The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi - #111 Amateur Beatboxing with Sabrina Wu

Episode Date: November 22, 2022

Sabrina Wu shares the downsides of having immigrant parents who are not impressed by your beatboxing skills, a mom who doesn’t like to laugh (except for that one time you came out of the closet), whether bboy is gender neutral, and why we should stop shaming people who are into hentai. Also, Russell has a big announcement!!! You can watch full video of this episode HERE! Join the Patreon for ad-free episodes, exclusive content, and MORE. Listen to our live weekly show on AMP, every Tuesday at 4 PM ET. Follow Sabrina Wu on Instagram Watch Sabrina's Tonight Show set HERE! Follow Gianmarco Soresi on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, & YouTube Subscribe to Gianmarco Soresi's email & texting lists Check out Gianmarco Soresi's bi-monthly show in NYC Get tickets to see Gianmarco Soresi in a city near you Watch Gianmarco Soresi's special "Shelf Life" on Amazon Follow Russell Daniels on Twitter & Instagram See Russell in Titanique through February 2023! E-mail the show at [e-mail] Produced by Paige Asachika & Gianmarco Soresi Video edited by Spencer Sileo Special Thanks Tovah Silbermann Part of the Authentic Podcast Network Original music by Douglas Goodhart Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Downside. How are you doing, Russell? I'm good. How are you? I'm not great. You know why? Now listen, we're releasing this, we're recording this a little bit early. What? We're recording this a little bit early, so this is going to date the episode. Okay. Last episode, you had a great rant, a great rant about people who complain about Daylight Savings Time. Uh-huh.

You noted several times that it's never going to change. Daylight savings is never going away. And I rushed my ass off to get the video uploaded, audio fixed, so I could clip it for daylight savings time. What do you think 90% of the comments said, Russell Daniels? Oh, is it changing? It's changing. There was a lot. I looked.

There was legislation that passed or something. But when is it changing? It didn't change yet. It's going to change by next year. Why? But your whole thing was predicated on it. It will never change. You said it 10 times.

And I was like, this is great material. I wasn't right. You know, I just saw that yesterday too. And I almost sent you a message, but I didn't. Don't worry. Our fans sent the message to me. Oh, I'm sorry. It's fine.

It's fine. We need a fact checker on the show. I know. This is not Joe Rogan Russell as much as you want it to be. Oh, I'm sorry. It's fine. It's fine. We need a fact checker on the show. This is not Joe Rogan Russell as much as you want it to be. Welcome Sabrina to the podcast. We have a stand-up comedian, writer, Sabrina Wu. Hello. Hey, it's good to be here.

I also heard about the Daylight Savings thing and I also thought it sounded super fake. Like that it's changing. But it is, everyone is saying it, but I've never seen primary source material. I know, and I'm also- I'm going to release this clip

and someone's going to say it changed just now. Listen, I'm sure, I think it's wishful thinking. Like, it's going to change everywhere because some places have, like, I think Arizona, in certain places in Arizona, they don't recognize it. That's even more stressful. I don't know how that works. But I don't know.

I mean, I have not seen someone say it's definitely changing. It feels like it's all hearsay. Okay. Okay. Sabrina, can you tell us something negative to kick off our theme music to get into this? Something you don't like? Anything. Something.

How are you feeling? Something shitty that happened to you recently? oh sure sure i mean it's um i guess i've been talking about i recently did do the tonight show and that was cool uh you really mistook my direction no but just let me continue okay i mean for me i dreaded every i dread every second of having to put anything of myself on the internet. And I think especially, like, I was, you know, I'm just like, I don't think the internet loves, like, trans people. And I was very scared. And I thought I created this, like, is this too long for your intro? No, no.

Okay. This is just a thing that's on my, that is what I've been thinking about. I want to hear why the Tonight Show isn't all it's cracked up to be. I love that. I guess I'm just so sad because I thought I curated this, like, perfect set that was, like, so, like, angry and kind of, like, self-hating that I thought, like, even men would really like it. Like, they would kind of, like, see themselves in me. I didn't mention being trans until, like, four minutes into the set. I never said my pronouns.

And I was just so, like, angry and upset. I was like upset i was like they're gonna love it like i'm so raw and like i felt like i felt like my own version of like bill burnett and then like the top comment thread right now on that clip is um is a genuine debate about whether or not i'm having a severe nervous breakdown on the set why would you say something like that russell when i sent you the clip that was just to familiarize yourself with our guests. Yeah, and I did sign it. Russell Daniels from John Marcos, The Downside. Yeah. You had a tremendous set. Thank you. It was a very

good late night set, and Russell will tell you, I don't say that to anyone. So it was a very good set. And he said it privately, too. Wait, that means a lot, and it does always mean more from people who shit on other people's sets. Yes. Of course. That's this whole podcast.

Because if you're falsely positive, then your good things mean nothing. Yes. This is the downside. Oh, oops. Fuck. God damn it. God damn it. I fucked it up.

I fucked it up. Where is it? No, no. I didn't do that. It's because I didn't put up the volume. Wait one second. This is so embarrassing. Listen, this is good.

