Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So I feel like I've talked about on mostly off
Speaker 2: my book, probably on Mike too. You know, I always
Speaker 2: have this this debate with you guys about how I
Speaker 2: like local places.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's hard to get an experience yesterday which is
Speaker 3: just the epitome that just distilled all the pros and
Speaker 3: the cons and like one experience.
Speaker 2: I was like thinking of you guys the whole time.
Speaker 2: Because my favorite example of this is when I complained
Speaker 2: about my dentist who was like my local dentist and
Speaker 2: where you were like and I was like, she's kind
Speaker 2: of a bad dentist, and you were.
Speaker 4: Like, get a better dentist.
Speaker 1: Anyway.
Speaker 2: So so my key in my car, I went to
Speaker 2: turn it and its just like snapped, just like like oh,
Speaker 2: it's like what So I had to like literally take
Speaker 2: the metal part was okay, but I had to like
Speaker 2: take a pair of plyers to like to turn it,
Speaker 2: turn it right. Or actually I didn't take a pair
Speaker 2: of What I did is like I took the key
Speaker 2: fob part and like clamped it on there and anyway,
Speaker 2: So this goes on for like a day or two.
Speaker 2: And of course I know that if you call the
Speaker 2: dealer in this case Toyota, like we had done this
Speaker 2: for my wife. It's like a four hundred dollars replacement
Speaker 2: the key because they got to like reprogram and and
Speaker 2: I was like, there's no way this you can do this,
Speaker 2: Like there's an I'm gonna do a lot, right. Well,
Speaker 2: So I go on Amazon and and like you can
Speaker 2: find replacement key fobs that you can etch with the key.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, okay, six dollars. I get two of
Speaker 2: them because I need two of them, right, I get
Speaker 2: two new keys. I go like, I find a locksmith,
Speaker 2: like the local. Actually I go to the hardware store
Speaker 2: first and they're like, oh no, we can't you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: we can't do that. We do it local. And we
Speaker 2: talked to them and no, they tried. They were like
Speaker 2: we keys but like car keys, and they took it
Speaker 2: behind the count like no, we can't. And I'm like,
Speaker 2: well where you know, Oh, there's a lots of it
Speaker 2: down the street across from the McDonald's, right across the
Speaker 2: just go to McDonald's and then go to dealership. So
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, yeah, we're gonna do this. And I
Speaker 2: show up and this is before I'm meeting you guys
Speaker 2: for lunch. I only have like ten minutes because I
Speaker 2: figured this is quick, right, And I walk in. I'm like,
Speaker 2: you know, the guy's there and he's got like a
Speaker 2: mask on because he's probably.
Speaker 5: Welding doing that cool.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, hey man, you know and he's like,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, and it's five bucks a key.
Speaker 6: Cool.
Speaker 2: I'm like yeah, sure, and etches my keys and I'm like, great,
Speaker 2: hand them cash and he tells me. He's like, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, I just recently got cast off. So he's like,
Speaker 2: my hand is you know, he hasn't used his right hand.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, already, this is great. Like I'm in
Speaker 2: the conversation.
Speaker 5: This guy lives in my neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Probably we're talking about I give him cash.
Speaker 5: I've been used weeks off the book.
Speaker 2: Thanks, but okay, I'll seal it or yeah, I'm walking out,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna use this.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I gotta remember this this locksmith. He's just like a
Speaker 2: mile from my house. Gotta remember this guy next time
Speaker 2: I need a lock Get into my car, turn it up,
Speaker 2: doesn't start. I'm like, the key fits, turns but doesn't
Speaker 2: turn over the engine. I'm like, that's really weird. I
Speaker 2: don't get out and I walk it. I'm like, hey,
Speaker 2: would you know why? He's like, oh yeah, well probably
Speaker 2: a chip. And I'm like, okay, well that would have
Speaker 2: been nice to know before you ride. So already I'm like,
Speaker 2: well this backfired, Like yeah, Toyota wouldn't have had this problem.
Speaker 2: It's already like okay, well, and I'm like, so what
Speaker 2: do I you know, what what do I do? And
Speaker 2: he's like, well, you know, no, no, he starts. He
Speaker 2: starts explaining. He's like it's a chip. And I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: well you know what is that? You know, you have
Speaker 2: to be way too long an ex if you have
Speaker 2: the old Bob. I'm like, well I do have the
Speaker 2: old Bob. And he's like, well, then the chip's in there.
Speaker 2: And he's like, well look here, I got to bring
Speaker 2: the car back around back. I can plug in my computer.
Speaker 2: I can, you know, for eighty five bucks, I can
Speaker 2: and give you a whole new and he's like and
Speaker 2: you know what, And I'm like eighty five but should
Speaker 2: have just gone to toilet. But then he's like, but
Speaker 2: you know what if you if you need two keys,
Speaker 2: because I do, He's like, I'll just give you both
Speaker 2: for the same and I'm like, oh, so, I'm like.
Speaker 5: This is this is why you go to the lot?
Speaker 4: This is it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so I bring my car around back. Now
Speaker 2: we're hanging out. He's plugging in this computer which.
Speaker 5: Looks meanwhile ly who cares, actually what, I'm kind of friend.
Speaker 2: Yes, And he plugs in this computer which they totally
Speaker 2: look like. I didn't think know these things exist. You
Speaker 2: can like have computers that plug into the lock and
Speaker 2: read out to him what chip I need on? It's
Speaker 2: crazy like, and so he like tells me, oh, it's
Speaker 2: an I six e chip, and I mean it looks
Speaker 2: like straight out of the movie Hackers. Do you remember
Speaker 2: that from the where you like can plug something into
Speaker 2: a lock. And then he takes my key and he
Speaker 2: plugs it into this other little thing and it's like,
Speaker 2: looks like my key is just sitting in a bowl basically,
Speaker 2: but he's able to like read the key. He's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's this kind of chip. But the fobs that I
Speaker 2: bought from Amazon don't have a chip, so he can't
Speaker 2: program those chips. And I'm just like, okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: be late for lunch now, Yeah, what do I do.
Speaker 2: But but he's like, you know, here's the thing, and
Speaker 2: he opens up the fob. You know, he's like, if
Speaker 2: you still have the old fob, and I'd already thrown
Speaker 2: one of them all. He's like, the chip is here.
Speaker 2: He's like, it's not gonna cost you anything. I won't.
Speaker 2: You don't even need me, like, just you just pull
Speaker 2: this chip out, work it out. And so again I'm like,
Speaker 2: this is great. I noticed it's like his you know,
Speaker 2: cause I'm asking about his cast in his hand and
Speaker 2: he's like, oh yeah, his skin is like flaking off.
Speaker 5: Right like he probably handling some chips.
Speaker 2: This is kind of kind of gross, like you know.
Speaker 2: And he's telling me about how it's like he broke
Speaker 2: his arm and it healed wrong, like now it's and
Speaker 2: they want to like rebreak it. But he's like, I'm
Speaker 2: just goidding. So we're laughing and telling stories and I'm like,
Speaker 2: this is the human connection thing. Meanwhile, he is flaking his.
Speaker 4: Skin into here.
Speaker 2: Literally like brushing is oh my god. And I'm like
Speaker 2: and I'm sitting there and I'm like, oh, Will and Danielle,
Speaker 2: I love. This is the cost of the human experience here.
Speaker 7: It is.
Speaker 2: This guy is literally why, And I like, what do
Speaker 2: I say? I'm like, dude, like you say, he's like rubbing, flaking,
Speaker 2: like it's like like like corn flakes of skin coming
Speaker 2: off into got my front and I'm like dude, and
Speaker 2: he's like, yeah, he's telling me about his wrist and
Speaker 2: his thing. But meanwhile he keeps doing it, and I'm
Speaker 2: like you you're in my car. You are in my
Speaker 2: and you are and he's like and then it's just
Speaker 2: like these flaking and I'm just you know, and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: in my oh.
Speaker 1: Got away.
Speaker 2: I figured it out, pulled the chip out myself later
Speaker 2: on last night. Everything's fine. So it was only five
Speaker 2: bucks for him atch a key. Ultimately it did and
Speaker 2: I had the human connection, but I also probably have
Speaker 2: you know, some skin.
Speaker 4: You've got some human connection left over, which is good.
Speaker 8: And if this poor man turns up dead, his DNA's
Speaker 8: all in your career car.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so there you go.
Speaker 2: Oh but I made it on time. You guys were
Speaker 2: late yesterday and.
Speaker 5: Was shut down, and you know.
Speaker 2: I'll use him again, I guess, as long as he's
Speaker 2: not flaking his skin all over.
Speaker 7: The Oh okay, did he he had all those supercomputers
Speaker 7: did he have a handheld back?
Speaker 4: Exactly Amazon, that Toyota's got all that stuff.
Speaker 2: By the way, hundred dollars for a key when my
Speaker 2: wife got a key replaced.
Speaker 1: So like.
Speaker 2: I've also I've also been to the Toyota dealership so
Speaker 2: many times for like just oil changes. Whenever, I never
Speaker 2: had a conversation with anybody there. So you know, now
Speaker 2: I know this guy, he's always there.
Speaker 7: I mean, if what you're lacking is conversation, then you
Speaker 7: should definitely.
Speaker 4: Talk for a living.
Speaker 5: I don't know how you need more.
Speaker 6: By the way, you mentioned the movie Hackers, and just
Speaker 6: as a as a strange side note, Hackers was the
Speaker 6: first big movie I ever saw that makes a boy
Speaker 6: meets World reference.
Speaker 4: Oh what it fully what.
