July 26, 2022 • 46 mins
This week I am talking and laughing with standup comedian, writer, actor and one of Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch for 2020, Jenny Yang! Jenny shares how she discovered comedy and how she uses her funny to fight for justice through social media and video games. You can find more info on Jenny at her website JennyYang.tv or on Twitter and Instagram @jennyyangtv! Please enjoy this episode from the HER Archives.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Recording in January for episodes that will probably be coming
out in February. Is a weird tenant experience everyone, because
we are in a present and you are listening in
the future, and we hope that where you are listening
is better what is happening. We hope that is better
(00:35):
there were We're longing for you to tell us it's
better there. But good news is I have a wonderful
guest in our her living room. Former labor organizer, now
stand up comedian, writer, actor, one of Variety's ten Comics
to Watch for, writer for Last Man Standing, creator of
(00:55):
Comedy Crossing, a hit stand up comedy show held inside
of the Animal Crossing video game. Welcome y'all, Jenny Yang
to the podcast. Wow, oh, I'm gonna need that intro
for everything I do. Thank you. I felt the energy.
(01:16):
I gotta I gotta give it to you, Jenny. You
know we don't have the live audience, you know, so
I just gotta. I gotta give you those those handclaps
that we we loved, we loved when we could have
those handclaps. Jenny, I felt it. I felt the intro.
I was like, who is she talking about? She sounds impressive, y'all.
(01:36):
So I have to tell y'all, I almost like I
felt like jubilation and like a little bit of tear
in my eye when like Jenny's face came up on
zoom because the last time I saw Jenny, we were
staying in one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in.
Like I'm sure, I'm pretty sure I took a video
(01:57):
of that hotel Suite's was like, I want to have
proof that I was in a room like this, and
Jenny and I and some other women from Makers we
all just leaned up against a bar and talked late
into the night and felt each other's breath and wow,
(02:21):
it was magical. I mean, I feel like that's what
a conference is for, especially when you pull together the
right people, right, you just naturally find affinity, You naturally
find inspiration. Um, the liquor didn't hurt, you know what
I mean, But like it was great and and I
really appreciated that, like around a large kind of hotel
(02:43):
lobby lounge, you just naturally gravitate towards people's energy. And
you're one of those people. And that's what's been really
nice to check in with you. Basically a year later. Man,
Look listen, this was right before the pandemic hit, and
so you were one of my my last memories of
a large gathering, right And I want to say you
(03:06):
and I also had on like our power pink blazers
that evening. I think we It was not like the
exact same blazer, but the color was like right in there,
and I felt the vibes. And y'all, I have to
tell y'all getting to see Jinny Yang perform live, and
especially in a room like where we were, because it's
(03:27):
sort of a mix of like different industry people. You know,
there are people there who are very corporative business e,
people who were into politary corpus, very like cross section
of people. But it was it was a little a
little tight in the room. I would say, And y'all, Jenny,
(03:49):
you mean they're you mean they're sphincters. Well, could have
been some was tight that there. There there are clasicals,
something of their nature's was tied up in there, Jenny
and y'all. When I tell y'all, Jenny walked up in
there with her power blazer and she was like, I
(04:10):
don't care, y'all, y'all can be like that, if y'all
want to be like that, I'm gonna come in here
and be myself. And I was like I walked by
and saw her at the bar and was like, must
stop and top that. What a compliment? Yeah, I mean
it was so corporate everyone. You know, it was the
(04:31):
first day of the conference. Everyone was tired from traveling
and getting in and I was like, oh, wait a minute,
you all are just thinking about all the emails you're
trying to catch up on after this, aren't you, you know,
And it was it was a lot of like power
suit women, like not even power suit women, you know,
the kind of women you look at their outfit and
you're like, this is tens of thousands of dollars that
(04:52):
party right now. And I'm like, right, And I didn't
grow up around that. I have been in spaces where
now I recognize what that looks like. But that was,
you know, a little intimidating. But I think what I
what I learned is uh, corporate folks, they want to
keep a certain decorum. But I'm a comedian. I was
doing stand up Inda, you know, it was a nice challenge.
(05:14):
I'm glad you laughed. You stepped to you stepped up
to it though, you really did. I was like, I
was like, I want to talk to her more. And
then we set sat at the bar y'all for until
I almost gonna keep my eyes open standing there talking
with Jenny and Milk was with us. We were having
just a wonderful time. So Jenny, thank you for joining
(05:35):
me on the podcast for one of my She Funny
episodes because you funny girl, and I can't wait for
you to tell us all of the process. So I
want to start with, what's your earliest memory of discovering comedy?
Was it in your family? Was it something that you watched.
(05:56):
What's your earliest moment where you either remember seeing someone
being funny or that you realized you could be funny?
Oh goodness, you know. I feel like and whenever anyone
asks me, oh, how did you decide to become a comedian,
you know, I'm always like, let's listen. I did not
grow up a little immigrant girl from Taiwan with my
(06:18):
round ass Chinese face, with people telling me you should
make a living from doing comedy. You know a lot
of women don't get told this. Um. I was just
out there trying to do good grades. But my earliest
memory of comedy and just being obsessed with comedy was actually,
you know, watching a VHS tape of the Best of
(06:41):
SNL with Eddie Murphy. That my old that my older brothers,
my older brothers are like ten years and nine years
older than me, and so I was just watching things
that were probably you know, inappropriate, but as a little
child in elementary school, I still understood what was funny
and Eddie Murphy was hilarious to me. And I don't
(07:04):
even understand how I understood the race um kind of
politics of the comedy he was doing. I don't know
if y'all are familiar, but you know, when Eddie Murphy
was was on Saturday Night Live. He did uh white
face and you know, to to to spoof white black
like me, but he was white like me. And there
(07:24):
was a whole bit about that that that was hilarious
to me, even as a child. You know, he did
Mr Robinson's Neighborhood, right, you know, being Mr Rogers but
but being in the hood, you know, and and and
changing the lyrics and doing a puppet show where he
was you know, a black middle finger with hair and
afro on it, you know, talking back to a little
(07:46):
puppet of Ronald Reagan. Like that blew my mind even
as a child. And who maybe that's why, you know,
in the future that was just what was to come.
I would, you know, be more into politics and recognize
social justice issues. But man, then I thought it was hilarious.
I memorized it to this day. I still remember word
for words some of the bits that Eddie Murphy did.
(08:07):
And so you know, that's really my earliest memory as
far as whether or not I decided I could, you know,
do that stuff. I feel like I became a little
bit of a class clown, even though I was a
straight a student, you know. But but you know, never
does a does a young girl think, oh, someday I'm
going to be, you know, a professional comedian or work
(08:28):
in comedy, you know what I mean. So but yeah, no,
shout out to Eddie Murphy. I wish to meet him someday. Yo,
I join you in your shout out, because Eddie Murphy
is definitely one of the reasons why I'm a stage
performer today. I told this in an earlier episode, but
I mean, I was he killed. I was watching that.
I mean, I don't know how this is for generations
(08:49):
and kids now delirious that was mine that I was
like a fifth grader watching that. I don't know what
it's like now for kids that are like super protected
with the parental control, because apparently we haven't had that
growing up. So I watched all sorts of things. I
watched Comic Relief when like Billy Crystal and Robin Williams
(09:11):
were doing uh comic the Comic Relief series on HBO.
I was watching that as a child. So of course
there's some things I'm sure that we're like way too
like a kid should be watching, but ahead just getting
to see that and being like, huh, you can have
a job where you're standing there with a microphone and
just captivating people for however long with your stories. Yes,
(09:34):
I would be up for that. So shout out to
Eddie Murphy and for us being supposed to Eddie Murphy
as children before we were probably supposed to be. Yeah,
I mean, I feel like, if you're listening, think about
when you discovered you were funny, you know what I mean,
or you discovered you can make someone laugh, because I
think for me, you know, making people laugh was not
thought about in its own isolated way. It was more like, wait,
(09:57):
I can make people laugh. That's powerful, that's power, you know.
I saw it as just one of the tools, you
know what I mean, to be persuasive, to get people's attention,
to get what I want, you know, And so you know,
it wasn't until much later than I decided, yes, this
could be a profession. But to me, I feel like
it's important as women too, you know, to think about
(10:18):
how when did we decide that, you know, we had
access to a tool that made us powerful. M I
love that. I love that because you are sort of
in control of the room there when you get up there,
and that's you on the microphone. Even as a comedic writer,
you're the one coming up with these ideas that are
going to make people laugh, these ideas that all of
(10:41):
this crew, you know, has to sort of surround these
ideas that you write. I mean, I think that is
a fantastic observation, that that is power that we had
the opportunity to do that. It is well, you're a poet,
and you perform as a poet, right, and I actually
used to be uh, I actually used to perform poetry
before I become mm hmm um. And it was either
(11:03):
really silly or really emotional. But you know, I I
like being able to get people to receive a message,
think about things I want them to think about that
I think they should care about, you know, move them.
And so to me, doing comedy was just another way
to do that. You know, what was your entry point?
