Speaker 1: What do you do when life doesn't go according to
Speaker 1: plan that moment you lose a job, or a loved one,
Speaker 1: or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this
Speaker 1: is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told
Speaker 1: by people.
Speaker 2: Who lived them.
Speaker 1: Each week, I sit down with a guest to talk
Speaker 1: about the times they were knocked off course and what
Speaker 1: they did to move forward. Some stories are funny, others
Speaker 1: are gut wrenching, but all are unapologetically human and remind
Speaker 1: us that every success and every setback is accompanied by
Speaker 1: a choice, and that choice answers one question.
Speaker 2: Now, what.
Speaker 3: Will Ferrell now technically is one of my employers, and
Speaker 3: he's a lovely friend, and like that's bizarre. It's like
Speaker 3: it's weird to be among them now and to have
Speaker 3: relationships with them.
Speaker 2: So I've spent much time with him.
Speaker 1: Yes, because Chris, my husband, was one of the three
Speaker 1: people that ran ran the company and started Funnier Die.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: They just came, he and his wife and sons came
Speaker 1: to my daughter's basketball game, you know, and I thought, Okay,
Speaker 1: I hope everybody's cool. When Will walks into the state,
Speaker 1: you know, to the watch the game, and so.
Speaker 2: Everybody was like fine.
Speaker 1: Then we started listening to the girls and the girls
Speaker 1: were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we know that's Will Ferrell,
Speaker 1: but oh my god, his son is hot career. My
Speaker 1: younger one was like, mom, all your all your friends'
Speaker 1: kids have grown up to be like super hot and
Speaker 1: they were. You know, there went from these skinny little
Speaker 1: boys that were annoying to these like honky guys. Hello listeners,
Speaker 1: did you miss me? I'm excited to announce that now
Speaker 1: what is back? After an eventful September break, spent the
Speaker 1: month performing my one woman show, previously owned by Burke Shields.
Speaker 1: It's been a whirlwind, but I am very grateful to
Speaker 1: have worked on something deeply meaningful, and I've loved being
Speaker 1: back on stage making people laugh and hopefully giving them
Speaker 1: a little bit of entertainment. Speaking of making people laugh,
Speaker 1: my guest today is very funny.
Speaker 2: Bowen Yang is a comedian.
Speaker 1: A writer, an actor, and the co host of the
Speaker 1: critically acclaimed podcast Last Culturistess. He has a fascinating story
Speaker 1: filled with the most unexpected pivots.
Speaker 2: Case in point.
Speaker 1: He worked as a graphic designer until twenty eighteen, when,
Speaker 1: after years of writing and performing comedy on the side.
Speaker 1: He got a job at Saturday Night Live. Bowen is
Speaker 1: one of the most thoughtful people I've interviewed, and I
Speaker 1: was blown away by his patients and his generosity. So
Speaker 1: without further ado, here's Bowen Yang.
Speaker 2: Bohen Yang. So nice to know you.
Speaker 1: I'm doing the thing right now that I that I
Speaker 1: always think I'm not going to do. But I feel
Speaker 1: like I know you because I watch you and you
Speaker 1: I laugh with you, and you're in my home and
Speaker 1: so I'm like, oh, hi, but we don't know each other.
Speaker 2: So nice to meet you.
Speaker 3: Nice to meet you. What if we're like both coming
Speaker 3: from that same place? Though, Like, isn't do we skip
Speaker 3: a couple of steps? I feel like we're allowed to.
Speaker 2: I think, you do? I think? And where you live
Speaker 2: in New York? Correct?
Speaker 3: I do? I do? Where are you right now?
Speaker 2: I'm in New York.
Speaker 1: I'm born and bred raised in Manhattan Night, so I'm
Speaker 1: a native New York Right, And where were you raised?
Speaker 3: I was raised in mostly an Aurora, Colorado. But before that,
Speaker 3: so between Australia and Colorado, I was in Brisbane for
Speaker 3: six months, so I barely so I don't remember a
Speaker 3: single thing. But then we moved to Canada. Oh wow,
Speaker 3: we did a lot of moving between, Like we moved
Speaker 3: a lot within Canada, and then when we moved from
Speaker 3: Montreal to Colorado, that was like a huge shift.
