Do You Need A Ride? with Chris Fairbanks and Karen KilgariffThis week, Chris and Karen welcome actor and comedian Jenny Yang to chat about competitive self-care, men avoiding therapy and more!
https://www.instagram.com/dynarpodcast/
https://twitter.com/DynarPodcast
https://www.facebook.com/dynarpodcast/
Buy Merch! https://www.exactlyrightmedia.com/merch
Follow Jenny Yang –
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jennyyangtv/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/jennyyangtv
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/jennyyangtv/
Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3UMGNo5
Are you leaving?
I you wanna way back home?
Either way, we want to be there.
Doesn't matter how much baggage you claim and give us time and aid termino and gage aid.
We want to send you off in style.
We wanna welcome you back home.
Tell us all about it.
We scared her? Was it fine?
Malborn?
Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride?
Do you need to ride?
Do you need to ride?
Do your need to ride?
Ride with Karen and Chris, we're already ruling.
You know, today's guests from clubs and colleges across the country as well as Canada. Put your ears together for Jenny.
Ah.
Oh my goodness. Yeah, I'm so honored. Oh my goodness. Hello, Hi, good to see you, Good to see you. It's been a very long time, Karen. I saw you perform at a random UCB sunset show A long time.
Oh my god, like a decade ago. Yes, Jesus, I feel like I can't remember one. U see the sunset specific set that actually went well?
It was like a.
Weird, cavernous show.
Yeah, And then you commented to like works like straight up, you're just like this audience.
That's what I always do. I'm the worst.
No, it's that it was that venue and nothing against the Brigade and it's citizens, but it was there was a quiet gap between the stage and the front of the audience, and then there was like a balcony you could see up people's cargo shorts. Yeah, it was just weird, and it seemed like the audience had just gotten done with class and they were judging whether or not they would be doing better on stage entirely.
And which I would be doing as well.
Yeah.
Yeah, so that's why, right, I knew the vibe was often permanently off.
I love that you're actually driving, like I think in my head, I imagine that this was all staged or like someone.
Else was driving and you're just in the car.
But this map took you the longest curvious way to get out of my neighborhood.
You know what it is because we recorded a like a we called solo episodes before just to get more episodes done, and so in conversation, I forget to look where I'm going and then it's like, oh, I missed the turn. Oh so it's like the craziest way to find your house.
But you know what, it's part of the charm.
Yeah.
I think it is.
Right that we that we after all these years, kind of don't know what we're doing at all. Yeah. Yeah, but you are not in danger. Kearan is one of the best drivers I've ever known, Are you?
Yeah?
Absolutely?
Oh I love that, Jenny.
Sorry, I was going to ask you though, when when you saw me? It used to be had you started stand up?
Have you?
Were you in the audience as a jaded professional that was like, yeah, I've seen this shit before.
No good question.
I was relatively early on probably in my stand up, and I was a new murderino.
Oh.
So there was that sheen, you know, that sheen of like I might judge you for your stand up, but definitely excited that I get to see you. Oh nice, Oh you know what I mean, So that it compensates.
Did it then burn off really quickly?
Though?
Did I ruin it for you? I mean there's a lot going on there.
You didn't ruin it?
Okay, you didn't ruin it? Cool?
Was Karen during music?
No?
No, but you might have commented about that.
Yeah.
I feel like it was probably the last legs of you just doing stand up. Yeah, right, because I think at some point you just kind of said I don't need to do this right, Yeah, I mean from what I understand from you know, my favorite murder or whatever, I used.
To love to try to work it out on stage of like trying to share with the audience when I'm gonna quit.
Yeah, that's a bit.
Yeah, like you're going to be in on this too. It's like if if I even got a laugh. When the laugh started to die down, it's just like, yeah, this doesn't even feel good absolutely being honest about my experience and how how I only care about my experience basically.
But I also love how comedically minu I feel it if that is because you're really putting it on the audience to be like, listen, this could go either way, and how you laugh is going to determine my career exactly.
And it still didn't work. They were like, Nope, we don't care, go ahead and quit.
It's not enough pressure.
Yeah, it is a good way to get applause at the end. I've been closing with thanks, Thanks, I've been I used to be good at this, and then they clap. They clap even harder because they're like, oh no.
Yeah, I feel like that works in like La and New York and San Francisco because they have they feel bad. Yeah, right, like the audience has like has a tendency to want you to survive and win.
Yeah, they're like, well, because I'm on the ten o'clock show and you might be in the audience for me, So please know I was being nice to you.
I believe in your dreams because I might be a strongly actor.
Yeah.
But oh, clubs, clubs elsewhere.
Clubs all over the country.
Does it work, Chris, Oh no, yeah, no, they just want you know, if you're out in the areas. It's like this, better be professional. I got free tickets off the radio show. I don't want to hear any insider business.
No meta commentary about stand up.
No, And at the end, I'm gonna tell him that's better than I could do.
I'm sorry because I interrupted you when you were trying to actually say something.
No, it's probably wasn't worth anything because I've forgotten.
Oh yeah, Jenny, how are you?
Yeah, Jenny.
Court, Now I know you know what I'm doing.
Okay, I'm doing well.