(11:24):
Was it an open mic? Did you start there as
far as when you started making a foray into trying
it out? Was the open mic your first let me
see how this is going. When I think about how
I was able to play creatively and be funny in general,
it was definitely school. That was like the school, the
(11:45):
socially sanctioned arena to use humor to excel and be creative.
So I'm doing extra credit projects. But but it wasn't
until um you know, I was working for a number
of years, moving up very quickly to becoming a director
in the labor movement. We used to represent eighty five
tho you know, public service workers in southern California. Um uh,
(12:09):
And I was making six figures. I was making a
good living, but I was so burnt out. I was
a director. But the people I looked up to I
no longer admired them. You know, I no longer respected them,
the people that I worked for, and so I was like,
this is only this can last only so long. So um,
I had my own sort of come to Jesus moment,
(12:31):
so to speak, but you know, come to comedy moment
where I was like, I need to just accept that
I'm an artist and and and it was like literally
a night where I got so emotional and I had
to I never took on the label of a writer
a poet, even though around Los Angeles I was actually
known to perform, and you know. Um, So it was
(12:54):
that night that I was like, Okay, Jenny, you need
to stop putting up these blocks except this identity of
being creative and being open to creative opportunities and other
people who have been reflecting back to you that you
are someone who is this type of person, you know.
So it was because of that that I finally heard
the message many times from before Jenny, You're so funny,
(13:16):
You're like a comedian, and I was like, oh, okay,
Finally the twenty fifth time I heard that, I said,
I'm gonna go do open mic stand up comedy. That's
that's how you start. Just go to an open mic
right where no one had to book. You just show
up and try to do something that moves people. And uh,
and that's that's where it started. And it was I
was going to poop my pants. But it was my
(13:38):
first time in a long time that I felt like, Wow,
this made me really nervous. I really cared about this.
Why do I care about this? And I know that
if I can get good at this, it can be
very powerful because it's very freeing and creative. So that's
that's what happened. Um. I went to a very familiar
space in l a called Tuesday Night Project where I
was an associate artist as a poet, and I said,
(13:59):
guess what, guys, I'm gonna try to do stand up
comedy today, even though you usually see me do poetry.
It was awful. I have tape of it somewhere I
don't know, but you know, that's what happened. But yes,
open mic, that's that was my first experience. See, I
was going to ask you, was your first time awful
or did it go amazing? Because so far in interviewing
(14:20):
and just talking with other comedians, it's sort of, you know,
to over generalize. It's this divide down the middle, right,
where there were some comedians that their first time on stage,
they felt that they were flying, They did amazing, everyone clapped,
and then that next time was when they bombed. They
were like, you know, And then there are some comedians
(14:42):
I talked with that are like, well, I went out
there and the first time went terrible, but it also
inspired me to keep going, to keep writing. So it's
it's interesting to hear you say that, like it felt awful.
You would look back on it now anyway and think like,
this was awful, but it inspired you enough to keep
going going. Yeah, you know, I feel like it's like
(15:02):
one of those things, you know, like, um, I feel
like we need to learn how to read our own instrument,
if that makes sense. Like, sometimes something might feel bad,
but that word is so blunt to describe a whole
host of signals in our bodies. You know, it felt awful.
(15:23):
I was gonna I felt like I was going to
throw up from the nervousness, But there was something behind
it that I sensed that was deeper, you know, that
wasn't just my nervous system. That was like, oh man,
if I could get past this nervous part, I could
really like this, you know, what I mean, I could
be very gratified by this, and so just think this.
(15:44):
Thankfully I somehow saw through it, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, no,
that makes perfect sense. I've actually never thought about this
for what my first time was doing poetry in an
open mic, but I would venture to say it was
also awful. But I think the terrible art is that
I thought I was amazing, Like I thought I was
going to really load those people away, Like I was like, oh,
(16:08):
like they are going to be so glad I came
here tonight. They're gonna be whoo, They're gonna be ready
to hear more from me. And then it was like,
you know, it's one of those things where like you know,
you sign up on the list, well, then you're there
listening to everyone else until you know the MC calls you.
And so I think as the night wore on and
(16:28):
I was hearing more and more amazing poetry, then it
was like, I don't know, that may have been my
first time really having like a collective of other people
to compare my work to, Whereas where I was from,
I was like mostly the only poet or one of
a small nu repose that people knew, so to go
from that to I'm in this room where like most
(16:50):
people here are poets, and they were so amazing. I
was like, oh no, I don't know if I should
have signed up. I don't know if I'm gonna be
as good as I thought. And there was no way
to get off the list. The m C would not
let you remove your name, and so I went and
I did my little things, and it did not go well.
It did not go well. It was actually a pretty
embarrassing experience. But to your point, Jenny, I remember leaving
(17:15):
and more than I felt embarrassed, I felt like I
can get better if I keep coming to a space
like this, I can get better, Like I can learn
how to write better, not to be like what I saw,
but to be better as me, as whatever I would
sound like, you know, whatever my voice would be. That
was inspiring enough to go back and obviously get embarrassed
(17:37):
a bunch more times, you know, But what a gift.
You know. There's something about people who are performers or
who are artists. It's like, what is it about you
that makes you feel like you can you can like
push through the embarrassment or the mortification or the not
doing great the first time. It's wild. It's wild, it's
(17:58):
a wild thing. I'm like, how do know if it's
like the other side of the ego that's there or what.
But it's like, Wow, that just went terrible. Do you
guys do this again next week? Because I would love to.
I'd love to come again, yeah, and just be utterly
embarrassed again. I'd love to do that until one day
I'm not. But then it's like the payoff of eventually
(18:21):
continuing to go, continuing to go, and then getting to
the point where you get in front of the audience
and you're like, oh, that worked. That thing I wrote
it worked on stage. I mean that gratification to me
is worth a bunch of times of being embarrassed. Well,
then then that's what makes you you, you know, not
like that. Okay, Jenny, this is what I need to
(18:51):
talk to you about, because you know, y'all, y'all know
that the algorithms on Instagram are terrible. Um so sometimes
like you miss out on all the amazing things people
are doing. But let me tell y'all, Jenny Yang was
coming up in all my algorithms on Instagram, honey, and
I was like, Jenny, you better figure out some ways
to engage the people in comedy when we can't be
(19:16):
in person. And it was so inspiring to me to
watch what you were doing, because obviously there's a lot
about this time of the pandemic that has just been
horrible and terrible, you know, And I don't want to
ignore those things at all. I want to also say,
(19:36):
and there have been some things about a lot of
us having a collective experience of the quarantine and this
collective experience of being away from our loved ones, are
having to be cautious about how we visit our loved ones.
There was some things about that collective experience that I
think brought us together but also brought some opportunities to
(20:00):
to innovate, to think of new ways to do things,
you know. And if we weren't in a pandemic, then
we all probably would have been gathered in different venues,
you know, performing a lot of us that are on
the road would have been doing that. And when I
started seeing the first of all, there was two things
that you were doing that I was like, Jenny, Yes, honey, okay.
Number one, when I tell y'all between Twitter and Instagram,
(20:23):
Jenny is not here for the games. Okay, there was
some commentary on your social media that I was like, Jenny,
I just I live. I live for the commentary. I'm
here for everything about this. The threads. There were some
threads Jenny was doing on Twitter that I was like, Jenny,
I live for this. So first of all, let's talk
(20:44):
about comedy as resistance, which I think you coming from,
you know, a labor organizer background. I feel like that
seems to be something that was inherent in your work,
you know anyway, but in particular that we're in the
middle of a pandemic that's also a global uprising that
we're watching everyone, you know, I can't say everyone. We're
(21:08):
watching a lot of people fighting, fighting for justice in
the streets, protesting, getting arrested, putting their lives at risk,
Like that's how important justice was to them. And to
see also that your voice as a comedian can be
(21:28):
a part of speaking up, can be a part of
the uprising. So talk to me about is that a
part of your comedic process or just you as a
person in general, that you see the comedic voice also
being a part of justice. And then what was that
like now having to use a different microphone, on social media,
(21:52):
maybe not having events and different things that we were
used to, like, talk to me about what that process
was like for you. Yeah, first of all, thank you.
That is such a nice way of describing what I've
been doing. To me, it's just um, you know, me
trying to delight people, but obviously to me. To me also,
I want people to think about things that I want
(22:14):
them to think about that I care about, that I
think the world should care about. And so I think
every comedian will tell you the bottom line is can
you make people laugh? Can you entertain them? If you
can do that, then great, then you're a comedian. But
beyond that, there's just so many ways that you could
be right, just so you know. That's why it's it's
(22:35):
it's like, uh, you know Harry Kunnabolo, another comedian that
I really love. You know, he says, you know you
don't you never say do you love comedy? Of course
you love comedy, you love to laugh. But it's just
like saying do you like music? Of course you like music?
Do you like heavy metal? Do you like speed metal?
Do you like hip hop? You know what I'm saying.