Speaker 2: I said, Hackers. I was actually thinking Sneakers, but go
Speaker 2: on different, Okay, Sneakers was the exactly technology the Angelina
Speaker 2: Joli movie. She's topless for a second one. But if
Speaker 2: she's topless for a positive Oh yeah, I remember sitting
Speaker 2: at Ocean's house for the VHS.
Speaker 1: Reference.
Speaker 8: The one of the characters says to another character, he's
Speaker 8: he's like the youngest one of the crew, and he's like,
Speaker 8: come on, boy meets World, Let's go, and so.
Speaker 4: He literally calls him boy. First thing I've never seen. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I was I knew that back then sitting in the.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you could only pay attention to that one.
Speaker 4: Angelina fan huh back then? Right then?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 2: Yeah, because she had done that movie Foxfire with my
Speaker 2: brother that child getting cut out of And when I
Speaker 2: saw that, I was like, who is this person? She's
Speaker 2: you know, the most gorgeous woman alive and a good actor.
Speaker 2: I mean I also, yeah, she's a very girl interrupted
Speaker 2: and all that. It was a huge crush.
Speaker 7: Well, this is a good time for me to thank
Speaker 7: all of our dear listeners who sent in a clip
Speaker 7: for us that I'll play for you guys right now.
Speaker 7: Very exciting in the universe for for Boy meets World
Speaker 7: fans when something like this happens.
Speaker 5: Sitcom's for eight hundred pies.
Speaker 2: It was on this sitcom that Corey and Tapanga first
Speaker 2: got together.
Speaker 1: Skylight What is Boy Meets World?
Speaker 7: Right, So we were a Jeopardy clue and we were
Speaker 7: in sitcoms since.
Speaker 2: I was like, first got together. Oh because of Girl
Speaker 2: meets World.
Speaker 5: Yes, first got together. Yeah, you know that.
Speaker 4: We've We've been clues several times.
Speaker 7: On I know many many times, but but this was
Speaker 7: one of the first times since we've started the podcast.
Speaker 5: So a lot of people sent it to us and wanted.
Speaker 4: There are the other questions in this it coom category.
Speaker 5: As well, I have them already.
Speaker 4: Do you really?
Speaker 1: Yes? Here we go.
Speaker 2: I had this indie Indian I wrote a bookstore once
Speaker 2: and he wanted like joke books, like he likes getting
Speaker 2: joke books.
Speaker 5: Or trivia kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a such and so there was one that
Speaker 2: was like nineties trivia and I'm like, India, I bet,
Speaker 2: I bet, I'm in here, but word and like scouring
Speaker 2: the word. It took a while. It was it wasn't me,
Speaker 2: but there was a Boy Meets World day and it
Speaker 2: took a while. I was like, if anybody sees me
Speaker 2: in this Barnes and Noble or whatever, flipping through this
Speaker 2: book looking for my I was like, this is embarrassed.
Speaker 5: All right, let's play.
Speaker 7: Let's play the game. Ready TV sitcoms for four hundred dollars.
Speaker 7: In the UK version of the Office, this comedian played
Speaker 7: David Brent, a character similar to Okay, yep, eight hundred dollars.
Speaker 7: It was on this sitcom The Corey and to manga
Speaker 7: first got Together.
Speaker 4: What is Boys World?
Speaker 2: Boys the Boys? Yeah, Boys Meets the.
Speaker 7: World, Boys Meet World for twelve hundred dollars From twenty
Speaker 7: ten to twenty sixteen. Melissa McCarthy start opposite Billy Gardell
Speaker 7: on this sitcom.
Speaker 4: Molly and Me So Close? Isn't that what it's called?
Speaker 4: I never seen it? Nope?
Speaker 5: What is Mike and Molly?
Speaker 4: Mike and Molly? That's yes, I never saw that one.
Speaker 7: Bronson Pinchot, who played Balky bar Talla Moose Song Stranger comedy, Yes,
Speaker 7: as yes, it is perfect Strangers two thousand. On thirty Rock,
Speaker 7: Tracy Jordan is the star of TGS, which originally stood
Speaker 7: for I've.
Speaker 4: Never seen it. I've never seen a thirty Rock in
Speaker 4: my life.
Speaker 5: Okay, what is the girly show?
Speaker 4: Okay, that's it.
Speaker 5: There you go.
Speaker 2: So you've never seen thirty Rock.
Speaker 8: No, never seen a single A single episode of thirty Rock,
Speaker 8: a single episode of Community.
Speaker 2: Watching television at like two thousand and fourish.
Speaker 8: Yeah, pretty much, and then just goes back to I
Speaker 8: think was the last new one that I watched?
Speaker 2: It's not a new show, that's well, it.
Speaker 8: Was, I mean it ended in what twy ten something
Speaker 8: like that, I don't know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so yeah, I'm pretty much yeah.
Speaker 5: Okay, welcome to Pod meets World. I'm Daniel Fishl, I'm
Speaker 5: right strong, and i am what is will Fredell.
Speaker 7: Throughout our rewatch of the show, now six seasons in,
Speaker 7: we have seen dozens of guest stars where we find
Speaker 7: ourselves saying, hey, I know that guy. He's in everything,
Speaker 7: and then Will proceeds to tell us exactly which Seinfeld
Speaker 7: episode or episodes he's in. Then he recites two to
Speaker 7: three lines from his best movie. It is like clockwork.
Speaker 7: And so we've learned that Boy Meets World really did
Speaker 7: cast some of the best TV character actors of all time,
Speaker 7: and this week we get to talk to one of
Speaker 7: the best. He somehow began his career in Spike Lee's
Speaker 7: Do the Right Thing and has worked with a murderer's
Speaker 7: row of Hollywood's best directors over a three decade career
Speaker 7: that is still going strong. But you may know him
Speaker 7: best from two things.
Speaker 5: One.
Speaker 7: He was a cast member on the revolutionary sketch show
Speaker 7: in Living Color cultural moment, where he not only helped
Speaker 7: change television forever, but introduced us to stars like Jim Carrey,
Speaker 7: Jamie Fox and Jennifer Lopez and two his bone chilling
Speaker 7: scenes stealing and somehow humorous moment in the Academy Award
Speaker 7: winning movie Fargo where he breaks down to an old
Speaker 7: high school friend about his deep well of sadness and
Speaker 7: then tries to seduce her after detailing the death of
Speaker 7: his wife, which is definitely a lie. And in addition
Speaker 7: to these unforgettable projects, here are some other movies you've
Speaker 7: seen him in Kindergarten, Cop Quick Change, Toys, Falling Down,
Speaker 7: A Serious Man, Snow Piercer, The French Dispatch, Asteroid City,
Speaker 7: and the highly anticipated upcoming Bong June Ho sci fi
Speaker 7: film Mickey seventeen starring Robert Pattinson. But today we are
Speaker 7: sitting him down to talk about the one time he
Speaker 7: was on a primetime family sitcom, playing jump Master in
Speaker 7: season five's Standout and an episode in contention for our
Speaker 7: favorite ever Raging Corey helping the Matthews men bond by
Speaker 7: putting their life on the line, and we'll bother him
Speaker 7: about some other things too. Welcome to Pod Meets World.
Speaker 7: A true artist. It's Steven Park.
Speaker 5: We can see you, hi. Yes, we are so happy
Speaker 5: to have you here.
Speaker 7: When you popped up during our season five rewatch. We
Speaker 7: could not stop smiling and we talked about how amazing
Speaker 7: you were then. So to have you on the podcast
Speaker 7: with us makes us happy all over again.
Speaker 1: It's so funny because the role was so small and
Speaker 1: I was on Yeah, I just felt like I was
Speaker 1: on there for like such a short maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit longer than to take and go there, and I
Speaker 1: was like, why do they want to talk to me?
Speaker 1: I'm so nervous because I don't know what to talk about.
Speaker 7: Oh my gosh, don't you worry. We have so many
Speaker 7: questions for you. Also, you have to know you're in
Speaker 7: a room with some big fans. Wilfredell here can quote
Speaker 7: probably every one of your lines from almost anything you've done,
Speaker 7: but especially Fargo.
Speaker 4: Pretty true. It's pretty true.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's crazy. I know that. Actually, I
Speaker 1: remember when we shot this ninety eight that was just
Speaker 1: like Fargo had just come out recently.
Speaker 8: I think, so, yeah, well I bought I bothered you
Speaker 8: about it basically the entire week you were there.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, and I think I remember.
Speaker 5: That, Yeah, yeah, you stood him.
Speaker 1: You were the one.
Speaker 4: That's what I did.
Speaker 2: I just kept that's right.
Speaker 8: I kept peppering you with questions just the whole week long,
Speaker 8: because it was it was I mean, at the time,
Speaker 8: it was it still is.
Speaker 4: It holds up, but it was just it's a brilliant,
Speaker 4: brilliant film.
Speaker 8: And you say, I mean, it's a perfect example where
Speaker 8: you say, oh, you're on boy me throw for a
Speaker 8: short amount of time, but it was such a memorable
Speaker 8: role on Boy.
Speaker 4: Could be said for Fargo.
Speaker 8: I mean, you might be on for a short amount
Speaker 8: of time, but it's such a memorable role, and it's
Speaker 8: a it's a character and scenes that probably anybody else
Speaker 8: might have looked at and been like, you know what,
Speaker 8: we don't really need this for the story of the film.
Speaker 4: We can this lifts right out.
