it's not funny if I tell you, you're funny.

[2125] But it's funny if I tell you it's not funny.

[2126] There's a story there.

[2127] I was like, yeah, but yeah, you're my dad, though.

[2128] I mean, come on.

[2129] Like, you're not, you're not my buddy at an open mic.

[2130] Yeah.

[2131] And then he also said, he was like, well, I honestly.

[2132] didn't think it was funny because I don't get the references.

[2133] I don't get culturally, like, what you're saying about whatever.

[2134] I didn't get it.

[2135] So he's kind of just being honest also.

[2136] So he's trying to be funny in his own way while being honest about his own take on it?

[2137] I don't, yeah, yeah.

[2138] He's honest, but he's also still being the ballbreaker.

[2139] Right.

[2140] He's a funny guy, but sometimes it's hard to be his son if he's using.

[2141] me in the expense of you know comedy is it like uh the style of comedy like insult comedy you say ball ball breaking like what kind of yeah that's what he does yes like uh older chinese don rickles yes yes that's it one chinese people i think in general i i say this my stand -up and and it's funny if i do it in front of a white audience or a non -chinese audience like what the fuck, does that really happen?

[2142] Like, I do this bit about how Chinese people would tell you exactly what the fuck is wrong with your face.

[2143] Like, at Thanksgiving, you know, my mom would tell my girl cousin, like, oh, Christina, you got so fat.

[2144] Wow.

[2145] Just straight.

[2146] I was like, Ma, you can't say that.

[2147] And then my mom and my dad would be like, oh, if we're not telling her, who would?

[2148] And, like, also being, like, a comedian.

[2149] I mean, not being a comedian.

[2150] being fuck what was I going to say oh being Chinese being fat or gaining weight is prosperous it's good it's auspicious or whatever dude she's a girl you can't just fucking say that you know and Christina is not fat she's this beautiful young woman you know and yeah it's it's hard to grow up with a high self -esteem in an Asian household you know but there is a weird honesty to it I don't know I don't buy They say it's honest.

[2151] I think it's passed down trauma.

[2152] Their parents did that to them, and now they're doing it.

[2153] Yeah.

[2154] I don't know.

[2155] Well, there's something about work ethic in Asian households.

[2156] When I was young, one of my good friends was this kid, his name was Junksyk, Jungsik Chang, and he went on to be a national Taekwondo champion while he was in its medical residency.

[2157] Wow.

[2158] Yeah, I always used to compare myself to him.

[2159] If I ever thought I had discipline or I worked hard, I compare myself to that guy.

[2160] I was like, I'm a lazy fuck because this guy was, he worked so hard.

[2161] But he was telling me that this is just how it was with his family, like, nothing you ever did is good enough.

[2162] Like he's Korean, and he was like, my parents are so ruthless.

[2163] It's like everything had to be better.

[2164] Nothing was ever good.

[2165] It didn't matter if you had straight A's, you could do better.

[2166] You could always do better.

[2167] You never good enough.

[2168] It's interesting.

[2169] I think that is more like the.

[2170] very stereotypical Asian parents, the helicopter, tiger parents or whatever.

[2171] Tiger parents.

[2172] Tiger mom, I think it's a real term.

[2173] Mine is, I guess, a little nuanced.

[2174] Like, they would give it up for academic and they always call me smart and stuff, but they will make fun of me. Like, I remember after orchestra practice in high school ones, my dad came, very proud of me playing the violin.

[2175] It's like, oh, you're great, you know.

[2176] So that stuff, they'll give it up, you know.

[2177] But then a girl, this really, really cute white girl came and talked to me after Tracy, was her name, that I kind of had a crush on.

[2178] She just came and talked to me. She was like, oh my God, you're so good.

[2179] Hey, hey, I'll talk to you later.

[2180] It gave me a hug and everything.

[2181] And I was such a nerd.

[2182] I didn't get any action.

[2183] And then I just looked at my dad.

[2184] I was hoping he'll be proud, you know, and then he looked at me. He's like, you and her.

[2185] Yeah.

[2186] Wow.

[2187] Yeah.

[2188] So certain things, like, he goes a little too far and making fun of you.

[2189] That's a confidence crusher from Pops.

[2190] Yeah.

