How to American | Jimmy O. Yang | Talks at Google

Gretchen Howard 0:00 [upbeat jingle]

Gretchen Howard 0:08 All right. Welcome, everyone. I am, uh, Gretchen Howard. I am, uh, one of the partners at CapitalG, which is Alphabet's growth equity investing fund, and I have the privilege and honor of introducing you to my friend, Jimmy O. Yang. Come on down.

Jimmy O. Yang 0:24 [clapping]

Gretchen Howard 0:34 I'm gonna give you a hug.

Jimmy O. Yang 0:35 Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Gretchen Howard 0:36 All right.

Jimmy O. Yang 0:39 Hey, gang. Thanks for coming out, everybody. I appreciate that. Is there a dog here?

Gretchen Howard 0:44 Yes, there is.

Jimmy O. Yang 0:45 Aw.

Gretchen Howard 0:46 So Google has a dog open door policy. So, um, Jimmy wrote a book recently. It's called How to American. Um, we... We're gonna... I'm gonna... We're gonna have a little chat here, and then we'll open it up to questions. And just as a little incentive, um, if you don't have the book already, those who ask questions will be the first to get your very own copy of the book.

Jimmy O. Yang 1:07 Ooh.

Gretchen Howard 1:07 Um, so...

Jimmy O. Yang 1:08 So exciting.

Gretchen Howard 1:09 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 1:11 I'll be signing it and taking pictures afterwards if you guys, you know.

Gretchen Howard 1:13 Exactly. Yeah. All right. So we're gonna start in the beginning.

Jimmy O. Yang 1:17 Hi.

Gretchen Howard 1:17 You're born... Hi. [laughs] You're born in Hong Kong.

Jimmy O. Yang 1:20 Uh-huh.

Gretchen Howard 1:20 Tell me about that. Let's start there.

Jimmy O. Yang 1:23 Yeah. I was born in, uh, Hong Kong, and I moved to LA when I was 13.

Gretchen Howard 1:28 In 2000.

Jimmy O. Yang 1:29 In 2000. That was after, like, the handoff from, uh, the British colony back to China, right? And, and, and I think there was a lot of worry there. It's probably one of the reasons why our family moved here. And when I first came here, I, I couldn't really speak English very well. Kind of like Jian-Yang, you know? And, um...

Speaker 1:45 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 1:47 I, I, I just... I've learned, I'd learned English in Hong Kong how kids here would learn Spanish.

Gretchen Howard 1:52 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 1:52 So it's not very well.

Speaker 1:54 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 1:56 And, like, I didn't understand, like, the simplest slangs, like what's up. Like, they don't teach you that in school, like, what's up, you know? Right? And, uh...

Speaker 2:03 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 2:05 Eventually, I learned a lot of English by watching BET Rap City.

Speaker 2:08 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 2:09 That was, like, my thing. Um, so yeah. And then it just progressed from there.

Gretchen Howard 2:13 But even before you moved to LA-

Jimmy O. Yang 2:15 Mm-hmm

Gretchen Howard 2:15 ... let me get, see if I get this straight. Your parents were originally from Shanghai.

Jimmy O. Yang 2:20 That's true.

Gretchen Howard 2:20 So they spoke Shanghainese?

Jimmy O. Yang 2:22 It was spoke... It was speak Can- uh, Shanghainese back home.

Gretchen Howard 2:25 Shanghainese. And then you-

Jimmy O. Yang 2:25 And then I learned Cantonese from school.

Gretchen Howard 2:28 Okay.

Jimmy O. Yang 2:28 So I speak Cantonese in school, and then I watched shows in Mandarin.

Gretchen Howard 2:32 So no wonder you were confused.

Jimmy O. Yang 2:34 Very.

Gretchen Howard 2:34 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 2:34 Yeah, and then English some- somewhere came along.

Gretchen Howard 2:37 So how did that even feel as a kid, even before you got to the US, not knowing how to speak really good English, just being in Hong Kong but having parents who came from the mainland?

Jimmy O. Yang 2:47 Yeah. I was kind of already the foreign kid, 'cause whenever I speak to my parents, uh, they would be like, "Oh, that's the Shanghai boy right there," you know? There's, like, a internal almost hierarchy and a semi-racism within Chinese people. Like, Hong Kong people always think they're better than other, you know, mainland China people, you know? And, um, so they always call me, like, the Shanghai boy. And, uh, so maybe that was, like, my first experience with assimilation, which really came in handy later when I came to America-

Gretchen Howard 3:16 Right

Jimmy O. Yang 3:16 ... when I was actually the foreign kid.

Gretchen Howard 3:17 Already sort of felt like an outsider-

Jimmy O. Yang 3:19 Yeah

Gretchen Howard 3:19 ... a little in Hong Kong. Okay. So you get to the US. You're in LA.

Jimmy O. Yang 3:23 Mm-hmm.

Gretchen Howard 3:23 What's your... Your first day in the, in the US, what happens?

Jimmy O. Yang 3:27 It was just, it was just complete culture shock, you know? 'Cause Hong Kong was like Manhattan. You got, like, buildings 25 stories high. It's a concrete jungle. And then you came to LA. The, the, the streets are, like, six lanes wide. Everything was just, like, a two-story strip mall. And you walk down the streets, there's nobody in the street, so it's like, "Where, where am I?" You know?

Gretchen Howard 3:45 Where are the people?

Jimmy O. Yang 3:45 It was like, "Is this Mad Max or what's going on?"

Speaker 3:47 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 3:50 And the first day, my grandpa took us to, uh, his favorite American restaurant. We walked 45 minutes down the street. First, first of all, we passed by a Pizza Hut, and that was my favorite restaurant in, um, Hong Kong. 'Cause Pizza Hut in Hong Kong is like a gourmet restaurant with, like, seafood pasta and, like, real, like, gourmet soups and stuff, you know? And then I saw the real authentic American version, and it was just, like, a hole in the wall with an oven.

Speaker 4:12 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 4:14 I'm like, "What is this? How, how is the real version worse than the foreign version?"

Speaker 4:19 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 4:20 I was panicking.

Gretchen Howard 4:22 So where, where, where did Grandpa take you?

Jimmy O. Yang 4:23 And then Grandpa was like, "This is my favorite American restaurant." We arrived at this strip mall, and, uh, it was El Pollo Loco.

Speaker 4:31 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 4:32 It was a Mexican fast food place, but it was amazing.

Gretchen Howard 4:37 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 4:37 And then it was, like, the first time I experienced, like, American freedom inside of El Pollo Loco. Because you think about... They, they give you so many choices. There's dark meat and, and white meat, which my grandpa was like, "Don't ever order the white meat. That's dry and rough. That's for American idiots, okay?"

Gretchen Howard 4:51 [laughs]

Speaker 4:51 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 4:51 "You get the dark meat." There's corn tortilla and flour tortilla. "You get the flour tortilla, because the corn tastes funny."

Speaker 4:57 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 4:58 And then, you know, you g- you get a glass of water, and you can go to the soda machine, get whatever you want.

Speaker 5:03 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 5:05 That's not exactly how it works.

Jimmy O. Yang 5:06 And then, and then you can go to the salsa bar...

Speaker 5:08 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 5:09 ... and just get whatever you want, you know? Get some onions and, and cilantro. You can go home and saute that stuff for some dish later.

Speaker 5:16 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 5:17 It's freedom, people.

Speaker 5:18 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 5:20 All right. So after you ate your little chicken taco, you, you go to middle school in LA.

Jimmy O. Yang 5:25 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 5:25 And you go to John Burroughs, right?

Jimmy O. Yang 5:27 Yes, John Burroughs. It's very... It, it's inside of LA, uh, Unified School District, so it's very diverse. Uh, it's the first time I ever met a Black person, a white person, a Latino person in real life. 'Cause in Hong Kong, obviously, only... all you had was Chinese people in my school. And, um, it, it was crazy. 'Cause I, I'd seen this different types of people on TV, but I'd never met them.

Gretchen Howard 5:48 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 5:48 And I was 13. I was about, I don't know, like 4'10", really scrawny little kid with glasses. And, like, I just remember the first day... I was pretty good at basketball back home in Hong Kong.

Speaker 5:57 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 5:58 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 6:00 And then when I came here, I was... In eighth grade, this kid Marquise was, like, dunking. And I'm like, "Yo, like, uh, this is what America's about?" Like, it wa- it was crazy to me, you know? And then, and then I saw this Latino kid, he had a mustache.

Speaker 6:11 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 6:13 I c- I couldn't even grow any hair at that point.

Speaker 6:15 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 6:16 It was complete culture shock, and I was just... You know, my English wasn't that good, so I was just trying to fit in.

Gretchen Howard 6:20 I thought you were a ping pong star back in Hong Kong.

Jimmy O. Yang 6:23 I was-

Gretchen Howard 6:23 Which is so stereotypical, but like...

Jimmy O. Yang 6:24 Back in the day.

Gretchen Howard 6:25 You, you're bringing those-

Jimmy O. Yang 6:25 I, I was very stereotypical growing up in Hong Kong. I, I, uh, I, I played, uh, the violin. I was pretty good at math. And, uh-

Speaker 6:33 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 6:34 I played ping pong competitively.

Speaker 6:36 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 6:37 But, what... That seems like a stereotype here, but in Hong Kong, you're just another dude.

Speaker 6:41 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 6:41 That's just what people do. It's like playing catch.

Gretchen Howard 6:45 Did you bring your, your skills, though, to the middle school? Did you show them off?

Jimmy O. Yang 6:47 No, nobody cared about ping pong.

Gretchen Howard 6:49 [laughs]

Speaker 6:49 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 6:50 Maybe until college, when, when it became, like, a beer pong game.

Gretchen Howard 6:53 Beer pong.

Speaker 6:53 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 6:53 But that's a, that's a tot- whole different-

Gretchen Howard 6:55 We're not there yet

Jimmy O. Yang 6:56 ... skill set.

Gretchen Howard 6:56 We're in middle school, yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 6:57 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gretchen Howard 6:57 So middle school, is this when your B- your, your BET love affair of, with television started?

Jimmy O. Yang 7:02 I think it started. I remember, like, the first day of school, people were telling me, like, to sag my pants.

Speaker 7:06 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 7:08 Like, I'm in the locker room changing into my PE clothes, and the kids are like, "Hey, hey, pull your p- pull your shorts down." And I'm like, "Oh my God, what is going on here in LA?"

Speaker 7:15 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 7:18 And, and apparently it's a culture of sagging your pants back in the early 2000s, you know, that, that looks cool. If you pull it all the way up, they call you John Stockton.

