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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bridget and you're listening to stuff mom

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Speaker 1: never told you. Now, if you've ever listened to an

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Speaker 1: episode of Siminty, you probably already know that representation is

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Speaker 1: kind of our thing, and our episodes on Lisa Simpson

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Speaker 1: we've already talked about the ways that representation is super,

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Speaker 1: super important. It's not just about what TV shows you

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Speaker 1: like or what movies you like. If you can't see it,

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Speaker 1: you can't be it. And so if a generation of

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Speaker 1: women and girls aren't seeing themselves reflected on screen, it's

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Speaker 1: a problem. Now. I talk a ton about inclusion and media,

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Speaker 1: but oftentimes those conversations can fall along the spectrum of

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Speaker 1: black and white, and I'm definitely guilty of that. But

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Speaker 1: when you look at Asian representation, they're often looked out

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Speaker 1: of the conversation altogether. That's why I'm so excited to

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Speaker 1: be joined by today's guest, Funny Lady Jenny Yang. Jenny

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Speaker 1: the former labor organizer turn stand up comedian, writer and actor.

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Speaker 1: She produces the Disoriented Comedy Tour and the Comedy Comedy Festival.

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Speaker 1: In President Obama honored her as a White House Champion

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Speaker 1: of Change for her leadership in Asian American and Pacific

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Speaker 1: Islander art and storytelling. Jenny, thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: being here today. Oh my gosh, thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for having me. This is amazing. You're amazing. Oh my gosh,

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Speaker 1: you're all amazing. I know. Then let's just start with

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Speaker 1: a big affirmation circle. I know. I feel like, you know,

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Speaker 1: stuff Mom never told you is that we can actually

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Speaker 1: just like compliment ourselves. Okay, totally, that's very real, Jenny.

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Speaker 1: We already know that TV is pretty much hella white

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Speaker 1: and hella male, but when it comes to Asians on screen,

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Speaker 1: it feels like things are pretty dismal. I was just

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Speaker 1: reading the study from seventeen out of Biola University called

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Speaker 1: Tokens on the Small Screen, and you guessed it. Why.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty much dominate the television landscape. They make up

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Speaker 1: nearly seventy of TV series regular When can here to

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Speaker 1: moder Racio Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who only compromise

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Speaker 1: about four percent. Yeah, I mean it doesn't surprise me

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Speaker 1: at all. You know, I think growing up as as

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Speaker 1: a non white person in America, you just get used

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Speaker 1: to not seeing yourself um portrayed in a way that

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Speaker 1: you can honestly relate to We've been forced to relate

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Speaker 1: to white heroes and white characters. Um. But you know

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Speaker 1: it's so for me to hear the hard facts. Not

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Speaker 1: at all surprised, not at all. Yeah, what was even

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Speaker 1: sort of surprising to me is shows that take place

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Speaker 1: in cities where you would fully expect to find, you know,

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Speaker 1: a diverse community of Asians. They even then they are

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Speaker 1: very diverse. And so shows that are set in places

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Speaker 1: like l A, New York even they don't have series

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Speaker 1: regulars who are Asian. And it's like, if you're trying

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Speaker 1: to depict l A without Asians, like, what are you doing?

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Speaker 1: I know, it's you know, that's the thing. I grew

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Speaker 1: up in southern California. I grew up in the Los

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Speaker 1: Angeles area, and you know, to me, the race landscape

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Speaker 1: was immigrant, it was Asian American, it was Latin Latin

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Speaker 1: X it was black, brown, Pacific Islander even, um, it

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Speaker 1: was everything. And and you know, I think it was

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Speaker 1: a real culture shock for me when I went to

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Speaker 1: the East Coast for college and I you know, which

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Speaker 1: was a school altelled Philadelphia, Um, and I was like, wow, Philadelphia,

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Speaker 1: East Coast, Why is the sort of racial dynamics so

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Speaker 1: black and white, and it was really strange to me.

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Speaker 1: You know, I get it, you know, I I understand

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Speaker 1: you know, black blackness and whiteness. You know, is uh

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Speaker 1: sort of the folk rum I think upon which are

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Speaker 1: race issues balance and and and and teeter. But you know,

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Speaker 1: uh that just as a as a kid just trying

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Speaker 1: to come up, it just really was. It was a

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Speaker 1: culture shock. So when you during your upbringing, when you

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Speaker 1: didn't really see a lot of other Asians and comedy,

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Speaker 1: did you feel like, you know, was it was it

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Speaker 1: almost like, oh, our Asians not funny? Is it not

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Speaker 1: supposed to be what I'm supposed to be doing with it?

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Speaker 1: Kind of give you the message that Asian and in

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Speaker 1: did not have a place in a comedy landscape. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I feel like I feel like, you know,

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Speaker 1: if you're a woman period, it's it's it starts so

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Speaker 1: early in terms of how we're socialized and rewarded, right,

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Speaker 1: Like you know, ever since I was little, and I

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Speaker 1: think most people would agree, if you're a girl, you

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Speaker 1: were taught to laugh along rather than make the joke,

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Speaker 1: you know, you were taught to uh support someone else

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Speaker 1: and being the being funny, but not necessarily be the

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Speaker 1: center of attention making the smartass remark, you know. And

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Speaker 1: I know that that's changing, but you know, for me,

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Speaker 1: that's that's just on our lived experience much less you know,

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Speaker 1: what we saw. Like, you know, I grew up in

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Speaker 1: a in an environment where it was like I had

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Speaker 1: too much older brothers, so I was really taking their lead. Um,

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Speaker 1: I wanted to be a boy, you know. I was like,

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Speaker 1: you know, not in like a deep way, but like

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Speaker 1: in the like socialized way right where I was just like, dude,

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Speaker 1: boys get to like play sports and like be chill

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Speaker 1: at it and sweaty, and they get to you know,

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Speaker 1: like they get to control the remote control, they get

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Speaker 1: to speak with authority because they have lower voices. Like

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Speaker 1: that was the those are the messages I got, you know.

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Speaker 1: And and when I watched comedy, it was, oh, gosh,

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Speaker 1: all men except for I have to say, you know,

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Speaker 1: if we think back, what's really influential is you know,

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Speaker 1: I saw female comics or comedic personalities in sitcoms, and

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Speaker 1: that was amazing. You know. I loved being able to

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Speaker 1: see right, uh, girls star sitcoms star and sitcoms or

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Speaker 1: like even like Lucille Ball like they would play I

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Speaker 1: Love Lucy NonStop. I'm sure they still play I Love

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Speaker 1: Lucy NonStop. And I was mesmerized by her. So who

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Speaker 1: were some of the other early role models for you

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Speaker 1: with a woman in comedy? Oh gosh, I think definitely

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Speaker 1: Margaret Show. Like I remember people telling me I was

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Speaker 1: like Margaret Show even before I knew who she was.