[2191] But I mean, once again, it could be Because he grew up, he never got no girls like that.

[2192] So he's like, if I couldn't, like, why would my son, you know?

[2193] Do you think he's competing with you a little bit there in that way?

[2194] I hate to think about that, but I think there's got to be a part of that.

[2195] That's got to be a part of why he wanted to get into acting.

[2196] Yeah.

[2197] Yeah.

[2198] Yeah.

[2199] Mm -hmm.

[2200] And maybe that's one of the reasons why he's so confident.

[2201] It's because he shits on you, and if you can do it, it's like, this fucking guy can do it?

[2202] Yeah.

[2203] Yeah.

[2204] It's a weird, like, he picks and chew.

[2205] what he gives it up and not oh so it's manipulative a little bit so you never know it's like uh yeah yeah stockholm syndrome well you know i i i called them out once and i was like that why don't you why didn't you first of all tell me the dating advice and also why did you never think i could like date cute girls or whatever right like that took me years to overcome and he was like sure but like I always said you were smart, right?

[2206] He just gave me like a non -answer of like, he was like, but I always said you were smart.

[2207] That's what's important to me. Yeah.

[2208] So it's sort of like he's excusing the fact that he dismissed your ability to.

[2209] I think whatever he wasn't good at, he projected it on me. Like I was as small as I was, I was a pretty good athlete.

[2210] I could run pretty fast.

[2211] I could jump pretty high.

[2212] I used to play basketball.

[2213] Even though I was small, I was like the underdog, but I was athletic, you know.

[2214] But my dad, like when I was trying out for the high school basketball team, my dad was like, no, you can't do that.

[2215] You're flat -footed just like me. You can't, come on.

[2216] Oh, that's weird.

[2217] So it's the opposite of what some weird, like, theater parents do or coach parents do.

[2218] Like, is the thing that happens when kids get into athletics where their parents failed at sports and then they get really invested in their kid being awesome?

[2219] Yes, yes.

[2220] I'm not sure which way is healthier.

[2221] Or both of them are gross.

[2222] Yeah.

[2223] They're both gross.

[2224] Yeah.

[2225] Yeah, there's something really weird about, like, it's a burden, too, for the kids.

[2226] Like, I've seen it with kids where the overbearing parents that just want the kid to succeed so well because it, like, that's my boy out there kicking ass.

[2227] That's my boy.

[2228] Look how fast you run.

[2229] It's a very selfish reason.

[2230] It's a very selfish.

[2231] You don't really care about the kid being happy or not.

[2232] And it also fucks with the kid's head, and a lot of times it ruins their love of whatever the, the sport is.

[2233] Mm -hmm.

[2234] I don't know.

[2235] I guess...

[2236] May...

[2237] You know, it's fine.

[2238] It's fine.

[2239] It's fine.

[2240] Joe, I'm fine.

[2241] You're fine.

[2242] Joe, I'm fine, dude.

[2243] I've seen enough therapy.

[2244] I'm fine.

[2245] I'm fine, dude.

[2246] It's fine.

[2247] It's fine.

[2248] He's flawed.

[2249] We're all flawed.

[2250] Yeah.

[2251] No worries.

[2252] It's like the scene in a goodwill hunting.

[2253] Like, I'm afraid you're going to be like Robin Williams.

[2254] You're like, it's not your fault.

[2255] Yeah.

[2256] It's not your fault.

[2257] And I just start bawling.

[2258] The thing is, like, parents that do weird shit to you, there's some benefit to it.

[2259] Like, my parents were not supportive about anything I've ever done ever.

[2260] And my parents split up when I was really young.

[2261] So my whole life was like, I'll show you.

[2262] I'll show you.

[2263] Like, oh, I don't get any attention.

[2264] Watch what I can do.

[2265] Right.

[2266] So that was, it led me to get really good at things.

[2267] That's, yeah.

[2268] That was why I got really good at everything, because I never got any attention.

[2269] So my thought was like, I know how to get attention, be better than everybody else at everything.

[2270] Yeah.

[2271] Whatever I do, I just have to be just fucking fully immersed in it.

[2272] So I became obsessed with getting really good at things.

[2273] But if I had like really supportive parents that were really there for me all the time, like, who knows?

[2274] But that was, that's you.