Speaker 7:24 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 7:25 So how, how far did you pull them down?

Jimmy O. Yang 7:27 Pulled them all the way down to my knees.

Gretchen Howard 7:28 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 7:28 And they're like, "No, no, no. Don't, don't do that."

Speaker 7:30 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 7:31 And even just the, even underwears, there's different... Like, people w- wear, wear boxers here. In, in Hong Kong, we wear, like, tighty whities, and people made fun of me for that, you know? So I learned a lot, not, not just about the language, but culture-

Gretchen Howard 7:43 Right

Jimmy O. Yang 7:43 ... from, you know, uh, uh, wa- wa- watching BET.

Gretchen Howard 7:46 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 7:46 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 7:46 And then how was it... So your middle school, then you go to Beverly Hills High School, right?

Jimmy O. Yang 7:50 Yeah, my dad, my dad was a genius. He used a fake address for me to go.

Speaker 7:54 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 7:54 Jimmy's dad is right here.

Jimmy O. Yang 7:56 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 7:56 Stand up.

Jimmy O. Yang 7:56 Yeah, he's not Jewish.

Gretchen Howard 7:57 Say hi to Jimmy's dad.

Speaker 7:58 [claps]

Jimmy O. Yang 8:04 Oldest Googler in the building.

Gretchen Howard 8:06 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 8:07 Yeah. And the subtitle of the book, it's... Well, the title is How to American: An Immigrant's Guide to Disappointing Your Parents.

Speaker 8:14 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 8:14 So here we are.

Gretchen Howard 8:15 [laughs]

Speaker 8:18 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 8:19 So what we're gonna talk about, you're, you're still not quite in the disappointment phase in high school, right? That's more college?

Jimmy O. Yang 8:25 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm, I'm still, I'm still the good Asian kid then.

Gretchen Howard 8:28 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 8:28 I g- I got to disappointing them later.

Gretchen Howard 8:30 So who did you hang out with in high school?

Jimmy O. Yang 8:33 It, it's a group of kids I, I, I wanted to hang out with... I, I wanted to find, like, a group of Chinese kids I can kind of really hang on to, you know? When, when you don't really know the language, you, you, you, you know, you, you kind of long for that, you know? Something that reminds you back home. But there wasn't really a lot of Chinese kids in, in, in high school. So I ended up just hanging out with a bunch of random misfits, right? Like, uh, I had a couple Persian friends, a friend from Bangladesh, and then a friend, uh, one, one Chinese friend, and then a Korean immigrant friend. So, so, so it was a great group of different people, and we just kind of... We're never the cool kids, but we also weren't, like, super lame. We just kind of never fit in with any particular group. We weren't the skaters.

Gretchen Howard 9:12 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 9:12 We weren't the athletes or anything like that, you know?

Gretchen Howard 9:14 But you started to find your people. You started to-

Jimmy O. Yang 9:16 I started to find my people, and I started a rap group.

Speaker 9:18 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 9:20 It's what happens when you watch too much BET.

Gretchen Howard 9:21 Can you, can you do a little of that rap for us right now?

Jimmy O. Yang 9:24 I can't... No, no.

Gretchen Howard 9:25 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 9:25 I was horrible.

Speaker 9:26 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 9:26 Just a little?

Jimmy O. Yang 9:27 No, I... Well, what I did, I, I eventually... I, I knew I was a horrible rapper, so I, um, I recruited my buddies, you know, who can rap, and I just made the beats, right?

Speaker 9:36 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 9:36 And that was, like, my first creative outlet. It was me, my Black friend Julian, and then my other friend Yuji, who was half Black and half Japanese. So it was perfectly one and a half Asian guys and one and a half Black guys.

Speaker 9:48 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 9:50 And, and, [laughs] and we called the rap group the Yellow Panthers. It was-

Speaker 9:53 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 9:54 ... very embarrassing.

Speaker 9:55 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 9:58 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 9:58 Did, did you ever sell one of your songs?

Jimmy O. Yang 10:01 I sold maybe a couple bootleg CDs in, in school. Like, we would just burn CDs. You guys remember that, when you burn... It takes 30 minutes to burn a CD.

Speaker 10:07 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 10:08 And then, and then you sell it for, like, five bucks to some kids.

Gretchen Howard 10:10 There wasn't, like, a porn site that bought one of your songs or something?

Jimmy O. Yang 10:13 What? What are you talking about?

Gretchen Howard 10:14 [laughs] I'm sorry.

Speaker 10:15 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 10:16 My first paycheck I really made in show business, uh, was from a website called fudgestick.com.

Speaker 10:22 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 10:23 This is true, okay? Don't look it up.

Gretchen Howard 10:25 [laughs]

Speaker 10:26 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 10:27 Even, it, it, it's not a thing anymore. It used to be a site, uh, a, a porno site, and, and I used to post my beats that I made online.

Speaker 10:35 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 10:36 And this guy called me one day. He was like, "Hey, uh, are you Doc West?" That was my beat maker name.

Speaker 10:42 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 10:44 Which is, like, the whackest name ever, right? Doc West. It's, like, from Dr. Dre and Kanye West. I just combined the two and called myself Doc West.

Speaker 10:51 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 10:52 It's horribly hacky. And, uh, he called. He was like, "Hey, um, so are you Christian?" I'm like, "Uh, not really. Why? What, what's up?" He's like, "Well, so I'm in the adult entertainment business, and, uh, a lot of Christian people aren't down with what I'm doing."

Gretchen Howard 11:08 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 11:08 "And my name's LaRon James." That was his name. Not LeBron James.

Speaker 11:12 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 11:13 LaRon James.

Gretchen Howard 11:14 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 11:16 And, uh, he was like, "I, I like, I like one of your beats, and, uh, can I use it for a trailer for one of my pornos?"

Speaker 11:22 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 11:25 So I sold it to him.

Speaker 11:26 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 11:28 My first paycheck.

Gretchen Howard 11:30 All right. So a little short-lived music career. You go to college. UCSD?

Jimmy O. Yang 11:34 UC San Diego.

Speaker 11:35 Whoo!

Jimmy O. Yang 11:35 I was trying to-

Gretchen Howard 11:36 Oh, we've got some in the house.

Jimmy O. Yang 11:36 I'm sorry.

Gretchen Howard 11:37 [laughs]

Speaker 11:39 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 11:39 I'm sorry. I'm sorry. One of the most boring places I've ever been.

Speaker 11:43 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 11:45 Did you like it? I did. You did like it? Yeah. Oh, good. What, what, what did you guys study? Like, engineering, computer science or something? Computer science. Good. Oh, at least you guys studied something you guys liked.

Gretchen Howard 11:53 [laughs]

Speaker 11:54 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 11:55 Economics? Yeah. How'd you end up here?

Speaker 11:57 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 12:00 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 12:00 Imposter.

Speaker 12:01 Oh. [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 12:03 I'm kidding. I'm kidding. So am I. I studied economics also.

Speaker 12:06 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 12:07 And here I am.

Gretchen Howard 12:10 But you didn't... Is that what your dad wanted you to major in?

Jimmy O. Yang 12:13 Um, he wanted me to like something legitimate, right? What, what, what Asian parents would consider legitimate is like engineering, science. Uh, so I went in as k- a mechanical engineering major, and I realized I would never graduate, uh.

Speaker 12:24 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 12:26 So then I went into economics, which is like the easiest major that is still approved by Asian parents.

Speaker 12:31 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 12:33 Right? You know, he was a financial advisor. You know, that, that's what it is. And uh, so um, I did it for five years. It took me five years to graduate with economics degree, which is very sad. Um, and uh, I didn't-

Gretchen Howard 12:48 A lot of extracurricular activities?

Jimmy O. Yang 12:50 Yeah, you know. Uh, smoking a little too much weed my freshman year.

Speaker 12:54 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 12:56 Um, I just, I, I was just trying to not be grouped in, 'cause there's so many Asian people in UCSD, right? It was like about the first time I came to America that Asian was the majority once again. But now I have a different identity crisis because now I don't wanna be grouped in as the other, 'cause I'm like, "Dude, I listen to Jay-Z, man. Like, I'm, I'm Doc West," you know what I mean? Like, I don't...

Speaker 13:16 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 13:18 Like, you know, I'm, I'm cool. So when you're younger, you don't wanna be grouped in with some, uh, uh... When you hit that age, that college age, you don't wanna be grouped in. So I tried to do other stuff. And, and for some reason, as twisted as this logic sound, it kinda made sense to me, was if you just smoke enough weed-

Speaker 13:34 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 13:35 ... you would transcend being just the Asian kid.

Speaker 13:37 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 13:40 You will be the stoner kid.

Speaker 13:41 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 13:41 You know what I mean? And for me, in my mind, somehow that's better.

Speaker 13:44 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 13:46 Sorry, Dad.

Gretchen Howard 13:47 [laughs]

Speaker 13:47 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 13:48 Uh, but... [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 13:53 So did you not hang out with any other Asian kids there at all?

Jimmy O. Yang 13:55 No, I did. I mean, that's the, my only option at UCSD, and, and it was fine.

Speaker 13:59 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 14:00 There was like maybe other Asian stoner kids.

Speaker 14:01 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 14:02 Um, I, I didn't know what I wanted to do. Like, I, when I graduated after five years, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just know I didn't wanna do economics.

Gretchen Howard 14:10 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 14:11 You know? I had an internship at Smith Barney that my dad hooked me up with. It was like one of the really nice financial firms. I don't know if you guys know about this. Smith Barney, I mean, it just sounds nice too, you know?

Speaker 14:20 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 14:21 I think it's part of Morgan Stanley now or something. Um, but like I just, sitting behind a desk, I was just like, "Oh my God, I'm gonna do this for the next 40 years looking at some other people's mutual funds?" I, I was having like a panic attack.

Gretchen Howard 14:32 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 14:33 I mean, that, that's, that actually sounds attractive to a lot of people. To like, you know, the safety of having a nice job like that. But to me, it just didn't appeal to me, so.

Gretchen Howard 14:42 But that's hard. I mean, your dad got you this job.

Jimmy O. Yang 14:44 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 14:44 He helped you go to college, right?

Jimmy O. Yang 14:46 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 14:46 He was there for you. He really like raised you a lot through your teenage years, right?

Jimmy O. Yang 14:50 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 14:50 Because your mom went back to Shanghai.

Jimmy O. Yang 14:51 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 14:52 So papa over here, and-

Jimmy O. Yang 14:53 Yeah

Gretchen Howard 14:54 ... all of a sudden you tell him you don't wanna do the job that he got you. I mean, what was... How did you-

Jimmy O. Yang 14:58 And that's when I disappointed him.