I like to tell people right now that I'm in recovery from a summer burnout. Oh you know what I mean, every five to six years, I have a little readjustment. Yeah, you know.
And was the burnout over like partying all summer or like going to the beach too much?
No, wow, that would be so nice.
Yeah, I am a recovering overachiever. And so my my tendancy of burnout like is like just you know, being too anxious about being productive, right, right, which is like not the fun kind of burnout you describe the fun kind of right, I'm not my guy Corey that Chris actually knows. Yes, Craig, he's the burnout kind that probably is more of a party burnout guy.
Yeah, I've partied, I've partied. I've party party with him.
Yeah, I partied with that guy.
Yeah, No, it's so so yeah, it was so I'm I'm you know, learning how to nap.
Mmmm.
That's great.
Trying to get out of this hustle culture. It's tough because, you know, as a comedian, there's so many different ways you can make money or take your career and and just trying to balance that.
Please tell me a handful of them.
Do you want more ways of making money off of comedy?
I believe that you are an overachiever because you had the most involved Zoom show that I did where you did stand up and was it and I don't.
Know, Animal Crossing, Yeah, okay, I thought it was Switch.
Okay, Nintendo Switch and it was so it was animated. Then there's an Animal Crossing character that's doing stand up and there was a little setting that just had to be for some reason. Right now, I thought it was animated, but I sort of I'm not exposing that I don't do much nintendoing these days.
No, it's it's a It is sort of animated because it's like we created an Avatar character and someone would puppeteer you.
Yeah.
Yeah, so I don't know if you know about this.
Character, not at all.
Listen, when in the depths of the pandemic in twenty twenty, my rest was producing this elaborate Zoom stand up comedy show because you know, I did all the other versions that people were trying and it was like death. Yeah, and then I just somehow decided it was cute and delightful for me to like create a comedy club. It's like a cute SIMS. Yeah, right, Like I created like a cute comedy club in the basement of my island with like brick wall everything, like velvet curtains, like spotlight.
It was great actually with a little green room.
And then the people that are performing on it are also character are also like the characters in the game exactly.
So imagine a zoom where I share my screen and you see the cute characters in my comedy club, and I get comedians who have like animal crossing to puppeteer whoever is performing live. So like Margaret Chow showed up and we have a little avatar of Margaret or Chris, you know, and then we just like in real time, would like try to like animate the little cute person to do what, you know, whatever the Chris is doing, so Chris could be like and then I fumbled it and then you would do like a little wanh wah wah wah, like yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it was.
It was cool.
It's kind of like that picture of this show where you're watching your you're in the in between doing your stand up and kind of watching what your character is doing, and you want to comment on that too, but everyone's watching it, so it's okay to do both those things.
But it was beautiful because we had like like unmuted audience, like we would have anywhere between two hundred and fifty to like seven hundred and fifty people on a zoom room. And it was twice a month caaren like from June to like December.
No incidents, just.
So much trust. And it was like similar to a real life show because you have you write, like in a real life setting, you enter the social contract, you're an audience member, You're not gonna speak back, You're gonna laugh and behave and then and they did that many people did it, yes, and so you have to you had to wait for the laugh like just like in a real show. Wow, that's what made it slightly more gratifying than most of the other online shows that we did.
Well, that's the that was the if you could hear an audible audience or some trusted laughers.
Even yes we did that too, Yeah, but.
I did that our long thing to Silence, And it was a there was a flat screen of the camera just on me. So I'm watching myself through stand up. I might as well have had been holding a hair comb. And then in my bathroom it was but when I watched it, it was I was basically losing my mind, and and it was amazing what came out of my mouth that otherwise wouldn't if I could hear laughs. It was like a weird experiment to watch it. But most of my stories of Zoom shows were not fun at all. That one was fun because you could hear the audience that was, oh I love that, Yeah, yeah.
It's and also just building an audience that did that with you, Oh my god, very cool.
It was so therapeutic.
It was terrible for my stand up because you're not really working on stand up, you know what I mean. Like, even though I hosted and I kind of help people's attention in the in the beginning, it doesn't feel it didn't feel like you were doing work, oh right, and so you were, but it was like therapeutic because it felt like you were just hanging out and like it was so fun because randomly we had this one guy, Cedric from Dusseldorf, Germany, who would log in at like three am and we would encourage people to have their video cameras on and he would just lay there and then eventually we check in and Cedric from Dusseldorf would be asleep. But our show that was considered like a compliment because it was like, oh, we're so cozy and soothing.
Yeah, yeah, that you can fall.
Asleep to us. And that's actually kind of the point. It was all just to take care of each other.
Incredible. I love that.
Yeah, thank you. It was also cool a lot of those zoom shows you'd see people like dress up, yeah, like they're wearing costumes or something just for the sake of being a moving avatar on a screen. Of Like, it was a weird culture that of course. I think people some people that got used to watching live comedy shows, yeah from their house in Duluth or wherever. Yeah, miss it, Yeah, I know, but no comedians do though.
A lot of no, not at all, but a lot of comedy clubs in theaters if you know now they live stream, so in a weird way, that kind of adjusted the culture and kind of trained right potential comedy audiences. So yeah, that's been you know, as a producer of live shows, that's been a little bit beneficial, I guess because you're like, oh, this is another way to like engage an audience and well and also.
