Stephen Park Meets World

We saw a ton of recognizable, and established, actors stop by Boy Meets World as a guest star through the first 5 seasons of the show - but it’s possible none were as interesting, and inspiring, as this week’s guest.

In addition to playing “Jump Master” in the newly G.O.A.T.’d Season 5 episode, “Raging Cory,” this familiar face has worked with Spike Lee, Bong Joon Ho, Wes Anderson and the Coen Bros., where he stole one of the most intensely dramatic (and funny?) scenes in film history. Oh, and did we mention he was a cast member on In Living Color? 

He’s legendary, internally evolved and a pioneer when it comes to racial equality and standing up for what you believe in. Even when it’s hard to do. 

This week on Pod Meets World - it’s Stephen Park!

 

Follow @podmeetsworldshow on Instagram and TikTok

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
So I feel like I've talked about on mostly off
my book, probably on Mike too. You know, I always
have this this debate with you guys about how I
like local places.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah, it's hard to get an experience yesterday which is
just the epitome that just distilled all the pros and
the cons and like one experience.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
I was like thinking of you guys the whole time.
Because my favorite example of this is when I complained
about my dentist who was like my local dentist and
where you were like and I was like, she's kind
of a bad dentist, and you were.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
Like, get a better dentist.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Anyway.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
So so my key in my car, I went to
turn it and its just like snapped, just like like oh,
it's like what So I had to like literally take
the metal part was okay, but I had to like
take a pair of plyers to like to turn it,
turn it right. Or actually I didn't take a pair
of What I did is like I took the key
fob part and like clamped it on there and anyway,

(01:17):
So this goes on for like a day or two.
And of course I know that if you call the
dealer in this case Toyota, like we had done this
for my wife. It's like a four hundred dollars replacement
the key because they got to like reprogram and and
I was like, there's no way this you can do this,
Like there's an I'm gonna do a lot, right. Well,
So I go on Amazon and and like you can

(01:40):
find replacement key fobs that you can etch with the key.
I'm like, oh, okay, six dollars. I get two of
them because I need two of them, right, I get
two new keys. I go like, I find a locksmith,
like the local. Actually I go to the hardware store
first and they're like, oh no, we can't you know, yeah,
we can't do that. We do it local. And we
talked to them and no, they tried. They were like
we keys but like car keys, and they took it

(02:02):
behind the count like no, we can't. And I'm like,
well where you know, Oh, there's a lots of it
down the street across from the McDonald's, right across the
just go to McDonald's and then go to dealership. So
I'm like, okay, yeah, we're gonna do this. And I
show up and this is before I'm meeting you guys
for lunch. I only have like ten minutes because I
figured this is quick, right, And I walk in. I'm like,

(02:22):
you know, the guy's there and he's got like a
mask on because he's probably.

Speaker 5 (02:26):
Welding doing that cool.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
And I'm like, hey man, you know and he's like,
oh yeah, and it's five bucks a key.

Speaker 6 (02:33):
Cool.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
I'm like yeah, sure, and etches my keys and I'm like, great,
hand them cash and he tells me. He's like, hey,
you know, I just recently got cast off. So he's like,
my hand is you know, he hasn't used his right hand.
So I'm like, already, this is great. Like I'm in
the conversation.

Speaker 5 (02:51):
This guy lives in my neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Probably we're talking about I give him cash.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
I've been used weeks off the book.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Thanks, but okay, I'll seal it or yeah, I'm walking out,
I'm gonna use this.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
You know.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
I gotta remember this this locksmith. He's just like a
mile from my house. Gotta remember this guy next time
I need a lock Get into my car, turn it up,
doesn't start. I'm like, the key fits, turns but doesn't
turn over the engine. I'm like, that's really weird. I
don't get out and I walk it. I'm like, hey,
would you know why? He's like, oh yeah, well probably

(03:23):
a chip. And I'm like, okay, well that would have
been nice to know before you ride. So already I'm like,
well this backfired, Like yeah, Toyota wouldn't have had this problem.
It's already like okay, well, and I'm like, so what
do I you know, what what do I do? And
he's like, well, you know, no, no, he starts. He
starts explaining. He's like it's a chip. And I'm like, okay,

(03:45):
well you know what is that? You know, you have
to be way too long an ex if you have
the old Bob. I'm like, well I do have the
old Bob. And he's like, well, then the chip's in there.
And he's like, well look here, I got to bring
the car back around back. I can plug in my computer.
I can, you know, for eighty five bucks, I can
and give you a whole new and he's like and
you know what, And I'm like eighty five but should
have just gone to toilet. But then he's like, but
you know what if you if you need two keys,

(04:07):
because I do, He's like, I'll just give you both
for the same and I'm like, oh, so, I'm like.

Speaker 5 (04:15):
This is this is why you go to the lot?

Speaker 4 (04:18):
This is it?

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, And so I bring my car around back. Now
we're hanging out. He's plugging in this computer which.

Speaker 5 (04:24):
Looks meanwhile ly who cares, actually what, I'm kind of friend.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yes, And he plugs in this computer which they totally
look like. I didn't think know these things exist. You
can like have computers that plug into the lock and
read out to him what chip I need on? It's
crazy like, and so he like tells me, oh, it's
an I six e chip, and I mean it looks
like straight out of the movie Hackers. Do you remember

(04:52):
that from the where you like can plug something into
a lock. And then he takes my key and he
plugs it into this other little thing and it's like,
looks like my key is just sitting in a bowl basically,
but he's able to like read the key. He's like, oh, yeah,
it's this kind of chip. But the fobs that I
bought from Amazon don't have a chip, so he can't
program those chips. And I'm just like, okay, I'm gonna

(05:14):
be late for lunch now, Yeah, what do I do.
But but he's like, you know, here's the thing, and
he opens up the fob. You know, he's like, if
you still have the old fob, and I'd already thrown
one of them all. He's like, the chip is here.
He's like, it's not gonna cost you anything. I won't.
You don't even need me, like, just you just pull
this chip out, work it out. And so again I'm like,
this is great. I noticed it's like his you know,

(05:40):
cause I'm asking about his cast in his hand and
he's like, oh yeah, his skin is like flaking off.

Speaker 5 (05:46):
Right like he probably handling some chips.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
This is kind of kind of gross, like you know.
And he's telling me about how it's like he broke
his arm and it healed wrong, like now it's and
they want to like rebreak it. But he's like, I'm
just goidding. So we're laughing and telling stories and I'm like,
this is the human connection thing. Meanwhile, he is flaking his.

Speaker 4 (06:06):
Skin into here.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Literally like brushing is oh my god. And I'm like
and I'm sitting there and I'm like, oh, Will and Danielle,
I love. This is the cost of the human experience here.

Speaker 7 (06:21):
It is.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
This guy is literally why, And I like, what do
I say? I'm like, dude, like you say, he's like rubbing, flaking,
like it's like like like corn flakes of skin coming
off into got my front and I'm like dude, and
he's like, yeah, he's telling me about his wrist and
his thing. But meanwhile he keeps doing it, and I'm

(06:41):
like you you're in my car. You are in my
and you are and he's like and then it's just
like these flaking and I'm just you know, and I'm like, yeah,
in my oh.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Got away.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
I figured it out, pulled the chip out myself later
on last night. Everything's fine. So it was only five
bucks for him atch a key. Ultimately it did and
I had the human connection, but I also probably have
you know, some skin.

Speaker 4 (07:05):
You've got some human connection left over, which is good.

Speaker 8 (07:08):
And if this poor man turns up dead, his DNA's
all in your career car.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
Yeah, so there you go.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Oh but I made it on time. You guys were
late yesterday and.

Speaker 5 (07:19):
Was shut down, and you know.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
I'll use him again, I guess, as long as he's
not flaking his skin all over.

Speaker 7 (07:24):
The Oh okay, did he he had all those supercomputers
did he have a handheld back?

Speaker 4 (07:32):
Exactly Amazon, that Toyota's got all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
By the way, hundred dollars for a key when my
wife got a key replaced.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
So like.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
I've also I've also been to the Toyota dealership so
many times for like just oil changes. Whenever, I never
had a conversation with anybody there. So you know, now
I know this guy, he's always there.