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Speaker 1: When I was a kid, you know, because I honestly

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Speaker 1: was exposed to more like Eddie Murphy, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: as a stand up comedian, because my brothers were into them.

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Speaker 1: They were like ten years older. And I was like,

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Speaker 1: inappropriately watching raw or something like as a as I know,

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Speaker 1: not what not kids watch. I'm like, why are they

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Speaker 1: throwing their shoe at the kid? You know, like whatever

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Speaker 1: the bits were, you know, And I was like thinking,

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Speaker 1: I was like just a tiny kid. I literally like,

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Speaker 1: I also, you know, got exposed to like music and

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Speaker 1: albums before a lot of kids, you know, when I

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Speaker 1: was like in the second grade or the third grade,

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Speaker 1: you know. So I just had a really strange American upbringing, honestly,

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Speaker 1: Like I don't think I really learned about American pop

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Speaker 1: culture as like mainstream folks know about it until like

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Speaker 1: v H one. I don't even remember v H one.

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Speaker 1: Back in the day, they used to have these like

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Speaker 1: I love eighties or I love the nineties, right, And

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Speaker 1: I remember watching that just and just like just drinking

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Speaker 1: it in because I was like, wow, I don't have

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Speaker 1: parents who listened to the Rolling Stones. I don't know

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Speaker 1: who they are, you know, so I just feel like that. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I am definitely raised by pop culture.

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Speaker 1: I'm raised by television. You know. Um, when when I

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Speaker 1: was a kid, my my family barely before I could

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Speaker 1: even understand, I remember watching Three's Company. Do you remember

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Speaker 1: Three's Company? That is all? Yeah, they were always getting

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Speaker 1: into like sexy jam exactly, little little you know, innuendo, misunderstandings, right,

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Speaker 1: it was so good. Yeah. And you know, my I

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Speaker 1: barely I barely understood as a little kid. Um, and

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Speaker 1: my parents their English wasn't that great. But as a

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Speaker 1: whole family, we watched Threees Company Fresh Fresh into America,

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Speaker 1: you know. And you know, I like the Pratt Falls,

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Speaker 1: I like the physical comedy. Um, I didn't appreciate until

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Speaker 1: like maybe a few years ago, I like watched it

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Speaker 1: again on Netflix and I was like, wow, these two women,

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Speaker 1: they're kind of dizzy, but you know, it's so awesome

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Speaker 1: how as an ensemble, you know, they get to be

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Speaker 1: funny together, you know. And I really I think if

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Speaker 1: I were to look back to think about, like what

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Speaker 1: kind of representation of women in comedy, um, it was

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Speaker 1: a lot of sitcoms. But yeah, Asian completely invisible. You

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Speaker 1: know you let's not even get started on you know,

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Speaker 1: folks who are indigenous or or otherwise you know, but

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Speaker 1: definitely you know, as an East Asian woman, UM, I

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Speaker 1: didn't see anything. Yeah, So how did you get involved

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Speaker 1: in comedy professionally? Take me through your journey because a

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Speaker 1: lot of comedians, you got your start as this badass,

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Speaker 1: lefty organizer and now you're a state up comic. Kick

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Speaker 1: me through this, you know. Um, I don't know about you,

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Speaker 1: but I I definitely I call myself a recovering overachiever.

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Speaker 1: You know. Uh when when when I arrived in America

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Speaker 1: at five years old, my parents, my mom was a

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Speaker 1: garment worker, and I saw how hard she worked blowing

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Speaker 1: her nose out, you know, onto onto Kleenex and having

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Speaker 1: like fibers from the bad ventilation at the garment factory

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Speaker 1: and being like, why do you work so hard? This

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Speaker 1: seems so hard. And she said to me, Jenny, your

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Speaker 1: job in America is to listen to your parents, Uh,

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Speaker 1: listen to your teachers, and get straight a's. That's all

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Speaker 1: I ask of you. Said, you don't have to like

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Speaker 1: do what I'm doing, because this is really hard work.

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Speaker 1: And I really took that to heart, honestly, you know.

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Speaker 1: And so I got straight a's. I got into good schools,

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Speaker 1: and and the thing that I really took to besides

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Speaker 1: being a good student was you know, naturally being extroverted

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Speaker 1: and having extra energy. And um, I was a student

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Speaker 1: government nerd. You know, I really took on this idea that, like,

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Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a leader and leadership is important. But

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Speaker 1: what I didn't know is that in high school, leadership

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Speaker 1: didn't mean much because the stakes were so much lower.

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Speaker 1: And it wasn't until college that I realized a leadership

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Speaker 1: is not at end and of itself. You know, It's

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Speaker 1: not just for your self aggrandizement, right, It's like not

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Speaker 1: just about you being the boss. It's a it's leadership

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Speaker 1: is a set of tools. It's a set of skills

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Speaker 1: for something bigger than you. And that's when I got

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Speaker 1: activated on campus, you know, through through the books, through uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, honestly learning through a lot of black female activists,

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Speaker 1: fellow college students who taught me about, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: social justice issues and feminism and what it means to

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Speaker 1: be a woman of color and care about issues of race, gender, class, sexuality,

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Speaker 1: you know. Um. And so I think I knew it

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Speaker 1: was a foregone conclusion that I would work in politics,

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Speaker 1: but it wasn't until I would say, most of my twenties,

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Speaker 1: like trying to figure out, like, wow, I'm like moving

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Speaker 1: up very quickly. Like I was like literally so young,

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Speaker 1: be a director at a huge labor union that represented

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Speaker 1: eighty five thousand public employees, like supervising people over twice

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Speaker 1: my age, you know. And and I burnt out frankly.

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Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, you know, it's nice that I

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Speaker 1: could shop, you know, a full price of anthropology at all,

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Speaker 1: and you know, yelped my xx, yelped my excess spending

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Speaker 1: on the weekends. But like, you know, I'm not happy.