It's very it's like putting the audience first, where it's like, yes, we're all getting here. The comics are going to perform their material and whatever. But actually it's we're concerned with people in lockdown having experiences and not freaking out and not like it is like isn't it good that we're all here together? Like watching a German guy sleep or listening to jokes or whatever. It's more the meeting as much as it is like the material or who's doing it. It's the holding of space and the kids like to wait, you have an errand you would like to run.
Oh yeah, let's go to the UPS store.
I wonder if he was the only Cedric in Germany. I wonder Cedric.
Was it Cedric the entertainer getting out of America?
Or Yarborough from Reno nine to one one.
That's right, another talented Cedric.
What are all the Cedrics?
And I haven't talked about comedy crossing in so long, Chris, that's so nice of you.
Yeah, I'm sorry that my memory of it it was like SIMS. But I don't have a memory of things that are two years solar or older. But I was animated.
I do have to comment. I do have to comment. Karen is an incredibly safe driver because during the time of Karen talking, two cars try to cut right in front of her into oncoming traffic, and you very easily just avoided them.
Yeah, you know what the trick is, if you go twenty miles an hour, people cannot hit you simply by that you're not going that.
Fast, so they can like avoid you.
And if they're mad that you're going too slow, then they can just do something about it. But like that, I really keep it under normal speed limit and.
Then I can like think, yeah, yeah, that was and riff. In the beginning years of this podcast, I would drive and record and I can't do more than one thing at once. That's something we figured out very quickly is that Karen can multitask and I cannot. Like, if I'm driving, i can't think. If you ask me a question, I'm like, I can't hear you. I'm signal and turning left. I got all this shit to do. I gotta turn the steering wheel.
Well that's a man woman thing.
I think so too.
It truly is a gender brain thing.
They say, yeah it is, and I agree with them, But who are they? Who are they? Really? We'll be back.
Let's go to our animal farm or whatever.
It's called what's it called animal crossing, comedy crossing.
That's the thing too.
I am so old and disinterested in current things that like when like something something like that where I'd be like, oh, I would have to even learn what the fuck this is in the first place to even understand what it is to be done. Like, right, I already feel about twenty years behind on almost everything.
But you know what, life is short, spend time doing what you want. I mean, you're on TikTok, right, so you follow the kids on TikTok. So that's already going to teach you a lot.
That's very true. Thank you. That's a very good point.
Trying to give you some credit here because I've been finding that too. You know, as we get older, I do find myself becoming obsessed with and afraid of the younger generations and like.
The worlds that are being created because of tex so like video games. If you don't know, that's an entire world you're just kind of out of, yeah, which I think is very you know, as the kind of person in comedy, the whole thing is, oh, I know what's going on and I can comment on it, right, So it's a weird transition to be like I don't know what's going on, and now I just have to kind of like let it go. Yes, truly let it go. And also what band are you talking about? I've never heard of them before.
Yeah, so many sob cultures.
Truly have you either of you ever seen Brett Weinbach, know, Like he'll have the audience mention a video game and he will tell you who the music choreographer was. If there's five of them, he knows all five. Any video game.
Wow, he's making it up.
No wait, I thought so because I was like, well, I played these you know, I played Nintendo when it first came out, but I've been out of the game forever. And I looked up a couple because I saw him the other night at Good Heroin Yeah, and we started playing that game and he did want to play it like he I have a feeling he didn't sit around and memorize them of flashcards, so he's just that into the I wonder if.
He's also one of those kind of people.
I really really faked it, like he was going to be a pedestrian crossing and he just then took a turn. I also wonder if He's one of those people that like, if he loves video games so much, then he's like every it's like he's uh, like the photographic memory thing of like, I love this, I love every minute of it.
Now I memorized the credits.
Yeah, I would believe that about Brent.
Yeah, me too.
I asked him how he was doing, and he said, great, I just beat this game. And he mentioned a Nintendo game that's thirty years old, and he's like, I've been trying my whole life classic. Yeah. Yeah, it's an interesting dude.
So y'all, y'all have been a recording all day.
Well, I mean in the way where I don't get anything else done on days that I have the podcast. I did work on my Halloween costume. Oh you did? Yeah?
What are you going to be?
Do you know?
Oh? I am going to be and I've gotten pretty far. Today was a good day. I'm a guy in a box being held by a giant trench coated murderer man. So my legs are his legs, got it? And I have faked legs from last year's costume that are jammed in the box with me. So I have to cut in the corner of the bin closest to my body. It's like a tupperware bin, a place for me to slide the whole thing up like pants and then so my ass the box will kind of be resting. I've created a padded thing for the back, incredible, and the jaw with filament, I can make his jaw move and I haven't figured it out yet, but his head is on a swivel. So the monster with elaborate Yeah, yeah, it's And it's so funny because the party I got invited to is a it's a a friend of a friend's restaurant. Like everyone's going to be sitting and I will not be able to sit. I never think it through this year, I can use the bathroom. At least last year I was locked in. And yes, I did pee on my costume. No, I'm sorry, but that Hey, you want truths.
To be blurted?
No?
Wait, was this the Elvis sitting on a toilet?