This is a good way to get into the... I need a tech person really quick. Okay, hold up. Here it goes. This has to clear. And then once it clears, it goes back. Okay. Say it one more time.

Say, what did the top comment say? Okay, great. Just relive your trauma. And remember to do your job. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I said the top comment on this really important life career milestone was, it was basically, I can't tell if this person is having a severe nervous breakdown

or if this is just personal. Okay. This is the downside. I'm going gonna kill myself. Why would you do this to me? What is that? Oh my god, this is the worst moment of my life. What is this?

It's so funny because you said you hate putting things on the internet. And the first thing after your amazing set, you talked about beatboxing. And I said, where can I find Sabrina beatboxing? And there it was where can I find Sabrina beatboxing? And there it was. This is amazing. It's like genuinely like, oh my God.

Sabrina, I would kill to beatbox as well as you do. No, you get this. You get this. Like if you, okay. It's like I am, no beatboxer would say I'm good. Do you know what I mean? It's like when like a 16 year old kid. What do you mean? You gotta be a great beatboxer too say i'm good do you know what i mean it's like when like a 16 year old kid so you got to be a great beatboxer too but i understand if i were a great beatboxer i wouldn't

use it exclusively for jokes on the tonight i would be competing i think i think you and usama could have a like comedian slash beatboxer competition yeah i let me tell you the reason i think it's good is because i tried to beatbox in high school and compared to me what's like a what's the best beatboxer in the world i don't know your pentatonix level oh my god you know nothing about beatboxing that's my point and that's why you're playing this clip pentatonix what kevin's fine kevin the beatboxer he plays like cello he's great but like I mean I think he's oh I don't

I don't want to like tear down Kevin I think he's great I mean he's not doing it like competitively I promise you I don't know all our listeners but I do know which ones

are not listening and Kevin from Pentatonix is definitely not in there at all are your listeners not Swedish boys we'd love to have him on we do have a listener I think who helps

produce Pentatonix do we you could be honest about beatboxing oh yeah okay sure sure We'd love to have him on. We do have a listener, I think, who helps produce Pentatonix. Do we? You can be honest about beatboxing. Oh, yeah. Okay. Sure, sure. Kevin sucks. This is the downside.

One, two, three. Downside. You're listening to The Downside. The Downside. With Gianmarco Ceresi. Sabrina, your set was so good. I feel so duped. Oh, I'm sorry.

No, but in a great way. Sorry, sorry, sorry. He does that to me a lot. He plays like... Oh, no. I can cut it out if you like. Don't even. Don't even.

One time my dog died and he... I was very sad about it. And then he came in the next day and he played a song that he was him being like, Sorry, your dog died like, sorry your dog died, sorry your dog. It wasn't to that song, it was to one of our other songs. Okay, but it was still a song about my dog dying and I didn't know you were going to play it.

It was, how did it go? Was it that I've got some bad, bad news, bad news? Oh, something like that. How is your dog? Yes. It was a new segment. It was a new segment about how is my dog who just died. We have some misses. Yes.

That stuff, that's darker than what you did to me. Yeah, I thought mine was like light. I know. Like a fun thing. But emotionally, I went through a real journey because when your thing wasn't working, I was like, oh, I guess, you know, I was just listening to the podcast. Maybe I could like acapella or like offer. But I then had a voice in my head that was like, don't do it.

It's so embarrassing. Like if you be like, you'll feel ashamed after let's talk about this voice let's talk about this voice in your head that is you're you're so okay you're you're multi-talented I I had someone maybe I told someone that you were going to be on the podcast or something and they said they knew you as when you were dancing because you danced too right who the would have said that i was never a professional or even close i just like you dance i mean some of this you brought on yourself you did all these talents on the tonight show of course of course because someone five years ago was like oh you should do all these acts together

i thought it was stupid then and now i'm like i guess this plays well sometimes and so i i do do it yeah sabrina this this only for comedy do you know what i'm saying like if i ever took it seriously it would be humiliating sure but you can you can dance comedically sure i've been doing it that's what i do on stage that's half my act but we just have listen it's for me i think I admire it because I did beatboxing and pop and lock. Did you really? I did do pop and lock. Okay. I mean, like, it was at a private high school where there were, like, three people who did it, and I was the third best.

So it's like I wasn't – this competition was low, but I could do it. I could do – I went, I really liked tutting, which tutting, do you know what tutting is, Russell? So tutting is all about like angles. So you have like, you know, like. Okay, now that I'm seeing you do it, I've seen that you've done it before. Yeah, all the time.

And I did a little bit of popping. Oh, fuck yeah. I mean, I remember when I, I remember when I first met you at met you when we were doing that show. And one of the very first rehearsals was like an improv thing. And you were doing a lot of like popping and locking in the... Oh, my microphone's cutting out. Do you hear that?