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Speaker 1: And I think during this whole time that I was

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Speaker 1: working in politics in the labor movement, I was I

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Speaker 1: kept writing. I've been a writer all my life, I

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Speaker 1: wrote a tree a lot, I performed it. It was

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Speaker 1: in college that I realized, you know, through the Neureecan

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Speaker 1: kind of poetry movement on the East Coast, that like,

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Speaker 1: you can actually you know, perform your poetic words to

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Speaker 1: build community. And and I really, you know, took to that,

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Speaker 1: and so I continue doing that back in Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: when I was working here UM as a young book

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I just decided I had gotten

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Speaker 1: all this feedback, Hey Jenny, you're funny, and I would

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Speaker 1: just ignore it because I would never claim the label

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Speaker 1: of artists, you know, like sometimes we just you know,

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Speaker 1: we check ourselves out of the game even before we

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Speaker 1: start by just not even claiming the a label, you know.

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Speaker 1: And so it wasn't until like I was like, I'm

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Speaker 1: not happy being burnt out, not looking up to the

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Speaker 1: people I'm working for. UM, life is too short, Yellow,

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Speaker 1: I need a I need to just like answer my

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Speaker 1: creative calling and call myself an artist, called myself a writer.

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Speaker 1: And by the way, there's so many times that people

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Speaker 1: have called me Margaret cho or thought I was really funny,

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Speaker 1: get I'm just gonna try stated up comedy. And it

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Speaker 1: was like no looking back after that, I love it.

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Speaker 1: Was there a moment for you that crystallized, Hey, I'm

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Speaker 1: not happy in this political organizer labor field. Was there

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Speaker 1: a moment or a feeling that you remember thinking, God,

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Speaker 1: this is just not for me. You know. It was

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Speaker 1: really a series of moments that built up into my

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Speaker 1: own little mini artistic come to Jesus moment. I think

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Speaker 1: so much. And I get a lot of people asking

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Speaker 1: me about this because becoming a stand of comedian is

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Speaker 1: not normal to most people, so it's a risk and

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Speaker 1: and uh They're always like, yeah, what what made you

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Speaker 1: feel like you could take that risk? And I just

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Speaker 1: felt like for me, the gap between how I wanted

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Speaker 1: to live in the happiness and joy I wanted to

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Speaker 1: feel became too great compared to my reality. You know

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Speaker 1: that there was just such a huge gap between between

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Speaker 1: what I was living and what I wanted, you know,

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Speaker 1: to how I wanted to live. And I think risk

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Speaker 1: and fear is there. But like when I finally felt

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Speaker 1: that that gap was big enough for me to like

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Speaker 1: and worth it enough for me to fight that fear,

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Speaker 1: I just had to do. And so I actually, you know,

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Speaker 1: it was like in this fit of fury and and

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Speaker 1: anxiety and like, oh, I just have to accept it.

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Speaker 1: I need to like pursue my creative you know, desires

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Speaker 1: and and and try things be out of my comfort zone. Um.

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Speaker 1: I called my friend who like runs this amazing multidisciplinary

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Speaker 1: arts space that's like twenty years running in Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: called Tuesday Night Project, where I it was like a

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Speaker 1: sort of a home space for me to perform poetry.

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Speaker 1: Her name is Tracy Kato kai Yama, amazing mentor and

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Speaker 1: friend of mine. I called her up at like eleven

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Speaker 1: thirty at night on a weeknight, and I just said, Tracy,

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Speaker 1: what do you do? She's like, I'm getting boba, And

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Speaker 1: I said Tracy. I was like Tracy, and I knew

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Speaker 1: Tracy as a poet and she's rights and she like

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Speaker 1: kept like long late night hours, like she'll just slam

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Speaker 1: double double espressos at like midnight, you know. And right,

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Speaker 1: so I said, Tracy, can I just can I be

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Speaker 1: there in twenty five minutes? And I need to talk

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Speaker 1: to you. I can't explain, but I'm just I'm having

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Speaker 1: a hard time, you know. So I'm tearful driving down

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Speaker 1: the one Tin Freeway down through downtown to Guardina, where

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Speaker 1: she lives. Can I just pause? This is such an

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Speaker 1: l a story, I know, right, I'm sorry, and if

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Speaker 1: I'm going along, feel free to edit this out. But no, no,

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Speaker 1: I love it. I love it so much. But it's

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Speaker 1: like the Boba the one head. Yeah, so I'm a

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Speaker 1: good way in a very good way, in a very

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Speaker 1: good way. So I go down there and I opened

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Speaker 1: the door, and without saying a word, I just cry.

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Speaker 1: I just start crying. I'm just weeping. And she just

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Speaker 1: gives me a hug. She doesn't even ask me what's wrong.

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Speaker 1: She just gives me a hug and she just holds

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Speaker 1: me like the fairy god sister of art, artistry and

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Speaker 1: creativity that she is. And I just said, Tracy, I

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Speaker 1: can't deny that I have to live differently. I have

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Speaker 1: to accept that, like I have to answer some creative

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Speaker 1: calling or at least take my creativity seriously. And it

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Speaker 1: sounds for me to say this, even hearing back me

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Speaker 1: saying this, and it makes it sound like unlike full

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Speaker 1: of it in a way, but it's not because I

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Speaker 1: think so many times like there's like all these feelings

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Speaker 1: that we have inside us of like, oh, I know,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to do that but we just don't take

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Speaker 1: it seriously, you know what I mean, Like we just

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Speaker 1: dismiss it out right, and I just I hate that.

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Speaker 1: I hated that, and and it got to the point

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Speaker 1: where I just couldn't deny that anymore and I just

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Speaker 1: didn't want to live like that. That's so real, And

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Speaker 1: I think it connects back to what you were just

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Speaker 1: saying about how you know, who gets to call themselves

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Speaker 1: a comedian or a creative right, and that that struggle

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Speaker 1: where you I think we train ourselves that any kind

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Speaker 1: of internal inclination that we have towards being a creative

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Speaker 1: or someone who's an artist, we have to suppress that

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Speaker 1: because you need to get a good job and blah

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Speaker 1: blah blah, and that when you just let yourself accept that,

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Speaker 1: it's kind of it sounds so hokey, but there's a

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Speaker 1: there's a scary power in that of I am going

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Speaker 1: to say it. People tell me that I'm funny like

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Speaker 1: Margaret Trow and I'm a comedian. Yeah, totally. It's almost

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Speaker 1: like this like this high you get where you're like,

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Speaker 1: you know, you were pushing against all this resistance and finally,

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Speaker 1: right that boulder just tips over and you're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: the path is clear, but you're not. It's not you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean. It's it's almost like I can't

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Speaker 1: believe it. I've been pushing against this and resisting so long,

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Speaker 1: and now I'm letting myself have this path open to me.