Speaker 2: God.
Speaker 3: I remember taking French in school and then I had
Speaker 3: to like really to like really understand, like, oh okay,
Speaker 3: I get, like English is the language you're gonna be speaking. Now.
Speaker 2: What were you like as a little kid.
Speaker 3: I mean, don't we all like as adults, like look
Speaker 3: back on ourselves as kids and go like, I was
Speaker 3: pretty precocious. But no, it's like we were just we
Speaker 3: were we were we were kids when we were kids.
Speaker 3: Does that make sense. I feel like I had to
Speaker 3: toorialize my childhood in a way sometimes when I talk
Speaker 3: about it, and I need to be honest with you
Speaker 3: Brookshields about how like I was like just a pretty
Speaker 3: normal kid and hammy. But that was like the way
Speaker 3: the way into like the new schools in these new
Speaker 3: social environments was just to be like silly and goofy,
Speaker 3: and as soon as you ran out of your own material,
Speaker 3: you would like go home and wat TV shows and
Speaker 3: like I would watch SNL and Seinfeld and like the
Speaker 3: Simpsons and Friends, and Matt TV and like and you
Speaker 3: know Drew Carey Show, and like I just like consumed
Speaker 3: all of that to like regurgitate it the next day
Speaker 3: at school. And that was like the cycle for me.
Speaker 1: That was my favorite thing to do is just be
Speaker 1: alone in my room and the complete dark watching SNL.
Speaker 1: Oh and it's interesting that you mentioned SNL because I
Speaker 1: was fascinated to learn that you were actually pre med
Speaker 1: in college.
Speaker 3: I was, yeah, this is and this is like I
Speaker 3: still like always think about this sort of time and
Speaker 3: like this is this is my like now what like
Speaker 3: this is the thing that like defines like so much
Speaker 3: about like the way my life is gone is like
Speaker 3: it could have gone like the sliding doors of it
Speaker 3: could have really gone another way. And yeah, it's it
Speaker 3: was it was I was pre med and then uh,
Speaker 3: comedy was just this like hobby I was doing in college.
Speaker 3: But I would always hang out with like the comedy kids,
Speaker 3: like the people who were in the sketch groups, the
Speaker 3: people who were in the improv groups, and like we
Speaker 3: would go to each other shows, like throw each other parties.
Speaker 3: Like it was like that was like my reality, Like
Speaker 3: that was what I was going into. That was what
Speaker 3: I was surrounded by every day. And then I don't
Speaker 3: know if like that's what like seeped in or if
Speaker 3: that's like something that I just like naturally gravitated towards.
Speaker 1: Was there fear surrounding sort of pursuing acting professionally?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and like fe fear in the ways of
Speaker 3: like I'm not being educated or trained in this, and
Speaker 3: then fear and then and then just the baseline fear
Speaker 3: that comes with like working in this business anyway, but
Speaker 3: like applies to everybody.
Speaker 2: Did your parents support support it? This is a big
Speaker 2: shift for their son totally?
Speaker 3: Well, they they kind of they sort of saw it coming.
Speaker 3: They like they would ask about how school was going,
Speaker 3: and all I would talk about was, you know, doing
Speaker 3: comedy festivals or something. And then they were like, okay,
Speaker 3: but we mean, like you know, like classes and you know,
Speaker 3: you're extracurriculars and like med school and like all this stuff.
Speaker 1: And I would just be like, oh, right, did they
Speaker 1: want you to go to pre med? I mean, did
Speaker 1: they want you to be a doctor?