Gretchen Howard 15:00 [laughs]

Speaker 15:00 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 15:02 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 15:02 How did you get up the courage, though, to have that conversation with him?

Jimmy O. Yang 15:06 It was, it was hard, man. 'Cause you don't ever wanna disappoint your parents, especially they've done so much for you, right? Like, they came to this country for you, for your education, got you in school, right? Fake- faked an address to get me into Beverly Hills High School. I mean, come on.

Speaker 15:19 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 15:20 And then I'm gonna tell them I don't, I don't wanna do this job, you know? And do what? I don't know. Like stand-up? Um, and it, it was hard, but I, I figured it was probably better to disappoint my parents for a couple years than to disappoint myself for the rest of my life. So that's why I just, I was like, "I can't, Dad, I can't do this. I, I don't wanna do this job." And, uh, I went through a journey after that, you know, of, of finding what I wanted to do.

Gretchen Howard 15:46 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 15:46 Um, I didn't think stand-up was gonna be a career. It was just something I found that, you know... It was a friendship that I found in stand-up with other comedians, and a camaraderie.

Gretchen Howard 15:58 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 15:58 And as something to do, even. You know, just a community that, so I don't feel as stuck. Uh, but I tried other things. You know, like I had three jobs when I graduated. I, I, I sold used cars, uh, during the day. This was all in San Diego. And then I would go to work at the Comedy Palace, working the door collecting tickets. Um, and then in exchange I would get a couple minutes of stage time doing stand-up. And then at night, I became a strip club DJ.

Speaker 16:25 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 16:26 And... That was my third job.

Gretchen Howard 16:27 So let's talk about that, 'cause your boss's name was Shooter?

Jimmy O. Yang 16:31 Yeah, uh, his... Shooter. I, I don't know why. Probably shot somebody, who knows?

Gretchen Howard 16:34 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 16:35 It was a very gangster, like seedy strip club. And when you're like 22, you think working at a strip club is like the coolest thing, right?

Gretchen Howard 16:42 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 16:42 Especially when you watch too much music videos.

Speaker 16:44 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 16:45 But it wasn't. It was, it was like... I soon realized nobody in that strip club actually wanted to work there.

Gretchen Howard 16:51 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 16:52 They were there because they've been to prison a few times, and they have to work there now.

Gretchen Howard 16:55 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 16:56 And everybody got nicknames, like Shooter. The bouncer's name was Beast.

Speaker 16:59 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 17:00 He used to be in the Aryan Brotherhood back in prison, so he probably wasn't too hot on me working there.

Gretchen Howard 17:05 Right, right.

Speaker 17:05 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 17:06 And yeah, it, it wasn't, it wasn't that great of an environment, but I tried to be professional, you know?

Speaker 17:12 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 17:14 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 17:15 That's all, we're gonna talk about that. Okay. But back to your stand-up, you had sounded like when, you know, you were taking tickets at the door, you actually had some people who became really good friends and also advisors. So Sean Kelly, was it?

Jimmy O. Yang 17:28 Sean Kelly.

Gretchen Howard 17:29 Talk to me about him.

Jimmy O. Yang 17:29 A good friend of mine. He kinda became my mentor. I think that's one of the most important things, uh, is fi- is finding like a good mentor, and, and not afraid to ask somebody to y- to be a mentor. And really, you know...

Gretchen Howard 17:40 How'd you meet him? Who is he?

Jimmy O. Yang 17:42 Yeah. So, uh, he was the guy that started the Comedy Palace. He was like a businessman and a comedian, and everybody in San Diego was like, "Yo, if you want stage time, you need to talk to Sean Kelly." I'm like, "Who? Who's Sean Kelly? Is that like Dave Chappelle's cousin or something? Like, I don't know." And uh, he turned out just to be like this brilliant businessman that really helped me along my career. Um, and uh, yeah, he was the one, I guess, uh, in the beginning he was like, "Man, you know, you got such a unique story with immigration, you know? Like, and you're wasting your time talking about like hacky, like masturbation jokes. Don't do that. Every other comic can do that, but you have your own story. You should develop this material, eventually write a book about it. And then, you know, you can, you can do talks, you can do whatever." And, and look, look at me. And he was the one that, that talked me out of working that strip club. He was like, "Yo, Jimmy, you're funny, man. You gotta, you gotta move to LA before this gets, like, you know, in, there's, like, a point of no return." So, um, yeah, yeah, finding that mentor is, is extremely important.

Gretchen Howard 18:39 I love that he pushed you in that direction, 'cause there's one part in the book where Terrell and Guam, who seem to be good friends of yours who are also-

Jimmy O. Yang 18:46 Yeah, they're two comics

Gretchen Howard 18:46 ... they're two comics.

Jimmy O. Yang 18:47 Yeah, yeah.

Gretchen Howard 18:47 But it sounded like, you know, they had a more lively, um, sex life than you did at this time.

Jimmy O. Yang 18:54 Right, right, right. Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 18:54 And so they were incorporating all that into their stand-up.

Jimmy O. Yang 18:58 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 18:58 And you were like...

Jimmy O. Yang 19:00 I wanted to do that.

Gretchen Howard 19:01 Right.

Speaker 19:01 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 19:01 But it wasn't... It wasn't authentic, right?

Jimmy O. Yang 19:04 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 19:04 So, so Sean sort of, has somehow f- saw that in you, not, you know.

Jimmy O. Yang 19:08 Yeah, yeah.

Gretchen Howard 19:09 And made you tell your real story. So how did that change your comedy?

Jimmy O. Yang 19:12 It's great. I think it's still evolving. Uh, when, when you first start as a comedian, you just try... You're not funny, right? Nobody's funny when they first start. You just try to do jokes that you've seen on TV and your own remix of that. You know, a lot of, like I said, masturbation jokes or, like, uh... And then, and then you graduate to some, like, self-deprecating Asian jokes or something like that. And then eventually, you, you, you become more li- you're able to become more vulnerable and talk about, you know, the immigration stories that-

Gretchen Howard 19:37 Yeah

Jimmy O. Yang 19:37 ... I, I have, right? Like, that I wrote in the book, and I'm really happy to kind of use some of that material. And, and that's material people can't even steal, and, and it's just your thing, right? So I think, uh, that's what I'm trying to strive to doing, 'cause that's what some of my favorite comedians did. You know?

Gretchen Howard 19:53 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 19:53 Chappelle. George Lopez has great, you know, family stories, and, like, and, like, him being a Mexican-American in America. So I wanna do more of that.

Gretchen Howard 20:01 Right. So how did you then make that jump from doing stand-up to then going to LA, getting an agent? Like, talk me through that shift.

Jimmy O. Yang 20:09 Oh, man. Uh, I just wanted to, I just wanted to do stand-up. I... My goal was to get a college agent. I can make, like, two grand a week doing college shows, right? But then, you know, things started to unfold, and, uh, I went back to LA. Um, I was living in this dude's living room from Craigslist for 300 bucks.

Speaker 20:28 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 20:28 'Cause I didn't wanna move back to my dad's as a failure.

Gretchen Howard 20:31 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 20:31 You know? So, um, I...

Gretchen Howard 20:36 You're on the couch.

Jimmy O. Yang 20:36 It was just struggling. I, I was just trying to make ends meet. I was hoping to book a commercial, you know? Because a commercial you can make, like, thousands of do- of dollars with one day of work, you know, with residuals. So that was w- what I was hoping for. So I, I signed up, you know, put my headshots up on all those websites, like, desperately seeking for an agent. And then the first agent I met with, a commercial agent, I was like, "Oh, man, th- this is great, gonna be great. This is gonna change my life." And I drove up, I, I pulled up. It was at an apartment rental office.

Gretchen Howard 21:06 Oh, jeez.

Jimmy O. Yang 21:07 It wasn't even an agency. I walked into an apartment building.

Speaker 21:10 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 21:11 And then he had me, like, read the Staples commercial, right? It's like, "Uh, Staples, where all the folks, da-da-da-da-da." And I was so bad, the apartment rental agency rejected me.

Speaker 21:19 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 21:22 They're like, "We're fine. We don't need you." And, uh, I was, like, almost about to give up on that, and then I found another small agent that kind of took a chance on me. And, um, she started sending me on auditions that were, like, beyond my goals at that time even. Not just commercials, but, like, Modern Family, just, like, two lines here and there. And I, I couldn't... I was... I guess I, I learned some timing from doing stand-up, but I had never taken acting classes, so I wasn't very good. Um, and then eventually, I t- I, I spent a lot of money on, like, acting classes, and I got my first part on, uh, 2 Broke Girls. It was just, like, two lines.

Gretchen Howard 21:54 Yeah?

Jimmy O. Yang 21:54 And I thought that was, like, the epitome of acting. Like-

Speaker 21:57 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 21:58 ... it was amazing, you know? And then from then, you know, the two-line part, you know, and then I got another two-line part. Got, like, a part on Always Sunny, you know, with a few more lines.

Gretchen Howard 22:08 And what type of characters were they, you getting cast as?

Jimmy O. Yang 22:10 It's different. One of my favorite parts in the book, um, uh, is, is this audition log I have, right? Uh, it's the 101 auditions that I went on before I got my 102nd audition, which was Silicon Valley. So let me see here if I can, uh, find a good section. Where is that log? This... Oh, here you go.

Gretchen Howard 22:33 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 22:33 There's 100 [laughs] ... It's all these, all these auditions. I, I, I, I used to meticulously keep a log, and then I got on Silicon Valley, I'm like, "Okay, I'm fine."

Speaker 22:40 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 22:45 But it's a lot of, like, stereotypical roles. Like, my first, like, few parts, it's, uh, that I auditioned for, I didn't get it. It's like, "Loud Japanese host."

Speaker 22:51 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 22:53 "Taiwanese, 20, looks like 12. Computer geek."

Speaker 22:56 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 23:00 "Tucker, ethnic friend."

Speaker 23:02 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 23:03 Right? It's, like, it's, like, these two-line parts. It's... This is one of my favorite parts, like, looking at these parts, I'm like, "Oh my God," like, I used to dream about getting these roles, you know what I mean?

Gretchen Howard 23:12 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 23:12 And really, Silicon Valley started off as a two-line part also. Like, it was when Jian-Yang opened the door and was like, "This is Pied Piper." Like, that was-

Speaker 23:18 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 23:18 ... that was the two lines that kind of started it, and then they wrote the fish scene after, and then something else, and then by season two, I became a series regular. It was, it was, it, uh... So, like, I felt like I snuck in the back door, and it was just amazing.