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Speaker 1: And I guess once, you know, one step at a time,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to do an open mic, you know. And

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Speaker 1: that's what it turned into for me. Um And it

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Speaker 1: was not like I was hilarious off the bat, you know,

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Speaker 1: but you know, because being on you know, funny on

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Speaker 1: command in the sort of context of a stage and

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Speaker 1: the lights and the microphone is very different. But you know,

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Speaker 1: and I'm not saving the world here, but man for me,

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Speaker 1: for my personal journey, it's I cannot imagine my life

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Speaker 1: being any different, and yet none of what I'm living

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Speaker 1: right now is what I imagine. Well, you say you're

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Speaker 1: not saving the world, but I happen to know that,

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Speaker 1: Like I almost wonder if your background as an organizer

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Speaker 1: and a lefty because your comedy, your comedy is very political.

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Speaker 1: It's about race, about gender, it's about culture, it's about politics,

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Speaker 1: and I almost wonder if you've taken that background with

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Speaker 1: you it's just a different platform. Yeah, I mean, I

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Speaker 1: I definitely you know. That's why when people like to

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Speaker 1: label me as activist, I actually don't like to use

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Speaker 1: the word activists, sort of speaking of owning labels if

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Speaker 1: you give it to me, sure, But I don't call

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Speaker 1: myself an activist because I believe we all can be activists,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes we have these labels and it makes us

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Speaker 1: feel like, oh, Jenny's this type of person. She calls

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Speaker 1: herself an activist, and I'm not exactly like her. So

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Speaker 1: I can't call myself an activist too, you know. Um.

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Speaker 1: And so that's why I tend to sort of not

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Speaker 1: claim that label myself. But um, in terms of like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: like I bring my whole self to my voice, you know.

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Speaker 1: And that's really the reason why I'm in this game.

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Speaker 1: You know what. I When I worked in politics, I

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Speaker 1: was representing eighty five members. Everything I said in my

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Speaker 1: you know, shoulder padded suits, slightly shoulder padded suit. Back

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Speaker 1: in the day. Um, I was accountable for you know,

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Speaker 1: I had to represent them. And now, UM, I am

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Speaker 1: so blessed that I can just represent myself. And my

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Speaker 1: job is to engage in introspection, is to take in

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Speaker 1: the world and process it through my filter and try

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Speaker 1: to regurgitate it back in a funny way or in

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Speaker 1: a way that you know communicates, And um, I love

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Speaker 1: doing that, and and and so yeah and so yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 1: The person I've been, every everything I've done up to

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Speaker 1: this point is a part of who I am when

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Speaker 1: I step on stage. I love that. That's so real

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Speaker 1: because you you don't compartmentalize who you are. You can't

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Speaker 1: write like you're all these different things. You're the labor person,

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Speaker 1: you're the funny lady, you're the you know, children of

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Speaker 1: your parents, like, you're all these things may all sort

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Speaker 1: of it's like that the taps that makes you you,

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Speaker 1: that just comes to life on stage. Yeah, I like

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Speaker 1: to think I'm a tapestry. Oh I like that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you can use that. But you know, I'll be honest though.

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Speaker 1: You know, people have asked me, have you talked about

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Speaker 1: the labor movement and you're on stage? And I say

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Speaker 1: yes sometimes, But honestly, I have not gotten deep into

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Speaker 1: it because you know, even though I don't work in

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Speaker 1: that movement directly anymore, I'm that employed by them, you know,

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Speaker 1: I still believe in the principles, and as much as

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Speaker 1: there are problems in the labor movement, sometimes I don't

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Speaker 1: feel like, um, I want to use my platform to

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Speaker 1: put them on blast, you know what I mean? UM

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Speaker 1: in a public way. I think there's a time in

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Speaker 1: place sometimes for for that UM. And so we'll see,

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Speaker 1: you know. But but that's that's also another aspect of

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Speaker 1: like what it means to bring your whole self, you know.

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Speaker 1: I do consider like we wear these multiple identities and

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Speaker 1: sometimes there's you know, a public conversation and there's private conversations,

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Speaker 1: there's mixed company, and there's not. And for me, I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, talking about the labor movement and I haven't

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Speaker 1: got gone to a place where I could kind of

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Speaker 1: talk about talk about that quite yet. Let's take a

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Speaker 1: quick break and we're back. So I want to switch

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Speaker 1: to gears quickly. So you wrote this amazing piece and

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Speaker 1: l if folks haven't read it, definitely check it out.

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Speaker 1: We'll linked to it in the show notes. It's called

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Speaker 1: I'm an Asian American stand up comedian? What if I

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Speaker 1: could just be a stand up comedian? And the piece

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Speaker 1: is amazing. Basically it's for this series that l is

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Speaker 1: doing on female anger and the different ways that it

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Speaker 1: comes out. And so you start your piece with this

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Speaker 1: very very powerful memory where you're talking about being an

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Speaker 1: open mic with fellow comics who are just starting out,

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Speaker 1: and this guy gets on stage and makes this really

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Speaker 1: gross racist joke. Is this a situation that you found

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Speaker 1: yourself in pretty often? Yeah? I mean this guy literally

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Speaker 1: looked into my eyes as the only woman in the

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Speaker 1: room of stand up comics at this open mic, the

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Speaker 1: only Asian in the room, and then while locking eyes

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Speaker 1: with me, said I dated an Asian girl once and

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Speaker 1: proceeded to tell a joke. That's probably the most direct

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Speaker 1: and confrontational type of example of of a comedy club

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Speaker 1: scenario that I've encountered. But everything else is sort of

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Speaker 1: a shade or a variation of that, you know what

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Speaker 1: I mean. So um, yeah, I mean, you know, I

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Speaker 1: think if I were to string together all of the

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Speaker 1: microaggressions and the little incidents and the and the sort

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Speaker 1: of more aggressive experiences I've had, um, it's not pleasant

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Speaker 1: at all. On you know, I'm still here and I'm

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Speaker 1: still standing and I'm still standing up, so that's good.