Speaker 7 (07:55):
I mean, if what you're lacking is conversation, then you
should definitely.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
Talk for a living.

Speaker 5 (08:01):
I don't know how you need more.

Speaker 6 (08:04):
By the way, you mentioned the movie Hackers, and just
as a as a strange side note, Hackers was the
first big movie I ever saw that makes a boy
meets World reference.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Oh what it fully what.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
I said, Hackers. I was actually thinking Sneakers, but go
on different, Okay, Sneakers was the exactly technology the Angelina
Joli movie. She's topless for a second one. But if
she's topless for a positive Oh yeah, I remember sitting
at Ocean's house for the VHS.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Reference.

Speaker 8 (08:40):
The one of the characters says to another character, he's
he's like the youngest one of the crew, and he's like,
come on, boy meets World, Let's go, and so.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
He literally calls him boy. First thing I've never seen. Yeah,
I was I knew that back then sitting in the.

Speaker 5 (08:56):
Yeah, you could only pay attention to that one.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
Angelina fan huh back then? Right then?

Speaker 1 (09:01):
Well?

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, because she had done that movie Foxfire with my
brother that child getting cut out of And when I
saw that, I was like, who is this person? She's
you know, the most gorgeous woman alive and a good actor.
I mean I also, yeah, she's a very girl interrupted
and all that. It was a huge crush.

Speaker 7 (09:15):
Well, this is a good time for me to thank
all of our dear listeners who sent in a clip
for us that I'll play for you guys right now.
Very exciting in the universe for for Boy meets World
fans when something like this happens.

Speaker 5 (09:30):
Sitcom's for eight hundred pies.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
It was on this sitcom that Corey and Tapanga first
got together.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Skylight What is Boy Meets World?

Speaker 7 (09:37):
Right, So we were a Jeopardy clue and we were
in sitcoms since.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
I was like, first got together. Oh because of Girl
meets World.

Speaker 5 (09:45):
Yes, first got together. Yeah, you know that.

Speaker 4 (09:48):
We've We've been clues several times.

Speaker 7 (09:50):
On I know many many times, but but this was
one of the first times since we've started the podcast.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
So a lot of people sent it to us and wanted.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
There are the other questions in this it coom category.

Speaker 5 (10:01):
As well, I have them already.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
Do you really?

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yes? Here we go.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
I had this indie Indian I wrote a bookstore once
and he wanted like joke books, like he likes getting
joke books.

Speaker 5 (10:09):
Or trivia kids.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah, it's a such and so there was one that
was like nineties trivia and I'm like, India, I bet,
I bet, I'm in here, but word and like scouring
the word. It took a while. It was it wasn't me,
but there was a Boy Meets World day and it
took a while. I was like, if anybody sees me
in this Barnes and Noble or whatever, flipping through this
book looking for my I was like, this is embarrassed.

Speaker 5 (10:31):
All right, let's play.

Speaker 7 (10:32):
Let's play the game. Ready TV sitcoms for four hundred dollars.
In the UK version of the Office, this comedian played
David Brent, a character similar to Okay, yep, eight hundred dollars.
It was on this sitcom The Corey and to manga
first got Together.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
What is Boys World?

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Boys the Boys? Yeah, Boys Meets the.

Speaker 7 (10:51):
World, Boys Meet World for twelve hundred dollars From twenty
ten to twenty sixteen. Melissa McCarthy start opposite Billy Gardell
on this sitcom.

Speaker 4 (10:59):
Molly and Me So Close? Isn't that what it's called?
I never seen it? Nope?

Speaker 5 (11:03):
What is Mike and Molly?

Speaker 4 (11:05):
Mike and Molly? That's yes, I never saw that one.

Speaker 7 (11:07):
Bronson Pinchot, who played Balky bar Talla Moose Song Stranger comedy, Yes,
as yes, it is perfect Strangers two thousand. On thirty Rock,
Tracy Jordan is the star of TGS, which originally stood
for I've.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
Never seen it. I've never seen a thirty Rock in
my life.

Speaker 5 (11:23):
Okay, what is the girly show?

Speaker 4 (11:26):
Okay, that's it.

Speaker 5 (11:28):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
So you've never seen thirty Rock.

Speaker 8 (11:30):
No, never seen a single A single episode of thirty Rock,
a single episode of Community.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Watching television at like two thousand and fourish.

Speaker 8 (11:38):
Yeah, pretty much, and then just goes back to I
think was the last new one that I watched?

Speaker 2 (11:43):
It's not a new show, that's well, it.

Speaker 8 (11:45):
Was, I mean it ended in what twy ten something
like that, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (11:50):
Yeah, so yeah, I'm pretty much yeah.

Speaker 5 (11:52):
Okay, welcome to Pod meets World. I'm Daniel Fishl, I'm
right strong, and i am what is will Fredell.

Speaker 7 (12:12):
Throughout our rewatch of the show, now six seasons in,
we have seen dozens of guest stars where we find
ourselves saying, hey, I know that guy. He's in everything,
and then Will proceeds to tell us exactly which Seinfeld
episode or episodes he's in. Then he recites two to
three lines from his best movie. It is like clockwork.

(12:32):
And so we've learned that Boy Meets World really did
cast some of the best TV character actors of all time,
and this week we get to talk to one of
the best. He somehow began his career in Spike Lee's
Do the Right Thing and has worked with a murderer's
row of Hollywood's best directors over a three decade career
that is still going strong. But you may know him

(12:53):
best from two things.

Speaker 5 (12:55):
One.

Speaker 7 (12:55):
He was a cast member on the revolutionary sketch show
in Living Color cultural moment, where he not only helped
change television forever, but introduced us to stars like Jim Carrey,
Jamie Fox and Jennifer Lopez and two his bone chilling
scenes stealing and somehow humorous moment in the Academy Award
winning movie Fargo where he breaks down to an old

(13:18):
high school friend about his deep well of sadness and
then tries to seduce her after detailing the death of
his wife, which is definitely a lie. And in addition
to these unforgettable projects, here are some other movies you've
seen him in Kindergarten, Cop Quick Change, Toys, Falling Down,
A Serious Man, Snow Piercer, The French Dispatch, Asteroid City,

(13:40):
and the highly anticipated upcoming Bong June Ho sci fi
film Mickey seventeen starring Robert Pattinson. But today we are
sitting him down to talk about the one time he
was on a primetime family sitcom, playing jump Master in
season five's Standout and an episode in contention for our
favorite ever Raging Corey helping the Matthews men bond by

(14:03):
putting their life on the line, and we'll bother him
about some other things too. Welcome to Pod Meets World.
A true artist. It's Steven Park.

Speaker 5 (14:12):
We can see you, hi. Yes, we are so happy
to have you here.

Speaker 7 (14:20):
When you popped up during our season five rewatch. We
could not stop smiling and we talked about how amazing
you were then. So to have you on the podcast
with us makes us happy all over again.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
It's so funny because the role was so small and
I was on Yeah, I just felt like I was
on there for like such a short maybe a little
bit longer than to take and go there, and I
was like, why do they want to talk to me?
I'm so nervous because I don't know what to talk about.

Speaker 7 (14:51):
Oh my gosh, don't you worry. We have so many
questions for you. Also, you have to know you're in
a room with some big fans. Wilfredell here can quote
probably every one of your lines from almost anything you've done,
but especially Fargo.

Speaker 4 (15:04):
Pretty true. It's pretty true.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
Oh my god, that's crazy. I know that. Actually, I
remember when we shot this ninety eight that was just
like Fargo had just come out recently.

Speaker 8 (15:16):
I think, so, yeah, well I bought I bothered you
about it basically the entire week you were there.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
I think, yeah, and I think I remember.

Speaker 5 (15:23):
That, Yeah, yeah, you stood him.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
You were the one.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
That's what I did.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
I just kept that's right.

Speaker 8 (15:31):
I kept peppering you with questions just the whole week long,
because it was it was I mean, at the time,
it was it still is.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
It holds up, but it was just it's a brilliant,
brilliant film.