Speaker 3: If you ask them now, they would say no, they
Speaker 3: did not care either way. But of course, like they
Speaker 3: say that because it all worked out. But I think, right,
Speaker 3: But I think. I mean, at the time, there was
Speaker 3: there was some pressure I do I do need to
Speaker 3: give them more credit. Now I find it sort of
Speaker 3: convenient in my own mind to be like, oh, well,
Speaker 3: they were hard on me and they like pressured me
Speaker 3: to like go into this. But I mean, at the
Speaker 3: end of the day, they were like any other parent
Speaker 3: where they were just like, we just want you to
Speaker 3: be happy. And so when I told them, and there
Speaker 3: was a there was a moment where I was taking
Speaker 3: my mcat the second time at one one pen Plaza,
Speaker 3: like right next to MSG. It was during the written
Speaker 3: section that I got to, like the written section of
Speaker 3: the test. And then I remembered this interview that Steve
Speaker 3: Carell had done out filling out his law school applications
Speaker 3: because like comedy wasn't really working out for him in Chicago,
Speaker 3: and he was like applying to law school and then
Speaker 3: he got to the written section of his law school
Speaker 3: application and said, I can't do this, like the comedy
Speaker 3: is the only thing I can do, and then he
Speaker 3: just didn't he just didn't finish the application. And then
Speaker 3: I flashed back so clearly to that interview, to reading
Speaker 3: that like a year or two ago, that I was like,
Speaker 3: I can't do this, and then I nullified. I avoided
Speaker 3: my exam. I told the proctor I was like I
Speaker 3: need to leave, like I don't think I can finish this.
Speaker 1: And they were like, oh, so you got up in
Speaker 1: the middle and just yeah, put your pencil down and
Speaker 1: just said what a revelation in that moment and how
Speaker 1: you had the guts to actually get up and walk out.
Speaker 3: But I was in this like weird day's fugue and
Speaker 3: then like I remember just like walking down to the street,
Speaker 3: like getting out of the building and calling my parents
Speaker 3: and being like mom, Dad, like I just did this
Speaker 3: thing and I think it's I think I I think
Speaker 3: I have to do it. And they were like, and
Speaker 3: this is the moment where I think I need to
Speaker 3: give them some credit work because they were just like, Okay,
Speaker 3: well if you feel that it's what you have to do,
Speaker 3: then we believe you.
Speaker 2: Did you panic after oh yeah, I think I think
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, I'm so bad at these things and I
Speaker 3: need to talk to my therapist about this more. But
Speaker 3: like I can't quite identify like what.
Speaker 2: That's okay, I'm here.
Speaker 3: How much should I Billy? You? Are you in network.
Speaker 2: No, you know, first one's on the house.
Speaker 3: Oh great, great, great, thank goodness. I but yeah, I
Speaker 3: think it was like some sort of anxiety moment, an
Speaker 3: episode of something where I was just like rocketing out
Speaker 3: of this situation that I'd been in for four years
Speaker 3: where it's like I'm going to be I'm on this path,
Speaker 3: I'm on the rails to like be this doctor. And
Speaker 3: then it just and this critical moment, I was just
Speaker 3: like no, like it cannot continue.
Speaker 1: So you decide you're going to you make that huge pivot,
Speaker 1: which is truly an amazing not what moment? What did
Speaker 1: you do to break in so to speak to the business.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I well, first of all, my parents
Speaker 3: were like, we're gonna help you with like your rent
Speaker 3: for another like a few months.
Speaker 2: And then after that, you were they living in Colorado? Still?
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and they still are. They're they're they're they're
Speaker 3: having a great time. There, lots of nature for them
Speaker 3: to enjoy. They were like, you sort of have to
Speaker 3: figure it out in New York and then if you
Speaker 3: can't really hack it in a year, then you should
Speaker 3: move back home with us. And so there were stakes
Speaker 3: involved immediately, obviously, not that there weren't already, but at
Speaker 3: that point I had been pretty aimless. I was taking
Speaker 3: classes at this theater in the city, the Upper Citizens Brigade.
Speaker 1: I love UCP, Yeah, uc B, Yeah, it was I
Speaker 1: just I've done some of their their nighttime shows.