Or is it maybe just my headphones? Maybe it's just your headphones. Oh. Anyways, you were doing a lot of pop and locking the first night I met you at met you at that improper what did you think of it at the time i thought this guy i i appreciate he's going for it but like i remember it was it felt like it felt like if not knowing you it felt like that was one of the first three things you would tell people about do you know i mean by the amount that you did it that night yeah So I thought, I thought you were going to be way more into it. Once I got to know you,

I was surprised you weren't as into it. How old are you in this moment? 25. Oh, I thought you meant like in this, you said when I did this? Yeah. Uh,

uh, yeah, probably 25. Okay. But like, I wasn't like, uh, uh,

a respectable 25 year old. I wasn't wiggle walking up to my castmates. I just like in some improv where it was like do something, I would bust out those moves. It was like 15 minutes of popping. 15 whole minutes. God, can you imagine? I'm someone who struggles. I'm definitely on a dance floor.

I struggle. If I'm drunk or high, I can dance. But if I'm not, I'm someone who struggles I'm definitely on a dance floor I struggle If I'm drunk or high I can dance But if I'm not I'm stiff So then I like the choreo It lets me I took hip hop classes

For a while But what was your B-boy B-boy B-girl B-boy Is there a non-binary B term?

Oh I don't know You know I left I left that craft As soon as I realized I was trans, I left the whole industry. B-Boy was like... I think B-Boy can be a gender inclusive term. Yeah, I agree. So tell me about your pop and lock journey.

Well, I famously never came up with a name. And I remember I went to my first cypher. It was so humiliating because it was like, in this corner, it was um oh my god like lady killers and like b-boy shabazz and in this corner sabrina woo and chris lynn chris lynn neither of you had a name no we didn't have a name we didn't really know we were really new to the world um but yeah like i actually forgot your original question so wait sorry there's a piece of white fluff in your mic forgive me okay when i i want to know your your whole my origin your origin story for for just for for b-boy it was okay so i mean to be clear i never really i never i didn't do any breaking really like i would on the like out of at okay i mean

this all starts with bar mitzvahs in ann arbor and in my particular private school i'm shocked that there were like three people who popped in lock at a private institution yeah i was the only one and that was and i think i was maybe like one oh Oh, you know what? Actually, every other year there was like, there was like a dyke who would start. Can I say that on this? Yeah. There was a, I can say that. No, Russell.

Oh, you got me. I got you. I knew you were going to do it to me. Yeah, say anything. It felt like it skipped a journey. So every other year there was like one kid per class that got really into popping and locking. And then like, I'm getting so sidetracked,

but I basically just, also felt very uncomfortable at dances. And then, like, there were so many dances because we, like, we just had a lot of Jewish kids at school. And they would invite everyone in the whole crowd. I went to, like, does this feel like a lot? I mean, for a not Jewish person, I went to, like, 13 bar mitzvahs. That's a lot. No, that's a lot. Like, I didn't have a bar mitzvah i'm jewish but i grew up in a jewish area and i would say

probably 13 to 16 that's yeah it's just a lot for most people they don't go to a single yeah yeah and uh uh were they like were they nice bar mitzvahs were they were they uh rich like big bar mitzvahs were there different sizes sizes? They were all in one country club. So I think they were rich, but they didn't really, there was like a peak to like how fantastic they were going to be. We had one, I didn't go to it,

but the guy got NSYNC for his daughter's bat mitzvah. Oh my God. No, we had the, I got a feeling over and over again. One guy from Michigan screaming the lyrics. MC, do you know what i'm like that moment yeah we all shout mazel tov in that the one part they love it yeah i used to have it where i talk about the birthright trip because i got a speed bar mitzvah on the birthright and the joke it's only if a lot of jews are there i said you know we did there's a speed bar mitzvah but we did all the

traditional things cha-cha slide electric slide got back, because that was the standard. Baby got back, just to think about 13-year-olds and 12-year-olds, just singing very loudly. My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hun. And it's just very, very sexual for a bar mitzvah. But that's where you started. Did you take, I took classes. did you just learn on your own i didn't i didn't take any classes for like popping and where did you grow up potomac maryland you're like like you're like do you grow up like inner dc i know you grow up on the streets you'd learn about no i had like it was like at that time we're like popping a lock

and for the first time was being i, like being taught at like dance studios. They'd have ballet, hip hop, Poppin' and Lockin' class once a week. Beginner to advanced because there was not a lot. Well, I'm glad they had that because I did take like a hip hop class and that's very different than. For sure. It was like, it was giving like Camp Rock, High School Musical, like, do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Or at least the ones that I went to.

So I don't know if it really helped the one time I took a, yeah, it was mostly like self-taught through YouTube. Sure. Who did you watch? Did you watch Mr. Wiggles? No, he was, honestly, if this makes sense, like he felt kind of old. Like his videos seemed a little bit, there was this guy, and I'm so embarrassed his name, it was like the Russian Tiger.

And his, if you Googled like embarrassed. His name was like the Russian tiger and his, if you Googled like popping tutorials, it was like all, all top 10 of those videos were from this guy who is now, I think like a biochemist. Really? Yeah. Good for him.