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Speaker 1: And it didn't sort of push me out right the

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Speaker 1: sort of accumulation. Accumulation of all of these experiences didn't

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Speaker 1: push me out, but yeah, definitely. You know, as I

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Speaker 1: said in the essay, a big part of when you

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Speaker 1: start out is you just feel more vulnerable and sometimes

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Speaker 1: if you don't have the right support, if you don't

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Speaker 1: have the right resources, you know, whether that's in people

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Speaker 1: or just making a living so that you have the

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Speaker 1: time time to go and work on your jokes and

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Speaker 1: go on stage, because that's where you learn. It's it

425
00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:10,360
Speaker 1: can feel overwhelming to have also these additional, right hostile

426
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,520
Speaker 1: pressures when you're just trying to be funny. You know,

427
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:15,520
Speaker 1: you're trying to make people laugh. It's supposed to be

428
00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:19,600
Speaker 1: something that's joyful. Um. But yeah, but sometimes when you're

429
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,000
Speaker 1: starting out, you feel more vulnerable, and so those types

430
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,440
Speaker 1: of incidents can actually cause, like cause folks to leave

431
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,760
Speaker 1: and not continue to pursue stand up comedy. That's so real,

432
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:32,520
Speaker 1: and I think that you highlight something that I often

433
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,240
Speaker 1: find myself frustrated with. You know, a lot of people

434
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 1: will say, like, oh, it's a meritocracy. Like a white

435
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,239
Speaker 1: guy and a woman of color, we're all starting at

436
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:42,680
Speaker 1: the same place. When you're someone in comedy doing stand

437
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,080
Speaker 1: up comedy is not easy for anybody. It's really scary

438
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,720
Speaker 1: and really challenging. But when you're a woman or a

439
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,760
Speaker 1: person of color or a woman of color, you have

440
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:54,240
Speaker 1: this added extra layer that white comics aren't dealing with. Yeah,

441
00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:57,560
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's it's an added extra layer of

442
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:01,159
Speaker 1: what happens to you, how you're perceived in room. And

443
00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,800
Speaker 1: that's one layer. But the other layer is also just

444
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,159
Speaker 1: the ground that we stand on. You know. Um, I

445
00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,560
Speaker 1: I've been able to move forward in my career because

446
00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:12,840
Speaker 1: I come from a middle class level of privilege in

447
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 1: my background. You know, I was able to have a

448
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:17,480
Speaker 1: full time job and have savings in order to like

449
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 1: set myself up so that I can weather any kind

450
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,359
Speaker 1: of like lack of income stream while I transition into

451
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:27,120
Speaker 1: pursuing entertainment and comedy, you know. And I think what's

452
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:29,560
Speaker 1: really hard is that sometimes for women, sometimes for women

453
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 1: of color, we don't have that same kind of systemic

454
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:37,639
Speaker 1: privilege or class background that allows us to you know,

455
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:42,360
Speaker 1: have the time and and resources to get good. And

456
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:44,960
Speaker 1: and that's what needs to happen to get good. You know,

457
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,960
Speaker 1: you gotta like have that time. And so, um, I

458
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,760
Speaker 1: think that's another kind of layer that that gets added

459
00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:54,960
Speaker 1: onto us. Absolutely absolutely, So back to this story that

460
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 1: you start your LPs with, so you are really faced

461
00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:00,840
Speaker 1: with whether or not you're going to call out this

462
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,280
Speaker 1: guy for his racist and frankly like not even funny joke,

463
00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:06,399
Speaker 1: or if you're just gonna, you know, deal with this.

464
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,040
Speaker 1: You right, I had to make a choice, did I, Heckle,

465
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:11,600
Speaker 1: a fellow comedian. Open Mic shows are supposed to be

466
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,840
Speaker 1: quote free speech zones and atmosphere where comics can test

467
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,639
Speaker 1: out raw ideas. If I got upset, I was showing

468
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,600
Speaker 1: that I didn't have thick enough skin to hang. But

469
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 1: I spent my first career as a political organizer standing

470
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 1: up for the underdog. A professional injustice confront her, was

471
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,959
Speaker 1: I going to stop now? And Jenny, what did you do?

472
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,480
Speaker 1: I split the difference. I uttered a very sort of

473
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:43,280
Speaker 1: defined and short boo like boo, and then like visibly

474
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,359
Speaker 1: shook my head. But no one really registered that in

475
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,320
Speaker 1: the room. You know, he just kept going because everyone

476
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:51,240
Speaker 1: was laughing at the joke. All the dudes were laughing

477
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,680
Speaker 1: at the joke. Yeah, And so I just can't imagine

478
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:55,800
Speaker 1: what it must feel like to find yourself in the

479
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,840
Speaker 1: situations all the time, and they often say that with microaggressions,

480
00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,200
Speaker 1: it's like, um, what's the expression. It's like a death

481
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,520
Speaker 1: by a thousand cuts, where it's not one thing, it's

482
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 1: just little things that all at where you deal with

483
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:09,639
Speaker 1: it day after day after day after day, when you

484
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,480
Speaker 1: wake up one day and realize, I don't even feel

485
00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:13,080
Speaker 1: like a person anymore. I don't even feel like I

486
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 1: can pursue this thing I love anymore because it's just

487
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 1: too much. I feel like I'm up against too much. Yeah. Yeah,

488
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,040
Speaker 1: I think it wears you down, you know. I think

489
00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:24,880
Speaker 1: in any situation where you feel like there's a mismatch

490
00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:26,840
Speaker 1: between who you are and who you want to be

491
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,119
Speaker 1: versus the culture that you live in, you know, I

492
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,480
Speaker 1: think that's that that will always wear you down, because

493
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 1: you know, the set of values that people are laughing

494
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,560
Speaker 1: at and that they're praising in the comedy club setting

495
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,200
Speaker 1: doesn't match with our value sometimes. And so that's why, honestly,

496
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:45,400
Speaker 1: the only way that I could have survived this long

497
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:47,680
Speaker 1: and to be able to eventually make a living doing

498
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,280
Speaker 1: what I do is I had to create my own space.

499
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:53,199
Speaker 1: I just had to. It was it was like, I

500
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: can't I can't live like this, um just ignoring UM.

501
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:00,520
Speaker 1: I have a fig skin, trust me, But I could

502
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 1: at the time definitely, I was like, I can't. This

503
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 1: will not be sustainable. I will need to create my

504
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 1: own spaces. Well, speaking of that, something that I really

505
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 1: loved about the story you told earlier about your friend

506
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:14,320
Speaker 1: Tracy was sort of one creator of color welcoming in

507
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,760
Speaker 1: another and sort of ushering them, showing them the way.