Gretchen Howard 23:30 So even that first season, you were still trying to pay the rent, trying to make it work.

Jimmy O. Yang 23:35 I got paid $900 per episode. $900. That's the SAG minimum wage, okay?

Speaker 23:41 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 23:41 That's the lowest they can pay an actor, and that's what most people get paid in Hollywood, uh, when you're just starting out. So, um, for... I was in three episodes in the first season, uh, and I had maybe, like, five words total, and I was paid, what, like $2,700? Uh, you know, with maybe residuals, three grand at the end of the day, and I was still super broke. I actually drove Uber between season one and season two of Silicon Valley.

Speaker 24:05 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 24:07 But nobody recognized me then, you know?

Speaker 24:08 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 24:09 And, um, I used that $2,700, uh, as down payment for, like, a 2006 Prius, and then that's, that's how I, you know, s- could sustain myself. And, uh, when I got a call to be a series regular on season two, uh, it was, it was life-changing. Like, I knew that was the moment. I was like, "Oh my God, this, e- everything's about to change."

Gretchen Howard 24:28 Awesome. So let's talk about Mike Judge then, 'cause he's obviously been-

Jimmy O. Yang 24:31 Yeah

Gretchen Howard 24:31 ... a big influence on you.

Jimmy O. Yang 24:32 Mike Judge, my guy, who wrote the forward on this book.

Gretchen Howard 24:34 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 24:36 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 24:37 And the first time you ever heard him speak was, besides Beavis and Butt-Head?

Jimmy O. Yang 24:41 It was at UCSD. Mike Judge was my commencement speaker when I graduated. [laughs] How crazy is that?

Gretchen Howard 24:47 Wow.

Jimmy O. Yang 24:47 2009, um, he was the campus-wide commencement speaker. I was very hungover that day. [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 24:55 But you went.

Jimmy O. Yang 24:55 I al- I almost didn't go, and then my buddy convinced me. He's like, "Oh, come on man, just go." You know, like, uh, "He- he's- he's- he did, like, Beavis and Butt-Head. He's the Beavis and Butt-Head guy, and the King of the Hill guy." I'm like, "Okay, whatever, I'll go." [laughs] And then h- his story, like, really spoke to me, 'cause I was really lost at the time, and he was saying that he was a physics major in UCSD, and he was working in Silicon Valley in the late '80s, um, making computer chips for fighter jets, I believe.

Gretchen Howard 25:21 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 25:21 And, uh, he said he just, he just didn't like it, you know? And eventually he became a touring musician, and then from then, he found his passion in an animator studio, and that's how he made Beavis and Butt-Head. It was, it was an amazing story. It was, it was a story that I kind of never allowed myself to have growing up in a Asian family. My dad always told me that if you pursue your dreams, that's how you become homeless. [laughs] Artists are homeless people. [laughs] So, uh, you know, he, he never... Like, like I was never allowed to kind of have that dream thing, right? That's a very American thing, and that's what, what, what a big theme in the book is, it's in Asian culture you're supposed to be obedient, follow the rules, be a good son. In American culture, you're supposed to be independent man, go pursue your dreams, pursue your happiness. So how do you kind of... You know, I'm sure a lot of Asian people here could relate to this, or even anyone. It's like, how do you... Which side do I go to? Because they're exact polar opposites, right? And I think deep down I always want to be that artist person, but you know, I, I did go through the route, even throughout college, of trying to just be the good son, right? And then the Mike Judge speech, like, really spoke to me. I'm like, "Man, this dude didn't know anything about Hollywood, but he was able to make it." Um, so that kind of, you know, gave me a little extra motivation to go pursue stand-up and whatever I loved. And, um, yeah, five years later... He had no idea I was sitting in the audience. I just went into an audition for, for the part, and I got the part, and the first day at table read I told him. I was like, "Mike, you were my commencement speaker, man. Thanks." [laughs] So that was a pretty cool moment. And, uh, Mike, Mike's like a very calm, quiet guy. He's like, "Yeah, cool. Yeah, okay." [laughs] So I wasn't-

Gretchen Howard 27:07 He majored in economics, too, and he turned out all right, so I think you're fine.

Jimmy O. Yang 27:10 Yeah, yeah, you're fine.

Gretchen Howard 27:11 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 27:12 You're fine, yeah.

Gretchen Howard 27:12 So okay. So now you're on Silicon Valley full time.

Jimmy O. Yang 27:16 Mm-hmm.

Gretchen Howard 27:16 How, how do you reconcile... You have your own sort of immigrant story.

Jimmy O. Yang 27:20 Mm-hmm.

Gretchen Howard 27:20 And then there's the story of your character.

Jimmy O. Yang 27:23 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 27:23 How do you, how do you think about that? How do you prepare for that? Like, what do you draw from your own experiences?

Jimmy O. Yang 27:28 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 27:28 What do you draw from?

Jimmy O. Yang 27:29 Absolutely. I, I think it, it all came full circle, that I'm able to kind of use my past story into building the Jian-Yang character, because he's basically a version of myself 15 years ago, you know? Kind of muttering around, ki- kind of can't understand a lot of things, and, uh, in a way being kind of bullied by TJ's character, Erlich. But, but he, he's not stupid, so he can kind of come back with, like, some, like, just really deadpan factual, you know, trash talk. [laughs] That you don't see coming. Um, I-

Gretchen Howard 27:58 Do you have a favorite comeback line?

Jimmy O. Yang 28:00 Uh, well, I remember... So, so when I was younger, when I first came here, like, you know, people would talk trash to me, right? And, and when you're young, like when you're 13, people would be like, "Hey, your mom's fat," like, "Ha ha ha," whatever. And I would be like, "No, she's a skinny Chinese woman." [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 28:12 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 28:13 So that's a very Jian-Yang moment, in a way. [laughs] And, and I, I think one of my favorite things in, in Silicon... I mean, there's so many favorite moments with me and TJ. I, I, I just love working with him. One of my favorite scenes personally is, uh, when we walk into the mansion party, where we try to get into the Mirror Woods project. [laughs] And we just constantly keep trying to throw each other under the bus.

Gretchen Howard 28:34 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 28:35 You know? Um, we did a ton of improv there, too. One of the thing was, like, uh, when TJ was like, "Can we just go in and just take one quick lap?" You know, um, he doesn't even eat, and I said, "Yes, I'm very hungry." [laughs] Like, that's stuff like that. And then there's another take where I just started naming off different food that I see, and so I was like, "Oh, Korean barbecue. Like, uh, spaghetti and meatballs." Like, it was just so much going on in that scene. That was, that was the first time that me and TJ had the whole scene to ourselves.

Gretchen Howard 28:59 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 29:00 You know? And the whole, uh, background and setting. So that was really fun, and I think that was the day that we discover, I was like, "Oh, man, we, we do have some... Like, there's something special there."

Gretchen Howard 29:07 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 29:07 You know?

Gretchen Howard 29:08 So in this season, you know, obviously TJ's not on.

Jimmy O. Yang 29:11 Mm-hmm.

Gretchen Howard 29:11 Or we're not quite sure where he is.

Jimmy O. Yang 29:12 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 29:12 So how do you, how do you find your-

Jimmy O. Yang 29:14 Smoking opium in Tibet.

Gretchen Howard 29:15 Yeah, exactly. [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 29:16 [laughs] Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 29:17 How do you find your rhythm not having him to go back and forth with?

Jimmy O. Yang 29:21 Yeah, me and... He's one of my best friends. I think him and Mike are my two best friends on the show. So it was really sad to hear him go. He called me, like, at midnight one night, and he was like, "I'm not coming back for the next season." And I was, like, shocked, you know? I'm like, "Oh my God." So that means whatever the last scene we did was gonna be our last scene together. So I was, like, really sad about it. Um, but you know, I think it turned out to be kind of a blessing in disguise. You know, the writers have to think of more creative ways to kind of, you know, build out the show, uh, without TJ. And also for me, I get to interact with some other cool people, and kind of be a pain in the ass to other people. [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 29:55 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 29:56 Which is really fun. Um, yeah. So I, I'm, I'm excited.

Gretchen Howard 30:00 You're run- you're running the incubator now, right?

Jimmy O. Yang 30:01 Yeah, yeah. You know, uh, I'm, I'm trying. I'm trying. Uh, we'll, we'll see how, what, how, how it develops. And, uh, yeah, yeah, I, I get to interact with a lot more people, and, uh, even, I think, uh, one of my favorite actors, uh, Matt Ross, who plays Gavin Belson.

Gretchen Howard 30:14 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 30:15 So I get to do some stuff with him, and, uh, it'll be fun.

Gretchen Howard 30:19 And another cool project, uh, Crazy Rich Asians.

Jimmy O. Yang 30:22 Yes. Um...

Gretchen Howard 30:23 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 30:23 Whoo. The... Are you guys familiar with that? Have you guys read the book or anything? Yeah. Whoo. [claps] Yeah. So it's, it was an international bestseller, a book that's a satire on, like, you know, uh, billionaires in Singapore and that culture, and it's the f- they turned it into a movie, and it's the first studio movie in 25 years, since Joy Luck Club, that features a full Asian cast. So this is like our Black Panther.

Gretchen Howard 30:46 [laughs]

Speaker 30:50 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 30:52 And...

Gretchen Howard 30:52 Not the Yellow Panthers, yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 30:53 Not the Yellow Panthers, yeah.

Gretchen Howard 30:54 [laughs]

Speaker 30:54 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 30:54 Well, basically the Yellow Panthers.

Gretchen Howard 30:56 [laughs]

Speaker 30:57 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 30:57 Yeah, so we just shot in Singapore last year. It's coming out, uh, in August, and it's a really good movie. And, and the experience of that was, was amazing because as Asian in Ho- uh, Asians in Hollywood, uh, you know, I don't know different art forms, like w- a lot of times on any set we're the only person on there, and now there's an add weight of like now the scrutiny's on you to represent Asian people, right?

Gretchen Howard 31:21 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 31:21 So, and, and you're always looked at as the Asian dude, no, no matter what, right? It's always Asian dash something. You can be the Asian leading man, Asian, uh, uh, asshole, Asian funny guy, or whatever, right? But shooting this movie, it was great. It was in Singapore, where the most talented, most beautiful, funniest Asian people are all in one room trying to make this movie, and the pressure's just kind of off of you. Like, you're not, um, just the token Asian dude on the set. You just... You can do your job. Like me as the funny character, you know, Constance Wu, Henry Golding as like the lead character, the romantic lead, and we just kind of handed off the baton, and it was the first time in Hollywood that I felt white.