Ironically? Yes?
Okay, Cory literally says say hi to Chris for me because they've all hung out before, and he also said he did a great costume where he was Elvis sitting on a toilet is yes.
So I've taken the legs Elvis's legs, and I'm using them now to be the guy in the box. It's it's a costume I did see on TikTok. There's a version of it that you can do very easily. But I I've chosen the Yeah, and I can reuse this costumer that's cool. I liked or something.
Very reuse, reduced, recycle.
And it's very light. That's the one thing. My plaster Paris toilet was not that weighed so much at my back hurt. But this thing is it's lightweight. I'm very excited. How about you?
Yeah, do you know what you're going to be?
No?
Oh, I've already like, I've already managed to avoid a couple of Halloween opportunities because I'm like, I don't know. I tend to be a last minute you know what do I have around the house person. It's very rare for me to ramp up and really anticipate because usually it's like a busy time of year, or you know, my brain gets too occupied. But like last year, I was Gwyneth Paltrow at the ski trial, you know, and this is right before I got my blonde hair, so I actually had to wear a wing.
What happened at the ski In real life, it.
Was a whole thing where Grace this civil suit of this guy who was skiing behind Gwyneth Paltrow on a hill ran into her and was trying to sue for damages and like all of that, and when you when you found out that he was above the hill behind her, every person who's been snowboarding, yes, skiing, knows you're responsible for looking ahead of you to avoid people. Yeah, of course, And so the moment we all found that out, we were like, well, this is a sham.
Oh that I hope that guy's life. I hope you got fired from his job.
Didn't she?
Do you remember what that final line when it was finally over and they found for her, and then she said something as she walked out of the court to him.
I wish you well did you say that all night on him? I did?
I did, And because she carried a folder with papers, so I wrote it on there, I wish you would like it's what's what's What's the thing about being iconic, like Gwyneth is that regardless of what you do, it will be iconic. And so in her brain, I'm sure that was just her genuinely trying to say something cordial, but everyone else would hear it and be like, oh, what a bitch.
Look at her, she's so iconic. That's a great county line, and.
That's what she means it.
I also thought it was be blessed, which is like me basically trying to punch.
It up of what she actually said something, what's more assholey than I wish you well?
Totally.
Yeah, everyone's like, as, she's such a bad bitch, and I don't know, I feel like I believe I believe she meant it.
I think, yeah, yeah, because she seemed very calm during that actual thing.
She wasn't like keyed up or anything.
She seemed like, yeah, we kind of got this, and this guy's seems a little crazy.
Maybe.
I know it was so it was. I'm sure it was stressful, but on the outside people were fascinated by it because it was so low stressed seeming. Yeah, right, low stakes at least anyway.
That idea that you have an opportunity to sue Gwyneth Paltrow, it's like, of course going to take it. We don't blame that guy, but at the same time, don't think you're.
Gonna win if if you're behind.
Her, that's on the slope.
Yeah, don't be crazy.
Yeah, that's the best thing you can do for last minute costume is just current event. Uh reference love that.
I just watched The Substance and that was an inspiring visual feast. So I'm like, maybe I can pull something together like a Moore. If you haven't seen The Substance, No, I.
Wanted to see it, but I got I shouldn't even read reviews because they're wrong all the time these days.
It's entertaining, and it's body horror, which I'm not a horror person, but I can handle body stuff weirdly.
Yeah, what if you did Demi moore last plastic surgery when she got the buckle fat removal?
Remember that?
Oh oh I follow like I track full.
It looked like she had parentheses I dug into and now looks amazing like they fixed everything.
Yes, she does, which is cool. And and if you watch that Hulu thing where Andrew McCarthy is whining about being a brat pack member, I thought that it was the best. She was the most level headed, gralious. Yeah, riddled with therapy, Oh my god.
Yeah, she was giving him like what are you doing fortune cookie aphorisms?
Ye wise, yeah, teach everybody to teach what we've all learned exactly.
And he kept like, wow, that was wow. Yeah, she was really impressive. I really like her from that.
From that documentary. Yeah, the brat Pack documentary. Honestly, I mean, good on you Andrew McCarthy for making a documentary about your trauma. But also go see a therapist.
You know.
It was like to me after I watched it, I was like, oh, this was interesting enough, but like it was one of those examples of like men will do anything except go to therapy. Do you know that whole thing? I was like, yes, this is you will make a whole ass documentary before you go to therapy.
But also what it's his like, is it just that they were like teenage actors and it sucked in all those kinds of things.
Yeah, And to this day, I don't think that he knows it was just a word play based on the rat Pack. I don't think he's ever heard of the rat Pack. And it's like, we weren't brats and we did other We weren't a pack. We were in another movie. It's like, have you not heard of Dean Martin like it was. It was just so funny.
The very affected him because he was like, I'm a serious actor, but they called us brats.
You know.
Have you pull in here? You could just kind of pull up to this little empty space and I can or I can get out here because this is too narrow.
That might be too narrow, and I will definitely scrape someone over there.
Yeah, and almost. Is it a return, No, it's just to pick up three. This is this is public mailbox.
Yeah, so when.
You get back, we're going to go through your mail with you. Oh yeah, see what happened.