So there's just different ways to be a comedian, and
(22:55):
for me, my preferred form of comedy is one a
where um, you know, there's some thinking behind it in
terms of what the social consequences are, right, because because
that's what I care about. I care about trying to
push things more towards the side of justice rather than not. Okay,
(23:16):
whether that's through a tiny tweet or whatever. You know,
sometimes it's just a silly thing about you know, me
missing eating bread. I don't know, right, but but to me,
it's like it's kind of like that spoonful of sugar
that makes the medicine go down. If you have that sugar,
which is the sweetness of laughter, sometimes the things that
are really tough, that are important to talk about can
(23:37):
be received, you know. And so that's that's what I
think is beautiful about comedy. And and as a form
of resistance, it cuts through the clutter, you know. I
feel like, you know, when you're able to get to
people's physical response, visceral response of laughter, it cuts through
the logic, right, it gets right to the heart of something.
And so that's what's really powerful to me about comedy. Um. Now,
(23:59):
I don't know what Twitter threats you were talking about,
but you know, I personally felt it was very important
to highlight the true absurdity of racism or you know,
sort of inequality that became even more urgent and apparent
during the pandemic. You know. It's it's like, it's not
that the these these issues weren't there before. It's just
(24:23):
all eyes were on social media. Once everyone was at home,
there was no other way to engage in real life.
And and we were all, you know, just sucked away.
What else could we do but communicate online? And and
and one of the things I wanted to do was
just offer up a perspective where you know, if ship
was racist, maybe we talked about it. If the pandemic
(24:47):
was happening and it's originated in China and you're out
here calling it the Kung flu China flu, maybe we
need to maybe we need to correct that. If you're
using only stock photos of Asian people for your corre
no virus, uh, you know article, maybe you shouldn't do that,
Maybe you should change it up. You know. Um, there's
(25:07):
just all these tiny things that I just you know,
wanted to highlight. And uh, it's just it's just my
little part. Let's be honest. It's just one little drop.
But um that at least I feel like I can
control that. Um. But yeah, so that's just simply the
speaking out part, right, And then you asked about um,
you know, not being able to perform live right basically
(25:29):
uh and needing to to to to pivot you know,
be doing stand up comedy inherently is standing up in
front of humans and having that back and forth. It
doesn't exist without it. And it was so bleak y'all.
I don't know if any of you checked out a
comedy show during the pandemic, especially at the beginning of it.
But Instagram Live when you have those two people on
(25:51):
Instagram is not a way to do it. There's no audience.
Who you're doing it too? Who are you telling a
joke to just one person who's barely laughing? No, that
is not stand up comedy. It is the saddest part
of It's like going back to open mics. It's like
a hell hole of a of a sadness cave when
you say something into the void and your your voice
(26:12):
just dies. Right, that's the point of comedy. You want
that feedback. And so, um, you know, luckily or not
a zoom meeting ended up being the best platform for
being able to have people un muted and being able
to laugh as if you're in the same room with them.
And that's what I did. I kind of try different
(26:33):
things for a month or so, and then just out
of nowhere, decided to combine the desire to continue doing
comedy with the thing that was saving me, which was
a lot of other people between March and April um
which is playing Animal Crossing, like the cutest little Japanese
game from Nintendo where you can actually invite your friends
little avatars. It's like SIMS, but with cute Japanese characters
(26:55):
onto your little island that you get to like decorate
and farm, you know. And it was a tiny thing.
It is a video game, but it was a saving
grace for being able to stay connected with people. And
I thought, Wow, they sell little cartoon microphones and amps
and you can like put up a uh, you know,
a red brick wall wallpaper on my basement. Let's make
(27:18):
a comedy club and let's see what this looks like. Um.
It always happening. And right around the time that George
Floyd Jr. Was murdered, and it just we was gonna
be a free show anyway. And I said, well, then
the best thing we could do right now is let's
make this a free show, but we're gonna solicit donations
with the majority of it goes to Black Lives Matter
related causes. And you all remember every go fund me,
(27:41):
every other bailout fund was happening at that time, and
to me, just as a creator and as a producer,
it felt empowering to just do my tiny part, you
know what I mean, to not feel helpless because you're
just sitting there watching this wallpaper of news wash over you,
and um, it was just a tiny way to use
(28:02):
the tools that I had control of in order to
offer something back. Uh. I love that. Like when I
saw that you were doing a comedy show inside of
Animal Crossing, I was like, Jenny, yes, honey, yes, yes,
because you know, there's a bunch of comedians at home
(28:25):
just chopping at the bit to talk to somebody somewhere,
and a bunch of people, you know, needing to access
their joy, you know, in a time that was really
hard still is you know for a lot of people,
really really hard stuff going on, and we can only
(28:49):
take in all that hard stuff. So long before we're
going to just lose our resilience. We need to access
our joy, We need to sort of feel that sense
of camaraderie with other human beings. And I loved that, Jenny.
I just think it's so freaking innovative what you're doing.
Oh thank you. And you know, I didn't know how
(29:10):
long you would last or what the response was going
to be, but the the response was tremendous, you know.
But we started at the beginning of June. We did
two shows every month, ended it in in you know,
late November, and we raised about thirty five thousand dollars
for Black Lives Matter related funds, which and you know,
average two hundred fifty to seven hundred people watching a
(29:34):
Zoom meeting, you know what I mean twice a month.
And and I think what this says to me is
people have such a hunger if you just tap into it,
you know, to to support live comedy for one, but
also feel like they can do something um about racial
justice and anti black issues, you know. So Noah, I mean,
(29:55):
I just it was very it was very inspiring to
me the kind of to get that energy during a
time when we weren't able to feed off of the
social energy, you know in real life. Yeah, I was
talking to a woman. I'm trying to think all that.
You know, how all the time, I'm like, was it days?
Was it months? Was it years ago? Time is elastic
(30:17):
now in another time before the television wasn't vincent. I
was talking to someone, but anyway I was. I was
actually hosting a virtual event. And this woman I know
is they're talking. She's she's a community organizer. And she
said something that I thought was really profound. She was
talking about how, you know, normally in community organizing, you
(30:37):
sort of have this staggered approach as to how long
organizers stay sort of on the front line of the fight,
because you will inevitably burn out because you're just facing
so much violence and aggression and different things. And I
really appreciated her sharing that with us, because she was
(30:59):
basically saying how like sometimes one person will have to
go on the front line for a while, and then
their time will come that they have to go and
like rest and replenish and that, and then another person's
time will come where like a team of people they'll
be on the front line together. And I think we
in in some many ways, you know, some some small,
(31:19):
tiny ways like you put it. I feel like we
were seeing that happen where there were some people that
were just like I got too much grief going on.
I got to like, I'm I can't, I can't, and
they had to take time to rest and replenish, and
there were other people that could say, Okay, here's like
a thing I can do, you know, And I think
that's powerful, just the collective of community. We can have
(31:42):
that way together, you know. I think you know, in
the end, to me, when I pivoted from politics to uh,
comedy and entertainment, it's all the same thing. We're we're
in the business of people, of organizing people, you know.
And so how I saw it was, you know, whenever
whenever I have whenever I have been a part of
something where we are able to recognize our collective power,
(32:04):
that it's not about just an individual right, that we
are stronger together. Um that that applies to building my
career in comedy. That's obviously it's it's to benefit me.
But in the end, you know, that's why I organized
stand up comedy tours and comedy festivals because I knew
that number one, the morale boost of having peers with you,
(32:26):
to walk alongside you is helpful. But also you know,
that's how you develop, that's how you grow, That's how
you grow your own audience, you know. I mean it's
all the same, like the way people use marketing terms
to me is just it's somewhat different, but it's very
similar to if you do community organizing or political organizing.
You know, it's about how do we get as many
(32:47):
people together as possible to recognize a common interest and
have a have a roadmap to a place of hope. Right,
And so that's what that's what Um, I've just used
that tochnology if you want to put it that way,
you know what I mean, as a way of living
and as a way of doing my work, um, and
anything I do. And so I would recommend it for
(33:07):
most people. I hate marketing and business jargon, you know
what I'm saying. Yeah, same, Oh my gosh. Please, I
want to ask you about this to One of the
reasons why I'm just enjoying interviewing women of color like
yourself that are working in comedy is because women of
color are doing so many things in comedy, right, So
(33:30):
I would love for you to talk about how does
comedy show itself for you in your career, you have
stand up I know you also write as a comedian.
Tell the people what does that look like for you?
The different facets of your career where you are working
in comedy, but you have these different ways you may
(33:52):
enter the space. Yeah, I mean, I feel like if
we're talking brass tacks first and foremost, I am a
self employed person, right, So I'm just here to have
multiple income streams. I'm here trying to you know, feed
this little seed over here, this little seed over there,
to to wait to see what might you know, flower
(34:12):
and grow? Right and so um and and I have
no control over the timing of these things a lot
of times. And so for me when I started, it
was a matter of, Okay, what can I do to
use all of my gifts in order to uh be
of service so that I may gain income? Right, you
know That's how I kind of see it. And so um,
(34:33):
first of all, I used my leadership skills and producing
skills that I had before event organizing, facilitating all of that,
um to create a stand up comedy tours and comedy festivals.