Speaker 8 (15:41):
And you say, I mean, it's a perfect example where
you say, oh, you're on boy me throw for a
short amount of time, but it was such a memorable
role on Boy.

Speaker 4 (15:48):
Could be said for Fargo.

Speaker 8 (15:50):
I mean, you might be on for a short amount
of time, but it's such a memorable role, and it's
a it's a character and scenes that probably anybody else
might have looked at and been like, you know what,
we don't really need this for the story of the film.

Speaker 4 (16:03):
We can this lifts right out.

Speaker 8 (16:05):
But it so works and it's so important and it's
just so great that yeah, yeah, well.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
Thank you so much. I mean, I remember thinking, I
thought that they might cut it because it didn't seem
to have anything to do with the rest of the story.
And it wasn't until a few years later that it
was on Roger Ebert's show. He had Martin scorseseion and
they were talking about their favorite movies of the nineties,
and they brought up Fargo. And they played my scene

(16:32):
and Roger Ebert was describing how marg Linderson's character after
she finds out that my character was lying, that kind
of sets the light bulb off. And then she goes
to speak to Do Macy's character after she realizes. So
it did set off a little bit of a reaction,
but I didn't know that at the time. Coen Brothers

(16:55):
never explained anything to me, so I really, I really
did think, Wow, they might cut this.

Speaker 5 (17:00):
Oh my gosh, it's so good.

Speaker 7 (17:02):
We have so many things we want to talk to
you about with your career, but before we jump into it,
I'd love to talk to you about your origin story.
We know that you are from the East Coast originally,
but when did you realize that being in the entertainment
industry was going to be your thing?

Speaker 1 (17:16):
Oh my god. It was kind of a long, kind
of torturous journey. Because I'm my father, I grew up
my father was a doctor. I was born in Brooklyn,
New York. I was born in Clinton Hill and lived
there until about eight and then we moved two years
to Manhattan, and then we moved upstate. We landed in
a town called Vestal, which is adjacent to Binghamton, okay,

(17:39):
and so I did most of my growing up there.
So I first started when I went to college, I
really did not know what I wanted to do with
my life, and so I was pursuing medicine because my
dad was a doctor, so I thought, okay. So but
I never had any kind of interest or proclivity towards
chemistry or for interview. So you know, I was like,

(18:06):
but I was like failing these classes. I'd bean just
like looking at different like organisms and biology class, and like,
I can't tell when this from you. So I just
felt like this was not for me. And then I
ended up transferring to school which was close to me,
which was Sudny Binghamton, and the same thing. I was
just signing up for classes. I didn't know what I

(18:27):
was doing, and then I would end up like dropping classes,
and so I was kind of ready to drop out.
And my girlfriend at the time just said, before you
drop out, just you owe yourself. Just take one semester
of classes and the only criteria is that they have
to be fun, which was such an alien concept to me.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Such good advice.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
I took an acting class, I took a mind class,
a vocal class and a body movement class. And it
was to me because you know, when I was growing
up as a kid, I was always like class clown.
I was always making super great movies like it was
something that I always enjoyed doing, but never considered it

(19:08):
a career. So anyway, I ended up getting my my
theater degree, and because you know, I thought it was funny,
A lot of people were funny. So I went to
New York City and started doing stand up comedy and
I was doing open mic nights, and then I got
involved with theater. I did my first play with pen
Asian Repertory Theater and that got me started with with

(19:33):
basically doing plays and then so I can't you know,
I was down in New York. I started my career
in nineteen eighty seven, and it was nineteen eighty eight
when I booked my first film, which was Do the
Right Thing. And I mean who knew. I mean, but

(19:57):
it wasn't like there were I it was at the
time when they were kind of a small pool of
Asian American actors. So for the first maybe ten years,
I knew every agent American actor in both coasts. I
mean we all knew each other. Yeah, so it wasn't
like there was a big pool of actors. And anyway,

(20:18):
then soon after that happened, I moved to Los Angeles
and then in Living Color happened.

Speaker 5 (20:23):
And how did you book the job for Do the
Right Thing? Did you? Did you just hear of the audition?
How did you book that?

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah? I heard the audition.

Speaker 5 (20:30):
Did you have an agent?

Speaker 1 (20:31):
I did? I had an agent, and I went into
the office and I forgot what Scena was, but I
remember Spike Lee gave me the part in the room
right after the audition, and I was like, because I
was already a huge fan of his from She's Got
to Have It, I was, I was in shock. And

(20:54):
then I just said, can I hug you? And then
he gave me a hug, and yeah, so that was
kind of like that was kind of the beginning. And
that was terrified too, because being a Korean American growing
up in New York, so you know, I grew up
in white community, so I didn't grow up speaking the
language or anything. Yeah, and I've had a very maybe

(21:14):
tenuous grasp of my culture. So playing an immigrant from
Korea terrified me. And so I had to kind of
like my uncle actually worked at a market in Manhattan.
I worked there for a little while, and my brother
in law helped me with the dialect because I'd never
done a Korean dialect before and so I was learning

(21:35):
the dialect. So anyway, it was a kind of a
big learning curve for me, just playing an immigrant from Korea.
But it was terrifying.

Speaker 8 (21:44):
Oh my goshy in my head, I'm just thinking, it's
so far. You've mentioned the Cohen Brothers and Spike Lee
as the directors you've been working with so far, and
it's just like the list is just building where it's like,
oh man, it's some of the most brilliant people that
have ever been in film everywhere.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
You know, I don't know would happened, it's just yeah.

Speaker 7 (22:02):
And so what are your parents thinking at this time?
Are your parents supportive of you once you start booking jobs.
How do your parents feel about this transition you've made.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Well, I think they were excited, but it wasn't you know.
I think they were excited by the attention I was
getting and people were like, wow, he's very successful. But
I think, especially for my dad, it was more there
was no solidity, There is no constancy, So my parents

(22:31):
also have been with me through long periods of unemployment,
you know, struggling with money, so you know, over the
long arc of my career, they've seen how difficult it's stand.
But I think they appreciate the fact that I've had
the success that I've had. But I mean, to be honest,
they don't really understand. Yeah, maybe what I do, or

(22:54):
they don't understand the work so much. I don't know,
like like I don't know if fifteen Fargo, you know,
it's like, and I meet a lot of actors like that.
His parents like to have no clue like what they
do or it seem so alien to them. And that's
kind of been my experience. I mean, so they've been supportive,
but it's always been like they have no idea what

(23:16):
I do right?

Speaker 7 (23:17):
Right, They're like, we don't get it, but we're happy
You're happy exactly, Okay, so you do do the right thing.
How does and your living in Los Angeles? How does
in Living Color come about?

Speaker 6 (23:32):
Same?

Speaker 1 (23:32):
That was a little bit more shocking because it's like
a regular audition that started in the casting office and
by that point I had I don't know, fifteen minutes set.
I didn't really I was still beginning as a comedian,
you know, and I wasn't really like comedy. It took
me a while to realize that stand up comedy was

(23:53):
not my thing. But I kind of had enough to
do an audition, and then when I got called back,
it was like, oh, the callback is at the lab
factory and it was in front of an audience that
didn't know that these were auditions, So that was terrifying.

(24:13):
And there was like I want to say, like fifteen
or twenty of us. I mean I remember Mark chose
one of us. One of them were one of the
people auditioning.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
And do you remember what your material was like? Do
you remember what you're?

Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah? I did like I was doing like spoof on
Asian stereotypes. I then did this bit where I was
I had a boombox, I had them doing it over
the PA system where I was doing that bad coung
through the lip sinking right. And then yeah, in my memory,

(24:47):
act was very it's very it's dissipated, but I just
remember it ended with I created this this duo between
Bruce Lee and Ambo, and I had Bruce Lee saying
that line from uh from Entered the Dragon. You have

(25:07):
offended my family. You have offended my my what is
it my school? You have offended my family. And then
the rambo has his rifle and then I had about
five minutes of machine gun fire to the yes and
then and then Bruce Lee says the line again, you

(25:30):
have offended my school, you have offended. So that was
the end of that particular. It was so silly. And
then when they called this back again for another callback
again at the laugh factory, it was like down to
I think five of us or something. Then I had
to like scrounge for material, and I was doing the

(25:51):
jokes that I was doing, like in elementary and like
I was just coming up with the dumbest jokes. And
I remember one of them was, all right, I'm going
to do an impression of two worms having sex. This
is my impression of two worms having sex. I did

(26:12):
that joke at the last factory and gotten on a
living color. I did the dumbest joke.