I got my nail and I have I got a check, which is nice.
Yes.
Is it a residual check. Let's see if it's for twelve cents or more?
Yeah, I get my No, this is a check from a gig I did sometimes I host things to do stand up for events and stuff.
We were just saying, you have such a good voice, Oh I do.
Yeah, your speaking voice is very fun to listen to.
Really, Oh my god, that is such a huge.
We're done. You're singing voice.
However, because I mean, because the two of you have incredible voices.
Thank you, thank you.
You both got like kind of radio voices. You know what I mean?
Oh, from radio people.
You are right.
My father is a radio man.
Oh I didn't know that, but.
I sound more like a muppet type bad. My dad's is very broadcast quality minds. But I can do more with mine.
Yeah, no, you're I can hear it.
It's in there.
Well. Thanks, I just want to be on the fringe of potential?
Should am I am? I trying to open it with you?
Or no?
I mean you could.
Did you get stuff on TikTok or anything?
No, I've only ordered one time on TikTok, and actually that was for Nate Craig, our mutual friends. Oh comedian. When someone addresses something to Jenny Lang, I always am suspicious, be very careful, like you got my last name? Oh no, okay, yeah, I get so sometimes I get like pr stuff which is fun. So like I don't know, you know, free shit? Oh yeah, I love we love free stuff.
Yeah.
I got a book. Oh I think this book is a comedy related book which is appropriate for me to open here.
Yes, let's let's hopefully it's a how to book.
Oh no, it's not a common anyway. I thought it was. Mike Brandenstein's book you know, Mike, Yeah, a Chicago comedy.
Do you have any link to Chicago comedy?
No, I just am friends with a lot of people who came up.
From right Yeah, me too. I would say a majority of them have some link to Chicago.
And then my guy lived there for many years. The book that I did open, though, is the memoir of Connie Chung.
Everyone.
Yeah, that's I forgot about this because she has this iconic photo of her in the middle of like a group of.
Men looking so depressed.
It's like it's like a She's like, I can only do this for about thirty more minutes.
It's like a great memeable.
Oh that is amazing, such a good picture.
Yeah, wow, that's I bet you there's some good shit in here.
I know.
She's so iconic.
She really is.
Well were you talking about guys?
Oh while you were gone? Yeah, that you have a master's degree.
I do, sort of. I'm a master degree dropout. I did everything but finish my thesis, which.
Is me too. Yeah.
Did you hear it's furious?
No?
Really, No, they're fine.
That's great.
I mean whatever, They're like, shouldn't you finish it? And then I was like gainfully employed.
So that's all they care about.
Yeah, have you ever shown your diploma, which is probably in a frame, to anyone for a job?
No, me either, even what I mean, the only time that I kind of needed it was my first job after grad school. I was like a research and policy person for a labor union, and so wow, I mean that was some somewhat of a requirement in the In the job, I was like a little lobbyist slash policy research.
Wow that you had a full on you were going towards politics. I was.
That was my first career. Yeah.
I used to work for a labor union that represents public employees.
That's very cool.
And and I worked for a nonprofit that was I was just a true believer. And then I was like, these assholes that I'm working for, I don't I don't look up to them anymore. I'm so burnt out.
Yeah, that's hard work.
It is.
It is for the people that dedicate themselves to be professional activists. Yeah, it's a lot of hard work, you know. So I was like, you know, what, life is short, let's hee he ha ha yea.
Why not he he ha ha a little bit more?
Yeah, it made me happier. I'm way happier. I'm also just older, so you just kind of figure it out.
But yeah, where you are You from Los Angeles, I'm from Torrance.
That's where I grew up. Yeah.
Sure, the old the old South South Toyota. Won't get a lemon, that's right, I know.
No, I was born in Taiwan, but I moved to LA when I was five, so this is home for me.
And was Torrance. I used to go to a very weird diet pill doctor down in Torrance. No, And when I drove home, it would be like usually when kids are getting out of school, and I would always just be watching them.
And just be like, what's this, Like like, what's.
This suburban life?
Yeah?
It was it suburban?
Was it like just regular kind of getting on and off the bus, regular stuff?
Yeah, it was pretty regular. You know. It's it's weird as suburban in La.
County is different from other counties or other suburbs, right from everything, because we we're it's like a dense suburb. So it's not like we had nothing to do, right, Like we're not like like knocking over mailboxes because you know what I'm saying, Like it wasn't bonfires and shit like, it was like, yeah, let's go to the Denny's, let's go to the mall. That's you know, so you.
Know, and did you think did you know about cool music sooner?
Was it?
That's how we always saw because I'm from northern California, right, and our friends parents would get divorced, the dad would move to LA and marry a much younger woman, and then they would go to LA in the summertime and come back with like really cool outfits like beach cruisers and stuff like what is this shit? And we would learn about the trends that we're going to be up in Pedaloma like in eight months, but they went down and got them early.
I believe that is.
That kind of the feeling where you felt like you were maybe at the center of things or at least knew about stuff first.