Speaker 8: But it so works and it's so important and it's
Speaker 8: just so great that yeah, yeah, well.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I mean, I remember thinking, I
Speaker 1: thought that they might cut it because it didn't seem
Speaker 1: to have anything to do with the rest of the story.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't until a few years later that it
Speaker 1: was on Roger Ebert's show. He had Martin scorseseion and
Speaker 1: they were talking about their favorite movies of the nineties,
Speaker 1: and they brought up Fargo. And they played my scene
Speaker 1: and Roger Ebert was describing how marg Linderson's character after
Speaker 1: she finds out that my character was lying, that kind
Speaker 1: of sets the light bulb off. And then she goes
Speaker 1: to speak to Do Macy's character after she realizes. So
Speaker 1: it did set off a little bit of a reaction,
Speaker 1: but I didn't know that at the time. Coen Brothers
Speaker 1: never explained anything to me, so I really, I really
Speaker 1: did think, Wow, they might cut this.
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, it's so good.
Speaker 7: We have so many things we want to talk to
Speaker 7: you about with your career, but before we jump into it,
Speaker 7: I'd love to talk to you about your origin story.
Speaker 7: We know that you are from the East Coast originally,
Speaker 7: but when did you realize that being in the entertainment
Speaker 7: industry was going to be your thing?
Speaker 1: Oh my god. It was kind of a long, kind
Speaker 1: of torturous journey. Because I'm my father, I grew up
Speaker 1: my father was a doctor. I was born in Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: New York. I was born in Clinton Hill and lived
Speaker 1: there until about eight and then we moved two years
Speaker 1: to Manhattan, and then we moved upstate. We landed in
Speaker 1: a town called Vestal, which is adjacent to Binghamton, okay,
Speaker 1: and so I did most of my growing up there.
Speaker 1: So I first started when I went to college, I
Speaker 1: really did not know what I wanted to do with
Speaker 1: my life, and so I was pursuing medicine because my
Speaker 1: dad was a doctor, so I thought, okay. So but
Speaker 1: I never had any kind of interest or proclivity towards
Speaker 1: chemistry or for interview. So you know, I was like,
Speaker 1: but I was like failing these classes. I'd bean just
Speaker 1: like looking at different like organisms and biology class, and like,
Speaker 1: I can't tell when this from you. So I just
Speaker 1: felt like this was not for me. And then I
Speaker 1: ended up transferring to school which was close to me,
Speaker 1: which was Sudny Binghamton, and the same thing. I was
Speaker 1: just signing up for classes. I didn't know what I
Speaker 1: was doing, and then I would end up like dropping classes,
Speaker 1: and so I was kind of ready to drop out.
Speaker 1: And my girlfriend at the time just said, before you
Speaker 1: drop out, just you owe yourself. Just take one semester
Speaker 1: of classes and the only criteria is that they have
Speaker 1: to be fun, which was such an alien concept to me.
Speaker 2: Such good advice.
Speaker 1: I took an acting class, I took a mind class,
Speaker 1: a vocal class and a body movement class. And it
Speaker 1: was to me because you know, when I was growing
Speaker 1: up as a kid, I was always like class clown.
Speaker 1: I was always making super great movies like it was
Speaker 1: something that I always enjoyed doing, but never considered it
Speaker 1: a career. So anyway, I ended up getting my my
Speaker 1: theater degree, and because you know, I thought it was funny,
Speaker 1: A lot of people were funny. So I went to
Speaker 1: New York City and started doing stand up comedy and
Speaker 1: I was doing open mic nights, and then I got
Speaker 1: involved with theater. I did my first play with pen
Speaker 1: Asian Repertory Theater and that got me started with with
Speaker 1: basically doing plays and then so I can't you know,
Speaker 1: I was down in New York. I started my career
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty seven, and it was nineteen eighty eight
Speaker 1: when I booked my first film, which was Do the
Speaker 1: Right Thing. And I mean who knew. I mean, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't like there were I it was at the
Speaker 1: time when they were kind of a small pool of
Speaker 1: Asian American actors. So for the first maybe ten years,
Speaker 1: I knew every agent American actor in both coasts. I
Speaker 1: mean we all knew each other. Yeah, so it wasn't
Speaker 1: like there was a big pool of actors. And anyway,
Speaker 1: then soon after that happened, I moved to Los Angeles
Speaker 1: and then in Living Color happened.
Speaker 5: And how did you book the job for Do the
Speaker 5: Right Thing? Did you? Did you just hear of the audition?
Speaker 5: How did you book that?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I heard the audition.
Speaker 5: Did you have an agent?
Speaker 1: I did? I had an agent, and I went into
Speaker 1: the office and I forgot what Scena was, but I
Speaker 1: remember Spike Lee gave me the part in the room
Speaker 1: right after the audition, and I was like, because I
Speaker 1: was already a huge fan of his from She's Got
Speaker 1: to Have It, I was, I was in shock. And
Speaker 1: then I just said, can I hug you? And then
Speaker 1: he gave me a hug, and yeah, so that was
Speaker 1: kind of like that was kind of the beginning. And
Speaker 1: that was terrified too, because being a Korean American growing
Speaker 1: up in New York, so you know, I grew up
Speaker 1: in white community, so I didn't grow up speaking the
Speaker 1: language or anything. Yeah, and I've had a very maybe
Speaker 1: tenuous grasp of my culture. So playing an immigrant from
Speaker 1: Korea terrified me. And so I had to kind of
Speaker 1: like my uncle actually worked at a market in Manhattan.
Speaker 1: I worked there for a little while, and my brother
Speaker 1: in law helped me with the dialect because I'd never
Speaker 1: done a Korean dialect before and so I was learning
Speaker 1: the dialect. So anyway, it was a kind of a
Speaker 1: big learning curve for me, just playing an immigrant from Korea.
Speaker 1: But it was terrifying.
Speaker 8: Oh my goshy in my head, I'm just thinking, it's
Speaker 8: so far. You've mentioned the Cohen Brothers and Spike Lee
Speaker 8: as the directors you've been working with so far, and
Speaker 8: it's just like the list is just building where it's like,
Speaker 8: oh man, it's some of the most brilliant people that
Speaker 8: have ever been in film everywhere.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know would happened, it's just yeah.
Speaker 7: And so what are your parents thinking at this time?
Speaker 7: Are your parents supportive of you once you start booking jobs.
Speaker 7: How do your parents feel about this transition you've made.
Speaker 1: Well, I think they were excited, but it wasn't you know.
Speaker 1: I think they were excited by the attention I was
Speaker 1: getting and people were like, wow, he's very successful. But
Speaker 1: I think, especially for my dad, it was more there
Speaker 1: was no solidity, There is no constancy, So my parents
Speaker 1: also have been with me through long periods of unemployment,
Speaker 1: you know, struggling with money, so you know, over the
Speaker 1: long arc of my career, they've seen how difficult it's stand.
Speaker 1: But I think they appreciate the fact that I've had
Speaker 1: the success that I've had. But I mean, to be honest,
Speaker 1: they don't really understand. Yeah, maybe what I do, or
Speaker 1: they don't understand the work so much. I don't know,
Speaker 1: like like I don't know if fifteen Fargo, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, and I meet a lot of actors like that.
Speaker 1: His parents like to have no clue like what they
Speaker 1: do or it seem so alien to them. And that's
Speaker 1: kind of been my experience. I mean, so they've been supportive,
Speaker 1: but it's always been like they have no idea what
Speaker 1: I do right?
Speaker 7: Right, They're like, we don't get it, but we're happy
Speaker 7: You're happy exactly, Okay, so you do do the right thing.
Speaker 7: How does and your living in Los Angeles? How does
Speaker 7: in Living Color come about?
Speaker 6: Same?
Speaker 1: That was a little bit more shocking because it's like
Speaker 1: a regular audition that started in the casting office and
Speaker 1: by that point I had I don't know, fifteen minutes set.
Speaker 1: I didn't really I was still beginning as a comedian,
Speaker 1: you know, and I wasn't really like comedy. It took
Speaker 1: me a while to realize that stand up comedy was
Speaker 1: not my thing. But I kind of had enough to
Speaker 1: do an audition, and then when I got called back,
Speaker 1: it was like, oh, the callback is at the lab
Speaker 1: factory and it was in front of an audience that
Speaker 1: didn't know that these were auditions, So that was terrifying.
Speaker 1: And there was like I want to say, like fifteen
Speaker 1: or twenty of us. I mean I remember Mark chose
Speaker 1: one of us. One of them were one of the
Speaker 1: people auditioning.
Speaker 2: And do you remember what your material was like? Do
Speaker 2: you remember what you're?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I did like I was doing like spoof on
Speaker 1: Asian stereotypes. I then did this bit where I was
Speaker 1: I had a boombox, I had them doing it over
Speaker 1: the PA system where I was doing that bad coung
Speaker 1: through the lip sinking right. And then yeah, in my memory,
Speaker 1: act was very it's very it's dissipated, but I just
Speaker 1: remember it ended with I created this this duo between
Speaker 1: Bruce Lee and Ambo, and I had Bruce Lee saying
Speaker 1: that line from uh from Entered the Dragon. You have
Speaker 1: offended my family. You have offended my my what is
Speaker 1: it my school? You have offended my family. And then
Speaker 1: the rambo has his rifle and then I had about
Speaker 1: five minutes of machine gun fire to the yes and
Speaker 1: then and then Bruce Lee says the line again, you
Speaker 1: have offended my school, you have offended. So that was
Speaker 1: the end of that particular. It was so silly. And
Speaker 1: then when they called this back again for another callback
Speaker 1: again at the laugh factory, it was like down to
Speaker 1: I think five of us or something. Then I had
Speaker 1: to like scrounge for material, and I was doing the
Speaker 1: jokes that I was doing, like in elementary and like
Speaker 1: I was just coming up with the dumbest jokes. And
Speaker 1: I remember one of them was, all right, I'm going
Speaker 1: to do an impression of two worms having sex. This
Speaker 1: is my impression of two worms having sex. I did
Speaker 1: that joke at the last factory and gotten on a
Speaker 1: living color. I did the dumbest joke.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's so good, the world's so great.