Speaker 3: That's right. The yeah, I remember you did monologues for
Speaker 3: like the Harold or the ass Cat or like yeah
Speaker 3: those shows. Yeah, and so yeah, like it was, it
Speaker 3: was I was trying. I was like I was like
Speaker 3: finding people within that little coterie of like people who
Speaker 3: were taking classes at the same time as me, and
Speaker 3: then we started little sketch groups andprop groups and then
Speaker 3: and then we were just fortunate enough that like you know,
Speaker 3: management sort of like took notice and they would come
Speaker 3: to shows, they would sign people, and people would get
Speaker 3: plucked up and you know, raptured into like the sky.
Speaker 3: And then like I I was like pounding the papent
Speaker 3: for like a few years like they were. It was
Speaker 3: about like five ish years of just like doing shows,
Speaker 3: not knowing if anybody would come, not knowing if anybody cared,
Speaker 3: booking people, just trying to make it work. But then
Speaker 3: the thing that you don't realize is you developed that
Speaker 3: is you develop reps. You like put in the hard yards.
Speaker 3: You like you've bombed enough times that you're not scared
Speaker 3: of bombing anymore. You have met people that you don't
Speaker 3: realize you're gonna work with for the rest of your life.
Speaker 3: And I mean it's all these really nice things that
Speaker 3: build up with time and with like experience.
Speaker 4: Well, you've talked about your parents and the more positive
Speaker 4: relationship that that you had with them and the support
Speaker 4: that they gave you over the years for your career,
Speaker 4: but then you've also been very open about a more
Speaker 4: fraught time in your relationship with them, which is when
Speaker 4: you came out.
Speaker 2: Can you talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I came out not quite on my
Speaker 3: own terms. Mom came home one day, used the family computer,
Speaker 3: remember those like you used the family computer computer? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: And then like you know, saw some like proof or whatever,
Speaker 3: and like there was no there was no there was
Speaker 3: it was irrefutable evidence, and so you know, my parents
Speaker 3: were these are these two very scientific people. And then
Speaker 3: I think I think in some ways, like scientific people
Speaker 3: end up being a little bit more dogmatic sometimes, right,
Speaker 3: and they feel like there are solutions to problems or
Speaker 3: that there are like axioms that have to be like
Speaker 3: addressed in a certain way. And they I think they
Speaker 3: saw my sexuality, my queerness is something that had to
Speaker 3: be like addressed rather than you know, understood or celebrated.
Speaker 3: I think they I think they saw it as like
Speaker 3: this anomalous thing. And I don't fully I don't fully
Speaker 3: blame them. I think they were I mean, what they
Speaker 3: were telling me was they were like, we never we
Speaker 3: did not grow up around any people like this when
Speaker 3: we were kids. And I kept saying, even as a teenager,
Speaker 3: I was I knew. I was like, no, you did.
Speaker 3: You just didn't ever hear about them because you were
Speaker 3: living in this like culture that like never incentivized or
Speaker 3: motivated people to do this or to be public about this, right,
Speaker 3: And so they it was just a lot of I'd
Speaker 3: seen the pain I had caused, and then at a certain
Speaker 3: point I convinced myself, like I have to do something
Speaker 3: to like solve this, like I'd seen my dad cry
Speaker 3: once before.
Speaker 1: And then but what you said, the pain you caused
Speaker 1: just by being you, Well, yeah, that's the way you
Speaker 1: interpreted it.
Speaker 3: That's the way at the time. At the time, it
Speaker 3: felt like it was my fault that my dad was
Speaker 3: crying every single day, and so my parents, my dad
Speaker 3: would drive me down to Colorado Springs, a home of
Speaker 3: like the megachurches and you know, focus on the family
Speaker 3: and all this stuff, where there's there's just like a
Speaker 3: pretty interesting community of like conversion therapists there. I mean
Speaker 3: there aren't there anymore. It's been it's been made illegal
Speaker 3: now thankfully, but at the time very much this like
Speaker 3: weirdly legitimized school of thought within like psychology or whatever
Speaker 3: of like clinical psychology, and went to go see this doctor.