Even when I was still learning my stand up comedy craft.
You know UM. I also UM managed to then make
money off of these live comedy shows. Then I was
(34:54):
working on my own writing UM in order to possibly
become a staff TV writer. But in the meantime, you
put on your own table reads, you work on that,
you you know, show people you're writing. Maybe you write
shorter monologues versus longer TV shows. Eventually got on a
TV writing gigs UM. But also in addition to performing live,
(35:18):
I did a lot of digital videos. So around was
when I got really into BuzzFeed video. I knew someone
who just had started the four person department that was
BuzzFeed Video back then. And if you remember back then,
that was actually when BuzzFeed I used to call it
the network television of the Internet, you know, and it
was one of the few first times that people were
hearing so many different types of identities talking about these identities,
(35:42):
right whether you're lgbt Q plus, if you're you know, Asian, American,
Latin X, etcetera, and so um it was a very
you know, opportune moment for me to be able to
do some of their initial viral videos because then the
college students who saw that recognize me, you know, invited
me out to do college touring and I did that
for a long time too, and so um, it was
(36:03):
to me it was about how do I try to
go where I am needed? Um And and no matter
what it is, I am format agnostic, you know what
I mean, I'm not. Is it a tweet, I'll give
you a tweet. Is it a digital video, I'll give
you a digital video. You want an essay? Here, try this?
You know what I'm saying. Saying like this is this
(36:24):
is to me my mentality for how to you know,
make a living doing what I do. But I would
say the main thing, though, is my base of support
from the beginning was my community, because that's what I
was a part of. It's in a community that I
was invested in, an Asian American creative you know, progressive
community that came to my early shows. You know what
(36:46):
I mean, Um, who bought the tickets, who were underserved
in the mainstream media, which is why they were hungry
to show up to a live event where it was
an Asian American stand up comedy tour. Does that make sense?
So that to me is the foundation of all of
And so now I'm unfortunate enough to have been making
a living in comedy. But it all goes back to
(37:07):
how do I sort of maintain multiple right hustles and
multiple um avenues to express myself and connect with people.
I love that. I especially love the rootedness of what
you said, that yes, you have opportunity, based on your
talents and your skills to do all sorts of things
(37:29):
in your career, and that the rootedness of what you
do comes from your community. I feel that, Jenny, I
feel that. I feel that, thank you. Yeah. I feel
like we are such an individualistic culture in America that
we often forget that how we rise is usually you know,
(37:50):
with and sometimes on the shoulders of others, right, and
so um, I just I just think it's important to
acknowledge that because obviously I and do what I do
if people didn't support me. Yeah, I mean, and I
find that to be true for a lot of women
of color. It's like we're we're rooted in the people
(38:11):
that we come from, rooted in the people who made
it possible for us to do what we're doing. And
I know for me that like it's it is the
black women that raised me and those rooms I remember
being young with their hips and everything else. That gives
me the stuff to do what it is I'm doing.
And I think it is important too if you don't
(38:33):
have that rootedness to find that whatever that looks like
for you. But I find that a lot of women
of color, we have that rootedness in our community. That
is what That's what gives us our wings, you know, Yeah,
that's the strength. And I love, by the way, seeing
now a lot of other Asian American comedians who because
(38:53):
of the racial justice organizing that had been happening through
George play Junior or through Black Lives Matter in you know,
I didn't recognize that they were part of a community
before until that these issues came, you know, confronted their
own identity and it made them realize, Okay, there are
these issues that I care about and it has affected
(39:16):
my life. This is how I connect with uh, you know,
black racial justice or anti blackness, and um, you know
they're out here showing the Asian American Studies books that
they're reading and and and you know, talking to other
Asian American comedians more directly about how identity informs who
we are. And so I don't know, I just think,
you know, I think to me to have a meaningful career.
(39:39):
That's not just oh I just need to be out
here making money, you know what I mean? That adds
to it, that's it just adds layers to it. And
in the grounding, like you're saying, you know it, I
think it helps me to to remember what's important. Right.
I work in Hollywood. I mean, I work in Hollywood.
It's a fascinating place. You all a fascinating place, Hollywood.
(40:04):
Here's my closing question. So I always love to close
with this question when I'm talking to women of color comedians.
And I give Vanessa Fraction the credit for this. She
is a wonderful black woman comedian. And I had booked
her for a show and I was like, hey, you know,
I get really like nervous about if everyone's like in
(40:24):
the building. You know, when we were doing live shows,
I would be like, Oh, can you please get here
by such a such time so I know like you're
here and I'm not, you know, freaked out. And so
I think she was supposed to go on around nine
thirty or something, and I was like, girl, I can
you get here at like eight o'clock just so I
know you're here? And she was like, can I just
get there at nine? Because sitting around is not good
(40:47):
for the funny. So I wanted to ask you what
is good for the funny? What's good for the funny
for jinny? Like, what's the what's the stuff that you
need to keep you inspired? What's the stuff that you
need maybe before you sit down to write, before you
go on to perform? What's good for the funny for you?
(41:10):
I'll tell you what's not good A pandemic. Pandemic it's
definitely no man, no, yeah, I mean, you know, I think.
But in all seriousness, Um, it's I love that quote
and that story because it's true. To me. Um, comedy
is energy, you know, it's movement, and so that's what
(41:35):
I'm here for. You know, to me, when something's funny,
it's because the energy is moving sideways. You know, it's
always sideways, it's never direct. Um. And so you know,
I'll admit, during the pandemic, it's been challenging to create,
it's been challenging to write, and so UM, I'm I'm
just sort of been getting back into creating that sense
(41:55):
of movement, uh in my life by having base for it.
I think that's what it is. It's like for me,
it's really important to um have either shows that I
can do in order to sort of try things out
or in terms of writing UM. For me, it structure
helps actually, you know, to like have time to kind
of be in my own thoughts, get rid of the clutter,
(42:17):
and then eventually kind of get out things. And then
I'm also just a very social person to me. You know,
funny also happens just if you don't have a full audience,
uh in a in a bar or in a club,
at least have one person you can talk to, you
know what I mean that you you can kind of
gauge reactions from. So that to me is sort of
(42:38):
how I get it the funny. Jenny Yang, thank you
so much for joining me. Thank you for all of
this wonderful, inspiring work that you are doing. I'm just
I'm going to tell the people all of your links,
all of the things, so they can go to there
and watch these things, and may be there will be
(43:00):
a link where they can just also support with their wallets.
We enjoy that kind of support as well. People, So
you're gonna go to the Jenny Yang links. You're also
going to use the moneys if you have the money,
so you're gonna use the moneys and put the moneys there.
Listen at Jennyang TV for everything. So yeah, I'm always
(43:23):
online and I love talking to folks, So just hit
me up. Thank you, Jenny. I hope you'll enjoyed my
conversation with Jenny Yang as much as I enjoyed talking
to her. I hope you enjoyed listening. Wasn't she an
(43:43):
amazing guest into our living room? She's amazing right. Make
sure you check her out on her website Jenny Yang
dot tv or on Twitter and Instagram at Jenny Yang TV.
Check her out there, And if you are looking for
to any of the things that we talked about in
the episode, definitely check out the show notes. Show notes
(44:05):
are Amina Brown dot com slash her with Amina. You
can go to there and get the notes from this
episode or any of the episodes from the podcast. Case
you're looking for a book we talked about or a
show we were talking about watching, links like that will
be in the show notes. And I hope we are
already friends on the interwebs, but if we're not, I
(44:26):
would love for you to follow me on Instagram and
Twitter at Amina b e E be my friend, slide
into my d M S. I would love to hear
from you for this week's edition of Give Her a Crown,
I want to give a crown to Whoopie Goldberg. When
I was a kid, I watched Whoopi Goldberg's Broadway show
(44:47):
on TV, and I was mesmerized. It was just her
and what looked like a white towel or white piece
of fabric that she used as a prop to become
different care arcters during the show. I was especially impacted
by the character who was a little black girl who
wished she had blonde hair and blue eyes reminiscent of
(45:09):
Tony Morrison's Pacola Breed Love in the Bluest Eye. I too,
knew what it felt like to feel like my skin
and my hair would never be beautiful because they would
never fit into a white standard of beauty. Not only
did Whippie's character speak to the messages I was being
given about my own blackness, but she also showed me
(45:29):
the power of stage performance and what it meant to
embody and love my blackness. How one black woman could
express many characters and transition so seamlessly through them all
several years ago, my husband and I were in a
record store and came upon Whoopie Goldberg's Broadway show on vinyl.
We framed it and it's hanging up in our listening
(45:50):
room to remind me how important black voices are, how
important Black women's voices are, how important it is for
me to love my hair and my skin in and
why it matters that Black women tell our own stories.