Speaker 4 (26:20):
I mean, it's so good, the world's so great.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
It's great. And so at this point, are you thinking
of yourself as an actor who does stand up or
a comedian who acts sometimes or is it just all
the same.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
I was still figuring it out. And I had such
a huge opportunity when I was a living color to
go on the road as a comedian. But I didn't
have an act. I had just what I did at
the audition, and truth be told, I was just you know,
it took me a while to just realize that I
didn't have the DNA just like I didn't I couldn't

(26:56):
live that life. Yeah, I couldn't.

Speaker 8 (26:58):
I couldn't either.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
It's just like I look at like people that I know,
like Bobby Lee or even you know, Margacheoe, like it's
like they're born to do it, you know, they're they're something.
I mean, you know, a lot of stand ups they
come from some difficult background or some kind of challenging
childhood or drug abuse or whatever. So somehow that fuels

(27:21):
that career somehow. And also when I was starting too,
there weren't a lot of Asian comedians, so also I
was extremely like hyper sensitive, so I was constantly on
the receiving end and a lot of racist jokes and
I would sit in the audience and so it was
I mean, my girlfriend at the time was like saying,

(27:42):
I shouldn't be doing this just because I would get
so depressed. I would be so and angry that I
was forcing myself to go into this environment and try
to be funny, and it was just I was just
not emotionally equipped to deal with things at that time.
As a stand up comedian, I couldn't. It wasn't ending.

Speaker 8 (28:02):
You're right, it's not a job or even a career.
It's a lifestyle. It's a whole lifestyle being a comedian.
And you're right talking to people that do it, it's
they have this thing. It's like, this is okay, you're
a comedian, your stand up this is what you do.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
This is your lifestyle you want to be They can't
get right.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
You have to exactly not be able to not do it.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
It's like, yeah, because.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
Otherwise why would you put yourself through that. Like as
an entertainer, I can kind of see like, oh yeah,
I could do like fifteen minutes, right, But then the
idea of like having to beat that the next night
and beat that the next night, and I'm like, no,
I don't traveling and.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
Not sleeping and do anything. I'm sorry.

Speaker 8 (28:36):
I'm still trying to recover from you having to go
to the laugh factory and your audition is in front
of a crowd.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Of they don't.

Speaker 4 (28:44):
Know that you're auditioning. You're also now, did you watch
in Living Color.

Speaker 8 (28:48):
At the time you auditioned for the show, so you
already knew what you were getting into then, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
I mean I remember they did this, They did a
spoof fun do the Right Thing. I remember, which I
was like, Oh my god, that's crazy. And I never
I never imagined that would be on the show. I
mean when when the audition came up, and I knew
they were looking for like Asian American and they were
looking for Latino actors, comedians, and so it was just

(29:13):
an opportunity. That was an amazing opportunity that just popped
out of nowhere.

Speaker 8 (29:19):
Well it was, I mean at the time, it was
the hip is show on television. I mean, Saturday Night
Live had nothing on in Living Color. It was this
was like groundbreaking because I think Keen Ivory Wins had
come off of I'm Going to Get You Sucko, which
was like amazing, right, and then.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
It was like, oh, he's doing a television show.

Speaker 8 (29:36):
And then you'd sit there and watch it and I go,
oh my god, what's happening in front of me? I mean,
it really was completely groundbreaking for TV. Was this set
a fun place to be? Was it was it conducive
to comedy and you know, just trying to get the
funniest bits you can do?

Speaker 4 (29:50):
Or was it a little cutthroat?

Speaker 1 (29:52):
It was kind of a lot of things. I had
kind of a challenging experience just because I mean it
was fun. I mean the amount of like just table
reads where the ways would be falling out of their
chairs or you know, it was like the funniest people
in the world altogether in the same room kind of vibe.

(30:13):
You know. So it was like so so intimidating, and
you know, also being thrown in it's like being thrown
into a situation where everybody's already a family, so you're
then you're you're the adoptee. Yeah, so that was also
very challenging. And and then also how I was not

(30:35):
on the show anymore also was really challenging because it
was not fully explained to me, and I had different explanations,
so it was like ninety yeah, so when I was
not asked back. That was the year of the riots
in LA and there was a lot of you know,

(30:57):
animosity between the black the black community in the Korean
American community, and so I was feeling at the time like, well,
maybe that had something to do with it. I didn't know,
but maybe almost like six almost seven years later, I
was casting to play with my current wife, Kelly Colfield,
who was in the Living Color.

Speaker 5 (31:16):
Yes, I was just going to ask about that. You
met on that set, right, We.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Met on the set, but it was just, you know,
we were both in relationships at the time, you know,
and also I was too stressed to do so that
was not that was not on my mind at the time.
But then what excuse when this play happened? That was

(31:42):
I hadn't seen her since the show, and it was
reconnecting and then trying to unpack, like, so, what what happened?
You know? And then she said when they came back
the next season, she everybody was like, what, we're Steve,
what happened? And then he said that because this was
when Living Color was about, Keenan was fighting with Fox

(32:05):
the network, and it was like the beginning of the end,
and I think he was getting a little set up,
and he said that he was having a negotiating issue
with my manager and she was pushing too hard. And
then so he just said screw it, and then he
just let me go. And then I was told by
one of the producers that they were looking for a

(32:27):
comedian who had more of a stable of characters. And
then when I read the release from Fox that I
read in the paper, it was because I was pursuing
other opportunities. You know, so has their own kind of thing,
and so it took me. It took it probably until
I met Kelly. It took I didn't. There was always

(32:48):
like a little bit of a wound there, like I said,
not knowing. Oh God, the life of an actor.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
From project to project, you just hope.

Speaker 8 (33:01):
So yeah, well I'm a huge I was telling them
before we got on. I'm a huge fan of your
wife as well, not just your lines from Fargo, but
I could do her lines from her Seinfeld episode.

Speaker 4 (33:11):
It's the way my brain works. So she is hysterical.
Please tell her I love her, that's all I will.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
I love that.

Speaker 7 (33:18):
You guys have two children who are both in their twenties, right,
do you they any idea how cool their parents are.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
I don't know. Well, you know it's funny because you know,
I think Kelly and I, you know, we we kind
of remark on that sometimes, like we have, they've come
and they bring their friends over, and we kind of
wonder what they think of us because we're so not
like the normal parents. I guess that other but but

(33:47):
in other words, we are you know, we're just normal people.
We don't do anything crazy. You know, we make food
and we invite people in and you know, please take
your shoes off, and you know whatever. But yeah, that
I I don't know. You'd have to ask my kids
what their experience is. I you know, I know that

(34:08):
they hear things and and I think sometimes maybe they
try to hide it. I don't know what they do.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
But but neither of them, no one's No one's gone
into entertainment. That's not well.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
Actually, my daughter, my daughter is, she just she went
to film school. She just graduated from Pratt Institute as
a filmmaker and is pursuing acting. So yeah, so my
son is he's a writer. He's finishing grad school at
Brooklyn College in the Creative Writing program, and he works

(34:41):
at the Paris Review. And uh, he's writing his first novel.
So she'll probably be hearing about that at some point.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
It's so cool.

Speaker 7 (35:04):
So you had already watched Spike Lee, Change Movies Forever,
the Wayans Brothers just rubbed the television in industry as
a whole. And then you appear on Boy Meets World.

Speaker 4 (35:16):
The Pinnacle.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
Let's talk about high.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Serious.

Speaker 7 (35:22):
What do you remember about this blip on your resume?

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Do you? Did?

Speaker 5 (35:27):
You have to audition for it?