Speaker 32:07 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 32:08 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 32:09 And it felt great.

Gretchen Howard 32:10 [laughs]

Speaker 32:11 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 32:12 It felt so good.

Gretchen Howard 32:15 Are we okay to open it up for some questions?

Jimmy O. Yang 32:17 Yeah, for sure.

Gretchen Howard 32:17 All right.

Jimmy O. Yang 32:17 Let's, let's get to some questions.

Gretchen Howard 32:19 So we actually have a mic right there if you guys wanna get... We're live streaming, so we're gonna need you guys to talk into the mic. So if you can line up back there. And we also have a Dory if you guys wanna, um, ask anything in the Dory as well. So just state your name and then, and then the question.

Speaker 32:33 Hey, Jimmy. I'm Vince. Thanks for coming out.

Jimmy O. Yang 32:35 Hey, thanks.

Speaker 32:35 Uh, writing that book, it's awesome hearing that story. Um, I was curious, I love your role in Silicon Valley, and, uh, there are some like cringeworthy, semi-stereotypical Asian moments.

Jimmy O. Yang 32:45 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 32:45 I'm wondering how you reconcile that with yourself, having lived through that.

Jimmy O. Yang 32:48 Yeah. I think, um, it teeters the line of being a stereotypical character and then portraying an immigrant character and humanizing it, right? I know a lot of especially, um, American-born Asian actors that don't even... They, they wouldn't even audition for a part that has like an accent or something. And for me, I kind of disagree with that, because I was the kid that was foreign. I was the kid with an accent. So my job is not to judge that, but to portray them in a humanizing, funny way to make them look better. I think that's more important than shunning those people out, 'cause-

Gretchen Howard 33:24 Mm-hmm

Jimmy O. Yang 33:24 ... one of the most painful things when I first came here wasn't the fact that, you know, say, Black people, Latino, or white people didn't accept me, 'cause I was the foreign kid. I expected that. But one of the most painful things was like the American-born Asian people didn't accept me, because they didn't wanna grouped in, uh... be grouped in as like a FOB, as like the fresh off the boat guy, you know? So I kind of feel pretty strongly about that, where I wanna make immigrants just as appealing and just as sexy and just as funny as, uh, you know, a perfectly English-speaking person, and, and I, and I think that's important to me.

Gretchen Howard 33:59 Awesome.

Speaker 33:59 [applause]

Gretchen Howard 34:02 All right. Okay.

Speaker 34:03 Thank you. Thanks for repping the Pobs.

Jimmy O. Yang 34:04 Thank you.

Gretchen Howard 34:05 We're gonna alternate one live and one Dory question.

Jimmy O. Yang 34:07 Okay, cool.

Gretchen Howard 34:08 All right. The next question is, do you have any thoughts on effect arts and artists, TV included, they have on the perception of the immigrant population?

Jimmy O. Yang 34:15 Immigrant population. That's kind of the same question, yeah.

Gretchen Howard 34:17 Especially modern-day US, yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 34:18 Uh, anything else? What is your relationship like-

Gretchen Howard 34:20 With TJ

Jimmy O. Yang 34:20 ... with, uh, Ehrlich, TJ Miller in real life? Um, he's a good friend of mine. Uh, and we really got along. I think we got the same sense of humor and stuff. Like, uh, I, I was... Like, if... I felt pretty good about it. I w- he said I was the first one he called, like, when, when, when he decided to, uh, not do Silicon Valley. Um, we hang out every now and then. Uh, he's in New York now, so we don't get to hang out as much, but I took him to a showing of Patriot's Day, a movie I was in, and, uh-

Gretchen Howard 34:43 Of the Boston Marathon

Jimmy O. Yang 34:44 ... yeah, about the Boston Marathon bombing. And then after the movie, TJ was like standing up clapping.

Gretchen Howard 34:49 [laughs]

Speaker 34:49 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 34:50 And then he just like announced to the theater, he was like, "Guys, this is my friend Jimmy O. Yang."

Gretchen Howard 34:54 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 34:54 "He was the kid in the movie. Please, everybody clap."

Speaker 34:56 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 34:57 So he got a big personality. Like, he is kind of that guy in real life, but, uh, I, I, I love him.

Speaker 35:01 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 35:02 He's awesome. Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 35:03 [laughs] All right, go ahead.

35:05 Hey, thanks for coming out.

Jimmy O. Yang 35:06 Hi.

Gretchen Howard 35:07 Um, as someone who's navigated that really complicated space of kind of giving up the more guaranteed regular salary job-

Jimmy O. Yang 35:15 Mm-hmm

Gretchen Howard 35:15 ... to kind of pursue something that could be a spectacular failure, what kind of advice do you offer or could you offer to someone trying to decide whether or not to take a chance on something that could not work out?

Jimmy O. Yang 35:26 Hmm, good question. I think for me, like, I just... I, I almost couldn't live with myself not doing what I love. I, I al- always think it's, it's better to try something and fail miserably than to have never tried at all, so if you sum it up in that sentence, you know? And, and I talk to, you know, some startup people. I think those guys are, are, like, really brave and they, they, they're artists too, right? Like, because they, they, they could be working somewhere for like 200 grand, but they start... they decide to take a chance. Um, and, and one guy told me, he was like, "You know, it, uh... All you're missing is maybe two years of opportunity cost, but you can always go back to, you know, doing something safer."

Gretchen Howard 36:09 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 36:09 Um, so yeah. You're just only losing a couple years. You're fine. Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 36:14 Thank you.

Speaker 36:14 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 36:16 Just pretend you're in a coma or something if it didn't work out.

Speaker 36:18 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 36:20 All right, next question. Are you experience, experiencing any reverse culture shock now when you go back to China?

Jimmy O. Yang 36:26 Yes. Yeah, when I go back to Hong Kong and China. I went back to Hong Kong for the first time in 17 years last year, after I shot Crazy Rich Asians, and that kind of... I couldn't find an ending for the book, and that trip gave me the ending that I needed for the book. It was culture shock. I'm so used to LA now. Now I'm not used to tall buildings and stuff like that, right? And the people, I'm like, "Oh my God, this is so anxiety inducing." There are just people everywhere. Um, but there is still a part of me that feels like Hong Kong is always home, because when I went there, there was just, uh, a, um, t- I don't know. I f- I felt at peace at, at something, because here, like, like we talked about, if I'm, uh, uh, playing ping pong or like, uh, playing the violin or like e- just eating dim sum here, I'll seem a little stereotypical.

Gretchen Howard 37:12 Do you play the violin?

Jimmy O. Yang 37:13 I, I try. I, I dabble. But I, I'll be like the stereotypical dude here, right? But if I'm just, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, if I'm eating dim sum in Hong Kong reading a Chinese newspaper, I'm just another guy. I don't have to explain myself, you know? So there's some kinda safety and a peace there, and I just... It was good to know that there's a part of the world that I can always feel that way.

Gretchen Howard 37:33 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 37:33 Because in America, like I just became an American citizen last year.

Gretchen Howard 37:35 Congratulations.

Jimmy O. Yang 37:36 Thank you. Uh, still Asian, it's fine.

Speaker 37:38 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 37:39 Because, like I joke about that, but it's true, right? Because nobody in any part of the world, not America, not Italy, not anywhere, not even Japan, will be like, "Oh, look, that's an American guy."

Speaker 37:48 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 37:49 No, no, no, bec- because I don't have blonde hair, blue eyes or like, whatever, right?

Gretchen Howard 37:52 I don't, either.

Jimmy O. Yang 37:53 Yeah, okay. But you, you look way more American-

Gretchen Howard 37:55 [laughs]

Speaker 37:56 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 37:57 ... than I do, even though we're the same level of American.

Gretchen Howard 38:00 [laughs]

Speaker 38:00 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 38:02 So I think hopefully, you know, uh, uh, with movies like Crazy Rich Asians, more, more seeing Asians in media and seeing, you know, a, a more homogenized place like, like Google, like this, like people will start seeing Asians as Americans more and more in the future.

Gretchen Howard 38:17 That's great.

Jimmy O. Yang 38:18 I-

Speaker 38:18 Hi, Jimmy. Um, first off, I wanted to say it was really freaky of- looking over at your dad-

Jimmy O. Yang 38:23 Ha

Speaker 38:23 ... 'cause my dad-

Jimmy O. Yang 38:24 Me too, yeah. I, I agree.

Speaker 38:25 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 38:27 Where's he going?

Speaker 38:28 Um, my dad is also a bald Shanghainese man with-

Jimmy O. Yang 38:31 [laughs]

Speaker 38:32 ... great glasses.

Jimmy O. Yang 38:33 Shanghainese.

Speaker 38:34 [laughs]

Speaker 38:35 Um, who gets up randomly to take pictures, so it's great to have you here.

Jimmy O. Yang 38:40 Yes. [laughs]

Speaker 38:40 [laughs]

Speaker 38:40 Um, thank you. Um, and my other-

Jimmy O. Yang 38:44 Does he also have a photo shoot whenever he goes to lunch or dinner?

Speaker 38:46 [laughs]

Speaker 38:47 [laughs]

Speaker 38:48 Exactly.

Jimmy O. Yang 38:48 Yeah.

Speaker 38:48 Yeah. Um, and my question is about how you prepared for your role of Jian-Yang.

Jimmy O. Yang 38:54 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 38:55 Um, I think some people could say that you've been preparing for this role your whole life.

Jimmy O. Yang 38:59 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 39:00 Um, being Chinese, being an immigrant. Uh, but did you do any specific immersive research in this area?

Jimmy O. Yang 39:08 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 39:08 Um, for example, going to Stanford classes or immersing yourself in a hacker hostel. Um, and if not, you know, how did you best prepare and-

Jimmy O. Yang 39:17 Right

Speaker 39:17 ... think about the idiosyncrasies of this area?

Jimmy O. Yang 39:19 Thanks. Um, so this past, uh, off-season, I actually, uh, I made HBO like give me like a tour of everything. So I talked to way... W- w- w- we have a lot of great consultants on the show, uh, that... You know, Dick Costello's one of them. So, uh, it's, it's-

Gretchen Howard 39:33 To be a PM here, CEO of Twitter, yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 39:35 Yeah. And then, and then I, I, I visited, you know, Google, uh, this past, uh, summer, and I visited Facebook and, you know, um, more midsize companies like Lyft and, uh, which CapitalG invested in. Um, and, uh, a few places, and I learned a lot. And studying the characters there, it, it, it's really cool. Um, and also just for Jian-Yang the character, the immigrant character itself, whenever I drive to the lot, I listen to Chinese radio for like, you know, an hour when I'm driving.