Whoopie Goldberg, Give Her a Crown. Her with Amina Brown
(46:22):
is produced by Matt Owen for Solo Graffiti Productions as
a part of the Seneca Women Podcast Network in partnership
with I Heart Radio. Thanks for listening and don't forget
to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.
Recording in January for episodes that will probably be coming
out in February. Is a weird tenant experience everyone, because
we are in a present and you are listening in
the future, and we hope that where you are listening
is better what is happening. We hope that is better
(00:35):
there were We're longing for you to tell us it's
better there. But good news is I have a wonderful
guest in our her living room. Former labor organizer, now
stand up comedian, writer, actor, one of Variety's ten Comics
to Watch for, writer for Last Man Standing, creator of
(00:55):
Comedy Crossing, a hit stand up comedy show held inside
of the Animal Crossing video game. Welcome y'all, Jenny Yang
to the podcast. Wow, oh, I'm gonna need that intro
for everything I do. Thank you. I felt the energy.
(01:16):
I gotta I gotta give it to you, Jenny. You
know we don't have the live audience, you know, so
I just gotta. I gotta give you those those handclaps
that we we loved, we loved when we could have
those handclaps. Jenny, I felt it. I felt the intro.
I was like, who is she talking about? She sounds impressive, y'all.
(01:36):
So I have to tell y'all, I almost like I
felt like jubilation and like a little bit of tear
in my eye when like Jenny's face came up on
zoom because the last time I saw Jenny, we were
staying in one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in.
Like I'm sure, I'm pretty sure I took a video
(01:57):
of that hotel Suite's was like, I want to have
proof that I was in a room like this, and
Jenny and I and some other women from Makers we
all just leaned up against a bar and talked late
into the night and felt each other's breath and wow,
(02:21):
it was magical. I mean, I feel like that's what
a conference is for, especially when you pull together the
right people, right, you just naturally find affinity, You naturally
find inspiration. Um, the liquor didn't hurt, you know what
I mean, But like it was great and and I
really appreciated that, like around a large kind of hotel
(02:43):
lobby lounge, you just naturally gravitate towards people's energy. And
you're one of those people. And that's what's been really
nice to check in with you. Basically a year later. Man,
Look listen, this was right before the pandemic hit, and
so you were one of my my last memories of
a large gathering, right And I want to say you
(03:06):
and I also had on like our power pink blazers
that evening. I think we It was not like the
exact same blazer, but the color was like right in there,
and I felt the vibes. And y'all, I have to
tell y'all getting to see Jinny Yang perform live, and
especially in a room like where we were, because it's
(03:27):
sort of a mix of like different industry people. You know,
there are people there who are very corporative business e,
people who were into politary corpus, very like cross section
of people. But it was it was a little a
little tight in the room. I would say, And y'all, Jenny,
(03:49):
you mean they're you mean they're sphincters. Well, could have
been some was tight that there. There there are clasicals,
something of their nature's was tied up in there, Jenny
and y'all. When I tell y'all, Jenny walked up in
there with her power blazer and she was like, I
(04:10):
don't care, y'all, y'all can be like that, if y'all
want to be like that, I'm gonna come in here
and be myself. And I was like I walked by
and saw her at the bar and was like, must
stop and top that. What a compliment? Yeah, I mean
it was so corporate everyone. You know, it was the
(04:31):
first day of the conference. Everyone was tired from traveling
and getting in and I was like, oh, wait a minute,
you all are just thinking about all the emails you're
trying to catch up on after this, aren't you, you know,
And it was it was a lot of like power
suit women, like not even power suit women, you know,
the kind of women you look at their outfit and
you're like, this is tens of thousands of dollars that
(04:52):
party right now. And I'm like, right, And I didn't
grow up around that. I have been in spaces where
now I recognize what that looks like. But that was,
you know, a little intimidating. But I think what I
what I learned is uh, corporate folks, they want to
keep a certain decorum. But I'm a comedian. I was
doing stand up Inda, you know, it was a nice challenge.
(05:14):
I'm glad you laughed. You stepped to you stepped up
to it though, you really did. I was like, I
was like, I want to talk to her more. And
then we set sat at the bar y'all for until
I almost gonna keep my eyes open standing there talking
with Jenny and Milk was with us. We were having
just a wonderful time. So Jenny, thank you for joining
(05:35):
me on the podcast for one of my She Funny
episodes because you funny girl, and I can't wait for
you to tell us all of the process. So I
want to start with, what's your earliest memory of discovering comedy?
Was it in your family? Was it something that you watched.
(05:56):
What's your earliest moment where you either remember seeing someone
being funny or that you realized you could be funny?
Oh goodness, you know. I feel like and whenever anyone
asks me, oh, how did you decide to become a comedian,
you know, I'm always like, let's listen. I did not
grow up a little immigrant girl from Taiwan with my
(06:18):
round ass Chinese face, with people telling me you should
make a living from doing comedy. You know a lot
of women don't get told this. Um. I was just
out there trying to do good grades. But my earliest
memory of comedy and just being obsessed with comedy was actually,
you know, watching a VHS tape of the Best of
(06:41):
SNL with Eddie Murphy. That my old that my older brothers,
my older brothers are like ten years and nine years
older than me, and so I was just watching things
that were probably you know, inappropriate, but as a little
child in elementary school, I still understood what was funny
and Eddie Murphy was hilarious to me. And I don't
(07:04):
even understand how I understood the race um kind of
politics of the comedy he was doing. I don't know
if y'all are familiar, but you know, when Eddie Murphy
was was on Saturday Night Live. He did uh white
face and you know, to to to spoof white black
like me, but he was white like me. And there
(07:24):
was a whole bit about that that that was hilarious
to me, even as a child. You know, he did
Mr Robinson's Neighborhood, right, you know, being Mr Rogers but
but being in the hood, you know, and and and
changing the lyrics and doing a puppet show where he
was you know, a black middle finger with hair and
afro on it, you know, talking back to a little
(07:46):
puppet of Ronald Reagan. Like that blew my mind even
as a child. And who maybe that's why, you know,
in the future that was just what was to come.
I would, you know, be more into politics and recognize
social justice issues. But man, then I thought it was hilarious.
I memorized it to this day. I still remember word
for words some of the bits that Eddie Murphy did.
(08:07):
And so you know, that's really my earliest memory as
far as whether or not I decided I could, you know,
do that stuff. I feel like I became a little
bit of a class clown, even though I was a
straight a student, you know. But but you know, never
does a does a young girl think, oh, someday I'm
going to be, you know, a professional comedian or work
(08:28):
in comedy, you know what I mean. So but yeah, no,
shout out to Eddie Murphy. I wish to meet him someday. Yo,
I join you in your shout out, because Eddie Murphy
is definitely one of the reasons why I'm a stage
performer today. I told this in an earlier episode, but
I mean, I was he killed. I was watching that.
I mean, I don't know how this is for generations
(08:49):
and kids now delirious that was mine that I was
like a fifth grader watching that. I don't know what
it's like now for kids that are like super protected
with the parental control, because apparently we haven't had that
growing up. So I watched all sorts of things. I
watched Comic Relief when like Billy Crystal and Robin Williams
(09:11):
were doing uh comic the Comic Relief series on HBO.
I was watching that as a child. So of course
there's some things I'm sure that we're like way too
like a kid should be watching, but ahead just getting
to see that and being like, huh, you can have
a job where you're standing there with a microphone and
just captivating people for however long with your stories. Yes,
(09:34):
I would be up for that. So shout out to
Eddie Murphy and for us being supposed to Eddie Murphy
as children before we were probably supposed to be. Yeah,
I mean, I feel like, if you're listening, think about
when you discovered you were funny, you know what I mean,
or you discovered you can make someone laugh, because I
think for me, you know, making people laugh was not
thought about in its own isolated way. It was more like, wait,
(09:57):
I can make people laugh. That's powerful, that's power, you know.
I saw it as just one of the tools, you
know what I mean, to be persuasive, to get people's attention,
to get what I want, you know, And so you know,
it wasn't until much later than I decided, yes, this
could be a profession. But to me, I feel like
it's important as women too, you know, to think about
(10:18):
how when did we decide that, you know, we had
access to a tool that made us powerful. M I
love that. I love that because you are sort of
in control of the room there when you get up there,
and that's you on the microphone. Even as a comedic writer,
you're the one coming up with these ideas that are
going to make people laugh, these ideas that all of
(10:41):
this crew, you know, has to sort of surround these
ideas that you write. I mean, I think that is
a fantastic observation, that that is power that we had
the opportunity to do that. It is well, you're a poet,
and you perform as a poet, right, and I actually
used to be uh, I actually used to perform poetry
before I become mm hmm um. And it was either
(11:03):
really silly or really emotional. But you know, I I
like being able to get people to receive a message,
think about things I want them to think about that
I think they should care about, you know, move them.
And so to me, doing comedy was just another way
to do that. You know, what was your entry point?
(11:24):
Was it an open mic? Did you start there as
far as when you started making a foray into trying
it out? Was the open mic your first let me
see how this is going. When I think about how
I was able to play creatively and be funny in general,
it was definitely school. That was like the school, the
(11:45):
socially sanctioned arena to use humor to excel and be creative.