Speaker 2: It's great. And so at this point, are you thinking
Speaker 2: of yourself as an actor who does stand up or
Speaker 2: a comedian who acts sometimes or is it just all
Speaker 2: the same.
Speaker 1: I was still figuring it out. And I had such
Speaker 1: a huge opportunity when I was a living color to
Speaker 1: go on the road as a comedian. But I didn't
Speaker 1: have an act. I had just what I did at
Speaker 1: the audition, and truth be told, I was just you know,
Speaker 1: it took me a while to just realize that I
Speaker 1: didn't have the DNA just like I didn't I couldn't
Speaker 1: live that life. Yeah, I couldn't.
Speaker 8: I couldn't either.
Speaker 1: It's just like I look at like people that I know,
Speaker 1: like Bobby Lee or even you know, Margacheoe, like it's
Speaker 1: like they're born to do it, you know, they're they're something.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, a lot of stand ups they
Speaker 1: come from some difficult background or some kind of challenging
Speaker 1: childhood or drug abuse or whatever. So somehow that fuels
Speaker 1: that career somehow. And also when I was starting too,
Speaker 1: there weren't a lot of Asian comedians, so also I
Speaker 1: was extremely like hyper sensitive, so I was constantly on
Speaker 1: the receiving end and a lot of racist jokes and
Speaker 1: I would sit in the audience and so it was
Speaker 1: I mean, my girlfriend at the time was like saying,
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be doing this just because I would get
Speaker 1: so depressed. I would be so and angry that I
Speaker 1: was forcing myself to go into this environment and try
Speaker 1: to be funny, and it was just I was just
Speaker 1: not emotionally equipped to deal with things at that time.
Speaker 1: As a stand up comedian, I couldn't. It wasn't ending.
Speaker 8: You're right, it's not a job or even a career.
Speaker 8: It's a lifestyle. It's a whole lifestyle being a comedian.
Speaker 8: And you're right talking to people that do it, it's
Speaker 8: they have this thing. It's like, this is okay, you're
Speaker 8: a comedian, your stand up this is what you do.
Speaker 4: This is your lifestyle you want to be They can't
Speaker 4: get right.
Speaker 2: You have to exactly not be able to not do it.
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, because.
Speaker 2: Otherwise why would you put yourself through that. Like as
Speaker 2: an entertainer, I can kind of see like, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I could do like fifteen minutes, right, But then the
Speaker 2: idea of like having to beat that the next night
Speaker 2: and beat that the next night, and I'm like, no,
Speaker 2: I don't traveling and.
Speaker 4: Not sleeping and do anything. I'm sorry.
Speaker 8: I'm still trying to recover from you having to go
Speaker 8: to the laugh factory and your audition is in front
Speaker 8: of a crowd.
Speaker 2: Of they don't.
Speaker 4: Know that you're auditioning. You're also now, did you watch
Speaker 4: in Living Color.
Speaker 8: At the time you auditioned for the show, so you
Speaker 8: already knew what you were getting into then, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean I remember they did this, They did a
Speaker 1: spoof fun do the Right Thing. I remember, which I
Speaker 1: was like, Oh my god, that's crazy. And I never
Speaker 1: I never imagined that would be on the show. I
Speaker 1: mean when when the audition came up, and I knew
Speaker 1: they were looking for like Asian American and they were
Speaker 1: looking for Latino actors, comedians, and so it was just
Speaker 1: an opportunity. That was an amazing opportunity that just popped
Speaker 1: out of nowhere.
Speaker 8: Well it was, I mean at the time, it was
Speaker 8: the hip is show on television. I mean, Saturday Night
Speaker 8: Live had nothing on in Living Color. It was this
Speaker 8: was like groundbreaking because I think Keen Ivory Wins had
Speaker 8: come off of I'm Going to Get You Sucko, which
Speaker 8: was like amazing, right, and then.
Speaker 4: It was like, oh, he's doing a television show.
Speaker 8: And then you'd sit there and watch it and I go,
Speaker 8: oh my god, what's happening in front of me? I mean,
Speaker 8: it really was completely groundbreaking for TV. Was this set
Speaker 8: a fun place to be? Was it was it conducive
Speaker 8: to comedy and you know, just trying to get the
Speaker 8: funniest bits you can do?
Speaker 4: Or was it a little cutthroat?
Speaker 1: It was kind of a lot of things. I had
Speaker 1: kind of a challenging experience just because I mean it
Speaker 1: was fun. I mean the amount of like just table
Speaker 1: reads where the ways would be falling out of their
Speaker 1: chairs or you know, it was like the funniest people
Speaker 1: in the world altogether in the same room kind of vibe.
Speaker 1: You know. So it was like so so intimidating, and
Speaker 1: you know, also being thrown in it's like being thrown
Speaker 1: into a situation where everybody's already a family, so you're
Speaker 1: then you're you're the adoptee. Yeah, so that was also
Speaker 1: very challenging. And and then also how I was not
Speaker 1: on the show anymore also was really challenging because it
Speaker 1: was not fully explained to me, and I had different explanations,
Speaker 1: so it was like ninety yeah, so when I was
Speaker 1: not asked back. That was the year of the riots
Speaker 1: in LA and there was a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: animosity between the black the black community in the Korean
Speaker 1: American community, and so I was feeling at the time like, well,
Speaker 1: maybe that had something to do with it. I didn't know,
Speaker 1: but maybe almost like six almost seven years later, I
Speaker 1: was casting to play with my current wife, Kelly Colfield,
Speaker 1: who was in the Living Color.
Speaker 5: Yes, I was just going to ask about that. You
Speaker 5: met on that set, right, We.
Speaker 1: Met on the set, but it was just, you know,
Speaker 1: we were both in relationships at the time, you know,
Speaker 1: and also I was too stressed to do so that
Speaker 1: was not that was not on my mind at the time.
Speaker 1: But then what excuse when this play happened? That was
Speaker 1: I hadn't seen her since the show, and it was
Speaker 1: reconnecting and then trying to unpack, like, so, what what happened?
Speaker 1: You know? And then she said when they came back
Speaker 1: the next season, she everybody was like, what, we're Steve,
Speaker 1: what happened? And then he said that because this was
Speaker 1: when Living Color was about, Keenan was fighting with Fox
Speaker 1: the network, and it was like the beginning of the end,
Speaker 1: and I think he was getting a little set up,
Speaker 1: and he said that he was having a negotiating issue
Speaker 1: with my manager and she was pushing too hard. And
Speaker 1: then so he just said screw it, and then he
Speaker 1: just let me go. And then I was told by
Speaker 1: one of the producers that they were looking for a
Speaker 1: comedian who had more of a stable of characters. And
Speaker 1: then when I read the release from Fox that I
Speaker 1: read in the paper, it was because I was pursuing
Speaker 1: other opportunities. You know, so has their own kind of thing,
Speaker 1: and so it took me. It took it probably until
Speaker 1: I met Kelly. It took I didn't. There was always
Speaker 1: like a little bit of a wound there, like I said,
Speaker 1: not knowing. Oh God, the life of an actor.
Speaker 2: From project to project, you just hope.
Speaker 8: So yeah, well I'm a huge I was telling them
Speaker 8: before we got on. I'm a huge fan of your
Speaker 8: wife as well, not just your lines from Fargo, but
Speaker 8: I could do her lines from her Seinfeld episode.
Speaker 4: It's the way my brain works. So she is hysterical.
Speaker 4: Please tell her I love her, that's all I will.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 7: You guys have two children who are both in their twenties, right,
Speaker 7: do you they any idea how cool their parents are.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Well, you know it's funny because you know,
Speaker 1: I think Kelly and I, you know, we we kind
Speaker 1: of remark on that sometimes, like we have, they've come
Speaker 1: and they bring their friends over, and we kind of
Speaker 1: wonder what they think of us because we're so not
Speaker 1: like the normal parents. I guess that other but but
Speaker 1: in other words, we are you know, we're just normal people.
Speaker 1: We don't do anything crazy. You know, we make food
Speaker 1: and we invite people in and you know, please take
Speaker 1: your shoes off, and you know whatever. But yeah, that
Speaker 1: I I don't know. You'd have to ask my kids
Speaker 1: what their experience is. I you know, I know that
Speaker 1: they hear things and and I think sometimes maybe they
Speaker 1: try to hide it. I don't know what they do.
Speaker 2: But but neither of them, no one's No one's gone
Speaker 2: into entertainment. That's not well.
Speaker 1: Actually, my daughter, my daughter is, she just she went
Speaker 1: to film school. She just graduated from Pratt Institute as
Speaker 1: a filmmaker and is pursuing acting. So yeah, so my
Speaker 1: son is he's a writer. He's finishing grad school at
Speaker 1: Brooklyn College in the Creative Writing program, and he works
Speaker 1: at the Paris Review. And uh, he's writing his first novel.
Speaker 1: So she'll probably be hearing about that at some point.
Speaker 2: It's so cool.
Speaker 7: So you had already watched Spike Lee, Change Movies Forever,
Speaker 7: the Wayans Brothers just rubbed the television in industry as
Speaker 7: a whole. And then you appear on Boy Meets World.
Speaker 4: The Pinnacle.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about high.
Speaker 1: Serious.
Speaker 7: What do you remember about this blip on your resume?
Speaker 1: Do you? Did?
Speaker 5: You have to audition for it?
Speaker 1: For it? And I remember thinking because they thought it
Speaker 1: was really funny that I was yelling, which seems like, well,
Speaker 1: of course I'm yelling. I'm inside of the hell, you know,
Speaker 1: a plane. And I got the impression like, well, maybe
Speaker 1: the other people who audition didn't yell.