Speaker 1 (35:30):
For it? And I remember thinking because they thought it
was really funny that I was yelling, which seems like, well,
of course I'm yelling. I'm inside of the hell, you know,
a plane. And I got the impression like, well, maybe
the other people who audition didn't yell.

Speaker 7 (35:45):
Yeah, this was must have been your idea, because then
it becomes the.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Funny whole, the whole show. But I wonder if they
hadn't thought about that when they.

Speaker 5 (35:56):
Wrote there's no way, so you just did it?

Speaker 1 (35:58):
Oh my god, I was just yelling and then and
then they laughed and it was like, isn't everybody doing
this after?

Speaker 5 (36:05):
Oh my gosh, that's so funny, that's so great.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
But I have no idea. I just made that up
in my mind. I have no idea that that was
no Actually that my memory. That's what stayed with me.

Speaker 4 (36:18):
Oh man, that's why I'm guessing that.

Speaker 8 (36:20):
We didn't start yelling until you started yelling and we went, Okay,
that's it has to be this.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
It has to be this for.

Speaker 8 (36:26):
The scene, and probably the three of us started yelling
back at you and that was it because it was
such a good scene and so funny. One of the
things we talk about is that, you know, we're going
back watching the entire series again, which Rider had never
seen the show, and Daniel and I haven't seen it
since it was on, and so we're kind of rediscovering.

Speaker 4 (36:47):
These episodes as we go.

Speaker 8 (36:48):
And your episode is in contention for the best episode.

Speaker 7 (36:53):
Of the entire the number one best episode up till
this point. We're six seasons in and Raging is high,
like truly in contention for our favorite episode of the show.

Speaker 8 (37:02):
Yeah, based on your just our stupid opinions, all three
of us.

Speaker 5 (37:07):
Yeah, you could take it or leave it.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
But it's not official or anything. It's just we love it.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
Can I ask what sticks out which stands out about
that episode for you?

Speaker 7 (37:17):
Well, there's there's a few things. We love both the
A and B storyline. It's a really well balanced episode.
We like that that there's a moment between it's a
it's about a you know, about parenting and about a
father relationship, and there's moments for all three of his kids.
There's storylines for how he raises Corey. It also is
something Will had joked about when we first started rewatching

(37:40):
the show, was that, like, they don't know they have
another son. The entire show, it's about the little sister
and Corey. They never acknowledge Eric, they never acknowledge it.
And then this whole episode kind of about what his
relationship is like with his dad.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
And I'm also realizing that, as ridiculous as this sounds,
I think the yelling choice might be one of the
major reasons that the episode works because if I think
about that dialogue without the yelling, like, take that scene
and take the fact that they're screaming, you know that
you guys are screaming at each other away right right,
Suddenly it becomes pretty sappy boy meets World. It's a

(38:15):
little setting. It becomes why don't we have the relationship
that you and Corey have, you know? If Eric? And
and that turn where it goes from a story about
Corey trying to prove himself to his dad or to
you know, and then to Eric suddenly becomes very sentimental
and a little like saccherin right in like the way
that Boy Meets World as a sitcom could do. But
the fact that you guys are all screaming and about

(38:36):
to jump out of the plane makes it removes any
of that sentimentality, and so it gets the story upoint across,
but it makes it more just fun and funny and
like that. It's I think that that's one of the
reasons why the episode is so good is that it
never gets weighted down by you know what, what other
episodes would we would we would get very sappy, you know, and.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
It just isn't. It's so wow, that's so interesting, yelling worked.

Speaker 5 (39:05):
It's always good, no matter.

Speaker 8 (39:06):
It's also one of the things that we love that
we talk about all the time is a great impactful
guest star and you were it's just somebody who comes
to you, doesn't have a whole ton to do, but
crushes it.

Speaker 7 (39:17):
Yeah, well, drive by you just you drive by, you
pop in for a moment, absolutely kill it and keep going.

Speaker 5 (39:23):
We just love it.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Important sitcoms, you know, it's like such a key thing
to have a great guests Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
Are you having every single person on the show.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
Everyone.

Speaker 7 (39:36):
Yes, there are a few people who have said no,
but we've asked pretty much everyone up untip to this point.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
We have. Yeah, but you've saw you've rewatched this episode
a long time ago, probably right.

Speaker 7 (39:49):
Well, we've been doing the podcast now for about two
and a half years.

Speaker 5 (39:52):
That was a season five so yeah, no six months ago?

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Oh okay, so recent?

Speaker 5 (39:59):
All right, within the last six months.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Are you guys done now or are you still watching now?

Speaker 4 (40:03):
We just starting season six.

Speaker 8 (40:05):
We have all of season six and all of season
seven left today.

Speaker 4 (40:08):
We're milking it.

Speaker 5 (40:09):
Stevening, you take make it take as long as possible.

Speaker 7 (40:16):
So do you did you know of Boy Meets World
before you got the audition?

Speaker 5 (40:19):
Had you ever heard of the show?

Speaker 2 (40:20):
Or was this the first time the show?

Speaker 1 (40:22):
Yes? Okay, I think it was a little I was
a little long in the tooth I think at that point.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
So yeah, you weren't our demographic.

Speaker 5 (40:30):
No, do you remember hanging with us all week?

Speaker 7 (40:33):
Do you have any other memories other than Will being
annoying and talking to you.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
About really that was the main memory.

Speaker 4 (40:40):
Plucking you on the shoulder.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
Hey, I have another burg question.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
I just remember I do remember I feel like I
disappointed you because I think you were talking about was
it ren and Stimpy or something? It was a show
that you were fascinated by at the US and butt Head,
which I wasn't really watching, and you were asking me
about it, and I had nothing to say, and I
felt like, oh, man, what a dunt I am?

Speaker 2 (41:09):
Well, I will probably did make you feel bad about that.
Oh you were in Farga, but you don't know.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Yeah, it was something.

Speaker 5 (41:17):
Like maybe it was South Park.

Speaker 4 (41:19):
It might have been South Park.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
Actually been South Park, might have been South Park.

Speaker 4 (41:23):
I think it was South Park at the time.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yeah, it.

Speaker 8 (41:29):
No, you know what I remember remember the most about
about our conversations. By conversations, I mean me peppering you
with questions and you very politely and calmly answering them.
I remember you saying that you were shocked that people
thought your character was funny in Fargo.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
Yeah, you know what happened. I remember I've told this
story before, but after they first started screening it, I
got a call from Ethan Cohen and he told me
how funny I was. And that was the first time
I'm like what and and it didn't occur to me
because I was still so in the character's pov, right,

(42:08):
and I know doing that part. I remember the day
I was I had somehow like put myself into some
more emotional torture. I was really really like, you know,
because internally it was like I was screaming in pain

(42:29):
and then covering it and then doing the scene. Like
that's kind of how I approached the scene. Yeah, and
then I was I was bringing up my mother, I
like bringing up both So I was a mess really inside,
and I was really so that was my goal was
just to be like barely holding it together and then

(42:49):
to do the scene. And I know it was weird,
you know, you know, you know, and so all that stuff.
I knew it was weird, but to hear about how
everybody was laughing, it took me a while to wrap
my head around and then realized, oh yeah, like and
then I understood it. But it was because, yeah, I

(43:11):
just was too too still too in the character's mindset
to to see the audience point of view at that point. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (43:22):
So you mentioned that the Cohen Brothers didn't tell you much.

Speaker 7 (43:25):
What did you know about your character, Mike Yanagita before
you went into the movie.

Speaker 5 (43:30):
What did you what were you prepped with.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
I think a lot of the characters were based on
people they knew growing up growing up there, and there
was I think his name was Glenn Yanagita, the actual
person maybe that they grew up with in high school,
not that this character is based on him at all.
And that's about it. I mean, because when I did

(43:55):
the audition, you know they of course, you know, they
hired me, and I remember the main thing when I
got the job, he was on the set. The main
kind of surprise was working with Elizabeth Himmelstein, who was
the dialect coach, and how hard she was pushing the
dialect like no, you want more? Oh yeah, and it

(44:18):
sounded so kind of phony. It sounded like weird. So
just going into that and feeling comfortable bending those ours
and oh and doing the dialect to that extent it
felt unnatural until it didn't anymore. But as far as

(44:40):
the scene, I think maybe I was just giving them.
I felt like it took me a lot. It was
a long road personally to arrive at the character, because
when when I first saw the audition, I passed on
it because it was described to overweight forty and like,
why do they want to see me, like, you know,

(45:00):
and then it came back and I was like okay,
and then I flew. I was in LA at the time,
so I flew to New York and yeah, so I
just kind of like, as I started, I'm learning more
about this character and kind of investigating it, it was like,
I'm not this character. I'm not this character. Oh my god,
I am this character.