So I'm doing extra credit projects. But but it wasn't
until um you know, I was working for a number
of years, moving up very quickly to becoming a director
in the labor movement. We used to represent eighty five
tho you know, public service workers in southern California. Um uh,
(12:09):
And I was making six figures. I was making a
good living, but I was so burnt out. I was
a director. But the people I looked up to I
no longer admired them. You know, I no longer respected them,
the people that I worked for, and so I was like,
this is only this can last only so long. So um,
I had my own sort of come to Jesus moment,
(12:31):
so to speak, but you know, come to comedy moment
where I was like, I need to just accept that
I'm an artist and and and it was like literally
a night where I got so emotional and I had
to I never took on the label of a writer
a poet, even though around Los Angeles I was actually
known to perform, and you know. Um, So it was
(12:54):
that night that I was like, Okay, Jenny, you need
to stop putting up these blocks except this identity of
being creative and being open to creative opportunities and other
people who have been reflecting back to you that you
are someone who is this type of person, you know.
So it was because of that that I finally heard
the message many times from before Jenny, You're so funny,
(13:16):
You're like a comedian, and I was like, oh, okay,
Finally the twenty fifth time I heard that, I said,
I'm gonna go do open mic stand up comedy. That's
that's how you start. Just go to an open mic
right where no one had to book. You just show
up and try to do something that moves people. And uh,
and that's that's where it started. And it was I
was going to poop my pants. But it was my
(13:38):
first time in a long time that I felt like, Wow,
this made me really nervous. I really cared about this.
Why do I care about this? And I know that
if I can get good at this, it can be
very powerful because it's very freeing and creative. So that's
that's what happened. Um. I went to a very familiar
space in l a called Tuesday Night Project where I
was an associate artist as a poet, and I said,
(13:59):
guess what, guys, I'm gonna try to do stand up
comedy today, even though you usually see me do poetry.
It was awful. I have tape of it somewhere I
don't know, but you know, that's what happened. But yes,
open mic, that's that was my first experience. See, I
was going to ask you, was your first time awful
or did it go amazing? Because so far in interviewing
(14:20):
and just talking with other comedians, it's sort of, you know,
to over generalize. It's this divide down the middle, right,
where there were some comedians that their first time on stage,
they felt that they were flying, They did amazing, everyone clapped,
and then that next time was when they bombed. They
were like, you know, And then there are some comedians
(14:42):
I talked with that are like, well, I went out
there and the first time went terrible, but it also
inspired me to keep going, to keep writing. So it's
it's interesting to hear you say that, like it felt awful.
You would look back on it now anyway and think like,
this was awful, but it inspired you enough to keep
going going. Yeah, you know, I feel like it's like
(15:02):
one of those things, you know, like, um, I feel
like we need to learn how to read our own instrument,
if that makes sense. Like, sometimes something might feel bad,
but that word is so blunt to describe a whole
host of signals in our bodies. You know, it felt awful.
(15:23):
I was gonna I felt like I was going to
throw up from the nervousness, But there was something behind
it that I sensed that was deeper, you know, that
wasn't just my nervous system. That was like, oh man,
if I could get past this nervous part, I could
really like this, you know, what I mean, I could
be very gratified by this, and so just think this.
(15:44):
Thankfully I somehow saw through it, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, no,
that makes perfect sense. I've actually never thought about this
for what my first time was doing poetry in an
open mic, but I would venture to say it was
also awful. But I think the terrible art is that
I thought I was amazing, Like I thought I was
going to really load those people away, Like I was like, oh,
(16:08):
like they are going to be so glad I came
here tonight. They're gonna be whoo, They're gonna be ready
to hear more from me. And then it was like,
you know, it's one of those things where like you know,
you sign up on the list, well, then you're there
listening to everyone else until you know the MC calls you.
And so I think as the night wore on and
(16:28):
I was hearing more and more amazing poetry, then it
was like, I don't know, that may have been my
first time really having like a collective of other people
to compare my work to, Whereas where I was from,
I was like mostly the only poet or one of
a small nu repose that people knew, so to go
from that to I'm in this room where like most
(16:50):
people here are poets, and they were so amazing. I
was like, oh no, I don't know if I should
have signed up. I don't know if I'm gonna be
as good as I thought. And there was no way
to get off the list. The m C would not
let you remove your name, and so I went and
I did my little things, and it did not go well.
It did not go well. It was actually a pretty
embarrassing experience. But to your point, Jenny, I remember leaving
(17:15):
and more than I felt embarrassed, I felt like I
can get better if I keep coming to a space
like this, I can get better, Like I can learn
how to write better, not to be like what I saw,
but to be better as me, as whatever I would
sound like, you know, whatever my voice would be. That
was inspiring enough to go back and obviously get embarrassed
(17:37):
a bunch more times, you know, But what a gift.
You know. There's something about people who are performers or
who are artists. It's like, what is it about you
that makes you feel like you can you can like
push through the embarrassment or the mortification or the not
doing great the first time. It's wild. It's wild, it's
(17:58):
a wild thing. I'm like, how do know if it's
like the other side of the ego that's there or what.
But it's like, Wow, that just went terrible. Do you
guys do this again next week? Because I would love to.
I'd love to come again, yeah, and just be utterly
embarrassed again. I'd love to do that until one day
I'm not. But then it's like the payoff of eventually
(18:21):
continuing to go, continuing to go, and then getting to
the point where you get in front of the audience
and you're like, oh, that worked. That thing I wrote
it worked on stage. I mean that gratification to me
is worth a bunch of times of being embarrassed. Well,
then then that's what makes you you, you know, not
like that. Okay, Jenny, this is what I need to
(18:51):
talk to you about, because you know, y'all, y'all know
that the algorithms on Instagram are terrible. Um so sometimes
like you miss out on all the amazing things people
are doing. But let me tell y'all, Jenny Yang was
coming up in all my algorithms on Instagram, honey, and
I was like, Jenny, you better figure out some ways
to engage the people in comedy when we can't be
(19:16):
in person. And it was so inspiring to me to
watch what you were doing, because obviously there's a lot
about this time of the pandemic that has just been
horrible and terrible, you know, And I don't want to
ignore those things at all. I want to also say,
(19:36):
and there have been some things about a lot of
us having a collective experience of the quarantine and this
collective experience of being away from our loved ones, are
having to be cautious about how we visit our loved ones.
There was some things about that collective experience that I
think brought us together but also brought some opportunities to
(20:00):
to innovate, to think of new ways to do things,
you know. And if we weren't in a pandemic, then
we all probably would have been gathered in different venues,
you know, performing a lot of us that are on
the road would have been doing that. And when I
started seeing the first of all, there was two things
that you were doing that I was like, Jenny, Yes, honey, okay.
Number one, when I tell y'all between Twitter and Instagram,
(20:23):
Jenny is not here for the games. Okay, there was
some commentary on your social media that I was like, Jenny,
I just I live. I live for the commentary. I'm
here for everything about this. The threads. There were some
threads Jenny was doing on Twitter that I was like, Jenny,
I live for this. So first of all, let's talk
(20:44):
about comedy as resistance, which I think you coming from,
you know, a labor organizer background. I feel like that
seems to be something that was inherent in your work,
you know anyway, but in particular that we're in the
middle of a pandemic that's also a global uprising that
we're watching everyone, you know, I can't say everyone. We're
(21:08):
watching a lot of people fighting, fighting for justice in
the streets, protesting, getting arrested, putting their lives at risk,
Like that's how important justice was to them. And to
see also that your voice as a comedian can be
(21:28):
a part of speaking up, can be a part of
the uprising. So talk to me about is that a
part of your comedic process or just you as a
person in general, that you see the comedic voice also
being a part of justice. And then what was that
like now having to use a different microphone, on social media,
(21:52):
maybe not having events and different things that we were
used to, like, talk to me about what that process
was like for you. Yeah, first of all, thank you.
That is such a nice way of describing what I've
been doing. To me, it's just um, you know, me
trying to delight people, but obviously to me. To me also,
I want people to think about things that I want
(22:14):
them to think about that I care about, that I
think the world should care about. And so I think
every comedian will tell you the bottom line is can
you make people laugh? Can you entertain them? If you
can do that, then great, then you're a comedian. But
beyond that, there's just so many ways that you could
be right, just so you know. That's why it's it's
(22:35):
it's like, uh, you know Harry Kunnabolo, another comedian that
I really love. You know, he says, you know you
don't you never say do you love comedy? Of course
you love comedy, you love to laugh. But it's just
like saying do you like music? Of course you like music?
Do you like heavy metal? Do you like speed metal?
Do you like hip hop? You know what I'm saying.