Speaker 40:03 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 40:03 You know, 1300 AM.

Speaker 40:04 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 40:05 The, the, the Mandarin station in LA.

Speaker 40:07 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 40:07 That's my jam, you know? So it gets me kinda in that Mandarin mindset. And, um, um, I also... Whenever I, before I, I do a scene, I always, I kinda say this mantra to myself in Mandarin. I say, "Wo bu zhi dao, wo bu zhi dao, wo bu zhi dao," which means, "I don't know" in Mandarin.

Speaker 40:26 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 40:27 Which I, I think it, it helps me think in Mandarin, first of all, but also, in a way, um, it kinda sums up who Jian-Yang is as a person.

Speaker 40:36 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 40:38 Either he actually doesn't know about something or he doesn't even care to know about it, you know? So yeah, that would be, I guess, my preparation for it.

Speaker 40:45 Thank you.

Jimmy O. Yang 40:46 Thanks.

Gretchen Howard 40:48 Okay, you've mentioned before that stand-up isn't really a thing in Hong Kong.

Jimmy O. Yang 40:51 Mm-mm.

Gretchen Howard 40:51 Do you have any plans to try doing stand-up there, and are you funny in Chinese?

Jimmy O. Yang 40:55 Ah.

Gretchen Howard 40:55 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 40:58 The, yeah, stand-up be- is becoming a thing in Hong Kong now. There's a club that opened up called Take Out Comedy. [laughs] That's the actual name of the stand-up comedy club.

Speaker 41:07 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 41:07 Um, so I would wanna go try some stand-up out in Hong Kong, maybe even in Mandarin or Cantonese or something, but it's not as easy as just literally translating my English jokes into a different language.

Gretchen Howard 41:20 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 41:20 It's more than that. It's cultural differences. They wouldn't understand a lot of stuff that we talk about here. So it'd be kind of a challenge. Uh, but maybe in the future I, I'll be down to explore that.

Gretchen Howard 41:30 Does your dad think you're funny, yeah?

Jimmy O. Yang 41:32 Do you think I'm funny?

Speaker 41:33 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 41:34 Yeah, he's getting, uh, funnier and funnier day by day.

Speaker 41:37 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 41:37 Funnier and funnier day by day.

Jimmy O. Yang 41:38 Still keeps me humble, but, you know, there's, uh...

Gretchen Howard 41:40 [laughs]

Speaker 41:41 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 41:42 Okay, go ahead.

Speaker 41:44 Um, thanks so much for coming today. Um, I know you talked a little bit about your story getting into Hollywood in America, but is there any kind of specific occurrences that you felt really down or you got a lot of pushback, like racially or just not fitting into the role?

Jimmy O. Yang 41:57 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 41:57 And do you still face that moving forward today?

Jimmy O. Yang 42:00 Yeah, when I didn't get the loud Japanese host part, I was gonna...

Speaker 42:03 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 42:04 I think one of the sadder things is like a part perfectly describes you, and you still don't get it. It's like, uh, short Asian, uh, uh, Chinese with glasses and long hair.

Speaker 42:14 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 42:15 And you go in and you audition, you still don't get the part. You're like, "Wow, I'm bad."

Speaker 42:18 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 42:21 Like, the open ethnicity part, I get it. They have plenty of options. But you know what? At the end of the day, I never try to blame it on the fact that I'm Asian, even though that might be true, even though, uh, people could be racist or they're actually looking for a white guy, but they have to audition an Asian guy or something. But I, I... It doesn't give me, benefit me at all if, if, i- if I try to blame that on me being Asian, so I just try to, you know, be better the next audition. If I'm not funny on stage, you know, I try to write better jokes and come back the next day and not use being Asian as a crutch, even though it might be true sometimes, right? Um, so yeah, that, that's how I look at it.

Speaker 42:56 Thank you.

Jimmy O. Yang 42:56 Thanks.

Speaker 42:57 Uh, hi, Jimmy.

Gretchen Howard 42:58 He totally-

Speaker 42:58 Uh, I'm actually a really huge fan of yours. Um, other than Silicon Valley, I actually gone through all the videos I can find of yours on YouTube.

Speaker 43:05 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 43:06 Wow, thanks, man.

Speaker 43:07 Uh, uh, yeah. I, I even checked your YouTube comments. It's kinda creepy. [laughs]

Speaker 43:11 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 43:11 Cool.

Gretchen Howard 43:13 We'll keep him a safe distance away.

Jimmy O. Yang 43:14 Good guy.

Speaker 43:16 So I'm super excited to be here. Uh, my question would be, like, uh, in, further in the future, um, would you more look into, uh, continue your path as a comedian, or like, uh, doing both, a comedian and, uh, um, being a actor, um, in the show business?

Jimmy O. Yang 43:31 Yeah, I think both, and, and more writing also, and creating my own, um, you know, IP. 'Cause, 'cause still, like there's not a lot of material out there for Asians to do. You have to come up with your own stuff. So hopefully one of my goals is turning this in a TV show. Maybe like, like a version of Atlanta, but our version of it, right?

Speaker 43:46 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 43:47 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 43:47 And, um, that will probably reach like a more mainstream audience. 'Cause stand-up still doesn't translate to a lot of Asians especially. Uh, like I never grew up listening, know... Like knowing what stand-up is. My dad didn't know what really stand-up was. So I think turning it into a TV show or something would reach like a broader, more mainstream audience.

Gretchen Howard 44:05 Didn't he think you did a talk show?

Jimmy O. Yang 44:07 Talk show. My dad still calls it a talk show.

Gretchen Howard 44:09 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 44:10 I'm like, "I'm going to Laugh Factory tonight." He's like, "What? To do talk show?"

Gretchen Howard 44:12 [laughs]

Speaker 44:15 Thank you. Um, or sorry, one more thing.

Gretchen Howard 44:17 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 44:17 Yeah, sure. Go ahead.

Speaker 44:18 Um, uh, I also have a question about like the problems you mentioned about, uh, like a Asian being minority in the show busines- uh, business.

Jimmy O. Yang 44:26 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 44:26 Um, as you gain more popularity a- and influence to your audience, is there something you want to do more about that? Like maybe like what kind of-

Jimmy O. Yang 44:34 Mm

Speaker 44:34 ... actions you would take to, to change that kind of a, of putting a great actor, a, a, into a sort of a stereotypical role in, in a TV show and...

Jimmy O. Yang 44:44 Yeah, I think, um, what I can do is just creating my own material and putting myself in it, you know? And giving myself jobs that maybe other people would've given to Scarlett Johansson or Matt Damon, you know what I mean?

Gretchen Howard 44:55 [laughs]

Speaker 44:55 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 44:55 So I, I think it's really important to create and, and, and do what you do best, right? Where it's, it's write, do stand up, um, you know, uh, act. So I always just try to concentrate on being the best I can. When there is an opportunity, I can nail it. 'Cause there is a lot of groups out there, like, um, you know, N- NAACP, CAPE, you know, it's for the Asian advancements and stuff like that, and they're doing a lot of groundwork and, um, you know, uh, representation and make sure the right article comes out and, and there's no like r- racist commercials or anything, you know? Right? Or whatever, right? So they are doing their job, but that's not necessarily my job, right? My job is to really nail the opportunities that they create for us, and really when I go into an audition room, not just being the best Asian actor, but being the best actor in that room so I can get that role.

Gretchen Howard 45:42 It is kind of amazing, though. You've gone, in just a span of a couple years, from literally sleeping on the couch, right?

Jimmy O. Yang 45:47 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 45:48 Paying $300 in rent, scraping it together, driving Uber, to now having the weight of, you know, representing-

Jimmy O. Yang 45:55 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 45:56 ... all Asians, and what that means on TV and in film.

Jimmy O. Yang 46:00 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 46:00 And do you do parts with an accent or not?

Jimmy O. Yang 46:03 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 46:03 And how do you create opportunities? Like how do you just deal with that pressure?

Jimmy O. Yang 46:06 You try to not think about it.

Gretchen Howard 46:07 Yeah. See, that's what I'm... Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 46:07 You know? And then you have a panic attack at 2:00 AM.

Gretchen Howard 46:09 [laughs]

Speaker 46:10 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 46:11 No. Uh, I'm just enjoying it, man. Like this is really fun to see all of you guys show up. Like I never imagined this would happen, you know? Um, or I would imagine this happening in the future. Uh, but it, it's just great. I'm just trying to enjoy the moment. Like it's getting a little busy, but still, I, I never try to put the weight of representing Asians-

Gretchen Howard 46:27 Good

Jimmy O. Yang 46:27 ... on, on my back, 'cause that doesn't make me better at my job, you know? So I just, I, I just try to entertain.

Gretchen Howard 46:33 Just be you.

Speaker 46:34 Thank you so much.

Jimmy O. Yang 46:34 Thank you, man.

Speaker 46:35 Great to see you in, uh, in person.

Gretchen Howard 46:36 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 46:37 Thank you, thank you. Love this guy.

Gretchen Howard 46:38 You have to sign his book now. [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 46:39 I love... Of course, of course.

Gretchen Howard 46:41 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 46:41 Love this guy.

Gretchen Howard 46:42 Go ahead.

Speaker 46:43 Hi, Jimmy. So, um, I think your story really resonates with me, 'cause I dropped out of medical school. And for like two years my mom was like, "You know what? You're never gonna get a girl to wanna marry you if you're not a doctor."

Jimmy O. Yang 46:52 [laughs]

Speaker 46:53 I was like under a lot of stress.

Jimmy O. Yang 46:54 Are you married now?

Speaker 46:55 No, no, no, no.

Jimmy O. Yang 46:56 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 46:56 [laughs]

Speaker 46:56 I'm single, so, so, so maybe she's right. Maybe she's right. [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 47:00 [laughs]

Speaker 47:00 [laughs]

Speaker 47:02 Um, so I got, I got two questions. Uh, the first question is if you never got the big break on Silicon Valley-

Jimmy O. Yang 47:07 Uh-huh

Speaker 47:07 ... and you ended up being a, you know, um, miserable failure like you said, uh, what do you think you would've ended up doing?

Jimmy O. Yang 47:12 Uh-huh.

Speaker 47:12 And my second question is, um, so do you have groupies now, now that you're like a Asian celebrity?

Gretchen Howard 47:17 The last guy.

Jimmy O. Yang 47:18 For that... Yeah, the last guy, I guess. Yeah, I don't know.