Speaker 7: Yeah, this was must have been your idea, because then
Speaker 7: it becomes the.
Speaker 2: Funny whole, the whole show. But I wonder if they
Speaker 2: hadn't thought about that when they.
Speaker 5: Wrote there's no way, so you just did it?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I was just yelling and then and
Speaker 1: then they laughed and it was like, isn't everybody doing
Speaker 1: this after?
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, that's so funny, that's so great.
Speaker 1: But I have no idea. I just made that up
Speaker 1: in my mind. I have no idea that that was
Speaker 1: no Actually that my memory. That's what stayed with me.
Speaker 4: Oh man, that's why I'm guessing that.
Speaker 8: We didn't start yelling until you started yelling and we went, Okay,
Speaker 8: that's it has to be this.
Speaker 4: It has to be this for.
Speaker 8: The scene, and probably the three of us started yelling
Speaker 8: back at you and that was it because it was
Speaker 8: such a good scene and so funny. One of the
Speaker 8: things we talk about is that, you know, we're going
Speaker 8: back watching the entire series again, which Rider had never
Speaker 8: seen the show, and Daniel and I haven't seen it
Speaker 8: since it was on, and so we're kind of rediscovering.
Speaker 4: These episodes as we go.
Speaker 8: And your episode is in contention for the best episode.
Speaker 7: Of the entire the number one best episode up till
Speaker 7: this point. We're six seasons in and Raging is high,
Speaker 7: like truly in contention for our favorite episode of the show.
Speaker 8: Yeah, based on your just our stupid opinions, all three
Speaker 8: of us.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you could take it or leave it.
Speaker 4: But it's not official or anything. It's just we love it.
Speaker 1: Can I ask what sticks out which stands out about
Speaker 1: that episode for you?
Speaker 7: Well, there's there's a few things. We love both the
Speaker 7: A and B storyline. It's a really well balanced episode.
Speaker 7: We like that that there's a moment between it's a
Speaker 7: it's about a you know, about parenting and about a
Speaker 7: father relationship, and there's moments for all three of his kids.
Speaker 7: There's storylines for how he raises Corey. It also is
Speaker 7: something Will had joked about when we first started rewatching
Speaker 7: the show, was that, like, they don't know they have
Speaker 7: another son. The entire show, it's about the little sister
Speaker 7: and Corey. They never acknowledge Eric, they never acknowledge it.
Speaker 7: And then this whole episode kind of about what his
Speaker 7: relationship is like with his dad.
Speaker 2: And I'm also realizing that, as ridiculous as this sounds,
Speaker 2: I think the yelling choice might be one of the
Speaker 2: major reasons that the episode works because if I think
Speaker 2: about that dialogue without the yelling, like, take that scene
Speaker 2: and take the fact that they're screaming, you know that
Speaker 2: you guys are screaming at each other away right right,
Speaker 2: Suddenly it becomes pretty sappy boy meets World. It's a
Speaker 2: little setting. It becomes why don't we have the relationship
Speaker 2: that you and Corey have, you know? If Eric? And
Speaker 2: and that turn where it goes from a story about
Speaker 2: Corey trying to prove himself to his dad or to
Speaker 2: you know, and then to Eric suddenly becomes very sentimental
Speaker 2: and a little like saccherin right in like the way
Speaker 2: that Boy Meets World as a sitcom could do. But
Speaker 2: the fact that you guys are all screaming and about
Speaker 2: to jump out of the plane makes it removes any
Speaker 2: of that sentimentality, and so it gets the story upoint across,
Speaker 2: but it makes it more just fun and funny and
Speaker 2: like that. It's I think that that's one of the
Speaker 2: reasons why the episode is so good is that it
Speaker 2: never gets weighted down by you know what, what other
Speaker 2: episodes would we would we would get very sappy, you know, and.
Speaker 1: It just isn't. It's so wow, that's so interesting, yelling worked.
Speaker 5: It's always good, no matter.
Speaker 8: It's also one of the things that we love that
Speaker 8: we talk about all the time is a great impactful
Speaker 8: guest star and you were it's just somebody who comes
Speaker 8: to you, doesn't have a whole ton to do, but
Speaker 8: crushes it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, drive by you just you drive by, you
Speaker 7: pop in for a moment, absolutely kill it and keep going.
Speaker 5: We just love it.
Speaker 2: Important sitcoms, you know, it's like such a key thing
Speaker 2: to have a great guests Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Are you having every single person on the show.
Speaker 5: Everyone.
Speaker 7: Yes, there are a few people who have said no,
Speaker 7: but we've asked pretty much everyone up untip to this point.
Speaker 1: We have. Yeah, but you've saw you've rewatched this episode
Speaker 1: a long time ago, probably right.
Speaker 7: Well, we've been doing the podcast now for about two
Speaker 7: and a half years.
Speaker 5: That was a season five so yeah, no six months ago?
Speaker 1: Oh okay, so recent?
Speaker 5: All right, within the last six months.
Speaker 1: Are you guys done now or are you still watching now?
Speaker 4: We just starting season six.
Speaker 8: We have all of season six and all of season
Speaker 8: seven left today.
Speaker 4: We're milking it.
Speaker 5: Stevening, you take make it take as long as possible.
Speaker 7: So do you did you know of Boy Meets World
Speaker 7: before you got the audition?
Speaker 5: Had you ever heard of the show?
Speaker 2: Or was this the first time the show?
Speaker 1: Yes? Okay, I think it was a little I was
Speaker 1: a little long in the tooth I think at that point.
Speaker 4: So yeah, you weren't our demographic.
Speaker 5: No, do you remember hanging with us all week?
Speaker 7: Do you have any other memories other than Will being
Speaker 7: annoying and talking to you.
Speaker 1: About really that was the main memory.
Speaker 4: Plucking you on the shoulder.
Speaker 2: Hey, I have another burg question.
Speaker 1: I just remember I do remember I feel like I
Speaker 1: disappointed you because I think you were talking about was
Speaker 1: it ren and Stimpy or something? It was a show
Speaker 1: that you were fascinated by at the US and butt Head,
Speaker 1: which I wasn't really watching, and you were asking me
Speaker 1: about it, and I had nothing to say, and I
Speaker 1: felt like, oh, man, what a dunt I am?
Speaker 2: Well, I will probably did make you feel bad about that.
Speaker 2: Oh you were in Farga, but you don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was something.
Speaker 5: Like maybe it was South Park.
Speaker 4: It might have been South Park.
Speaker 1: Actually been South Park, might have been South Park.
Speaker 4: I think it was South Park at the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it.
Speaker 8: No, you know what I remember remember the most about
Speaker 8: about our conversations. By conversations, I mean me peppering you
Speaker 8: with questions and you very politely and calmly answering them.
Speaker 8: I remember you saying that you were shocked that people
Speaker 8: thought your character was funny in Fargo.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what happened. I remember I've told this
Speaker 1: story before, but after they first started screening it, I
Speaker 1: got a call from Ethan Cohen and he told me
Speaker 1: how funny I was. And that was the first time
Speaker 1: I'm like what and and it didn't occur to me
Speaker 1: because I was still so in the character's pov, right,
Speaker 1: and I know doing that part. I remember the day
Speaker 1: I was I had somehow like put myself into some
Speaker 1: more emotional torture. I was really really like, you know,
Speaker 1: because internally it was like I was screaming in pain
Speaker 1: and then covering it and then doing the scene. Like
Speaker 1: that's kind of how I approached the scene. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: then I was I was bringing up my mother, I
Speaker 1: like bringing up both So I was a mess really inside,
Speaker 1: and I was really so that was my goal was
Speaker 1: just to be like barely holding it together and then
Speaker 1: to do the scene. And I know it was weird,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, you know, and so all that stuff.
Speaker 1: I knew it was weird, but to hear about how
Speaker 1: everybody was laughing, it took me a while to wrap
Speaker 1: my head around and then realized, oh yeah, like and
Speaker 1: then I understood it. But it was because, yeah, I
Speaker 1: just was too too still too in the character's mindset
Speaker 1: to to see the audience point of view at that point. Yeah.
Speaker 5: So you mentioned that the Cohen Brothers didn't tell you much.
Speaker 7: What did you know about your character, Mike Yanagita before
Speaker 7: you went into the movie.
Speaker 5: What did you what were you prepped with.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of the characters were based on
Speaker 1: people they knew growing up growing up there, and there
Speaker 1: was I think his name was Glenn Yanagita, the actual
Speaker 1: person maybe that they grew up with in high school,
Speaker 1: not that this character is based on him at all.
Speaker 1: And that's about it. I mean, because when I did
Speaker 1: the audition, you know they of course, you know, they
Speaker 1: hired me, and I remember the main thing when I
Speaker 1: got the job, he was on the set. The main
Speaker 1: kind of surprise was working with Elizabeth Himmelstein, who was
Speaker 1: the dialect coach, and how hard she was pushing the
Speaker 1: dialect like no, you want more? Oh yeah, and it
Speaker 1: sounded so kind of phony. It sounded like weird. So
Speaker 1: just going into that and feeling comfortable bending those ours
Speaker 1: and oh and doing the dialect to that extent it
Speaker 1: felt unnatural until it didn't anymore. But as far as
Speaker 1: the scene, I think maybe I was just giving them.