Speaker 5 (45:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
You know, I don't know if it's ever happened to
you as an actor where the role feels like you
don't feel connected to it. And if I think a
lot of it is because it's like, well, this guy's
you know, you have a judgment about the character. So
once the judgment, I think the judgment somehow dropped and
I realized, oh, I am this guy, like because I

(45:41):
understood that loneliness, I understood the pain, I understood emotionally
this guy, and I know people like this. So I
once that happened, I feel like I knew the character.
And I think the Coen Brothers may be felt like
they didn't really need to say much because I felt

(46:03):
like I knew I knew this person.

Speaker 5 (46:06):
Did you do a lot of takes or was.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
It from different? It was really more just different setups.
But I did you know when they were on me
there there was one. I was kind of like finding
things with each take. It wasn't like a lot of takes,
but you know the one where I was like, oh,
you know, relation I should have you know, like that

(46:33):
wasn't kind of imp like that was a spontaneous moment,
and but it was. I won't say it was a lot,
it was. I mean, we did. I remember they started
on fran they started on March Gunderson, so but I
was fully in it when they were on her first,
and then at one point, uh, Francis, you know you

(46:56):
better turn around on him now, just because I was
so in it. And so then they were on me,
and it was enough takes to find the little moments
like that moment and to uh to to just get
into the little nuances. But it wasn't like like Wes

(47:18):
Anderson right to and they're like one more for the pleasure,
and then there's ten more.

Speaker 7 (47:29):
In your intro, we mentioned a ton of the classic
films that you have appeared in, but also we're not
sure anyone can be this list of directors you have
worked with, Ivan Riadman, Barry Levinson, the Cohen Brothers, Barbart Schroeder,
Joel Schumacher, Wes Anderson, Bill Murray, Miranda, July Bong, June Hoe.
I mean, you've worked with a lot of these people

(47:51):
more than once, So in your opinion, is there something
that all of these incredible directors have in common?

Speaker 1 (47:59):
You know what? I think it is Fargo. I think
Fargo was my like entree into all of these directors' work.
I think that they they they love. I mean when
I first met director Bomb and I was we were
in Prague, we were at Baranda Studios and he was

(48:23):
introducing me to John Hurt and I said, well, remember
he was, and then he referred to me as Fargo.
Remember Fargo. So that's kind of was like, oh, okay,
you know so that was my That was how these
directors I think found me and wanted to work with me.

Speaker 8 (48:41):
Well, not to put you on the spot, but is
there one that you prefer working with over another? Is
there a director where every time the name comes up,
you're like, oh, I can't wait to work with this
person again.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
Well I have to, you know, I love working with
you know, Director Bomb is like I'm good, Hopefully I'm
going to see him next week because Mickey seventeen, which
I worked on, ye, I'm going to get to see
it next week, and so I hopefully we'll get to
see him. But he is such a sweet, down to
earth guy. I had the like complete honor of hanging

(49:11):
out with him after the big Oscar night and we
all went to Korea Town and we're at a restaurant
and the cast and the producers and wow, that was
an amazing evening. And so he's just a sweetheart, and
I love working with him whenever. I you know, twice now,

(49:34):
so that's been really great. But I have to say,
like working with Wes Anderson is another level because he
is like an independent filmmaker. So when I worked like
on Mickey seventeen, I was Warner Brothers, so I was
dealing with Warner Brothers and I was kind of living
in Camden and everybody was kind of spread out, so

(49:55):
I didn't really have a connection with the other cast
members so much unless I like, I had a party
once and I buy a bunch of people over. But
it was a little bit alienating, and which which helped
for this movie, you know, because the alienation was helped
because there was a lot of that in terms of
the story. But the way West works is he'll he'll

(50:16):
be in some country and privatize a hotel and like
the whole cast is living there, and the crew is living.
A lot of the crew we're all living. You know,
it's not in the same hotel, in the next door hotel.
And the studio usually is a golf cart away because
West likes to like drive the golf cart to set.

(50:37):
And so every night, like they'll wrap around seven o'clock
and then everybody meets for dinner. West at the head
of the table and you go down and it's just
like you all of these movies like that, and then
listening to West just I mean, he talks about film
and you just it's like going to film school. And

(50:58):
one of the things he does too that's so great
is he has a table of maybe about twenty Blu
Ray DVDs of all of these classic movies that had
some influence on the movie we're working on. And so
you know, you have a Blu Ray machine in your room,
so you pick one, you sign it out, and then

(51:19):
when you're not working, you're just watching these great movies.
And then you're going downstairs and you're meeting movies stars
and you're talking to West about this movie or that
or what was the influence on this scene. So it's
like that's just an amazing Oh man.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
You feel like you're part of a company.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
You feel like you're all.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
Entering the same artistic mindset and collaborating together.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
That is Yeah, it's so great. And you know, like
when we were in Potsdam, Germany for this latest film,
the Phoenician Scheme, which opens May thirtieth, I want to say,
or thirty first titles. He has the Phoenician Scheme. It's
gonna be amazing. And but talk about star studied, you
know cast Benizio del Toro and Michael Sarah Miothorappleton, Like

(52:06):
that's the other thing. Like they also like both because
when they did the French Dispatch that was in angole M, France,
and they had these electric bikes that you borrow, so
you know we would go on these like you know,
bike trips together. So I mean it was my wife
had come and so it's like Hope, Pope Davis and
Michael Sarah and we're just riding around Potsdam, you know,

(52:29):
going to a beer. You know, it's so much fun.
It's like camp and everybody is so cool, and it's
like there's no there's no hierarchies. It's just everybody is
the same and it's just beautiful. And Wes is so
meticulous about everything. Like when we went to can for

(52:50):
the French dispatch, I remember they were setting up the
dining room for after the screening and Wes is in
there with one of the employees that he's putting in
games and all the tables he's decided in court everybody's sitting.
He knows everything. He knows where everybody like, what room
everybody's in, Like his mind is incredible, and what he

(53:10):
what he remembers and and what he's paying attention to.
So you know, he talks about how you like, when
he goes sleep, he's he's constantly centering things, you know,
because he's doing that all the time in the frame.
He's like his brain and everything. Yeah, so his dreams
are like a Wes Anderson.

Speaker 7 (53:29):
But that's so cool to hear what we were You
just mentioned Mickey seventeen. What are you allowed to tell
us about that project?

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Well, it's out now kind of, I mean, it's it's
the I guess it's going to be released on March seven,
but it's based on Mickey seven. He uh, you know
Bunching Hoes expanded obviously, and uh yeah, that also was
just a lot of fun in his imagination. It's just

(54:02):
it's just incredible and he's so it's so fluid, Like
as a director, he'd like, I mean, this is something
that director Bong and West have in common is their
storyboarding is like the movie has already been made and
the filmmaking is really the constructing of it. But if
you look at his storyboards, it's like every little frame

(54:26):
you know exactly what's going to happen. So with director Bob,
sometimes he's storyboarding the night before, but you have a
sense like he he's shooting to exactly what he wants
on the storyboards, so there's no master shot. So if
there's a shot with me crossing the screen and like
like there's one scene where I'm crossing and I have

(54:49):
this injury on my arm, and the storyboard is me
going so that's exactly what I'm doing, just going across
the screen and like I'm in pain, and then cut.
So he's shooting exactly what's on the storyboard. He's not
he's not having a scene play out and all, you
know what I mean, Like he's shooting exactly what's on

(55:11):
the storyboard. And West goes like even one step further
where he does an animatic, which is basically a movie
storyboard or a cartoon, So every shot has already been
planned and visualized, and then he voices all the characters
and so before you when you arrive on set, you

(55:34):
get to watch the animats. It's like you're basically watch
the movie with his voice. And then he pretty much
sticks to the exactly so in a way like when
you look at a Wes Anderson movie and you look
how the characters move, they kind of you know, and
then they kind of move aside. You know, there's a
kind of stick figure kind of quality maybe to movies,
and it's it's kind of looks like the the the animation.