And okay. Since we're shitting on so many of my YouTube heroes, the Russian tiger is a bad teacher in the sense that like makes great videos, but was a white biochemist like if you learn from him you had the worst style of any pop i just was like so robotic and bad and and not like the good robot like bad yeah just like you know what i mean it's just like it's very technical but it doesn't really have any flow mr wiggles. I got a couple videos. This is how old school Mr. Wiggles is. I bought his VHS tapes, and he'd mail you.

I'm sure he did it. He was packaging it himself. And it was just kind of like shitty quality videos of him just, if you got the tutting videos, just him tutting at various places for an hour. And you'd watch, and you'd be like, that looks, I'd love some step-by-steps. I was looking for some more

like paint-by-numbers pop and lock. Yeah. Well, that's where the Russian Tiger came in. Yeah. I better should go back to, it's like that,

you ever see that old hip-hop? It's like a classic. It's like a white lady who's like, and now we're gonna do the lock. And it's just like her in like a jumpsuit.

And it just has this, just this feel of lack of authenticity. Yeah. Okay. Great. Okay. Great. So you're doing, I mean, this is a very artistic life that you're leading. The beatboxing, was that just for, were you in an acapella group?

Because that's how I. Oh, no. You're so embarrassed about your past. I'm so embarrassed. Yeah, I guess that's what I'm learning. I just, oh, I dread thinking about myself in every corner. This sounds like a podcast

is your nightmare, truly. Absolutely. Absolutely. I went on a run and I meditated before this. And when I found out this was 90 minutes long, I was like,

I should call in sick. Oh, that's so funny. That's so interesting because you're a stand-up comedian. And you do talk about yourself on stage. I do. I know.

I am pretty personal. And I guess what I like about stand-up, it's like if I have to talk about myself, I want to do it in a format where it's a different group of strangers every time. And I just get to edit the shit out of it until I like it. And none of the strangers will start playing your beatboxing from the audience. Yeah, exactly. Right when you feel most safe. That was an insane move.

It's like so fair. Also, that video was also posted from one of my high school classmates that I just had terrible beef with for years and years. Really? I still have like nightmares about him. But yeah, he has ownership over this.

Oh God, this is deeper than I thought. I know. What was the beef about? I think you could ask them to take it down. Oh, I know. He's like, like he told me. And I've saved it now too. Should I have two people too?

I should, yeah, I should ask him to take it down. That'd be the right thing for them to do. What was the beef about? Or no, can't get into it. It was, no, I'm happy to get to i mean it was like it was stupid as shit it was like it was around like well see i did think of myself as like an artistic person then um and like i definitely also wanted to get into film but he was like the film you know like small schools like people have their assigned roles he was like the film kid. And like every spirit week, like, you know,

like there were like these like music videos that were a part of like some larger spirit. It's so stupid and boring, but I think just one year I was like, Oh, I'd really like to make the video. And I started floating that idea around and he never, and he also wanted to be class president.

And like, I was sort of a contender for that. And then we just never so you ran against each other we ran against each other i have to come back to that i lost so he won he won he actually had a crazy redemption arc like when he was in middle school i would say like multiple women and people of color left our school as like a direct result of some of like the things that he would say in middle school like he was kind of a terror conditioned to be shit on in middle school that's that's really extreme wow and i just want to say like i heard you know i know people change

and i've heard i'm saying this to camera this is to changed i've heard i've heard mixed things but i believe make sure you ask him to take the video down before he listens to the pod i know uh uh that's i believe that there's no way he is walking around with the same beliefs or like habits he had as like a 13 year old. Do you think, do you, okay, like, okay, okay, hear me. Okay. Do you think like, do you think that like, this is going to give me so much hate on the internet, but like, do you really think like, like think of the worst people from your high

school, like, and especially like the men who are being like bad in ways that are like Matt, like, you know what I mean, promoted by. Yeah. Do you really think they change over the course of college where there are frats and it just gets worse? I'm trying to think of people in my life who have made big changes. Well, it's hard because a lot of them, I feel like they get married and then they have kids and so I don't really think of them as,

they just seem like, I don't know. Yeah, I think life events, like big life events, maybe can change you. I've known people who like came out of the closet

after they were younger and part of me is like, oh, well, that's a lot of baggage to carry in whatever. So maybe that. I'm the first to forgive a person who's gay.

I'm the first to be like, oh, gay. I'm the first to be like, oh, I change everything that I feel. But yeah, I hear you. Do you think if you went back now with like your mind now, could you win that presidential race? Do you remember?

No, I think I was doomed. I can't believe, I would have told myself, don't run. What was your platform? Let me make the music video. No, I gave up on that. I think I ran on something like,

I just think we should all be nice to each other. And that was read really passive-aggressively, as I remember. And I wasn't not being passive-aggressive. I was like, some people in our grade are not particularly nice to other people in this grade. And that was a stupid idea. I think it's stupid.

I think it's, I thought it was stupid to try to win over the affection of, is this too depressing for the downside? I feel like I just veered into like, this is actually too down. High school trauma is the name of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. So, so you grew up in Ann Arbor. Yes. I've been to Royal Oak to do comedy. Oh, at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle? Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle. I got a bit from there because I asked someone there.