So there's just different ways to be a comedian, and
(22:55):
for me, my preferred form of comedy is one a
where um, you know, there's some thinking behind it in
terms of what the social consequences are, right, because because
that's what I care about. I care about trying to
push things more towards the side of justice rather than not. Okay,
(23:16):
whether that's through a tiny tweet or whatever. You know,
sometimes it's just a silly thing about you know, me
missing eating bread. I don't know, right, but but to me,
it's like it's kind of like that spoonful of sugar
that makes the medicine go down. If you have that sugar,
which is the sweetness of laughter, sometimes the things that
are really tough, that are important to talk about can
(23:37):
be received, you know. And so that's that's what I
think is beautiful about comedy. And and as a form
of resistance, it cuts through the clutter, you know. I
feel like, you know, when you're able to get to
people's physical response, visceral response of laughter, it cuts through
the logic, right, it gets right to the heart of something.
And so that's what's really powerful to me about comedy. Um. Now,
(23:59):
I don't know what Twitter threats you were talking about,
but you know, I personally felt it was very important
to highlight the true absurdity of racism or you know,
sort of inequality that became even more urgent and apparent
during the pandemic. You know. It's it's like, it's not
that the these these issues weren't there before. It's just
(24:23):
all eyes were on social media. Once everyone was at home,
there was no other way to engage in real life.
And and we were all, you know, just sucked away.
What else could we do but communicate online? And and
and one of the things I wanted to do was
just offer up a perspective where you know, if ship
was racist, maybe we talked about it. If the pandemic
(24:47):
was happening and it's originated in China and you're out
here calling it the Kung flu China flu, maybe we
need to maybe we need to correct that. If you're
using only stock photos of Asian people for your corre
no virus, uh, you know article, maybe you shouldn't do that,
Maybe you should change it up. You know. Um, there's
(25:07):
just all these tiny things that I just you know,
wanted to highlight. And uh, it's just it's just my
little part. Let's be honest. It's just one little drop.
But um that at least I feel like I can
control that. Um. But yeah, so that's just simply the
speaking out part, right, And then you asked about um,
you know, not being able to perform live right basically
(25:29):
uh and needing to to to to pivot you know,
be doing stand up comedy inherently is standing up in
front of humans and having that back and forth. It
doesn't exist without it. And it was so bleak y'all.
I don't know if any of you checked out a
comedy show during the pandemic, especially at the beginning of it.
But Instagram Live when you have those two people on
(25:51):
Instagram is not a way to do it. There's no audience.
Who you're doing it too? Who are you telling a
joke to just one person who's barely laughing? No, that
is not stand up comedy. It is the saddest part
of It's like going back to open mics. It's like
a hell hole of a of a sadness cave when
you say something into the void and your your voice
(26:12):
just dies. Right, that's the point of comedy. You want
that feedback. And so, um, you know, luckily or not
a zoom meeting ended up being the best platform for
being able to have people un muted and being able
to laugh as if you're in the same room with them.
And that's what I did. I kind of try different
(26:33):
things for a month or so, and then just out
of nowhere, decided to combine the desire to continue doing
comedy with the thing that was saving me, which was
a lot of other people between March and April um
which is playing Animal Crossing, like the cutest little Japanese
game from Nintendo where you can actually invite your friends
little avatars. It's like SIMS, but with cute Japanese characters
(26:55):
onto your little island that you get to like decorate
and farm, you know. And it was a tiny thing.
It is a video game, but it was a saving
grace for being able to stay connected with people. And
I thought, Wow, they sell little cartoon microphones and amps
and you can like put up a uh, you know,
a red brick wall wallpaper on my basement. Let's make
(27:18):
a comedy club and let's see what this looks like. Um.
It always happening. And right around the time that George
Floyd Jr. Was murdered, and it just we was gonna
be a free show anyway. And I said, well, then
the best thing we could do right now is let's
make this a free show, but we're gonna solicit donations
with the majority of it goes to Black Lives Matter
related causes. And you all remember every go fund me,
(27:41):
every other bailout fund was happening at that time, and
to me, just as a creator and as a producer,
it felt empowering to just do my tiny part, you
know what I mean, to not feel helpless because you're
just sitting there watching this wallpaper of news wash over you,
and um, it was just a tiny way to use
(28:02):
the tools that I had control of in order to
offer something back. Uh. I love that. Like when I
saw that you were doing a comedy show inside of
Animal Crossing, I was like, Jenny, yes, honey, yes, yes,
because you know, there's a bunch of comedians at home
(28:25):
just chopping at the bit to talk to somebody somewhere,
and a bunch of people, you know, needing to access
their joy, you know, in a time that was really
hard still is you know for a lot of people,
really really hard stuff going on, and we can only
(28:49):
take in all that hard stuff. So long before we're
going to just lose our resilience. We need to access
our joy, We need to sort of feel that sense
of camaraderie with other human beings. And I loved that, Jenny.
I just think it's so freaking innovative what you're doing.
Oh thank you. And you know, I didn't know how
(29:10):
long you would last or what the response was going
to be, but the the response was tremendous, you know.
But we started at the beginning of June. We did
two shows every month, ended it in in you know,
late November, and we raised about thirty five thousand dollars
for Black Lives Matter related funds, which and you know,
average two hundred fifty to seven hundred people watching a
(29:34):
Zoom meeting, you know what I mean twice a month.
And and I think what this says to me is
people have such a hunger if you just tap into it,
you know, to to support live comedy for one, but
also feel like they can do something um about racial
justice and anti black issues, you know. So Noah, I mean,
(29:55):
I just it was very it was very inspiring to
me the kind of to get that energy during a
time when we weren't able to feed off of the
social energy, you know in real life. Yeah, I was
talking to a woman. I'm trying to think all that.
You know, how all the time, I'm like, was it days?
Was it months? Was it years ago? Time is elastic
(30:17):
now in another time before the television wasn't vincent. I
was talking to someone, but anyway I was. I was
actually hosting a virtual event. And this woman I know
is they're talking. She's she's a community organizer. And she
said something that I thought was really profound. She was
talking about how, you know, normally in community organizing, you
(30:37):
sort of have this staggered approach as to how long
organizers stay sort of on the front line of the fight,
because you will inevitably burn out because you're just facing
so much violence and aggression and different things. And I
really appreciated her sharing that with us, because she was
(30:59):
basically saying how like sometimes one person will have to
go on the front line for a while, and then
their time will come that they have to go and
like rest and replenish and that, and then another person's
time will come where like a team of people they'll
be on the front line together. And I think we
in in some many ways, you know, some some small,
(31:19):
tiny ways like you put it. I feel like we
were seeing that happen where there were some people that
were just like I got too much grief going on.
I got to like, I'm I can't, I can't, and
they had to take time to rest and replenish, and
there were other people that could say, Okay, here's like
a thing I can do, you know, And I think
that's powerful, just the collective of community. We can have
(31:42):
that way together, you know. I think you know, in
the end, to me, when I pivoted from politics to uh,
comedy and entertainment, it's all the same thing. We're we're
in the business of people, of organizing people, you know.
And so how I saw it was, you know, whenever
whenever I have whenever I have been a part of
something where we are able to recognize our collective power,
(32:04):
that it's not about just an individual right, that we
are stronger together. Um that that applies to building my
career in comedy. That's obviously it's it's to benefit me.
But in the end, you know, that's why I organized
stand up comedy tours and comedy festivals because I knew
that number one, the morale boost of having peers with you,
(32:26):
to walk alongside you is helpful. But also you know,
that's how you develop, that's how you grow, That's how
you grow your own audience, you know. I mean it's
all the same, like the way people use marketing terms
to me is just it's somewhat different, but it's very
similar to if you do community organizing or political organizing.
You know, it's about how do we get as many
(32:47):
people together as possible to recognize a common interest and
have a have a roadmap to a place of hope. Right,
And so that's what that's what Um, I've just used
that tochnology if you want to put it that way,
you know what I mean, as a way of living
and as a way of doing my work, um, and
anything I do. And so I would recommend it for
(33:07):
most people. I hate marketing and business jargon, you know
what I'm saying. Yeah, same, Oh my gosh. Please, I
want to ask you about this to One of the
reasons why I'm just enjoying interviewing women of color like
yourself that are working in comedy is because women of
color are doing so many things in comedy, right, So
(33:30):
I would love for you to talk about how does
comedy show itself for you in your career, you have
stand up I know you also write as a comedian.
Tell the people what does that look like for you?
The different facets of your career where you are working
in comedy, but you have these different ways you may
(33:52):
enter the space. Yeah, I mean, I feel like if
we're talking brass tacks first and foremost, I am a
self employed person, right, So I'm just here to have
multiple income streams. I'm here trying to you know, feed
this little seed over here, this little seed over there,
to to wait to see what might you know, flower
(34:12):
and grow? Right and so um and and I have
no control over the timing of these things a lot
of times. And so for me when I started, it
was a matter of, Okay, what can I do to
use all of my gifts in order to uh be
of service so that I may gain income? Right, you
know That's how I kind of see it. And so um,
(34:33):
first of all, I used my leadership skills and producing
skills that I had before event organizing, facilitating all of that,
um to create a stand up comedy tours and comedy festivals.