Speaker 1: I felt like it took me a lot. It was
Speaker 1: a long road personally to arrive at the character, because
Speaker 1: when when I first saw the audition, I passed on
Speaker 1: it because it was described to overweight forty and like,
Speaker 1: why do they want to see me, like, you know,
Speaker 1: and then it came back and I was like okay,
Speaker 1: and then I flew. I was in LA at the time,
Speaker 1: so I flew to New York and yeah, so I
Speaker 1: just kind of like, as I started, I'm learning more
Speaker 1: about this character and kind of investigating it, it was like,
Speaker 1: I'm not this character. I'm not this character. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I am this character.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know if it's ever happened to
Speaker 1: you as an actor where the role feels like you
Speaker 1: don't feel connected to it. And if I think a
Speaker 1: lot of it is because it's like, well, this guy's
Speaker 1: you know, you have a judgment about the character. So
Speaker 1: once the judgment, I think the judgment somehow dropped and
Speaker 1: I realized, oh, I am this guy, like because I
Speaker 1: understood that loneliness, I understood the pain, I understood emotionally
Speaker 1: this guy, and I know people like this. So I
Speaker 1: once that happened, I feel like I knew the character.
Speaker 1: And I think the Coen Brothers may be felt like
Speaker 1: they didn't really need to say much because I felt
Speaker 1: like I knew I knew this person.
Speaker 5: Did you do a lot of takes or was.
Speaker 1: It from different? It was really more just different setups.
Speaker 1: But I did you know when they were on me
Speaker 1: there there was one. I was kind of like finding
Speaker 1: things with each take. It wasn't like a lot of takes,
Speaker 1: but you know the one where I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, relation I should have you know, like that
Speaker 1: wasn't kind of imp like that was a spontaneous moment,
Speaker 1: and but it was. I won't say it was a lot,
Speaker 1: it was. I mean, we did. I remember they started
Speaker 1: on fran they started on March Gunderson, so but I
Speaker 1: was fully in it when they were on her first,
Speaker 1: and then at one point, uh, Francis, you know you
Speaker 1: better turn around on him now, just because I was
Speaker 1: so in it. And so then they were on me,
Speaker 1: and it was enough takes to find the little moments
Speaker 1: like that moment and to uh to to just get
Speaker 1: into the little nuances. But it wasn't like like Wes
Speaker 1: Anderson right to and they're like one more for the pleasure,
Speaker 1: and then there's ten more.
Speaker 7: In your intro, we mentioned a ton of the classic
Speaker 7: films that you have appeared in, but also we're not
Speaker 7: sure anyone can be this list of directors you have
Speaker 7: worked with, Ivan Riadman, Barry Levinson, the Cohen Brothers, Barbart Schroeder,
Speaker 7: Joel Schumacher, Wes Anderson, Bill Murray, Miranda, July Bong, June Hoe.
Speaker 7: I mean, you've worked with a lot of these people
Speaker 7: more than once, So in your opinion, is there something
Speaker 7: that all of these incredible directors have in common?
Speaker 1: You know what? I think it is Fargo. I think
Speaker 1: Fargo was my like entree into all of these directors' work.
Speaker 1: I think that they they they love. I mean when
Speaker 1: I first met director Bomb and I was we were
Speaker 1: in Prague, we were at Baranda Studios and he was
Speaker 1: introducing me to John Hurt and I said, well, remember
Speaker 1: he was, and then he referred to me as Fargo.
Speaker 1: Remember Fargo. So that's kind of was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: you know so that was my That was how these
Speaker 1: directors I think found me and wanted to work with me.
Speaker 8: Well, not to put you on the spot, but is
Speaker 8: there one that you prefer working with over another? Is
Speaker 8: there a director where every time the name comes up,
Speaker 8: you're like, oh, I can't wait to work with this
Speaker 8: person again.
Speaker 1: Well I have to, you know, I love working with
Speaker 1: you know, Director Bomb is like I'm good, Hopefully I'm
Speaker 1: going to see him next week because Mickey seventeen, which
Speaker 1: I worked on, ye, I'm going to get to see
Speaker 1: it next week, and so I hopefully we'll get to
Speaker 1: see him. But he is such a sweet, down to
Speaker 1: earth guy. I had the like complete honor of hanging
Speaker 1: out with him after the big Oscar night and we
Speaker 1: all went to Korea Town and we're at a restaurant
Speaker 1: and the cast and the producers and wow, that was
Speaker 1: an amazing evening. And so he's just a sweetheart, and
Speaker 1: I love working with him whenever. I you know, twice now,
Speaker 1: so that's been really great. But I have to say,
Speaker 1: like working with Wes Anderson is another level because he
Speaker 1: is like an independent filmmaker. So when I worked like
Speaker 1: on Mickey seventeen, I was Warner Brothers, so I was
Speaker 1: dealing with Warner Brothers and I was kind of living
Speaker 1: in Camden and everybody was kind of spread out, so
Speaker 1: I didn't really have a connection with the other cast
Speaker 1: members so much unless I like, I had a party
Speaker 1: once and I buy a bunch of people over. But
Speaker 1: it was a little bit alienating, and which which helped
Speaker 1: for this movie, you know, because the alienation was helped
Speaker 1: because there was a lot of that in terms of
Speaker 1: the story. But the way West works is he'll he'll
Speaker 1: be in some country and privatize a hotel and like
Speaker 1: the whole cast is living there, and the crew is living.
Speaker 1: A lot of the crew we're all living. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not in the same hotel, in the next door hotel.
Speaker 1: And the studio usually is a golf cart away because
Speaker 1: West likes to like drive the golf cart to set.
Speaker 1: And so every night, like they'll wrap around seven o'clock
Speaker 1: and then everybody meets for dinner. West at the head
Speaker 1: of the table and you go down and it's just
Speaker 1: like you all of these movies like that, and then
Speaker 1: listening to West just I mean, he talks about film
Speaker 1: and you just it's like going to film school. And
Speaker 1: one of the things he does too that's so great
Speaker 1: is he has a table of maybe about twenty Blu
Speaker 1: Ray DVDs of all of these classic movies that had
Speaker 1: some influence on the movie we're working on. And so
Speaker 1: you know, you have a Blu Ray machine in your room,
Speaker 1: so you pick one, you sign it out, and then
Speaker 1: when you're not working, you're just watching these great movies.
Speaker 1: And then you're going downstairs and you're meeting movies stars
Speaker 1: and you're talking to West about this movie or that
Speaker 1: or what was the influence on this scene. So it's
Speaker 1: like that's just an amazing Oh man.
Speaker 2: You feel like you're part of a company.
Speaker 1: You feel like you're all.
Speaker 2: Entering the same artistic mindset and collaborating together.
Speaker 1: That is Yeah, it's so great. And you know, like
Speaker 1: when we were in Potsdam, Germany for this latest film,
Speaker 1: the Phoenician Scheme, which opens May thirtieth, I want to say,
Speaker 1: or thirty first titles. He has the Phoenician Scheme. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be amazing. And but talk about star studied, you
Speaker 1: know cast Benizio del Toro and Michael Sarah Miothorappleton, Like
Speaker 1: that's the other thing. Like they also like both because
Speaker 1: when they did the French Dispatch that was in angole M, France,
Speaker 1: and they had these electric bikes that you borrow, so
Speaker 1: you know we would go on these like you know,
Speaker 1: bike trips together. So I mean it was my wife
Speaker 1: had come and so it's like Hope, Pope Davis and
Speaker 1: Michael Sarah and we're just riding around Potsdam, you know,
Speaker 1: going to a beer. You know, it's so much fun.
Speaker 1: It's like camp and everybody is so cool, and it's
Speaker 1: like there's no there's no hierarchies. It's just everybody is
Speaker 1: the same and it's just beautiful. And Wes is so
Speaker 1: meticulous about everything. Like when we went to can for
Speaker 1: the French dispatch, I remember they were setting up the
Speaker 1: dining room for after the screening and Wes is in
Speaker 1: there with one of the employees that he's putting in
Speaker 1: games and all the tables he's decided in court everybody's sitting.
Speaker 1: He knows everything. He knows where everybody like, what room
Speaker 1: everybody's in, Like his mind is incredible, and what he
Speaker 1: what he remembers and and what he's paying attention to.
Speaker 1: So you know, he talks about how you like, when
Speaker 1: he goes sleep, he's he's constantly centering things, you know,
Speaker 1: because he's doing that all the time in the frame.
Speaker 1: He's like his brain and everything. Yeah, so his dreams
Speaker 1: are like a Wes Anderson.
Speaker 7: But that's so cool to hear what we were You
Speaker 7: just mentioned Mickey seventeen. What are you allowed to tell
Speaker 7: us about that project?
Speaker 1: Well, it's out now kind of, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: the I guess it's going to be released on March seven,
Speaker 1: but it's based on Mickey seven. He uh, you know
Speaker 1: Bunching Hoes expanded obviously, and uh yeah, that also was
Speaker 1: just a lot of fun in his imagination. It's just
Speaker 1: it's just incredible and he's so it's so fluid, Like
Speaker 1: as a director, he'd like, I mean, this is something
Speaker 1: that director Bong and West have in common is their
Speaker 1: storyboarding is like the movie has already been made and
Speaker 1: the filmmaking is really the constructing of it. But if
Speaker 1: you look at his storyboards, it's like every little frame
Speaker 1: you know exactly what's going to happen. So with director Bob,
Speaker 1: sometimes he's storyboarding the night before, but you have a
Speaker 1: sense like he he's shooting to exactly what he wants
Speaker 1: on the storyboards, so there's no master shot. So if
Speaker 1: there's a shot with me crossing the screen and like
Speaker 1: like there's one scene where I'm crossing and I have
Speaker 1: this injury on my arm, and the storyboard is me
Speaker 1: going so that's exactly what I'm doing, just going across
Speaker 1: the screen and like I'm in pain, and then cut.