I said, is there a good place to get a salad around here? And they said, it's a pretty liberal area. And that became like a whole. But how far is Ann Arbor from Royal Oak? It's like a 40-minute drive. Okay. Yeah. And I do know that because I've gone up there.

It's a fun venue. I'd like to come back, Mark. Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL,

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of their family history. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th. You, your parents were immigrants? yeah and did they did they go straight to ann arbor is that like a place that that immigrants went to at that time like is it a place that a lot of immigrants like why did why ann arbor totally i think it's because of the college and also because of the like automotive industry so i wouldn't say it's like california like where like they're actually like but but yeah like i mean my mom actually came for grad school went to the university of cincinnati but like uh she started like dating my dad and that's why and then

my dad started like a business in arbor and that's why we stayed there. But like, there are, there are a decent number of like Asian Americans with like immigrant parents, mostly like, I think the majority are like probably professors or like, like engineers at, at Ford. Where did they immigrate from? My parents from China. Yeah. But there's like, I don't know, people from all over. Where, where in China?

Like, do you know China like that? No, but I'm curious. No, I'm more curious. I'm more curious like does it does it affect like what kind of life they had if it was a different part i mean china's so big totally so like where like where you have haylong jiang material that you really want to yeah yeah i'm dying to get into it no uh they they came from my my dad is from like northern China, like super northern. Like have you heard of like Harbin? Like there's like that big ice festival that sometimes gets talked about internationally. No, I haven't heard of it.

You actually should check it out because it's crazy. The like sculptures they build on ice. It's like genuinely like castles and slides and like walls. You can actually go down the slide? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it's so cold so they can like build like, I guess like, I guess, like, real infrastructure out of, like, ice blocks. They're building full hospitals. Totally.

There's, like, a, yeah. And then my mom is from, like, super south China. The only thing they say about, like, children of that combination is that they're supposed to be super hot. Like, really sexy. Yeah, if you mix north and and south you get a really hot baby it's like what they say yeah in in china that's what they say they're like whoa i'm so scared to be misquoted on this but i think so don't be yeah yeah i don't think i haven't looked at i don't know how many listeners we have in china i'd love to i'd love to go to china although can i just say

anytime some video goes up of me on the internet china does catch wind of it when i was like in high school like on a very local level i was nominated to be like best ann arbor area girls basketball player your skills again look i was okay i was like not to this day i'm like i can't bring myself to go to open gyms because I'm not like really. But China freaked out. They were like, oh my God, there's like a Chinese girl that's like good at basketball in America, like the land of basketball. They were so shook.

And I ended up, the second place girl got like 600 votes and I had 200,000 votes because China chipped in. Yeah, it was crazy. That is crazy. And they made the votes public. Can you imagine being in that second place?

Was it close? Was it close? Her family, her family, that girl's family, they all like rallied around her. They're like, we all voted. We all voted. But China. It was such, and it was so upsetting

because the second place, like I don't remember the exact digits, but it was like, it was like a six, you know what I mean? It was like that big of a difference. And it was such a robbery because like she was at the lead and then she went to bed, which is when Chinese people wake up. And then overnight I just got like hundreds of thousands of more votes. That would make me believe in election fraud.

I got to say, if I was going to bed and I was winning, and I woke up and I was losing by 199,400 votes, like something's up here. You lost a whole country. That's so funny. Well, I'm always so curious with China what, like I don't know what they have access to in terms of like podcasts or YouTube

or like I don't know what the censorship or what apps. It just seems like that's why I don't think there's anyone who listens to the downside. I'm sure there are, though. I don't know. Well, let's ask Paige. She'll get the numbers for us. I have to say something. For a second, Russell, I thought you were being very racist out of nowhere because Paige is Japanese.

No, she's our producer. And I thought you were saying, and for a second, for a second, for a second, I thought Russell was like, let's just ask Paige. She'll know.

And I was like, Russell, what the fuck is wrong with you? She sends us reports. Do you read them? Okay, we're not releasing this episode. It's okay. Let's keep going. So, no, just for the moment,

I was just like, I was like, I was like, what the fuck? I was a monster. I was like, well, she sends the reports saying where people

are living and stuff can I just I'm also getting the sense I just as I've just sort of like been following you and I

to be honest see myself a lot and you're like you also seem like some like I mean if you also beatboxed and

did try it off I tried out for so many acapella groups and I know that you also I would have done musical theater I think if I if I were so many acapella groups. And I know that you all, I would have done musical theater, I think, if I were born in a different race and body. But like, yeah. And I did basketball too, but very poorly.

So I think you're like a superior version of me. Yeah, yeah. I haven't been on The Tonight Show. We both did New Faces. I mean, there's a lot. You're right. There's a lot you're right yeah there's a lot yeah yeah yeah yeah no i yours but you're tall and and this really became like a compliment off we've never had i mean do i can list all the ways in

which i feel inferior to you well i'm older so i am your superior. Great. I'm your elder. I will never do crowd work. I avoid it. Why? You're so accomplished. But you see the theme. I just, yeah. So where does that come from? Okay, so you have these parents, your siblings.