Gretchen Howard 47:21 [laughs]

Speaker 47:23 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 47:25 [laughs] If I didn't get Silicon Valley, I think I would still be working hard to, to, to try to get something, right? Um, and I always try to put like, you know, uh, have, have, have different things in the pipeline. Like if maybe I never became a, a really good actor, I, I would've just tried to concentrate on stand-up or concentrate on writing or something like that. But I don't see there's a world where I would've went back to Smith Barney or anything like that. Um, I, I think... You know, people have a misconception, uh, of, um, like Hollywood or the arts is luck or it's nepotism, or something needs, magical needs to happen for you to make it happen. But at the end of the day, uh, if you work hard enough and if you're good enough, it's gonna happen one way or another, right? Um, especially in the stand-up world. If you just get good enough, at least you can do some colleges. At least you can make ends meet, right? You might not be the next Dave Chappelle, but you can make it a job. So I think that's where the disconnect is with maybe the older generation, and also how a lot of people think of the arts. Yeah. Gr- uh, groupies, I, I, I don't know. I still use, uh, Bumble sometimes. [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 48:34 [laughs]

Speaker 48:34 Thank you.

Speaker 48:37 Hi, Jimmy. My name is Zhang. And, uh, the other part of your story really resonated with me, uh, the immigrant part. So as an immigrant myself who's been living in the US for almost two decades, one question really trips me up a lot.

Jimmy O. Yang 48:52 Mm.

Speaker 48:52 And it's, "Where are you from?" So Jimmy...

Jimmy O. Yang 48:55 Yeah

Speaker 48:55 ... where are you from?

Gretchen Howard 48:56 [laughs]

Speaker 48:57 Like how?

Jimmy O. Yang 48:58 It depends who's asking that question, right?

Speaker 48:59 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 49:00 If it's, if, if it's an Uber driver that I don't really wanna talk to...

Speaker 49:03 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 49:03 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 49:04 I'll just say LA, and that's the end of that. And a lot of people like to ask you, "No, no, no. Where are you originally from?"

Gretchen Howard 49:10 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 49:10 And, and, and you know, people take offense to that, and I get it. Like I wish we don't live in a world like that. But you know, I'm, I'm proud of where I'm from. Like I'll tell people I grew up in Hong Kong, and that I came here. Uh, so if they wanna hear the long st- s- story of that, I sell them a book.

Gretchen Howard 49:22 Tell them to buy the book, yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 49:23 You know?

Gretchen Howard 49:23 [laughs]

Speaker 49:24 [laughs]

Speaker 49:24 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 49:25 You too can buy it on Google Play or at a bookstore near you, right?

Jimmy O. Yang 49:28 Yeah, exactly.

Gretchen Howard 49:29 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 49:30 Anywhere you want. Yeah.

Speaker 49:32 Cool. Thank you.

Jimmy O. Yang 49:33 Thanks, man.

Speaker 49:35 Hi, Jimmy

Jimmy O. Yang 49:36 Hi.

Speaker 49:36 Um, I was wondering if you're still keeping in touch with your high school friends, the Misfits, and other folks who knew you-

Jimmy O. Yang 49:42 Absolutely, yeah

Speaker 49:42 ... before Silicon Valley, and what are they up to now, and do they think you're funny?

Jimmy O. Yang 49:47 Yeah, you know what? They're still some of my best friends, man. Uh, my buddy Jeremy, uh, Persian guy, he's in construction now. And, um, but he, he wants to be a writer, so we're actually writing something together, 'cause he knows my life as well as I do. Um, yeah, and, and you know, uh, my friend who lives in Irvine now, he, he, he, he came out to support one of my book signings, and it, it was really sweet to, to see that. And yeah, they still live pretty close to me, and uh, still some of my best friends, and it's good to g- have people like that to keep you honest, I think. Um, like they'll check me. They're like, "Jimmy, you're acting too Hollywood, man."

Gretchen Howard 50:19 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 50:19 You know? "Why are you going out to buy a gold chain? What's wrong with you?"

Gretchen Howard 50:22 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 50:24 So I stopped at one gold chain.

Gretchen Howard 50:26 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 50:28 Thanks.

Speaker 50:30 Uh, hey, Jimmy. Uh, my name's Tony, a big fan of the show. I'm excited to check out this book. Um, also being the child of like, immigrant parents, um, I'm curious to see how the conversations or process went with you talking to your parents about wanting to, you know, leave, um, Smith Barney.

Jimmy O. Yang 50:47 Uh-huh.

Speaker 50:47 Um, disappointing your parents, you said, you know, for a couple years. Like, what was that like talking to your dad, and um, how did that all go?

Jimmy O. Yang 50:54 It's hard. I think also in a Asian family, we're not as open, uh, in a way like with the Western family. Like i- in Asian family, like we don't necessarily say, "I love you," or, "I'm proud of you," things like that on the, on the surface, whereas, you know, it's a very casual thing for my Americans friends to say, "Oh, I love you, I love you, I love you," right?

Gretchen Howard 51:12 Oh.

Jimmy O. Yang 51:12 So... Oh, thanks.

Gretchen Howard 51:13 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 51:15 Um, so you know, uh, i- i- i- it's hard, man. You know? I, I sought some therapy. And uh, you know, you have to kinda just like, kinda step up. You, you don't want it to be like a thing where like you don't end up talking to somebody, right? So um, it's like a ongoing conversation. I think me and my dad now ha- ha- has a good communication, where like we, we, we talk all the time.

Speaker 51:36 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 51:37 Even about stuff that... I, I make him talk about stuff he doesn't wanna talk about sometimes, you know, like stuff from the book, and he read the book, and stuff like that. So uh, sometimes it's up to us to maybe force that conversation on him.

Speaker 51:50 Yeah. Was there a point that you felt you had to kinda like earn his acceptance at all? Or was it, was he kind of-

Jimmy O. Yang 51:55 I'm past that.

Speaker 51:56 [laughs] Okay.

Gretchen Howard 51:56 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 51:57 I'm past that now, I think. Uh, yeah. Um...

Gretchen Howard 52:01 But you got him to try acting, right?

Jimmy O. Yang 52:03 Yes. He-

Speaker 52:04 Oh

Jimmy O. Yang 52:04 ... he's an actor. Uh, he played my dad in Patriots Day.

Gretchen Howard 52:07 Oh.

Jimmy O. Yang 52:07 Uh, he's a pretty good actor.

Gretchen Howard 52:08 [laughs]

Speaker 52:08 All right. Thank you.

Jimmy O. Yang 52:09 Yeah. Thanks.

Speaker 52:11 Hi, Jimmy. Uh, I'm Huang. My question is actually some- kind of similar to that last one, but um, having Asian parents means that there are a lot of expectations. They expect you to go to a good school, get a good job, and then get married after school, and have kids before 30.

Jimmy O. Yang 52:24 Right.

Speaker 52:24 Um, [laughs] has your parents' expectation changed as your career grow? And um, how do you deal with those expectations, I guess?

Jimmy O. Yang 52:34 Huh.

Gretchen Howard 52:34 I think there's a lot of people feeling similar pressures in the room.

Jimmy O. Yang 52:37 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 52:37 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 52:38 Has their expectation changed, Dad? Do, do you want me to have kids, like soon?

Gretchen Howard 52:42 [laughs]

Speaker 52:44 I would like you to apply for a job in Google.

Jimmy O. Yang 52:47 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 52:49 [laughs] Anyone wanna hire Jimmy at Google? [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 52:54 So there you have it.

Gretchen Howard 52:55 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 52:58 Yeah. I thought... I, I mean, uh, may- maybe there is, I think. I, I don't know. But uh, I, I try to not let it get to me, you know?

Speaker 53:06 Thanks.

Jimmy O. Yang 53:06 Thanks.

Speaker 53:06 [laughs]

Speaker 53:08 Um, hi, Jimmy. I'm Sean Lee. Thanks for sharing the, uh, stories today. Um, so my question is, uh, now you've gained lots of popularity and fame, but um, is there one... at what point do you think, um, that you think you are actually going to, um, be famous someday, uh, in, uh, from TV show? And at what point do you start to actually believe that, um, you know, you're, you're gonna be... you know what you're doing, and you're gonna be good in acting and stand-up?

Jimmy O. Yang 53:40 Um, I think being an actor and like being a stand-up, you're always kind of insecure. And, and it's not like a absolute like, oh, now I'm a good actor. I think I'm very confident in my abilities now, ever since, you know, a few, a season of Silicon Valley and other stuff I've done. But it's, uh... you always try to just get better, you know? Um, and uh, not suck. So...

Gretchen Howard 54:02 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 54:03 I don't know. But-

Gretchen Howard 54:04 Was the process doing TV versus a movie different for you?

Jimmy O. Yang 54:06 Not too much, because Silicon Valley's a single camera, so it shoots like a movie. So I think that gave us a lot of practice. And, and you know, Silicon Valley's like going to school for me.

Speaker 54:14 Yeah.

Jimmy O. Yang 54:14 At, at the acting school I never had, so that was awesome. So um, maybe one day I'll sell out. I don't know. We'll, we'll see.

Gretchen Howard 54:21 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 54:22 As the rappers would say.

Speaker 54:23 Were, were there nights when you, uh, cry in the evenings because you think that, uh, it's difficult?

Jimmy O. Yang 54:30 I cry in the evenings?

Gretchen Howard 54:31 Do you cry? [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 54:33 I didn't know that.

Gretchen Howard 54:34 [laughs] Do you, do you cry... It's a question. Do you cry? Have you ever cried from the pressure or the fear of not making it?

Jimmy O. Yang 54:41 No, I don't think so. Um, it wasn't like the fear... Like I, I get anxiety from it, but it's never like crying. Like sometimes I cry tears of joy when I realize how blessed I am.

Gretchen Howard 54:53 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 54:55 That's when I cry.

Speaker 54:56 Okay, thanks.

Jimmy O. Yang 54:56 Thanks.

Speaker 54:57 [laughs]

Speaker 54:59 Uh, hi. Um, uh, um, okay. My quest- [laughs] my question is, um, uh, actually it's I like Jian-Yang, this role very much, but it's, uh, I think it's very different with, uh, the guys I met in Silicon Valley. Um-

Jimmy O. Yang 55:16 Oh.

Speaker 55:16 I think, like me, uh, I'm a Asian guy, and a, a software engineer in Silicon Valley.

Jimmy O. Yang 55:22 Uh-huh.

Speaker 55:22 But I think most of, uh, Asian guys I met are very smart, and they get things done, but Jian-Yang is totally different with that.