Yeah. I think at the time, which is somewhat pre social media, like we just thought we had our own world because it was like I went to a very Torrents is very big my high school, public high school was very big, like twenty two hundred students, wow. Yeah, And so it was its own ecosystem and we were like kind of majority minority in that like, like I grew up around a lot of Asians, brown folks, black folks, Pacific Islanders, so like I don't know, yeah, we just like whatever we thought was cool was fine.
You know. There was never a sense of like.
I want to be blonde and like why even though I am't blonde now, but you know it's done for others, not for racial reasons. But yeah, no, So like I grew up very like, like I went to school in the East Coast, a smaller arts college, very white, and so when I showed up, they're like, what are you? They thought I was a weird creature because a California Asian. Just we were just more confident, if that makes any sense. Absolutely, you know, we just because we didn't have certain hang ups for the most part, if you kind of grew up around like a majority your people kind of environment, so they're always like why are you wearing a sweatshirt and beat shorts and sandals? Like they're like, this makes no sense, it's raining, you know, Like also, why are you so loud? Why are you so confident? You know, which is so backhanded. Yeah, well I do feel like I haven't like people who are from California have just like a different exposure, even you know, even if you're like kind of not in the bigger cities, it's just California just has a different flavor.
I vividly remember everything that I was interested in was someone visiting. The first kid I saw with a pair of Vans, earth like, the first kid I saw on a skateboard. They just came through town. I'm from California, and I'm like, I think I want to live there. Yeah, even when I was a very young person. Yeah, I still like those things. I've grown up not at all. You have twenty pairs of Vans now, I absolutely do, and some that I've never even worn.
I mean, you're living the tree.
Yeah. Having a shoe problems.
Of all the problems, to have a shoe problem is a pretty good one.
Did you say you're born in Taiwan?
I was yeah.
And when did you move to Torrance?
I moved to Rosemead first and Hawthorne then Torrance. Yeah, so, but yeah, I was five when I moved to America.
Can you speak yes, I'm so sorry.
Mandarin China Mandarin.
Yeah, well that's what I Taiwan, And boy, I'm really walking out on a mine might be dumb.
Do it.
Taiwan is a country.
Well that is a controversial is a statement, but it's China would disagree with that really, yeah, yeah.
It's part of the People's republic exactly.
The China would say that about Taiwan. Well, a certain segment of taiwan people would say that they are independent and want more independence.
Sure. Yeah, well, then I'm being progressive. Taiwan's a country, is what I'm saying.
Listen, if you don't care about making money off of mainland China, feel free.
Oh wow, allegedly Taiwan is Yeah.
Well yeah, I think I just never stopped to think about it, because China's also a country, and you can't be a country and another country all at once.
I know, it's a it's a it's a little bit of a dicey issue.
Yeah, really, kind of like the Ireland thing. See that's me. I'm so worldly, Yeah you are. I took all my Civics classes from gym teachers. I know nothing.
Why is it always jim teachers?
I don't know it. Don't even change into a Paris flag.
Always the shorts right, yeah, shiny kneecaps.
Yeah, and that perfect outline of you know what today's lesson planned?
How fine are you looking at?
Because the shorts, I don't know, it's just the that's where I'm seated. I'm at crotch level.
It was his experience. So you can speak Mandarin, you speak.
Wondering pretty fluently. Yeah, I forced myself to learn better. I got to audition and act in something speaking Mandarin.
Which was great. Yeah, was it? The Son?
The brother Son?
The brother Son?
Incredible? I was like, this is I was built for this.
I want to see that. I haven't seen it yet. And you're on the You're fully on the cover of the poster. Thumbnail the poster.
It's me.
Yeah, very small, it's a thumbnail, I suppose if it's supposed, if it's big. But I'm I'll watch that tonight.
What is it?
Yeah, the brother's Son.
It came out earlier this year, already not renewed, but whatever, so great.
Hey.
I also wrote on season two, and we even wrote a whole season two before we heard the cancelation.
But they love to do that.
Whatever I got paid, I guess that's right.
But yeah. So it's a one hour comedic drama action show starring Michelle Yeo oh yeah, And I got to do action.
I'm an assassin. I got to do stunts.
I like got paid to train in stunts with people who trained like creating Wick. It was incredible. It was like truly a dream come true, Like it was a dreaming had formulated in my brain. I was like, I want to do action comedy.
Did you like I wanted to make up a new a new subset of movies.
Yeah, jokes with fighting? Did you learn to fight choreograph? Yeah?
I have really big, really big fight scenes to show.
What's your go to weapon?
My fists?
So I really want to see it.
And is Michelle Yoh as cool as we all believe her too?
Oh my god. You know, when you get to a certain level of icon and experience, like nothing truly can phase you. So she's like she floats.
I was gonna say, you.
Float like there's it's like.
Everyone worships her and she's just kind of like watch this totally.
I'm so I'm so newbie on set compared to her, and I'm just like I must have water every second, Like I'm like so demanding with my knees, and she's just like, let's go again. You know, like very calm.
Yeah, yeah, how did we all first see her?
What Crouching Tiger?
A lot of people Crouching Tiger, Hit and Dragon. I knew her through Hong Kong movies.
She was Oh, she was in a lot of Jackie Chance like. She was like full on yes, stun like stunt for stunt in competition with Yes, Jackie Ken. She was very competitive with him and probably has been injured. And yes, she almost died a number of her God, that's the same person she bounced off balconies beyond Buster Keaton. Yes.