I do have a brother, and I have two parents, yeah. And his name is Kevin? I have two parents. His name is Kevin, yes. Yeah, because you said it on the tonight show. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was wondering where you got all this information on me, but I guess literally if you watch...

Your set was packed. It had a lot of personal information. That's what made it so good. Well, they tell you to do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wouldn't know. So, okay, so you're the oldest? I am the oldest.

You're the oldest. Okay, we have that in common, too. Great. There you go. And do you feel... Were your parents into all this stuff that you were doing? Were they like, oh, cool. What's beatboxing? No.

I remember I would be like, I remember like three years into beatboxing, like I'll just beatbox very quickly, but I would be like in the kitchen, like I was like practicing and I'd be like, and there was just like one day where I was like, like my parents were both there and I was like, are you two like gonna react? Like, is that, does that like surprise you at all that I can do that?

I was like, listen, they're like nothing. Like, cause I would do that all the time. I love the idea of your immigrant parents in the kitchen and you make that noise and you're like uh can i get a wow all those noises so many noises and then you're just like are you and they're like sweetheart it's not the variety

of noises that were wow and it wasn't like i didn't want like you know what i mean like that's how kind of like and i'm not saying they're unsupportive and i think this is like like i think immigrant parents show love in very like particular ways and um but yeah it was like so normal for them not to respond like it would have been three years of me knowing how to do that doing it all around the house and it just like it never occurred to me like hey maybe they should react or like be a little surprised i was like and my mom i remember turning around and was like oh you know i i uh is that hard to do like what she asked me i would have said you go now you make that sound and then then they'd be impressed that's so okay so do you think that's do you think

looking back on it now you're like oh i didn't get a lot of that artistic support i i will say that i don't have a lot of very nice like uh uh i get this criticism a lot like like if someone compliments me they're like why do you look in pain? Or like, why do you look so upset? And it's like, I'm really like trying to be like really nice. But I think it's like, I just don't, it is a little bit of like a foreign language to have someone like be verbally like, or like to have that voice. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah. I think similarly with my parents, not to the same degree,

but I think it can be tough if one isn't artistically inclined to understand why what you're doing in the beatboxing is cool, is interesting, is a skill. I remember once I had a piano, a Yamaha, and I was just like, I don't know what I was doing exactly because I couldn't play piano, but I was doing things with the sounds, and I was making a symphony, and I had my dad come in to witness it. I was making a symphony.

I was just like making, I was trying to tell a story. Casually. Casually. I was trying to tell a story and something, and I remember I showed it to my dad and he was like, okay, what is that supposed to be? And it's like a thing where I can't be mad at him for not being like, whoa, you pressed some buttons. But it hurt because it was like, oh, you don't see that I'm trying to create. Yeah. Poorly.

But it's hard because I just don't know. I think the parent more like doesn't know what to do. They don't even know what to say. Yeah. At the noise. What was the noise? The vroom? Oh, sure.

Like vroom? Yeah. Yeah. There's that. And they just go, I don't know what this is what this is i don't know what to say have you ever talked to okay you did the tonight show did your parents say anything uh you know what no my mom actually did text we watched and i thought you were great the tonight show is so tricky because the unfortunately like the transitioning and career stuff they're all

happening at like the same time and my parents are like also adjusting to like so i'm doing like a tough thing on them where i'm like hey i'm trans and i'm also gonna talk about it publicly you know so i think like yeah i think of things they were going to be nice about the tonight show wasn't going to be like the thing that they were like we are so happy you did that sure sure although i was but also even i think if there wasn't a transfer a recent conversation i had with my mom was she was like she was like why do you do this like why do you like like comedy and i was like well you know like don't you love to laugh and she said no like i don't think yeah like it's not even just about art like i i actually think

there might even be like a cultural thing with like mainland china like i don't think it's like a very like safe face country like you like it's really important to like seem poised. And I actually think that like being funny or goofy is like bad is lame. Yeah. On a fundamental level. Allowing yourself to like lose control and laugh. Is like lower is like you're out of control. You're not like, maybe there's,

yeah, that's interesting, but it's not, but I also don't want to paint them as like people who never laugh. Like my, what makes them do they ever watch. Like my father watches a naked gun and it's like goofy shit makes him laugh. But anything like contemporary stand up.

None of that does it. Totally. Yeah. My dad loved bridesmaids. Like surprisingly. When my stepfather saw fucking when my stepfather. I saw Borat in theaters with my stepfather. He is a strict button button-up guy.

And that scene where they're wrestling around naked, it was amazing to see him laugh that hard. Because part of it was like, oh, you could feel like this more often. Yeah, yeah. But it wasn't until two hairy men just dicks in the face that he unlocked it for him. So your dad loved bridesmaids. That was the thing. It was like the shitting in the sink. And your dad, he was like, I can't contain this anymore.