508
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 1: You know, and you've really spent a lot of your

509
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,600
Speaker 1: career building spaces where other women, folks of color can

510
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 1: have platforms. And that's something I really respect, and obviously

511
00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,359
Speaker 1: the White House also respects it because you're an Obama

512
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 1: administration champion of change for that very work. Why did

513
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 1: you take that on? Like why is it important for

514
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:36,840
Speaker 1: you to lift up others as you climb? You know,

515
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,560
Speaker 1: we talked about how I bring all of myself to

516
00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,080
Speaker 1: this work, and you know, being a stand up comedian

517
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,840
Speaker 1: can seem like a very solo effort. Honestly, you could

518
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:49,040
Speaker 1: just go to the show's work on your jokes and

519
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 1: you can be pretty solitary. And there's a lot of

520
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: stand up comics that really love stand up comedy because

521
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:56,600
Speaker 1: of that but you know, I spent most of my

522
00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:01,240
Speaker 1: life as an organizer, as someone who you know, learned

523
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 1: about building community and learned about how building community is

524
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,640
Speaker 1: essential to our survival, you know, and so I bring

525
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,960
Speaker 1: those skills in that mentality to what I'm doing now.

526
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: And so to me, it only made sense that if

527
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,760
Speaker 1: I were to create a space for myself, that it's

528
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,879
Speaker 1: not only for myself, but you know, those that I

529
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:21,959
Speaker 1: might represent were those that might relate to me. And

530
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,359
Speaker 1: so that's why when we created Disoriented Comedy, uh, we're like,

531
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,119
Speaker 1: let's make this the first ever mostly female Asian American

532
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:32,040
Speaker 1: stand up comedy tour, because most people never saw that,

533
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:34,440
Speaker 1: and in fact, I had never seen that. And I

534
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 1: remember the first time we put together a show. Uh,

535
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 1: it was so emotional for us because we're like, wow,

536
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:42,359
Speaker 1: look at these really funny uh, you know, folks who

537
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:46,720
Speaker 1: like identify as Asian American and women and who just

538
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:50,000
Speaker 1: like are able to share the like variety of their

539
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:55,600
Speaker 1: lived experience and be so hilarious. Like it was so magical,

540
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,879
Speaker 1: and and so you know, I don't know how to

541
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,960
Speaker 1: be other than that. And sometimes I do have to

542
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,160
Speaker 1: find a balance between you know, putting time into my

543
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:11,040
Speaker 1: own craft and my own work and writing versus the

544
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:15,159
Speaker 1: more external energy of producing right of producing platforms of

545
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,440
Speaker 1: producing shows. Um, but yeah, I don't think I could

546
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:22,120
Speaker 1: ever stop doing that because, um, that's how I get

547
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,520
Speaker 1: my strength to and motivation to go on. You know,

548
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 1: that's how I get inspired to keep going every day

549
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 1: when you're just like, dude, I mean, I trust me,

550
00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:32,560
Speaker 1: I'm super lucky. I get to have so much fun

551
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:34,520
Speaker 1: doing what I do. But there's a lot of work

552
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:36,440
Speaker 1: into it, you know, that goes into it, and so

553
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:40,760
Speaker 1: um in lots of rejection and so to whether that

554
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 1: it really is this community that we've really created a

555
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 1: network of hilarious up and coming as well as veteran

556
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,720
Speaker 1: Asian American comedic talent that like, I really feel like

557
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 1: I'm a part of something. And I don't know if

558
00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 1: you know, mainstream America or mainstream media has seen that

559
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,600
Speaker 1: quite yet, that we're a part of an Asian American

560
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 1: comedic movement that's beautiful. But like you write on your piece,

561
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:08,800
Speaker 1: that's as as powerful and beautiful as that is. And

562
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:10,760
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you're they're doing that work and

563
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:14,280
Speaker 1: building those spaces, because god, they are important. But also

564
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 1: just like what you were saying that I hadn't even

565
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,800
Speaker 1: considered what would it be like if you didn't have

566
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 1: to take this responsibility on, because honestly, you are fighting

567
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 1: back against a system that you didn't create, right, Like,

568
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 1: you didn't create white supremacies. You didn't create this system

569
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,040
Speaker 1: that says that people of color, you know, should should

570
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:32,200
Speaker 1: be like this, and that the people that we see

571
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:34,360
Speaker 1: being funny on TV are white and male. But here

572
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:38,400
Speaker 1: you are shouldering the responsibility to sort of really make

573
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 1: people rethink that, you know, when the world doesn't see

574
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:44,240
Speaker 1: you for who you know you are, we have to

575
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:49,360
Speaker 1: create our own institutions. Unfortunately, that in a way is

576
00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:53,160
Speaker 1: like an added diversity tax on us. You know, I

577
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:55,840
Speaker 1: actually don't really love the word diversity, but that's been

578
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:59,760
Speaker 1: the term that we've been using, um to to sort

579
00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 1: of talk about these ideas of representation. And yeah, in

580
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,520
Speaker 1: a way, you know, when when I have to it's

581
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 1: almost like they say, you know, um, there's this analogy

582
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,640
Speaker 1: people like to use about sometimes you have to build

583
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 1: the bicycle while you're writing it, right, And that's what

584
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,360
Speaker 1: that's a lot you have to do that when you're

585
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 1: not when you're someone that isn't a part of the

586
00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:25,320
Speaker 1: dominant ruling culture. You know, Like we have to build

587
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:27,920
Speaker 1: our own paths, we have to build our own vehicles

588
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:32,720
Speaker 1: while we're trying to do the dang thing, you know. So, um, yeah,

589
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 1: I mean I feel like I feel like I wish

590
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: I didn't have to produce. Honestly, I wish that they

591
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:42,040
Speaker 1: were like spaces that already recognize that, you know, I'm

592
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:45,600
Speaker 1: a normalized story that you know, I'm cool with it,

593
00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:48,640
Speaker 1: and and and and yeah, like I've definitely have access

594
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 1: to more sort of quote unquote mainstream spaces now that

595
00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,720
Speaker 1: I'm I'm deeper into my my stand up. But like

596
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 1: you know, that's it's just closes off so many other

597
00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:02,920
Speaker 1: people that that could be moving forward in developing as

598
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,600
Speaker 1: artists or creators or comedians. Let's take a quick break

599
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 1: and we're back. So what do you think needs to

600
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:18,960
Speaker 1: be done to make comedy more inclusive and less of

601
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 1: less of an industry where you just see one or

602
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,400
Speaker 1: two stories reflected. What can be done? Well, I think

603
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:27,520
Speaker 1: it's about um, every single one of you listening right

604
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 1: now who shares in these values, um showing up in

605
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:42,000
Speaker 1: person and with your pocketbooks. Two creators of color, female creators,

606
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 1: all those people that are typically represented on mainstream stages

607
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:49,560
Speaker 1: showing up to their shows, whether they're big time in

608
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:54,360
Speaker 1: indycaling or if they're just you know, developing and starting out.