And did she start as a stunt woman.
No, she actually was a trained ballerina, so that choreography and the flexibility and the physicality benefited her alone.
Oh wow. Yeah. I interviewed Jackie Chan once and I with his stunt guy and fight choreographer was also his translator and so I sort of was just talking to him. But he said, oh, I'm not a martial artist at all, he is. I just wanted to be Buster Keaton. Yes, that I did not know. He wanted to be physical comedy like what he was as a young person in Cannonball Run where he's driving a super that's just so cool that they just wanted to be physical actors.
Those two actors well and we The reason I like she is truly in my heart is because me and my dad went to see Crushing Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and I will never forget it. After that rooftop scene where they fight along the rooftops, the entire audience like broke out into a cheer.
Oh wow.
And it was because it was packed and it was like everyone was really excited, but it had just come out, so it wasn't like everyone knew about it or whatever. It was like kind of new and people like each moment that went.
By, people were like, holy shit, holy shit.
Yeah.
But then after that it was like.
Yeah, and it was the most exciting thing to be in that audience doing that because it was like how everybody felt. But there's times where you're in a movie and that's how people feel, but nobody is actually.
Expressing it totally.
And it was almost like everyone felt they had to do it, like they were just like they have.
To give this movie it's due.
And then to kind of watch her just continue continue you on that trajectory is so cool.
Yeah.
No, it was such a spectacle to see those practical effects. Back then Crouching Tiger. No one in America had seen it in the West really, and if you got into Hong Kong movies you saw versions of those kinds of sort of like martial arts, you know, spectacles, but they were definitely not done as well as they did it, you know, yeah, cinematography everything.
Yeah, so it was so special.
Yeah, and those visuals were like, oh my god, when they're in that bamboo forest and you're like that colored green and you're just like, oh, this is all there, there's this is all so produced and planned in this way of how esthetically pleasing.
I don't know.
I mean, I'm telling everybody how it's a good movie.
Yeah, yeah, that's okay.
And when something's over, is it twenty years now? You can spoil it. I want to see it again just to recognize when she's doing the stunts.
Oh yeah, so cool?
Did she like help you? What stunt? Can you talk about us that you had to do that you were scared of? Or was it mostly just fighting?
It was fighting? And I don't know, I want to spoil it because it's already been out, But if you're gonna watch it, I have a very important fight.
Scene which is I'm so excited.
You know, my important fight scenes towards the end, so you know it's gonna be. But I have two other fight scenes before that. I have like three total fights.
Oh. I don't start a series without ending it. Oh, I will make it to the fight.
Yeah, you're a completer.
Yes, yes, I love that.
No me, I go to sleep and forget I was watching it, just like I'm pretty sure Jenny tollis watch I can't remember, and.
Then two years later you can get up again.
You're like, wait a minute, I gotta start.
From the beginning. Yeah, and then I'm snoozetown like a German Cedric. I can't wait.
It's a pretty fun watch, I have to say.
Cool.
Yeah, it's just so irritating that things these days, there's so much out there that, like we are talking about TV show that I would love to watch and would have loved to have known about, and it just like it was not on my radar.
It's you.
That's crazy.
I know it kind of trended worldwide, but apparently not enough giving our budget or something.
I don't know. Well, I gotta just apologize because I totally knew about it, and I saw you on it, and I'm like, wow, that's amazing, and that all of a sudden fulfilled the actual watching it. It's ridiculous that I haven't. It's your fault, it is. This is on you. The season Two's my fault.
Yeah, this is like when Karen would make the audience feel guilty for it works, right, it works.
That's how.
It's all your fault.
You didn't watch it tonight. I swear my eyes are glued. I will also be making a costume, but I'll be.
Oh, it's good for that you're crafting. And then you do a little sir.
Yeah, well he likes to creep out, just like that, go tee.
I like to do that too. I'll talk to cars.
That helps me.
It's like, please be reasonable, please, you're about to tea bon us, don't do it?
Well?
What else?
So that's not going on? Then you had kind of a stressy summer.
Yeah, just trying to regroup and be like what am I about?
Yeah?
What am I trying to do? So I like stopped a lot of things, but like I've been obsessed with self care and self help and who isn't. But I had done this monthly show at the Dynasty typewriter for two years called Self Help Me, a competitive self care comedy show, which you know, it's a satirical game show where we make fun of wellness and self care trends. So we did like every month, I wrote a new show and it was like super fun and but it was like burnout and generational trauma. Like I had like three of the four like women from the Joy Luck Club be guests on my Generational Trauma show.
You know.
Oh yeah, it was so gratifying, but I was like, I'm exhausted. I did twenty shows over two a format like so you show up, I host, I do the monologue. I play a little bit of a character, you know, kind of like a wellness guru character, uh huh, where I'm like, I like, I say, I'm enlightened, but I treat my assistant like shit, I that.
Kind of a person.
Yeah.
And then and then I introduced an expert. There's always an expert. We always you know, make people leave having learned something about whatever the topic is. And then we have like three to four comedians who compete and I give them points kind of like arbitrary points, like you know at midnight.