Yeah, he was like, that's funny. Okay, so you said coming out as trans is a more recent thing? Yeah, it's been like the last like two years. Like two years ago I was like kind of starting to like talk about it

with my friends. Uh-huh. And then like I'm in public, like it's still not even really in my like Instagram bio, which doesn't make me

less legit, but just to get a picture of like how like, you know, it's not like I can't bring myself to do it. did the tonight show before the instagram bio that's pretty impressive i know well i just i feel yeah and it's not because i'm like i love i think people love to be like you're so brave but it's like it's actually just like i don't perceive myself

as somebody with agency you know what i mean like if you ask me i'll do it. But I'm not going to go put my pronouns on my own profile. But if like, but if somebody in our career told me to, I would do it like that. Like I would just be like, it doesn't matter what I want. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. When, when did you come out to your parents as gay? Super pretty young.

I came out like when I was like, like, like a junior in high school actually. And what was their, were they, were they cool? My mom just started hysterically laughing which like, that's the one time,

that's the one time she laughed. Oh man. I don't think it was a joyous laugh. Yeah. It was just like that Breaking Bad,

remember when he gets caught with the drugs and he's like, he's like down in the, that kind of like. Yeah. Well, she just had a really hard time saying gay. And so she kept being like, you're a gay. And then like, just sort of kept doing that over and over again.

Oh my God. And we landed on this like super, like I never completely understood which I think she like quoted something her, she had suspected for a long time. Like I was, you know, I was like beatboxing and popping. Like I would just seem playing basketball. Like that's just like not what like any Asian kid is encouraged to be doing. Like in like our like yuppie Asian like circle.

So it wasn't- What were, what would women, Asian women do in that circle? Like what were the hobbies that would be pursued? Something that I never, it never occurred to me as weird. Figure skating was huge. Really? Yeah. I was like, I was like telling my friend, I was like, I was like, and I never became

a good figure skater. And they were like, wait, what? Wait, that's not something that everyone was doing. Yeah. But a lot of, there was just like a big, I mean, hockey's big in Ann Arbor and then like in Michigan Midwest. And there was like a big rink. So like a lot of people did like group ice skating lessons.

And that was like a cool, and you know, like China is really good at like skating. So I think it felt, I don't know, like precision sports, like feel really in line with like whatever. But it was like skating, piano. feel really in line with like whatever um but it was like skating piano i can't tell if i'm being so racist right now to like but but i'm just speaking the truth of this particular community yeah okay skating like piano is huge violin like tennis uh-huh um just definitely not like basketball and if you were gonna dance like you gotta do like ballet tap if you're feeling crazy or like you know what i mean yeah yeah yeah yeah this stuff

was was weird sure totally my my best friend in in middle school uh he was chinese and he his name was kevin too there are a lot of are there a lot of Kevins? because when you said that I just was like oh my god my friend's Kevin oh yeah there's like 9 million Kevins I used to have this punchline that was like this is like a just sorry that I'm like half doing my stand up but this is

true my dad was going to name me my mom named me Sabrina my dad wanted to name me after like the rare earth metal Europia so bad but I used to have this joke that was like still better you know like my mom named me Sabrina. My dad wanted to name me after like the rare earth metal Europium. So bad. But he used to have this joke that was like still better. You know, like the, I'd be like,

you know, cause my brother, yeah, yeah. Better to be named the only person named Europium than yet another Asian boy named Kevin. And it's people, it felt like everybody knew,

like there's 9 million. Is there a reason? It's just, it's just like literally so easy to pronounce oh yeah yeah it's just like whatever like the sounds that are in the chinese language kevin easy like sure yeah that's really that's really interesting uh uh i forget what i was gonna say but kevin yeah shout out to my friend kevin wong he played piano he was a soccer kid but him and his sister they they were like they played piano they were was a soccer kid. But him and his sister, they were like, they played piano.

They were star soccer players. They were just incredibly disciplined and very nice parents. That's the wedding I went to in Hawaii. I took piano lessons for a year. A year. And the woman was kind of crazy that was my piano teacher. And I had a hard time telling my parents that I didn't like seeing her because she was crazy and finally I was able to be like a of all she I signed up for piano lessons and she was teaching me an organ and I was like I don't know when like I don't go to church so I

don't know when this is going to come in handy like me learning how to play an organ yeah so that was that was one thing and then the other thing i remember one time early on she was like trying to teach me how to play the organ upside down like she was like doing it like this and i was like i don't know how to play the organ like right way like i know and finally so one day i finally i remember being like you know when you're like wow why was i nervous but i finally told my parents like i don't want to do this anymore. That woman scares me. And they were like, oh, then fine. It was like, I don't know why I was not telling them.

But anyways, so I wasn't ever very good at it. What was the most advanced thing you learned how to play? I mean, I don't remember. I had to learn because I went to school for music later on. So I have a very, I can plunk chords and stuff now, but I can't like, I'm not great at playing. Did you ever, did you ever take an instrument? Did I?

I, yeah, I played, I played piano. Yeah. But I, not very well. What was the most advanced? Yeah, but you're not very well. You're going to be like, I could just, the first half of this. This one I actually mean, although, yeah, I do mean this. And I, you know what?