[2275] That's your personality to take that kind of negative thing and turn into.

[2276] something awesome.

[2277] A lot of kids maybe in that same situation would have been like, oh, fucking, nobody cares.

[2278] Yeah.

[2279] I'm going to go fuck myself.

[2280] Well, I got really lucky that I found martial arts like really young.

[2281] And when I found it, I realized like, oh, I am good at this.

[2282] Like, I found a thing that makes me feel like I'm not a loser.

[2283] Yeah.

[2284] Because I just felt like we moved around a lot.

[2285] Like, we moved from, like, I lived in New Jersey until I was seven, and then San Francisco from seven to 11, and then Florida from 11 to 13.

[2286] 13 and then Boston from Wow And it was like fuck man I never had like long steady friends I was always the new kid I was always small So people were always fucking with me And then when I got into martial arts It was the first time I didn't feel like a loser It was like once I like a year or two in When I started getting really good I was like this is something I'm good at I'm like really good at this Like I got praise from my instructor I got praise from other students I was winning tournaments And I was like I am something I can finally And so I just threw myself into it.

[2287] Like I was just, that was my whole life.

[2288] And I always think, like, maybe I wouldn't have been that good if I was just loved.

[2289] It's not that my mom didn't love me or my stepdad didn't love me. It's just they're fucking busy, man. And they also grew up in a fucked up life too.

[2290] Like, their parents weren't supportive either.

[2291] So it's sort of like that cycle just sort of repeats itself with kids.

[2292] You know, I thought that back in the day about certain.

[2293] things like acting i'm like if i didn't have low self -esteem growing up about this or if my dad never thought i could be in the arts maybe i'll never made it here like i made it here for a reason right yeah and my therapist set this one thing not to get like too like foo -foo whatever here set this one thing that really resonated with me he was like have you ever thought about you made it not because of it but despite of it so that was that was kind of nice to hear yeah yeah there's both those things right it's like whatever it is it shapes your personality those like there's an ebb and flow to all things and sometimes those negatives gives you this gust of energy to go in the opposite direction and the motivation that you have is sometimes more important than anything else sometimes the motivate like the the willingness to go through a lot of shitty things to make it like sometimes that doesn't exist I have a good friend he's a really nice guy but his mom was too nice to him when he was young like she gave him too much love and she always said he was amazing and everything and he just like he like he even admits it talking about it is like I think my mom was just too fucking nice to me like he's got no drive he's always loved and he's always cared for and always he never felt scared he never felt alone he never felt like there's nobody out here helping me I got to go do this on my own and I remember that was like my overwhelming feeling my whole life was like no one's looking out for me I got to look out for myself this is the world's dangerous you know but that it's like it's all in like I mean that's a stupid old expression life gives you lemons right you make lemonade it's like whatever it is that was negative about it it can become a positive it can become like a reinforcing thing yeah yeah every bad set is actually the most helpful thing yes yeah dude every time I bombed like I talked about that one time when friends came to see me at the comedy store and I realized like I'm phoning it in I'm fucking up I needed that to happen I needed it to happen Even with acting or stand -up It's like sometimes I'm like Okay I'm trying really hard for this film Because I'm proving myself And then sometimes you coasted you're like Oh wait I coasted on that movie And people still was like oh he was good Or like whatever so you keep coasting coasting And at some point you get caught And you're like oh fuck I gotta step it up again Yeah I mean we need lessons No one's perfect right We need lessons and lessons come in strange forms sometimes you don't ask for them sometimes you get dealt a hand that you didn't want to get dealt but it turns out to be the best thing that could ever happen to you Mm -hmm absolutely Jimmy you're a bad motherfucker Thank you man Great to have you here Sit down and talk to you Tell everybody what your special's called So they can go get it right now Yeah my special It's called Good Deal On Amazon Prime Video And of course then there's Space Force On Netflix so you can watch both Beautiful And your Twitter handle and Instagram and all that jazz Well, I might delete my Twitter now But But burn it And Instagram and TikTok I'm a TikTok guy now Oh you're doing TikTok Well I don't know But it's at funny Asian dude Okay Yeah Check it out Thanks brother I appreciate you man Thanks for being here Bye everybody That was great That was super fun man Yeah Yeah