Even when I was still learning my stand up comedy craft.
You know UM. I also UM managed to then make
money off of these live comedy shows. Then I was
(34:54):
working on my own writing UM in order to possibly
become a staff TV writer. But in the meantime, you
put on your own table reads, you work on that,
you you know, show people you're writing. Maybe you write
shorter monologues versus longer TV shows. Eventually got on a
TV writing gigs UM. But also in addition to performing live,
(35:18):
I did a lot of digital videos. So around was
when I got really into BuzzFeed video. I knew someone
who just had started the four person department that was
BuzzFeed Video back then. And if you remember back then,
that was actually when BuzzFeed I used to call it
the network television of the Internet, you know, and it
was one of the few first times that people were
hearing so many different types of identities talking about these identities,
(35:42):
right whether you're lgbt Q plus, if you're you know, Asian, American,
Latin X, etcetera, and so um it was a very
you know, opportune moment for me to be able to
do some of their initial viral videos because then the
college students who saw that recognize me, you know, invited
me out to do college touring and I did that
for a long time too, and so um, it was
(36:03):
to me it was about how do I try to
go where I am needed? Um And and no matter
what it is, I am format agnostic, you know what
I mean, I'm not. Is it a tweet, I'll give
you a tweet. Is it a digital video, I'll give
you a digital video. You want an essay? Here, try this?
You know what I'm saying. Saying like this is this
(36:24):
is to me my mentality for how to you know,
make a living doing what I do. But I would
say the main thing, though, is my base of support
from the beginning was my community, because that's what I
was a part of. It's in a community that I
was invested in, an Asian American creative you know, progressive
community that came to my early shows. You know what
(36:46):
I mean, Um, who bought the tickets, who were underserved
in the mainstream media, which is why they were hungry
to show up to a live event where it was
an Asian American stand up comedy tour. Does that make sense?
So that to me is the foundation of all of
And so now I'm unfortunate enough to have been making
a living in comedy. But it all goes back to
(37:07):
how do I sort of maintain multiple right hustles and
multiple um avenues to express myself and connect with people.
I love that. I especially love the rootedness of what
you said, that yes, you have opportunity, based on your
talents and your skills to do all sorts of things
(37:29):
in your career, and that the rootedness of what you
do comes from your community. I feel that, Jenny, I
feel that. I feel that, thank you. Yeah. I feel
like we are such an individualistic culture in America that
we often forget that how we rise is usually you know,
(37:50):
with and sometimes on the shoulders of others, right, and
so um, I just I just think it's important to
acknowledge that because obviously I and do what I do
if people didn't support me. Yeah, I mean, and I
find that to be true for a lot of women
of color. It's like we're we're rooted in the people
(38:11):
that we come from, rooted in the people who made
it possible for us to do what we're doing. And
I know for me that like it's it is the
black women that raised me and those rooms I remember
being young with their hips and everything else. That gives
me the stuff to do what it is I'm doing.
And I think it is important too if you don't
(38:33):
have that rootedness to find that whatever that looks like
for you. But I find that a lot of women
of color, we have that rootedness in our community. That
is what That's what gives us our wings, you know, Yeah,
that's the strength. And I love, by the way, seeing
now a lot of other Asian American comedians who because
(38:53):
of the racial justice organizing that had been happening through
George play Junior or through Black Lives Matter in you know,
I didn't recognize that they were part of a community
before until that these issues came, you know, confronted their
own identity and it made them realize, Okay, there are
these issues that I care about and it has affected
(39:16):
my life. This is how I connect with uh, you know,
black racial justice or anti blackness, and um, you know
they're out here showing the Asian American Studies books that
they're reading and and and you know, talking to other
Asian American comedians more directly about how identity informs who
we are. And so I don't know, I just think,
you know, I think to me to have a meaningful career.
(39:39):
That's not just oh I just need to be out
here making money, you know what I mean? That adds
to it, that's it just adds layers to it. And
in the grounding, like you're saying, you know it, I
think it helps me to to remember what's important. Right.
I work in Hollywood. I mean, I work in Hollywood.
It's a fascinating place. You all a fascinating place, Hollywood.
(40:04):
Here's my closing question. So I always love to close
with this question when I'm talking to women of color comedians.
And I give Vanessa Fraction the credit for this. She
is a wonderful black woman comedian. And I had booked
her for a show and I was like, hey, you know,
I get really like nervous about if everyone's like in
(40:24):
the building. You know, when we were doing live shows,
I would be like, Oh, can you please get here
by such a such time so I know like you're
here and I'm not, you know, freaked out. And so
I think she was supposed to go on around nine
thirty or something, and I was like, girl, I can
you get here at like eight o'clock just so I
know you're here? And she was like, can I just
get there at nine? Because sitting around is not good
(40:47):
for the funny. So I wanted to ask you what
is good for the funny? What's good for the funny
for jinny? Like, what's the what's the stuff that you
need to keep you inspired? What's the stuff that you
need maybe before you sit down to write, before you
go on to perform? What's good for the funny for you?
(41:10):
I'll tell you what's not good A pandemic. Pandemic it's
definitely no man, no, yeah, I mean, you know, I think.
But in all seriousness, Um, it's I love that quote
and that story because it's true. To me. Um, comedy
is energy, you know, it's movement, and so that's what
(41:35):
I'm here for. You know, to me, when something's funny,
it's because the energy is moving sideways. You know, it's
always sideways, it's never direct. Um. And so you know,
I'll admit, during the pandemic, it's been challenging to create,
it's been challenging to write, and so UM, I'm I'm
just sort of been getting back into creating that sense
(41:55):
of movement, uh in my life by having base for it.
I think that's what it is. It's like for me,
it's really important to um have either shows that I
can do in order to sort of try things out
or in terms of writing UM. For me, it structure
helps actually, you know, to like have time to kind
of be in my own thoughts, get rid of the clutter,
(42:17):
and then eventually kind of get out things. And then
I'm also just a very social person to me. You know,
funny also happens just if you don't have a full audience,
uh in a in a bar or in a club,
at least have one person you can talk to, you
know what I mean that you you can kind of
gauge reactions from. So that to me is sort of
(42:38):
how I get it the funny. Jenny Yang, thank you
so much for joining me. Thank you for all of
this wonderful, inspiring work that you are doing. I'm just
I'm going to tell the people all of your links,
all of the things, so they can go to there
and watch these things, and may be there will be
(43:00):
a link where they can just also support with their wallets.
We enjoy that kind of support as well. People, So
you're gonna go to the Jenny Yang links. You're also
going to use the moneys if you have the money,
so you're gonna use the moneys and put the moneys there.
Listen at Jennyang TV for everything. So yeah, I'm always
(43:23):
online and I love talking to folks, So just hit
me up. Thank you, Jenny. I hope you'll enjoyed my
conversation with Jenny Yang as much as I enjoyed talking
to her. I hope you enjoyed listening. Wasn't she an
(43:43):
amazing guest into our living room? She's amazing right. Make
sure you check her out on her website Jenny Yang
dot tv or on Twitter and Instagram at Jenny Yang TV.
Check her out there, And if you are looking for
to any of the things that we talked about in
the episode, definitely check out the show notes. Show notes
(44:05):
are Amina Brown dot com slash her with Amina. You
can go to there and get the notes from this
episode or any of the episodes from the podcast. Case
you're looking for a book we talked about or a
show we were talking about watching, links like that will
be in the show notes. And I hope we are
already friends on the interwebs, but if we're not, I
(44:26):
would love for you to follow me on Instagram and
Twitter at Amina b e E be my friend, slide
into my d M S. I would love to hear
from you for this week's edition of Give Her a Crown,
I want to give a crown to Whoopie Goldberg. When
I was a kid, I watched Whoopi Goldberg's Broadway show
(44:47):
on TV, and I was mesmerized. It was just her
and what looked like a white towel or white piece
of fabric that she used as a prop to become
different care arcters during the show. I was especially impacted
by the character who was a little black girl who
wished she had blonde hair and blue eyes reminiscent of
(45:09):
Tony Morrison's Pacola Breed Love in the Bluest Eye. I too,
knew what it felt like to feel like my skin
and my hair would never be beautiful because they would
never fit into a white standard of beauty. Not only
did Whippie's character speak to the messages I was being
given about my own blackness, but she also showed me
(45:29):
the power of stage performance and what it meant to
embody and love my blackness. How one black woman could
express many characters and transition so seamlessly through them all
several years ago, my husband and I were in a
record store and came upon Whoopie Goldberg's Broadway show on vinyl.
We framed it and it's hanging up in our listening
(45:50):
room to remind me how important black voices are, how
important Black women's voices are, how important it is for
me to love my hair and my skin in and
why it matters that Black women tell our own stories.
Whoopie Goldberg, Give Her a Crown. Her with Amina Brown
(46:22):
is produced by Matt Owen for Solo Graffiti Productions as
a part of the Seneca Women Podcast Network in partnership
with I Heart Radio. Thanks for listening and don't forget
to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.
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