Speaker 3: Basically it was eight weeks of this. It was getting
Speaker 3: pathologized on like my desire, which like you know, I've
Speaker 3: like since then spend a lot of time like sort
Speaker 3: of healing from. And but I will say, like the
Speaker 3: the now, what of that really has Like it's put
Speaker 3: me in a position now where I like I never
Speaker 3: second guess, I never questioned anything about myself. Now it's
Speaker 3: like if like, especially when it comes to like my
Speaker 3: my queerness, I'm just like no, Like this is like
Speaker 3: it's been I've I've been at war with myself, you know,
Speaker 3: and like I want.
Speaker 1: Do you remember the tipping point when you when you
Speaker 1: decided to tell your parents this is who I am
Speaker 1: and I won't.
Speaker 3: Change it was it was end of college because basically
Speaker 3: this this all happened senior year of high school and
Speaker 3: they gave me this ultimate and they were like, you're
Speaker 3: gonna go and then you're gonna go to New York
Speaker 3: where your sister is, and like she had this very
Speaker 3: unenviable job of being like the intermediary between my parents
Speaker 3: and me, and she was put in a really tough position.
Speaker 3: But then she left and then I came back out
Speaker 3: again in college to everybody, and then by senior year,
Speaker 3: I was just like this is there's no like I
Speaker 3: can't hide this. It just it really was like a
Speaker 3: daily exercise of a daily strain of being like, all right,
Speaker 3: what am I going to say to my parents about this?
Speaker 3: And you know what am I going to say when
Speaker 3: they ask me about that? And it just became this
Speaker 3: like wait and it just it just at a certain time,
Speaker 3: it's a little too much to bear.
Speaker 1: Literally, does your relationship readily heal?
Speaker 3: No, certainly not. It took a while, but then but
Speaker 3: then it was like and like my parents had like
Speaker 3: never asked me about anyone I was dating, even before
Speaker 3: I was out of the closet. They like they were
Speaker 3: not interested in that at all. And then like I
Speaker 3: think it was two summers ago, I just went to
Speaker 3: the grocery store with my mom and Atlanta. My sister
Speaker 3: lives in Atlanta now she's got three kids. Just like
Speaker 3: everyone's doing great. But yeah, we went to my mom
Speaker 3: and I went to the grocery store and then she
Speaker 3: just asked out an nowhere. She was like, are you
Speaker 3: seeing anybody? Are you have a boyfriend? I was like no,
Speaker 3: But there was something so like there was just something
Speaker 3: so emotionally impactful about that about her just being curious
Speaker 3: about her asking me unprompted, like, you know, what's your life? Like,
Speaker 3: that's incredible that it was nice.
Speaker 1: I'd love to talk to you about SNL because it's yeah,
Speaker 1: dream come true for so many people.
Speaker 2: How did that come about? So?
Speaker 3: I was in this sketch group in New York for
Speaker 3: a while and then one of our members sent in
Speaker 3: a packet to submit herself as a writer. Her named
Speaker 3: Sudie Green. She worked there for six years. She was
Speaker 3: a writing supervisor, very prolific person in her time there.
Speaker 3: But she was the first person we were like twenty three.
Speaker 3: She was the first person to get sort of like
Speaker 3: I'm going to use this sword again, like raptured up
Speaker 3: into the spaceship that was like SNL. We were like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, like someone's made it. Like it was
Speaker 3: such a moment, you know, we were like, is this
Speaker 3: like a rising tide sort of thing, like you know,
Speaker 3: are we all gonna like come up with her or whatever?
Speaker 3: And it seemed for a second like we just needed
Speaker 3: to give her time to like develop, because I mean,
Speaker 3: her first year at SNL was really tough, and it
Speaker 3: always is for everybody, but especially for her. I think
Speaker 3: like she was entering the show at a time when
Speaker 3: it was super competitive within the show, like this is
Speaker 3: right way, and like Kate McKinnon was doing Hillary, and
Speaker 3: like you know, there were so many eyes on it.