Speaker 6 (56:00):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
But he likes that. That's his aesthetic, you know, and
it really it really works, and there's something very funny
about it, and there's something very kind of almost cartoonish,
but it's very it's very West. It's very affecting.

Speaker 7 (56:16):
Who is left for you on your dream list of
directors or co stars?

Speaker 5 (56:20):
Who have you worked you.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
I don't know. I mean, my god, I mean, I
mean I would love to work with Park chanuk. I
I don't you know. It's funny because I don't I
haven't even asked myself that question, because it's like every
everybody I've worked with has been such a surprise. I

(56:49):
never thought I'd be working with any of these people.
So hmmm, I don't know, because I've already been blessed
with working with so many ami using people, so I
don't even know.

Speaker 7 (57:05):
I could just been a surprise. You're no, it's okay,
it's been already. I love that for you. You're like,
why would I the career you never could have exactly,
so you never could have imagined it, and it turned
out better than you could have imagined, so why bother
to think ahead?

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Yeah. Total.

Speaker 7 (57:33):
So one more thing I did want to talk to
you about was back in nineteen ninety nine, after a
disappointing experience on the set of a very massive sitcom,
you wrote, way ahead of its time, an incredibly brave
mission statement to Hollywood about status, power and racism in Hollywood,
about the difficulties you faced finding work as an Asian actor,

(57:54):
and especially work that you felt like you could be
proud of. So I really recommend everybody read it. It
is still on the internet and you'll realize, you know,
Steve was saying these things twenty six years ago and
they are still relevant. Can you tell us what the
effects of that letter were at the time.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
Well, let me just say that the show is friends,
Okay it was at the time. For me, I thought
it was kind of a toxic environment, yep, and this
racist kind the ad calling James Hong was was the
actor who was also on the episode with me, and

(58:35):
he was calling him to the set and you know,
essentially saying, you know, you know, where is the oriental guy?
Get the oriental guy. So when I called Screen Actors
Guild after that, it happened, and the person I spoke
with recommended I write an article to the La Times.

(58:57):
And I thought, oh, okay, that'd be a good idea.
And I had just seen Jerry Maguire. I don't know
if you remember that movie, but he writes a mission statement.
My wife Kelly's in that movie, by way, And for
some reason that just kind of like struck me, like
that's kind of a yeah, why didn't I write a
mission statement? To Hollywood because this is bigger than this show.

(59:20):
This isn't the first time that this happened, you know,
but this is the environment where this is business as
usual in Hollywood in nineteen ninety seven, I guess it was,
and nobody felt the need to correct this or say
anything about it. So this is this is normal behavior.

(59:40):
And so I started writing this mission statement and I
sent it to the La Times. They sent a couple
of reporters and they interviewed me, and then they never
printed it. And so this was like the beginning of
the Internet. And I had my email list, and I
sent my mission statement out to who was on my

(01:00:02):
email list, and I said, you know, if this move you,
you know, please pard it along. But I just explained
I I was interviewed in there. They're not going to
print this, so if you feel moved to send this
a lot, please do. And then within a week I
was like I was getting responses from all across the
country from publication estept. We're asking permission to reprint it.

(01:00:24):
And so this it was like this it went viral,
you know, before viral was even a word. And I
went to San Francisco at some point that year to
do a play, and I was like interviewed up there.
I was on the cover of the Guardian, you know,

(01:00:44):
wrapped the American flag. I was interviewed in the Examiner,
and it all kind of culminated. I mean, I also
spent about a year of being invited to different colleges
to speak about this, and and then I was given
this award by an Asian American Arts foundation up in

(01:01:04):
San Francisco, and it was handed to me by Jesse Jackson.
And so that's kind of how this all played out.
And then, you know, soon after it was like my
son was born in two thousand and right before that,
I decided to quit acting like I was. I was
kind of I had become so race conscious and so

(01:01:29):
angry that I like everything, I was looking at everything
through the lens of race, and I felt like I
couldn't there. I was just there's no freedom. I didn't
feel any freedom. So I didn't have any idea what
I was going to do. But I just decided to
drop out and I told everybody I'm not acting anymore.

(01:01:50):
And so about a year went by, I was just
being a you know, stay at home dad. And maybe
about a year later, somebody had asked me to all
to it for something, and I said, okay, because I
didn't know what. I wasn't doing anything. And then that
was like a slow climb back into the business, and

(01:02:12):
it was very, very gradual, and I think, you know,
there wasn't a lot of work anyway for Asian American actors,
but it wasn't until a few years later. I remember
I was listening to Bobby Lee's podcast and he was
talking with Margaret Choe and Bobby Lee like he mentions
my name and he said, oh, you know, he got blacklisted,

(01:02:33):
and like I was blacklisted. I had no idea, you know,
But but then I realized, like, oh, that is the
common kind of like I think a lot of people
thought that, especially in the Asian American community, I think
believed that I was blacklisted. And I thought, oh wow.
And I remember I texted Bobby said, you know, I
wasn't blacklisted, but but who who would have known anyway,

(01:02:58):
you know, because I wasn't really working by anyway, with
a lot of a lot of work. But yeah, it
took me a while, I think, to to not only
get back into the business, but to move beyond this
this race consciousness that was that had overwhelmed me, and

(01:03:19):
it was a lot of spiritual work. I've been on
huge spiritual journeys. I've gone to Machu Picchu with Don
Miguel Ruiz, who wrote the Four Agreements. You know. I've
done meditation retreats. I've done ayahuasca. You know, I've done
so many things. And I think over over the years,

(01:03:41):
I began to understand the ego. I began to understand
identify how how the ego works and how I like
just just this identification with the body, for instance, is
egoic and recognizing that the true self is the the

(01:04:05):
presence that is always here and always now, and that
the body comes and goes, and this my name, my race.
Everything that you can, all the labels you can put
on me, all came after what I call I like,
they're not inherently this eternal eye that we all are right.

(01:04:28):
And I think that's what I eventually arrived at. And
so that freed me, that insight freedman.

Speaker 7 (01:04:36):
Wow, Wow, what an incredible journey.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
Amazing Well Put.

Speaker 5 (01:04:43):
I mean yeah, very well, Put, And.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
I'm serious about this, this this this moment. You know,
you talk about this race consciousness that you sort of
arrived at you were already like mid career. I mean,
you had already been working. I mean, was part of
this recognizing that, especially you know, auditioning for parts and
reading scripts before that. I mean, there must have been
so many times when you were asked to audition for

(01:05:06):
what was essentially a stereotype or a role that yes,
and were you turning those parts down or were you
just hungry enough act Oh? Yeah, so you were you
were already making choices.

Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
Oh yeah, yeah, I was turning stuff down all the time. Yeah.
So yeah, that was just kind of the norm at
that time, right yeah. I mean now it's just a
completely different scene now, yeah, I mean it's it's kind
of amazing.

Speaker 8 (01:05:33):
I'm curious when you were growing up, you said you
were the class clown, you were funny. Were there any
Asian American entertainers that you looked up to when you
were a kid.

Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
Not that I was like, oh, I want to be
like that, but I remember like Johnny I don't know
if you remember him, sure if he's from Korea, And uh,
you know, I knew I was aware of actress like
sent Teco, you know, Pat Marina. You know, I was
friends with his daughter Ali, so George de Kay, like

(01:06:08):
all of these different actors who are like a generation ahead.
You know, I was aware of them. But I think
at the beginning of my career, I was always like,
I want to break new ground. I want to break
new ground. I want to do something that hasn't been
done before. Also, you know, like doing doing roles without

(01:06:29):
an accent was a big deal. Like doing an accent
or not doing any like that was always like an
issue that was hard. That's why, you know, do the
right thing. It was hard for me to be to
have to do that. So it's just been a slow evolution,
you know. And uh, yeah, I've forgotten the question.