Speaker 1: So he's shooting exactly what's on the storyboard. He's not
Speaker 1: he's not having a scene play out and all, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like he's shooting exactly what's on
Speaker 1: the storyboard. And West goes like even one step further
Speaker 1: where he does an animatic, which is basically a movie
Speaker 1: storyboard or a cartoon, So every shot has already been
Speaker 1: planned and visualized, and then he voices all the characters
Speaker 1: and so before you when you arrive on set, you
Speaker 1: get to watch the animats. It's like you're basically watch
Speaker 1: the movie with his voice. And then he pretty much
Speaker 1: sticks to the exactly so in a way like when
Speaker 1: you look at a Wes Anderson movie and you look
Speaker 1: how the characters move, they kind of you know, and
Speaker 1: then they kind of move aside. You know, there's a
Speaker 1: kind of stick figure kind of quality maybe to movies,
Speaker 1: and it's it's kind of looks like the the the animation.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 1: But he likes that. That's his aesthetic, you know, and
Speaker 1: it really it really works, and there's something very funny
Speaker 1: about it, and there's something very kind of almost cartoonish,
Speaker 1: but it's very it's very West. It's very affecting.
Speaker 7: Who is left for you on your dream list of
Speaker 7: directors or co stars?
Speaker 5: Who have you worked you.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, my god, I mean, I
Speaker 1: mean I would love to work with Park chanuk. I
Speaker 1: I don't you know. It's funny because I don't I
Speaker 1: haven't even asked myself that question, because it's like every
Speaker 1: everybody I've worked with has been such a surprise. I
Speaker 1: never thought I'd be working with any of these people.
Speaker 1: So hmmm, I don't know, because I've already been blessed
Speaker 1: with working with so many ami using people, so I
Speaker 1: don't even know.
Speaker 7: I could just been a surprise. You're no, it's okay,
Speaker 7: it's been already. I love that for you. You're like,
Speaker 7: why would I the career you never could have exactly,
Speaker 7: so you never could have imagined it, and it turned
Speaker 7: out better than you could have imagined, so why bother
Speaker 7: to think ahead?
Speaker 1: Yeah. Total.
Speaker 7: So one more thing I did want to talk to
Speaker 7: you about was back in nineteen ninety nine, after a
Speaker 7: disappointing experience on the set of a very massive sitcom,
Speaker 7: you wrote, way ahead of its time, an incredibly brave
Speaker 7: mission statement to Hollywood about status, power and racism in Hollywood,
Speaker 7: about the difficulties you faced finding work as an Asian actor,
Speaker 7: and especially work that you felt like you could be
Speaker 7: proud of. So I really recommend everybody read it. It
Speaker 7: is still on the internet and you'll realize, you know,
Speaker 7: Steve was saying these things twenty six years ago and
Speaker 7: they are still relevant. Can you tell us what the
Speaker 7: effects of that letter were at the time.
Speaker 1: Well, let me just say that the show is friends,
Speaker 1: Okay it was at the time. For me, I thought
Speaker 1: it was kind of a toxic environment, yep, and this
Speaker 1: racist kind the ad calling James Hong was was the
Speaker 1: actor who was also on the episode with me, and
Speaker 1: he was calling him to the set and you know,
Speaker 1: essentially saying, you know, you know, where is the oriental guy?
Speaker 1: Get the oriental guy. So when I called Screen Actors
Speaker 1: Guild after that, it happened, and the person I spoke
Speaker 1: with recommended I write an article to the La Times.
Speaker 1: And I thought, oh, okay, that'd be a good idea.
Speaker 1: And I had just seen Jerry Maguire. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you remember that movie, but he writes a mission statement.
Speaker 1: My wife Kelly's in that movie, by way, And for
Speaker 1: some reason that just kind of like struck me, like
Speaker 1: that's kind of a yeah, why didn't I write a
Speaker 1: mission statement? To Hollywood because this is bigger than this show.
Speaker 1: This isn't the first time that this happened, you know,
Speaker 1: but this is the environment where this is business as
Speaker 1: usual in Hollywood in nineteen ninety seven, I guess it was,
Speaker 1: and nobody felt the need to correct this or say
Speaker 1: anything about it. So this is this is normal behavior.
Speaker 1: And so I started writing this mission statement and I
Speaker 1: sent it to the La Times. They sent a couple
Speaker 1: of reporters and they interviewed me, and then they never
Speaker 1: printed it. And so this was like the beginning of
Speaker 1: the Internet. And I had my email list, and I
Speaker 1: sent my mission statement out to who was on my
Speaker 1: email list, and I said, you know, if this move you,
Speaker 1: you know, please pard it along. But I just explained
Speaker 1: I I was interviewed in there. They're not going to
Speaker 1: print this, so if you feel moved to send this
Speaker 1: a lot, please do. And then within a week I
Speaker 1: was like I was getting responses from all across the
Speaker 1: country from publication estept. We're asking permission to reprint it.
Speaker 1: And so this it was like this it went viral,
Speaker 1: you know, before viral was even a word. And I
Speaker 1: went to San Francisco at some point that year to
Speaker 1: do a play, and I was like interviewed up there.
Speaker 1: I was on the cover of the Guardian, you know,
Speaker 1: wrapped the American flag. I was interviewed in the Examiner,
Speaker 1: and it all kind of culminated. I mean, I also
Speaker 1: spent about a year of being invited to different colleges
Speaker 1: to speak about this, and and then I was given
Speaker 1: this award by an Asian American Arts foundation up in
Speaker 1: San Francisco, and it was handed to me by Jesse Jackson.
Speaker 1: And so that's kind of how this all played out.
Speaker 1: And then, you know, soon after it was like my
Speaker 1: son was born in two thousand and right before that,
Speaker 1: I decided to quit acting like I was. I was
Speaker 1: kind of I had become so race conscious and so
Speaker 1: angry that I like everything, I was looking at everything
Speaker 1: through the lens of race, and I felt like I
Speaker 1: couldn't there. I was just there's no freedom. I didn't
Speaker 1: feel any freedom. So I didn't have any idea what
Speaker 1: I was going to do. But I just decided to
Speaker 1: drop out and I told everybody I'm not acting anymore.
Speaker 1: And so about a year went by, I was just
Speaker 1: being a you know, stay at home dad. And maybe
Speaker 1: about a year later, somebody had asked me to all
Speaker 1: to it for something, and I said, okay, because I
Speaker 1: didn't know what. I wasn't doing anything. And then that
Speaker 1: was like a slow climb back into the business, and
Speaker 1: it was very, very gradual, and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: there wasn't a lot of work anyway for Asian American actors,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't until a few years later. I remember
Speaker 1: I was listening to Bobby Lee's podcast and he was
Speaker 1: talking with Margaret Choe and Bobby Lee like he mentions
Speaker 1: my name and he said, oh, you know, he got blacklisted,
Speaker 1: and like I was blacklisted. I had no idea, you know,
Speaker 1: But but then I realized, like, oh, that is the
Speaker 1: common kind of like I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: thought that, especially in the Asian American community, I think
Speaker 1: believed that I was blacklisted. And I thought, oh wow.
Speaker 1: And I remember I texted Bobby said, you know, I
Speaker 1: wasn't blacklisted, but but who who would have known anyway,
Speaker 1: you know, because I wasn't really working by anyway, with
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of work. But yeah, it
Speaker 1: took me a while, I think, to to not only
Speaker 1: get back into the business, but to move beyond this
Speaker 1: this race consciousness that was that had overwhelmed me, and
Speaker 1: it was a lot of spiritual work. I've been on
Speaker 1: huge spiritual journeys. I've gone to Machu Picchu with Don
Speaker 1: Miguel Ruiz, who wrote the Four Agreements. You know. I've
Speaker 1: done meditation retreats. I've done ayahuasca. You know, I've done
Speaker 1: so many things. And I think over over the years,
Speaker 1: I began to understand the ego. I began to understand
Speaker 1: identify how how the ego works and how I like
Speaker 1: just just this identification with the body, for instance, is
Speaker 1: egoic and recognizing that the true self is the the
Speaker 1: presence that is always here and always now, and that
Speaker 1: the body comes and goes, and this my name, my race.
Speaker 1: Everything that you can, all the labels you can put
Speaker 1: on me, all came after what I call I like,
Speaker 1: they're not inherently this eternal eye that we all are right.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what I eventually arrived at. And
Speaker 1: so that freed me, that insight freedman.
Speaker 7: Wow, Wow, what an incredible journey.
Speaker 2: Amazing Well Put.
Speaker 5: I mean yeah, very well, Put, And.
Speaker 2: I'm serious about this, this this this moment. You know,
Speaker 2: you talk about this race consciousness that you sort of
Speaker 2: arrived at you were already like mid career. I mean,
Speaker 2: you had already been working. I mean, was part of
Speaker 2: this recognizing that, especially you know, auditioning for parts and
Speaker 2: reading scripts before that. I mean, there must have been
Speaker 2: so many times when you were asked to audition for
Speaker 2: what was essentially a stereotype or a role that yes,
Speaker 2: and were you turning those parts down or were you
Speaker 2: just hungry enough act Oh? Yeah, so you were you
Speaker 2: were already making choices.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, I was turning stuff down all the time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that was just kind of the norm at
Speaker 1: that time, right yeah. I mean now it's just a
Speaker 1: completely different scene now, yeah, I mean it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of amazing.
Speaker 8: I'm curious when you were growing up, you said you
Speaker 8: were the class clown, you were funny. Were there any
Speaker 8: Asian American entertainers that you looked up to when you
Speaker 8: were a kid.