Speaker 3: So I didn't ever consider being on the show or
Speaker 3: being involved in any way. As someone who grew up
Speaker 3: loving it, obsessed with it. I would bring vhs is
Speaker 3: to school the next day, not of like the best ofs,
Speaker 3: but I would just I would just record the night
Speaker 3: before or that or that weekend's SNL and bring it
Speaker 3: to school. For like certain teachers, that's illegal. It's illegal, No,
Speaker 3: I was I wasn't.
Speaker 1: Distributing criminal Oh okay, you were distributing all right.
Speaker 3: Good, yeah, there you go. I was just like, I
Speaker 3: was just like prass, like did you see this? I
Speaker 3: brought a tape like so so corny. But anyway, my
Speaker 3: manager at the time was like, you know, SNL is
Speaker 3: looking at cast members if you want to send in
Speaker 3: a five minute tape of stuff. I was like, they're
Speaker 3: never gonna hire an effeminate Asian man. What do I
Speaker 3: have to lose? I should just like challenge myself to
Speaker 3: make five minutes of stuff of like impressions, characters, whatever.
Speaker 3: Let me just try it as an exercise. And I did.
Speaker 3: I did not do it. I did not make it
Speaker 3: with the intention of it being seen by anybody of
Speaker 3: it like getting me anywhere. And I think that's sort
Speaker 3: of what was like nice about it was because I
Speaker 3: was the stakes were completely off and I was like,
Speaker 3: let me do what I think is funny.
Speaker 2: Do you remember what you did?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I did. I did. I did this trade minister
Speaker 3: character that I did on the show that I ended
Speaker 3: up doing on the show. I did the soul cycle
Speaker 3: instructor that I ended up doing on the show. I
Speaker 3: did the model for like those choking posters that ended
Speaker 3: up being on the show. I did like a George
Speaker 3: Taque impression. I had like a very limited set of
Speaker 3: things to work with, like they wanted impressions and I
Speaker 3: was like, there are only a handful of Asian public
Speaker 3: figures that I can like mimic here.
Speaker 1: And what was the process like that? What do they
Speaker 1: call you right after that? Or do you have to
Speaker 1: go in in person.
Speaker 3: After this submission? Like I hear back a couple of
Speaker 3: weeks later, they're my manager's like, okay, well they're they
Speaker 3: liked your tape. They want you to perform at this
Speaker 3: live show case where the producers come and watch you.
Speaker 3: And I was like really, And then I was like this,
Speaker 3: this isn't going to go over that great. I go
Speaker 3: it goes well, and then the next week they're like
Speaker 3: they want you to come in for a screen test,
Speaker 3: and I was like I kept clearing each stage gate
Speaker 3: in a way that I was like, this wasn't supposed
Speaker 3: to happen, Like so this literally was not what I
Speaker 3: meant to happen at all. And then I went in
Speaker 3: for the screen test. Did that I remember coming out
Speaker 3: of my screen test, like I was doing my George
Speaker 3: to k impression, but it was him like fusing with
Speaker 3: Facebook to become like the Singularity. It was like really
Speaker 3: stupid high concept. But I was in this like silver
Speaker 3: one piece suit, the silver onesie, and I remember walking
Speaker 3: out like with my bag of props, and then Kate
Speaker 3: was there, Kate Mini Kinnon was watching like no one
Speaker 3: else was there, but it was just Kate watching in
Speaker 3: her like little hoodie, and she just gave me this
Speaker 3: hug like I'd never met her before. She was like
Speaker 3: that was brilliant, and I was like that that's all
Speaker 3: that mattered. I was able to make her laugh. I
Speaker 3: impressed her. I left. They did not hire anybody that year.
Speaker 3: They hired like two people on CAST. I was not
Speaker 3: one of them, but I had met with Lauren. It
Speaker 3: didn't really go great, I think. I think the first
Speaker 3: thing I said when I went into that office was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I grew up in Quebec and I speak French, and
Speaker 3: like I was so I was so like I was
Speaker 3: so brown, nosy about like wanting him to know that
Speaker 3: I was Canadian too. That like it didn't work. He
Speaker 3: saw right through it.
Speaker 1: So then how do you finally, how do you eventually
Speaker 1: get on the show.