609
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 1: We need people to support us as we develop throughout

610
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,080
Speaker 1: the pipeline, if that makes any sense. People don't just

611
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:04,440
Speaker 1: show up and turn into Lena Waife, you know what

612
00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:06,480
Speaker 1: I mean. People don't just show up and turn into

613
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 1: men decaling ready to like write their own sitcom. You know,

614
00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:13,920
Speaker 1: we need support and resources and audience to come along

615
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 1: with us, you know, and so the way people should

616
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:21,040
Speaker 1: have for Black Panther. Yeah, guess what, Let's make that

617
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 1: a thing even more so, not just for a huge

618
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,360
Speaker 1: Marvel Universe movie, you know, let's do it for the

619
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,400
Speaker 1: open mics. Let's do it for you know, the smaller

620
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,600
Speaker 1: shows that could be possibly just as great. You know,

621
00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:39,640
Speaker 1: absolutely what are some content creators or shows or projects,

622
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,920
Speaker 1: Are movies that you know about that folks would check out?

623
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:45,600
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I mean, I think I think supporting your

624
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 1: local comedy scene and seeking out the ones who specifically

625
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 1: like to make sure they book women, queer folks and

626
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:58,479
Speaker 1: diversity in other ways, right, make sure you show up

627
00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 1: and just like adopt those shows as like your show

628
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 1: to support I think, supporting local comedy scenes in the

629
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:07,760
Speaker 1: city that you're at. You can find it. Google is

630
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 1: your friend, so you know, and once you get in there,

631
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:12,520
Speaker 1: it's a small community and you'll you'll get to know

632
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,160
Speaker 1: everyone and it's like super fun. Um. I think in

633
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:19,320
Speaker 1: terms of bigger projects, I'm really excited about um, you know, honestly,

634
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,000
Speaker 1: stuff that y'all may not have heard about like I have.

635
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:25,360
Speaker 1: I'm because of the sort of comedy festival and tour

636
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 1: that I've been organizing since. Um, I'm connected to this

637
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:34,600
Speaker 1: amazing Asian American and people of color creative community and

638
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:39,000
Speaker 1: we are all independently producing our own shows, whether it's

639
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 1: a live show or if it's um, you know, uh,

640
00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:46,800
Speaker 1: television pilot or films and features. And I don't think

641
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 1: y'all are ready like we are making our own you know,

642
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,800
Speaker 1: a friend of mine, Naomi Co, she actually is. It

643
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 1: was just announced that she will be premiering her self

644
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,920
Speaker 1: independently produced television pie litt Um at the Tribeca Film

645
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:06,480
Speaker 1: Festival in their pilot episodic category. You know, like we're

646
00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:10,040
Speaker 1: like literally if the systems and in the industry are

647
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 1: not ready for us. We're gonna make them ready. We're

648
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,439
Speaker 1: gonna you know, we're not waiting for them. We're doing

649
00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,359
Speaker 1: things on our own. And honestly, nowadays there is no

650
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,920
Speaker 1: excuse for us not to because of technology. Um, and

651
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:23,759
Speaker 1: so you know, that's what I'm excited about, is like,

652
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,000
Speaker 1: you know, if you want to scope out asco film

653
00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,800
Speaker 1: festivals or other types of like festivals, that's where independent creators,

654
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:32,200
Speaker 1: your next Leno wases are going to be there. You know,

655
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,799
Speaker 1: there's so many digital platforms. I love, I love you know,

656
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,719
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on what Heyn Park is doing. She's

657
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:43,280
Speaker 1: out of New York. She's been directing a different series

658
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:47,200
Speaker 1: and has been hired to be directors for Refinery twenty

659
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:51,320
Speaker 1: nine production that's coming on, you know, Andrew On he's amazing.

660
00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:54,759
Speaker 1: He won the John Cassavetti's Director Award last year at

661
00:34:54,760 --> 00:35:01,840
Speaker 1: the Independent Spirit Awards, and um, he's directing Naomi's pilot. Yeah,

662
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,440
Speaker 1: it's hard whenever people ask me for examples, I mean,

663
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,160
Speaker 1: there's so many, That's the thing. It's like, for so long,

664
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:12,400
Speaker 1: I've heard that same old tired pipeline line of oh, um,

665
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,200
Speaker 1: there's just not enough you know, funny Asian women are

666
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,319
Speaker 1: funny Black women, and it's like both people are out there.

667
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:21,520
Speaker 1: You're not looking. Yeah, you're not looking. And now you

668
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,360
Speaker 1: have no excuse because we have way more platforms and

669
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:26,879
Speaker 1: way more ways to get the word out. And so

670
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:29,839
Speaker 1: if you're not looking, then you're not hearing us. You know,

671
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:32,719
Speaker 1: you're not. We're because we're talking, We're we're putting our

672
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,839
Speaker 1: stuff out there. Absolutely. So let's say that someone out

673
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,160
Speaker 1: there is listening and they're thinking, Gee, I hate my

674
00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 1: day job. I've always felt called to be a creative.

675
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 1: What is your advice for that person? Oh my gosh. Um,

676
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:48,359
Speaker 1: if someone's like, gee, I hate my day job, I mean,

677
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,759
Speaker 1: here's the thing, Um, I want a world where you know,

678
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:56,040
Speaker 1: we could all live up to our highest potential, you know.

679
00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:59,879
Speaker 1: And I think it's such a personal process for us

680
00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:03,400
Speaker 1: to figure out what that is. Um, But I do

681
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 1: know for a fact that, Um, I'm just gonna speak

682
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:11,000
Speaker 1: on behalf of East Asians. I'm from Taiwan, you know Chinese,

683
00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:16,960
Speaker 1: that for too long we have not recognized that we

684
00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:21,439
Speaker 1: can sometimes veer away from the kind of expectations are

685
00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:24,279
Speaker 1: our parents have of us, you know, to sort of

686
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:29,239
Speaker 1: walk this very stable, predictable path. Um. If I had

687
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,759
Speaker 1: it my way, I would have a an American economy

688
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,160
Speaker 1: and a social support system where not all of us

689
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:38,920
Speaker 1: need to like be freelance and not have health insurance

690
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:41,239
Speaker 1: or struggle to kind of take care of ourselves in

691
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:45,440
Speaker 1: basic ways. I can talk all day, but I don't

692
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:49,000
Speaker 1: want to get fired. So let's just say I agree. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, totally.