Gretchen Howard 55:29 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 55:30 As to say he's stupid.

Gretchen Howard 55:32 [laughs]

Speaker 55:33 Yeah. [laughs] Do, do you know that... Oh, I, I, I know the role is not decided by you. It's by director or some o- o- or, and some other guys. But I mean, do you know what's the true software engineer in Silicon Valley?

Speaker 55:47 The Asian so- software engineer

Gretchen Howard 55:49 I think she's inviting you to do a Google engineering immersion first.

Jimmy O. Yang 55:52 Yeah.

Speaker 55:52 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 55:52 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 55:53 Yeah. These Ch- Chinese folks asking tough questions, right?

Gretchen Howard 55:56 [laughs]

Speaker 55:57 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 55:58 Um, I, I, man, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta s- still play the comedy of it, right? Like, if it's just a dude sitting in front of a computer making really awesome apps.

Gretchen Howard 56:09 [laughs]

Speaker 56:10 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 56:11 And really successful, making hundreds... It's not funny.

Gretchen Howard 56:13 [laughs]

Speaker 56:15 [laughs] Okay.

Jimmy O. Yang 56:16 So it's, I think, funny to, to, to make it a satire of, you know, he has some of the mannerisms, uh, of the, uh, Silicon Valley people, but he still kinda has the balls and, and he's kinda, he steps up, and he's kind of an asshole. And, you know, he's kind of an opportunist in a way, you know? Um, I think Jian-Yang can code pretty well.

Gretchen Howard 56:34 [laughs]

Speaker 56:35 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 56:36 But not hot dog app. He just made it.

Gretchen Howard 56:38 [laughs]

Speaker 56:38 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 56:39 You know?

Speaker 56:41 Okay, thank you.

Jimmy O. Yang 56:42 Thank you.

Gretchen Howard 56:44 May be time for two more questions.

Jimmy O. Yang 56:45 Cool.

Speaker 56:46 Um, thank you for coming, Jimmy. My name is Vicky. I'm an, uh, ABC, American-born Chinese.

Jimmy O. Yang 56:50 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 56:50 My parents are from Taipei. Um, I grew up exactly kind of the similar, um, path that you may have been, and, um, until I got into Google, my mom was disappointed with me. [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 57:02 What did you do before that?

Speaker 57:03 Um, well, I d- actually went through the, um, recruiting program, university recruiting, so I actually went to UCSD and went through the career center and actually applied to work in AdWords.

Jimmy O. Yang 57:13 I never stepped foot in that career center.

Speaker 57:15 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 57:15 [laughs]

Speaker 57:18 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 57:19 Uh.

Speaker 57:19 So, um, it was my first job out of college. It was the only job I applied for, and I was like-

Jimmy O. Yang 57:23 Great

Speaker 57:23 ... "I hope this works out," and my mom was like, "You better hope it works out." So-

Jimmy O. Yang 57:26 [laughs]

Speaker 57:27 ... um, now to this day, even my grandparents are like, "Don't leave Google. Whatever you do, don't leave."

Jimmy O. Yang 57:31 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 57:31 And I don't think they even know what I do. So it's like-

Gretchen Howard 57:34 [laughs]

Speaker 57:34 ... there is an expectation, and I totally understand kind of what-

Jimmy O. Yang 57:37 Yeah

Speaker 57:37 ... a lot of us are going through. Um, the question I had for you was around children, your future children. Um, I have a child now.

Jimmy O. Yang 57:46 Uh-huh.

Speaker 57:46 And I grew up going to Chinese school, doing all the traditional Chinese things we do. Um, I find it challenging to figure out how to raise my child in America.

Jimmy O. Yang 57:57 Hmm.

Speaker 57:57 And also instilling cultural, the basic cultural traditions I grew up with, and I feel like there's some responsibility on my end to do that. So my question to you would be, imagine yourself being your dad one day, having your own children.

Jimmy O. Yang 58:10 Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Speaker 58:10 Um, how would you go about making sure that your own children don't lose their own cultural identity, um, given that they've-

Jimmy O. Yang 58:17 Oof

Speaker 58:17 ... they're not from Hong Kong or Shanghai?

Jimmy O. Yang 58:18 Do you speak Mandarin, or...?

Speaker 58:19 I do. Uh, 讲 国 语 .

Jimmy O. Yang 58:21 Oh, okay. So do you speak to your kids in Mandarin?

Speaker 58:23 Um, so she's only one, like thir- 14 months.

Jimmy O. Yang 58:26 Well, I mean, will you, you think?

Speaker 58:27 Yeah. No, w- I'm planning on sending her to Chinese school.

Jimmy O. Yang 58:30 Yeah, I, I th-

Speaker 58:30 Which is what I'm used to

Jimmy O. Yang 58:31 ... that's very cool, 'cause your kid's gonna learn... This is what my dad told me. Like, "Your kid's gonna learn English in school."

Speaker 58:37 Right.

Jimmy O. Yang 58:37 "You might as well speak to them in Mandarin," you know? Like, I see, you know, some of my relatives, like, they, they insist on speaking maybe Man- uh, English to the kids so the kid doesn't, ar- aren't gonna be foreign like they were, you know? But that, that, that kid's grew up in America. He's gonna speak English. So I, I think the language itself is very important, you know? I think everyone's trying to learn Mandarin now.

Gretchen Howard 58:56 BET is still...

Jimmy O. Yang 58:57 Yeah, BET. Show 'em some BET.

Gretchen Howard 58:59 [laughs]

Speaker 59:00 Oh, okay. [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 59:01 So, um, I, I think, look, like, even, like, people, actors and people in media, we're, we're trying, you know? So hopefully as, as he or she... He or she?

Speaker 59:11 She.

Jimmy O. Yang 59:12 As she's growing up, there will be more material out there of, um, a positive, cool Asian representation, you know? Read her this book.

Speaker 59:20 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 59:20 [laughs]

Speaker 59:21 I mean, we only have Ni Hao Kai-Lan right now, but I'm sure there's more opportunities and things for her to learn from. But yeah, I agree. I think language is part of it, but also the tradition- traditional s- sense. I don't know if you plan on celebrating certain ch- holidays with your future children and teaching-

Jimmy O. Yang 59:38 Yeah, I would love to.

Speaker 59:39 Okay.

Jimmy O. Yang 59:39 Yeah.

Speaker 59:39 Um.

Jimmy O. Yang 59:40 But I'm not one to give parenting advice.

Speaker 59:43 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 59:44 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 59:44 Thank you, though.

Speaker 59:45 Thank you.

Gretchen Howard 59:46 You and your dad could write children's books, though.

Jimmy O. Yang 59:48 No.

Gretchen Howard 59:48 That'd be a cool thing.

Jimmy O. Yang 59:48 No, let's not.

Gretchen Howard 59:49 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 59:49 Let's not do that. Let's, [laughs] let's not do that. [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 59:53 [laughs] All right, last question.

Speaker 59:55 I feel so incredibly grateful I'm the last one, so, like, I made it.

Jimmy O. Yang 59:59 This better be good.

Speaker 1:00:00 Yeah.

Gretchen Howard 1:00:00 [laughs]

Speaker 1:00:01 It's gonna be a long one. First of all, hi, Dad. I mean... Um, I didn't get the hotdog signature on the book, but that's not a complaint.

Jimmy O. Yang 1:00:08 [laughs] There's only one.

Speaker 1:00:09 Right, yeah. Kudos to your comments on the Crazy Rich Asians being the Black Panther for Asians. I really strong, I, I feel strong about that, too. Um, this is about thought leadership. So I'm also 1.5 generation Asian Canadian.

Jimmy O. Yang 1:00:22 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1:00:23 And went to Canada when I was 14. My voice might be shaking right now. Sorry, guys.

Gretchen Howard 1:00:27 It's okay.

Speaker 1:00:27 Too excited. Uh...

Jimmy O. Yang 1:00:28 No, you're good.

Gretchen Howard 1:00:29 You're doing great.

Speaker 1:00:31 Um, yeah. Thought leadership. I also really like how you were saying the difference, that the difference between Asian-born Amer- I mean, ABCs here and the 1.5 generations. I, I see there's a change of, like, ABC tolerating 1.5 generation more as Asia's rising, specifically in China after 2005. Um, there's still more to be done, and the thought leadership part is I don't wanna divide anyone with, like, all these labels.

Jimmy O. Yang 1:00:56 Mm.

Speaker 1:00:56 Like, also, like, diversity's, like, a talk in Google, like, globally. But, like, how do you just, like, tell people, like, we're just the same and, like, we're all immigrant, and you should be proud of who you are without-

Jimmy O. Yang 1:01:08 Yeah, yeah

Speaker 1:01:08 ... like, if they haven't been to your shoes?

Jimmy O. Yang 1:01:10 Yeah, I think it, it's hard to tell people that. I, I think even if you turn on the TV, like, something like the immigration issue is so politicized. There's two sides, and there's just two people arguing, and they never get anywhere, right? And, uh, that's why I kinda wanted to write a book like this where it's just me telling my story, and hopefully it humanizes the immigrant experience, right? And, um, so maybe people can see it from my point of view in, in a kind of humorous, lighthearted way and really understand what it was like, uh, to be an immigrant. It's not always sob stories, like, or whatever, but, you know, in, in, in a real way, like, as, as if this is a real person. So, um, I think that's important to me. And, and it's hard to convince people, but sometimes it's easier. It's like pitching jokes to the writers' room. You don't wanna tell them, "Hey, this is the joke I wanna do," but you wanna kinda make 'em think they came up with that idea, right? You should do that with your bosses.

Gretchen Howard 1:02:03 [laughs]

Speaker 1:02:04 [laughs]

Jimmy O. Yang 1:02:05 You should make 'em think it's, it's their idea, and, and, and how do you do that is maybe by telling them a story, uh, through different mediums, right? Uh, stand-up, books, or just in person telling them a story. So I think I... And, and just showing them, like, who you are, letting them know you, um, as an immigrant, and, and I think that, that, that, that's, that does more work than arguing with someone and shoving a point down their throat.

Gretchen Howard 1:02:29 I think we're all very lucky that we get to hear your story-

Speaker 1:02:32 Thank you

Gretchen Howard 1:02:32 ... in writing-

Jimmy O. Yang 1:02:32 Thanks, guys

Gretchen Howard 1:02:33 ... on TV, and in the movies. [laughs]

Speaker 1:02:35 [laughs]

Gretchen Howard 1:02:36 Thank you, Jimmy.

Jimmy O. Yang 1:02:37 Thank you. Thank you.