Speaker 3: So I put that to rest, and then a year
Speaker 3: later they were like, they want you to come back in,
Speaker 3: and so I came back in with like five minutes
Speaker 3: of new stuff. They called me back for another five minutes,
Speaker 3: and then I did it with my best friend Matt Rogers.
Speaker 3: At the time. I got a writing job, he didn't,
Speaker 3: and so they were like, we're not sure. So basically
Speaker 3: that was the whole thing. And then they told me,
Speaker 3: Lauren's not sure if he wants to put you on
Speaker 3: the cast, but like, would you want to write for
Speaker 3: the show, And it was like yes, absolutely. It was
Speaker 3: just like my ticket into like this world that I
Speaker 3: like didn't realize I wanted to be in for so long,
Speaker 3: but now that it was like within reach, I was like,
Speaker 3: please let me do I'll do anything.
Speaker 1: Now you mentioned being an Asian American and being the
Speaker 1: first was was that a conversation that ever happened?
Speaker 3: It was pure, There wasn't the well. The only thing
Speaker 3: that like was ever acknowledged was I had written their
Speaker 3: first season. I had done an okay job, like I
Speaker 3: didn't like, you know, get anybody killed, and so like
Speaker 3: I did well, And so it's a good standard. That's
Speaker 3: a good standard. Yeah, yeah, it's safe, right, I agree.
Speaker 3: And then I I was working on a show that
Speaker 3: summer after my first year, and then Lauren called and
Speaker 3: was like, well, you know, I'm moving you to the cast.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh okay. And then he had said
Speaker 3: this was the plan all along, to like make sure
Speaker 3: you wrote for a season, because I wanted you to
Speaker 3: know how the ropes worked and how everything got made.
Speaker 3: And then he was like and also he said, you're
Speaker 3: gonna be looked at, You're gonna be scrutinized a little
Speaker 3: bit differently than than other cast members, and so I
Speaker 3: needed to make sure you weren't. I wasn't throwing you
Speaker 3: out there completely overwhelmed that like you had some sense
Speaker 3: of like what resources were available to you as a
Speaker 3: cast member, and like, you know, I wanted to make
Speaker 3: sure you could write for yourself because it's gonna be
Speaker 3: hard for people to like figure out what to do
Speaker 3: with you.
Speaker 2: Was he right?
Speaker 3: I think I think on some level, I think like
Speaker 3: everybody's everybody's on their own journey at SNL, like for
Speaker 3: the for as long as the show's been on, and like,
Speaker 3: I think part of mine has just been about like
Speaker 3: showing people that, like I can do things besides the
Speaker 3: expected things you might think of me to do, you know,
Speaker 3: like I like being sort of a peripheral supporting player.
Speaker 3: I like being someone who can just like straight man
Speaker 3: as in like be like the straight person in a
Speaker 3: sketch and let someone else be the communic focus. Like
Speaker 3: I like that part of it just as much. And
Speaker 3: it's been about like making sure I can like round
Speaker 3: that out to people.
Speaker 1: What is amazing to me is when I look at
Speaker 1: your history and one of the reasons I was so
Speaker 1: happy to have you in the show is the fact
Speaker 1: that you have created opportunities for yourself. You know, you
Speaker 1: built a full brand and with the following of Las Culturistas, yes,
Speaker 1: and you know, and that talk to me about what
Speaker 1: drives you to be able to do that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I.
Speaker 3: Feel like I've come from this place of using what
Speaker 3: you have in front of you, Like that comes from
Speaker 3: like moving around a lot, that comes from like those
Speaker 3: those times when you're alone and you're like, well what
Speaker 3: do I do? And like, like I like the I
Speaker 3: wish those times too, and I'm like, well, all I
Speaker 3: have is me, and like what I can what things
Speaker 3: can avail themselves to me, and then I like try
Speaker 3: to make something out of that, and like I feel
Speaker 3: like that's it's just like something that's like wired in
Speaker 3: you at an early age. And I kind of feel
Speaker 3: myself like getting further away from that, and like now,
Speaker 3: right now, I'm just about I need to go back
Speaker 3: to that place of like pure like creativity and pure
Speaker 3: like of like making opportunities for myself because I feel
Speaker 3: at this point, I'm like it's getting a little fallow,
Speaker 3: it's getting a little stale, and that's okay, And I
Speaker 3: think this is just gonna like motivating me to like
Speaker 3: go into like the next thing with like a new vigor.