693
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,880
Speaker 1: I think. I think that's what's challenging. It's like, you know,

694
00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:57,640
Speaker 1: sometimes we need more support for um folks who are writers, creators,

695
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:02,359
Speaker 1: um to really shift culture. And and you know, that's

696
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 1: so much of like when we complain about people not

697
00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:08,440
Speaker 1: understanding us having so much division in this country, I

698
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 1: have to say, the solution in the end is not logic.

699
00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:16,839
Speaker 1: A lot of times, it's storytelling. It's culture, you know. Um.

700
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:19,680
Speaker 1: And so I think we have a task to like

701
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,319
Speaker 1: step up. And if you're not happy, then you know,

702
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:27,319
Speaker 1: consider this your sort of like call to arms, Like

703
00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:30,040
Speaker 1: how do you how do you like look inside yourself?

704
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:31,839
Speaker 1: You know, like how do you get yourself right? How

705
00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:34,520
Speaker 1: do you make sure that like in the end you

706
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 1: can live with yourself? You know, that's so real, Jenny,

707
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:40,680
Speaker 1: You aren't such an inspiration. I'm so so glad you

708
00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:42,919
Speaker 1: were able to join us today. I think somebody out

709
00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:45,839
Speaker 1: there is going to be driving their car to work

710
00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,120
Speaker 1: right now and be like, Yo, today is the day

711
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:50,360
Speaker 1: I'm gonna quit. I'm moving to Hollywood and moving to

712
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 1: New York. I'm I'm gonna do my thing, and that's

713
00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 1: what we needed. Wait wait, let's back this up. Hold up,

714
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,160
Speaker 1: Hold up, I'm not telling everyone listening to gore their

715
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:05,720
Speaker 1: job right now. Any you need, you need to introspect

716
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,440
Speaker 1: and you need to get right with yourself about what

717
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,520
Speaker 1: that process is. Because it's not black or white. You know.

718
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 1: You know, you can be at your day job right

719
00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:16,680
Speaker 1: but still carve out ten to fifteen minutes every day

720
00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 1: to work on that novel. Like I'm That's what I'm saying, though,

721
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:21,840
Speaker 1: that's the same that's the same thing about when people

722
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:24,160
Speaker 1: like to throw labels about being an activist. It's not

723
00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:25,879
Speaker 1: all or nothing, you know what I mean. You don't

724
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,400
Speaker 1: have to be, you know, Dolora Suerta or Angela Davis

725
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:32,120
Speaker 1: in order to call yourself an activist. You know, you

726
00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 1: don't have to quit your day job and move to

727
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 1: Hollywood in order to call yourself a creative you know,

728
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:42,439
Speaker 1: there's so many different ways that we as fully fleshed out,

729
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:46,120
Speaker 1: blessed human beings can kind of live our lives, you know,

730
00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:48,680
Speaker 1: and take care of ourselves while nurturing that part of

731
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:50,680
Speaker 1: us that we know we need. We need to nurture

732
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:53,120
Speaker 1: so that, you know, our soul doesn't die a little

733
00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:55,920
Speaker 1: every day. So it's like, what is yeah, so what

734
00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:58,440
Speaker 1: does that look like for you? You You know? And by

735
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:01,600
Speaker 1: the way, this does not preclude me from who knows, tomorrow,

736
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:04,680
Speaker 1: I get myself a nine to five gibby job, okay

737
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,839
Speaker 1: because something happened and I just need it, So that

738
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,400
Speaker 1: doesn't preclude me from doing that. So don't let me

739
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:14,080
Speaker 1: be your inspiration, you know what I mean? Honestly, that's

740
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 1: why I do the work that I do and like

741
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 1: connect with others because they they're the ones that inspire me.

742
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:19,960
Speaker 1: You'll be surprised how many people in your life can

743
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:24,120
Speaker 1: inspire you to move forward. M hm. That is so real. Jenny,

744
00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:27,839
Speaker 1: Where can folks find out more about what you're up to? Yes? Um,

745
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,799
Speaker 1: all the time I'm online, Come talk with me, play

746
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:35,000
Speaker 1: with me. All of my socials use the handle at

747
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:37,920
Speaker 1: Jenny Yang TV on Twitter, that's j E n N

748
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 1: y y A n G t V, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,

749
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:44,920
Speaker 1: and then my website is Jenny Yang dot tv. I

750
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,160
Speaker 1: have so many things coming up, videos that I'm gonna

751
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:50,680
Speaker 1: put out as well as later this year, the Comedy

752
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,600
Speaker 1: Comedy Festival Colan, a comedy festival here in Los Angeles,

753
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:58,200
Speaker 1: will be happening in uh In Man, Yes in thank

754
00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:00,960
Speaker 1: you in October. So if you're gonna come out here

755
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:04,040
Speaker 1: in October, come and visit me, stay in touch. We're

756
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:07,920
Speaker 1: gonna have a huge festival of Asian American community talent.

757
00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:10,160
Speaker 1: I love it. Jenny, thank you so much for being

758
00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:13,480
Speaker 1: here with us today. Bridget You're amazing once again. Full circle?

759
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,759
Speaker 1: Can I kind of just say affirmation circle? Yes, you're

760
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:19,799
Speaker 1: holding it down, putting out you know, two podcasts a week?

761
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:21,880
Speaker 1: What are you doing? Look at this? This is amazing

762
00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:31,319
Speaker 1: telling us about ourselves. You know, I try, I try well.

763
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:33,440
Speaker 1: I hope that Jenny inspired you to get creative in

764
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:35,920
Speaker 1: your everyday life. If you're not quite ready to quit

765
00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:37,480
Speaker 1: your nine to five and buy a one way ticket

766
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,319
Speaker 1: to Hollywood, how are you staying creative in your everyday life?

767
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 1: Let us know. You can find us on Twitter at

768
00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:45,719
Speaker 1: mom Stuff podcast on Instagram and Stuff I've Never Told You,

769
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 1: And as always, we love those emails at mom stuff

770
00:40:48,680 --> 00:41:00,960
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com