Speaker 8 (01:06:52):
I was asking about your your If there are any
Asian American actors you you looked up to when you
were Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:57):
I mean I was aware of them. I wouldn't. Yeah,
it's now like Bruce Lee, it was my you know,
he was my guy. Yeah, you know, But and I
was a martial artist. I was really into martial arts
growing up. But I entered my career a knowing I
didn't want to do martial arts, knowing I didn't want
to just fall into that that you know, stereotypes. So

(01:07:19):
I like actively kind of did not go in that direction.

Speaker 7 (01:07:25):
Well, I know, with all the talk we just had
recently about the ego and all that, this may not
you know land as well, but I do wonder. You know,
you've worked with Stephen youun an incredible young actor who
is getting opportunities that probably didn't even exist ten years ago, Right,
So what does it feel like for you to see
some of these changes having been a whistleblower well ahead

(01:07:49):
of your time a long time ago, Like how does
it feel now?

Speaker 1 (01:07:53):
Well, it's amazing, but I still feel like I'm still
in it. I'm still pursuing jobs, I'm still wanting to
get work. So it's great to see, like it kind
of blows my mind. Like Stephen Ewen's success is so
and he, you know, by his own admission, like he's
one of these people who just is incredibly lucky, like

(01:08:16):
just amazing luck that that has happened with him, And
and I think, I think it's really really great. I
do sometimes feel like, Wow, what's what's next for me?
What's going to have to be? And I have no idea,
I have no sense because I don't know what I

(01:08:41):
don't know how to be this age because I'm just
doing it for the first time. And and then it
always goes back to all of the stuff I learned
in my spiritual journey, you know, which it all points to. Well,
everything is here right, nothing's missing. What's here, there's something

(01:09:02):
from the bagaba gito. What's here now is everywhere. It's
not here now is nowhere to be found. So the
moment I feel like something's missing or I'm not getting
what I want, it's my ego. My ego somehow has
been hooked and I feel like something is unfair or
I don't I'm not getting what I want. It's some

(01:09:25):
narrative that that has taken hold in my mind. And
and so I now have the tools to recognize, oh my, my,
my egos hooked, and and then just to come back
to the present moment. So that's kind of what I do.

Speaker 7 (01:09:39):
Steven, thank you so much for joining us today and
spending your valuable time with us.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:09:46):
Like we said when you joined we we could not
stop breaving about you when your episode came up.

Speaker 8 (01:09:51):
And I just have another seventy fargo questions is.

Speaker 4 (01:09:56):
Yeah, I'm just gonna poke you on the shoulder and
keep asking you, well you know.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
By now, dude, this book. There's a book that was written.

Speaker 5 (01:10:04):
Yeah, send me somewhere else, please send us.

Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
Just go on the internet.

Speaker 4 (01:10:08):
Will get your answers.

Speaker 2 (01:10:09):
You don't have to Steve.

Speaker 4 (01:10:11):
No, no, no, I want.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
To like Little White Lives on YouTube. Look it up.
There's a whole interview just about Cargo.

Speaker 5 (01:10:18):
Okay, cool, Okay, you've sent Will on a mission. He
will definitely do that.

Speaker 4 (01:10:22):
Thank your house later today with seven questions.

Speaker 7 (01:10:24):
Now, we won't give him your information, I promise. Thank
you so much for joining us. It's really been a
pleasure to talk to you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
Oh my god, it's been great. I really was so scared.
I was telling Kelly how that was. I didn't know
what we were going to talk about.

Speaker 5 (01:10:39):
I don't I hope it did. Was it was it scary?

Speaker 4 (01:10:41):
Okay, yeah, no, it was.

Speaker 1 (01:10:44):
It was a joy.

Speaker 5 (01:10:44):
Okay, thank you, great, Thank you so much. Great to
see you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:50):
Then, bye bye bye.

Speaker 7 (01:10:52):
Oh man, I'm so excited to see Mickey seventeen. By
the way, for our dear listeners who may not know,
it is the follow up to Parasite.

Speaker 8 (01:11:00):
I just can't I can't get over the scope of
the directors that he's worked with now, the experiences that
he's had, good and bad in this industry just incredible. Again,
one of those people I could sit and just listen
to talk all day. Just please keep telling me stories.
I mean, I mean, yeah, I feel exactly the same way.
But I also love that move.

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
The interview moved from you know, Hollywood stories, which I
obviously love, and I just want to sit and have
dinner conversation about that too, like really intense, spiritual, interesting
philosophical stuff that I'm like, I also want to hear.

Speaker 8 (01:11:37):
So I just I'm still the whole James Hong thing
because I got so. I grew up a huge James
Hong fan and I've gotten to work with him three
times and he's the nicest human being you will ever
meet in your life. So hearing anybody say anything about
him made me viscerally angry. It was weird to hear
that he had a bad experience on the set, because
you could not meet a nicer human being than James

(01:11:58):
Hong and as hell, So like.

Speaker 4 (01:12:01):
Hearing that was just I didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:12:03):
Like that at all.

Speaker 5 (01:12:03):
Yeah, I know, it's pretty it's a it's pretty crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (01:12:06):
Yeah, he's got he's got quite a story.

Speaker 7 (01:12:08):
And I love how there's nothing about the way he
talks that give He's just everything he says is just like, well, yeah,
but this is what happened. It's just this is and
there's no like shame in sharing it. This is, this
is who said this and then this happened and then
got the call like I don't know, it's just he
seems like such a.

Speaker 5 (01:12:28):
Just straightforward, honest but thoughtful.

Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
Also he's so even keeled and yeah, and what's interesting
about that is that, you know, actors, comedic actors especially
are usually not right. You know, it's like it's hard.
You know, a lot of the reason that people become
actors often is because they're very expressive, and they're very emotional,
and they're up and down, and so the result is
that often actors are kind of, you know erradical and hard.

Speaker 4 (01:12:55):
You know, the harder it feels like a relaxed round.

Speaker 2 (01:12:58):
And he is clearly a great actor. Listening to him
talk about how he thinks as an act like when
he was talking about his Fargo experience, and he so
invested in the emotion he made it personal for himself
like this, I mean, he's just a genius actor. But
then he can also be very even. Keel talk very
intelligently and sort of like, you know, basically about his

(01:13:19):
life and his experience and his thoughts.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
Wow.

Speaker 8 (01:13:21):
Well again, he talked about the internal struggle he put
himself into shoot one day, one scene, and he probably
beat himself up and got himself to such a state
for weeks, if not months beforehand to go in there,
to the point where he's sitting across from this one

(01:13:44):
of the most probably one of the most gifted actresses
in the history of Hollywood who says you've got to
turn the camera, turn around or he's so in it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:52):
And I love It's creditative to that because that's totally
her styles to be like, oh well, let's be and
and of course she's like married to the director so
she can tell him. I mean apparently she's that way,
like she's just so you got to.

Speaker 4 (01:14:04):
Be looking that way right now because look at what.

Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
Just love it like every other story is like. And
then I was doing a play. I'm like, I am
still doing plays because you just are an accident at
like you said, Except for that one year when he
which also was super interesting, like that he reached this
point where he was like, I need to take a
step back because I'm getting too caught up in something
that is is hurting me. Oh, he's so fascinating an

(01:14:27):
interesting guy.

Speaker 7 (01:14:29):
Thank you all for joining us for this episode of
Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on
Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your
emails at Pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com.
And we've got merch.

Speaker 8 (01:14:40):
This week's merch sponsored by Jake's Local Mechanics Shop, Keith
Fobbs and skin Flakes.

Speaker 5 (01:14:50):
Show dot com writer send us out.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
We love you all, pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is
an iHeart podcast producer hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfridell and
Ryder Strong Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman, Executive
in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara
sugbachsch producer, Maddi Moore, engineer and boy mets World Superman
Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon.

(01:15:17):
Follow us on Instagram at Podmets World Show, or email
us at Podmeats World Show at gmail dot com.