Speaker 1: Not that I was like, oh, I want to be
Speaker 1: like that, but I remember like Johnny I don't know
Speaker 1: if you remember him, sure if he's from Korea, And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I knew I was aware of actress like
Speaker 1: sent Teco, you know, Pat Marina. You know, I was
Speaker 1: friends with his daughter Ali, so George de Kay, like
Speaker 1: all of these different actors who are like a generation ahead.
Speaker 1: You know, I was aware of them. But I think
Speaker 1: at the beginning of my career, I was always like,
Speaker 1: I want to break new ground. I want to break
Speaker 1: new ground. I want to do something that hasn't been
Speaker 1: done before. Also, you know, like doing doing roles without
Speaker 1: an accent was a big deal. Like doing an accent
Speaker 1: or not doing any like that was always like an
Speaker 1: issue that was hard. That's why, you know, do the
Speaker 1: right thing. It was hard for me to be to
Speaker 1: have to do that. So it's just been a slow evolution,
Speaker 1: you know. And uh, yeah, I've forgotten the question.
Speaker 8: I was asking about your your If there are any
Speaker 8: Asian American actors you you looked up to when you
Speaker 8: were Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean I was aware of them. I wouldn't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's now like Bruce Lee, it was my you know,
Speaker 1: he was my guy. Yeah, you know, But and I
Speaker 1: was a martial artist. I was really into martial arts
Speaker 1: growing up. But I entered my career a knowing I
Speaker 1: didn't want to do martial arts, knowing I didn't want
Speaker 1: to just fall into that that you know, stereotypes. So
Speaker 1: I like actively kind of did not go in that direction.
Speaker 7: Well, I know, with all the talk we just had
Speaker 7: recently about the ego and all that, this may not
Speaker 7: you know land as well, but I do wonder. You know,
Speaker 7: you've worked with Stephen youun an incredible young actor who
Speaker 7: is getting opportunities that probably didn't even exist ten years ago, Right,
Speaker 7: So what does it feel like for you to see
Speaker 7: some of these changes having been a whistleblower well ahead
Speaker 7: of your time a long time ago, Like how does
Speaker 7: it feel now?
Speaker 1: Well, it's amazing, but I still feel like I'm still
Speaker 1: in it. I'm still pursuing jobs, I'm still wanting to
Speaker 1: get work. So it's great to see, like it kind
Speaker 1: of blows my mind. Like Stephen Ewen's success is so
Speaker 1: and he, you know, by his own admission, like he's
Speaker 1: one of these people who just is incredibly lucky, like
Speaker 1: just amazing luck that that has happened with him, And
Speaker 1: and I think, I think it's really really great. I
Speaker 1: do sometimes feel like, Wow, what's what's next for me?
Speaker 1: What's going to have to be? And I have no idea,
Speaker 1: I have no sense because I don't know what I
Speaker 1: don't know how to be this age because I'm just
Speaker 1: doing it for the first time. And and then it
Speaker 1: always goes back to all of the stuff I learned
Speaker 1: in my spiritual journey, you know, which it all points to. Well,
Speaker 1: everything is here right, nothing's missing. What's here, there's something
Speaker 1: from the bagaba gito. What's here now is everywhere. It's
Speaker 1: not here now is nowhere to be found. So the
Speaker 1: moment I feel like something's missing or I'm not getting
Speaker 1: what I want, it's my ego. My ego somehow has
Speaker 1: been hooked and I feel like something is unfair or
Speaker 1: I don't I'm not getting what I want. It's some
Speaker 1: narrative that that has taken hold in my mind. And
Speaker 1: and so I now have the tools to recognize, oh my, my,
Speaker 1: my egos hooked, and and then just to come back
Speaker 1: to the present moment. So that's kind of what I do.
Speaker 7: Steven, thank you so much for joining us today and
Speaker 7: spending your valuable time with us.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 7: Like we said when you joined we we could not
Speaker 7: stop breaving about you when your episode came up.
Speaker 8: And I just have another seventy fargo questions is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm just gonna poke you on the shoulder and
Speaker 4: keep asking you, well you know.
Speaker 1: By now, dude, this book. There's a book that was written.
Speaker 5: Yeah, send me somewhere else, please send us.
Speaker 2: Just go on the internet.
Speaker 4: Will get your answers.
Speaker 2: You don't have to Steve.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, I want.
Speaker 1: To like Little White Lives on YouTube. Look it up.
Speaker 1: There's a whole interview just about Cargo.
Speaker 5: Okay, cool, Okay, you've sent Will on a mission. He
Speaker 5: will definitely do that.
Speaker 4: Thank your house later today with seven questions.
Speaker 7: Now, we won't give him your information, I promise. Thank
Speaker 7: you so much for joining us. It's really been a
Speaker 7: pleasure to talk to you.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it's been great. I really was so scared.
Speaker 1: I was telling Kelly how that was. I didn't know
Speaker 1: what we were going to talk about.
Speaker 5: I don't I hope it did. Was it was it scary?
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, no, it was.
Speaker 1: It was a joy.
Speaker 5: Okay, thank you, great, Thank you so much. Great to
Speaker 5: see you.
Speaker 1: Then, bye bye bye.
Speaker 7: Oh man, I'm so excited to see Mickey seventeen. By
Speaker 7: the way, for our dear listeners who may not know,
Speaker 7: it is the follow up to Parasite.
Speaker 8: I just can't I can't get over the scope of
Speaker 8: the directors that he's worked with now, the experiences that
Speaker 8: he's had, good and bad in this industry just incredible. Again,
Speaker 8: one of those people I could sit and just listen
Speaker 8: to talk all day. Just please keep telling me stories.
Speaker 8: I mean, I mean, yeah, I feel exactly the same way.
Speaker 8: But I also love that move.
Speaker 2: The interview moved from you know, Hollywood stories, which I
Speaker 2: obviously love, and I just want to sit and have
Speaker 2: dinner conversation about that too, like really intense, spiritual, interesting
Speaker 2: philosophical stuff that I'm like, I also want to hear.
Speaker 8: So I just I'm still the whole James Hong thing
Speaker 8: because I got so. I grew up a huge James
Speaker 8: Hong fan and I've gotten to work with him three
Speaker 8: times and he's the nicest human being you will ever
Speaker 8: meet in your life. So hearing anybody say anything about
Speaker 8: him made me viscerally angry. It was weird to hear
Speaker 8: that he had a bad experience on the set, because
Speaker 8: you could not meet a nicer human being than James
Speaker 8: Hong and as hell, So like.
Speaker 4: Hearing that was just I didn't.
Speaker 1: Like that at all.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I know, it's pretty it's a it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's got he's got quite a story.
Speaker 7: And I love how there's nothing about the way he
Speaker 7: talks that give He's just everything he says is just like, well, yeah,
Speaker 7: but this is what happened. It's just this is and
Speaker 7: there's no like shame in sharing it. This is, this
Speaker 7: is who said this and then this happened and then
Speaker 7: got the call like I don't know, it's just he
Speaker 7: seems like such a.
Speaker 5: Just straightforward, honest but thoughtful.
Speaker 2: Also he's so even keeled and yeah, and what's interesting
Speaker 2: about that is that, you know, actors, comedic actors especially
Speaker 2: are usually not right. You know, it's like it's hard.
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of the reason that people become
Speaker 2: actors often is because they're very expressive, and they're very emotional,
Speaker 2: and they're up and down, and so the result is
Speaker 2: that often actors are kind of, you know erradical and hard.
Speaker 4: You know, the harder it feels like a relaxed round.
Speaker 2: And he is clearly a great actor. Listening to him
Speaker 2: talk about how he thinks as an act like when
Speaker 2: he was talking about his Fargo experience, and he so
Speaker 2: invested in the emotion he made it personal for himself
Speaker 2: like this, I mean, he's just a genius actor. But
Speaker 2: then he can also be very even. Keel talk very
Speaker 2: intelligently and sort of like, you know, basically about his
Speaker 2: life and his experience and his thoughts.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 8: Well again, he talked about the internal struggle he put
Speaker 8: himself into shoot one day, one scene, and he probably
Speaker 8: beat himself up and got himself to such a state
Speaker 8: for weeks, if not months beforehand to go in there,
Speaker 8: to the point where he's sitting across from this one
Speaker 8: of the most probably one of the most gifted actresses
Speaker 8: in the history of Hollywood who says you've got to
Speaker 8: turn the camera, turn around or he's so in it.
Speaker 2: And I love It's creditative to that because that's totally
Speaker 2: her styles to be like, oh well, let's be and
Speaker 2: and of course she's like married to the director so
Speaker 2: she can tell him. I mean apparently she's that way,
Speaker 2: like she's just so you got to.
Speaker 4: Be looking that way right now because look at what.
Speaker 2: Just love it like every other story is like. And
Speaker 2: then I was doing a play. I'm like, I am
Speaker 2: still doing plays because you just are an accident at
Speaker 2: like you said, Except for that one year when he
Speaker 2: which also was super interesting, like that he reached this
Speaker 2: point where he was like, I need to take a
Speaker 2: step back because I'm getting too caught up in something
Speaker 2: that is is hurting me. Oh, he's so fascinating an
Speaker 2: interesting guy.
Speaker 7: Thank you all for joining us for this episode of
Speaker 7: Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on
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Speaker 7: emails at Pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com.
Speaker 7: And we've got merch.
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Speaker 8: Fobbs and skin Flakes.
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Speaker 2: We love you all, pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is
Speaker 2: an iHeart podcast producer hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfridell and
Speaker 2: Ryder Strong Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman, Executive
Speaker 2: in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara
Speaker 2: sugbachsch producer, Maddi Moore, engineer and boy mets World Superman
Speaker 2: Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon.
Speaker 2: Follow us on Instagram at Podmets World Show, or email
Speaker 2: us at Podmeats World Show at gmail dot com.