Speaker 2: What is the next thing for you?
Speaker 3: I feel like I've done a good job of like
Speaker 3: not pulling up the ladder. I've gotten to help out
Speaker 3: on like my friends projects as they've come up, and
Speaker 3: like now they're like on a rocket ship to space
Speaker 3: and it's like really incredible. And the next thing has
Speaker 3: to be like something that I get to I get
Speaker 3: to like create for myself while also like creating something
Speaker 3: for other people. Like I know I'm talking, I'm speaking
Speaker 3: in such vague terms, but I feel like that's what
Speaker 3: I'm working with now is just to like start from
Speaker 3: like this unformed, idealistic place almost and then see where
Speaker 3: it goes from there.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that that's the healthiest way to
Speaker 1: approach all of it. I'm in awe of your excitement
Speaker 1: for what you do to continually creates. It's impassioned, but
Speaker 1: I think it's it is an inspiration. And if you
Speaker 1: were to look at your life up until now, what
Speaker 1: would you say your through line is?
Speaker 3: Oh, oh my god, what a question, Brooke. And for
Speaker 3: you to say all that, I mean, if anyone's inspiring anybody,
Speaker 3: it's like, I mean, you, you've like you've dealt with
Speaker 3: like this, this scale of people attaching things on you
Speaker 3: that like you don't want anything to do with, and like,
Speaker 3: I mean, I think about you and I'm just likely
Speaker 3: awe struck. And I mean to hear you say that
Speaker 3: is really wild. So thank you. That's very nice. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think the world of you. Thank you truly.
Speaker 2: But what is your through line?
Speaker 3: Do you think my through line is just just a compassion?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 3: I feel like in several moments of my life it's
Speaker 3: there are moments where where I've been like in situations
Speaker 3: where there's a clear like person or thing or concept
Speaker 3: to direct like your frustration, your anger, your hatred towards,
Speaker 3: and it's just it never it never really is worthwhile
Speaker 3: to like choose that to like fall in that trap,
Speaker 3: and it's it's to always like like there's a world
Speaker 3: in which I like never forgave my parents, or there's
Speaker 3: a world in which, like I there's a there's a
Speaker 3: world in which I like blame any any given person
Speaker 3: for any given problem that I've come up against. And
Speaker 3: it's just it's just so the through line for me,
Speaker 3: the thing that's gotten me opportunity, the thing that's like
Speaker 3: open doors for me, is just to be like, you
Speaker 3: know what, I'm gonna give this person the benefit of
Speaker 3: the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure they didn't like
Speaker 3: come with this like weird like oblique intention, Like I
Speaker 3: think it's fine if I just like if I can
Speaker 3: like put something compassionate out there. I think that's what
Speaker 3: lost culturistics is about. I think it's about like everybody
Speaker 3: like coming together and just like I don't know, having
Speaker 3: a good time. It's not like super mushy either. It's
Speaker 3: like pretty, it's it's fun, it's biting, it's it's it's
Speaker 3: all of that, but it's it's patient and it's kind
Speaker 3: and like I think that is that is the thing
Speaker 3: that's like been my engine.
Speaker 2: That was Boeing Yang.
Speaker 1: If you want to hear more from him, go listen
Speaker 1: to his hilarious podcast Last Culturist Does on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2: That is it for us today. Thanks for listening. Now.
Speaker 1: What with Burke Shields is a production of iHeartRadio. Our
Speaker 1: lead producer and wonderful showrunner is Julia Weaver. Additional research
Speaker 1: and editing by Darby Masters and Abu Zafar. Our executive
Speaker 1: producer is Christina Everett. The show is mixed by Bahied Fraser.