Yeah, so what what what assignment do you give everyone that was booked on it? Like I'm imagining, Oh.
There's no.
The only assignment that I do is we ask them questions about the topic beforehand and we discuss them. So say, so, say we do you know, it's like say sober living, you know, say we do sober living. I ask you questions about that, and then we like you know, put them in quotes on a slide, and we discuss themat Yeah, and it's like really cool because you also learn things.
About Yeah that actually sounds therapeutic.
Yeah, Like you learn things about cool people and you're like, wait a minute, let's talk about let's talk to Reggie Watts about home and office organizing.
You know.
Yeah, You're like, who knew that could be a thing you could learn about your favorite comedian.
Yeah.
When you first started to talking about you said, it's like about you know, trauma or whatever. And then you go, I had three of the four and I thought you were gonna say, like problems that we were talking about.
Three out of four traumas.
That's that's why I laughed.
And then you were like women from the joy Luve Club, and I'm like, whoops, that wasn't funny, but.
All I think you were writing the joke for me, you know what I mean, you just made the assumption and fuck you make it funnier than it really is.
I mean, hey, we got to punch up our life, Yes, for sure, me always.
So. Yeah, I'm trying to develop that into a little podcast and I'm gonna make more content again because I kind of fell off from doing that during the pandemic because the pandemic was depressing. Oh yeah, you know, I just kind of stopped doing stuff, right, you know, other than like you know, TV writing or acting, but but like in terms of stand up and making videos, I'm getting back on it.
You good, Yeah, me too. I feel like that I enjoy it.
Right, I'm trying to get to a place where I'm one hundred percent enjoying it again.
Yeah yeah, yeah, It's hard to feel that way about something like I'm so excited about stand up. I feel like I'm better at it, and yet right I don't know of any shows. I'm like, wait, where do I go up? What's happened?
No, that's true.
I've started to like follow and just like like posts from the like young kids who are starting indie shows. Yeah, and it's it's cool. I feel like I've gotten booked because of that. It's like my little, like passive aggressive way of being like, hey, you want to book me?
Yeah.
Part of the I had Jake from Comedy Bureaus send me a concise list of all the shows. What a sweetie, all the bookers, and I'm like, wow, this is valuable. There's like fifty shows on here. Have I done anything? Absolutely not. There are a lot of emails are like, oh, I know that person and it's at a comedy There are comedy venues. Now, as I say all this out loud, it's it's maybe I it is happening. I'm just out of the loop because all I do is skateboard.
Yeah, you need to solve this problem.
Yeah, I do.
You have it all in your hands.
I guess it's right in my fingertips.
Right.
What competes with skateboarding?
You know?
I as far as making me feel good? Right, just stand up?
Does this is so bright?
This is BULLSHITTI day the street and experience sucks.
It's okay, you can keep driving.
Well, it's also you got the frosted glass option on your windshields.
I have not cleaned this windshield for you're clear straight ahead?
I see what's Christmas glass. We have to go through.
We have to get get to our destination as a team.
But what I like is that you have a test list, so you actually have a little imagery mapping.
Oh yeah, that's right.
It can help me.
And if somebody walks in front of my car, it'll definitely show a picture of.
That, yeah before I kill them.
Yes, yes, Oh.
My gosh, are we already toward the end of the podcast.
And that's kind of crazy?
Goes fast?
That was a fastie.
This is such an honor you guys.
It was so fun to talk to you.
You're an honor.
You're an honor.
You I object your honor.
If I were you, I would make a U turn so you don't have to go through that windy road again. Okay, great to get out of here, and then you exactly, and then you can let me out once you make the U You're.
Like, and then please let me.
I love you both so much, longtime fans.
And I love you as well.
I'm not ready to say we just really met.
You need to be on this podcast more and then I'll decide.
I will speak for Karen. That's the kind of thing she says when she loves someone right away.
That's really But yeah, you might hold back a little bit more.
I know that I got to I'm from the nineties.
Is there any anything else that you want to other than you're just making yourself better and happier. Is there anything you want to promote?
No, just you know, follow me at my website, Jennyang dot tv and Jenny Yang tv on Instagram and TikTok. I'm trying to get back onto TikTok even though they're going to cancel tiktoks out there.
Yeah, but first let's do some crowd work videos.
No other than that. I just I'm excited to be alive and laughing with funny people.
Hell yeah, yeah, you're looking for that's a great closing.
That's a bumper sticker. Tell Corey hello for me.
Okay, how do I open this?
Oh?
Wait, you press and push.
Belon mask. He did it again.
Okay, have a great night you guys.
Thank you so it was so fun.
Of course you were a delight.
Okay, bye bye bye.
She's great.
I love her.
Yeah, she's about well tell her.
No, no, okay, Jenny, I love you.
She said it, She said it when you got out. You've been listening to Do You Need a Ride?
D y n a R.
This has been an exactly right production.
Our senior producer is Analise Nelson.
Mixed by Edson Choy.
Our talent booker is Patrick Cottner.
Theme song by Karen Kilgareth.
Artwork by Chris Fairbanks.
Follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at dinar podcast That's d y n ar Podcast.
For more information, go to exactly rightmedia dot com.
Thank you, Oh You're welcome