I meant it all the other times too. Okay. I feel like deep in my, yeah, I do mean this. And you know what? I meant it all the other times, too. Sure, sure. I feel like deep in my, yeah. I played piano classically until like the eighth grade. That's bad, but you probably can kind of play. I can say, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry that I'm like this. When I was in middle school.

Why are you apologizing? Sabrina. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're apologizing so much. We wanted you to be here. You're fascinating. You're just telling us your life. You're apologizing so much. We wanted you to be here. You're fascinating. You're just telling us your life. I told myself that 10 times.

They asked me. They asked me. No one here. You're having a lot of success this year. You're going to have to deal with it because people want you for things. Shut up. Leave me alone. You have this journal with you.

I'm waiting for you to read a journal entry to us. No, no. It's not even... What does it say? It's just mixed things. But I try... When the crowd applauds for you, do you say, stop it, everybody? Sit down.

No, at JFL, you know what I did? I didn't even say, like, thank you. I'm Sabrina. I think I said, okay, bye. And I saw you guys kind of skedaddle off the stage. I was so, yeah. That's so funny. Everyone was talking about your set.

You had a great set. Everyone was talking about your set. It was so, it was amazing. Watch, you see? I didn't denounce it at all. I accepted it completely. Okay. I said, yeah, they were.

You can do it. I can. I've actually been practicing. Oh, yeah? Yeah, yeah. I'll show you. Fantastic set, really. Fantastic Oh thank you so much That was great

You're an actor too That's fantastic Yeah yeah That's me Thank you so much My voice goes Three octaves higher Than I want it to go

But yeah But you started stand up At 16 How do you know that I don't You know I don't just show up I'm just

Like this is a thing I care about and i figure since i bought all the shit i might as well look up the guests a little bit before of course no thank you yeah yeah i think but that's it but starting at 16 is it sounds like in high school did you ever hang out with friends or were you just doing hobbies and things i have this theory that the number of hobbies somebody has directly correlates with like how many friends they have like yeah I didn't I spent a lot of time alone like like in the summers I would say um I did use stand-up like when I was 16 but I wasn't like going and doing mics like the story was like I didn't even know what stand-up was

until like one night at like an Asian dinner party. Like sometimes like a bunch of Asian families will get together and like have dinner. And then like the parents will go sing like karaoke upstairs and the kids sort of like, sort of forcibly are like there, like spend time together, but we don't like really know or care about each other. But then we were like,

should we watch hot and fluffy Gabriel Iglesias? And like, we were like, I was like, this is the best thing I've ever seen. And I was like, and you know what? I can make a lot of those sounds too. I should. Oh yeah. And then I, that night was just like telling some story. And then like somebody, some guy who was also there, same as Kevin.

And he was like, he was like a really cool guy he like played football like he was like he was like the maybe one of the most like idolized like young asian teens like in the community like everyone's like you have to be like kevin like he plays football now that's different but he's also playing yeah yeah like star like just like a star human being but he was like that was so funny what you just said and you should do stand-up and so then like months later okay a month later i like and i was too scared to sign up for the talent show like when it was time to sign up and i like but i was friends with the producer and i just sort of begged her to like let me try it like the night before the show and

then i did like 12 minutes of like, like 12 streamers. I mean, was it the tightest ever? No, but it like, it actually like work. Did you have it planned out? Like, did you know? We actually have the audio from it right here. You do not. It's down.

That is something I made sure it came down from the internet. But yeah. Were you, were you like, did you write it all out? Like you. I definitely did it. I definitely just like type some. I feel like what I do even now where you just like you, it like lives in your head and you know, if you go on stage, something will come out of you.

Any of those jokes still exist in your act? Any, any version? If I, uh, not none that I'm like super proud of, but every now and then I'll pull them into a set and they'll still hold. How was it received? Like, how did it go over in the talent show? The first time? Also, how long was this talent show if you were doing 12 minutes and you were at last

minute? I think it was like two hours long. It was for a good cause. Yeah. There was no, no one, like, I mean, there was no concept of like, don't run the light. Like, it was just like. Those first shows are pretty. Well, first of all, I just had to go back

to that this party I just love the idea of a bunch of kids hanging out all Asian and they go what should we watch Hot and Fluffy

by Gabriel Iglesias is a very specific what is it called Hot and Fluffy he was huge though Hot and Fluffy yeah he was Hot and Fluffy

he was huge for but on what what channel was it was it on on Netflix it was like Netflix was just like becoming a thing. Obviously, none of us like pulled from our ass like we should watch Hot and Fluffy, Gabriel

Iglesias. We were just like scrolling and one person was like, I heard that was pretty good. Yeah. And I had no... I was like, what even is this? Because it looked like the front cover of like a bag of popcorn. Have you seen it? I was like, i had no idea like that like what there would be like a man and i'm in a microphone like telling me funny things i was just like i fully pictured like popcorn like yeah yeah it was crazy

yeah it's just that age for me it was when i saw uh ralphie may where it's just that age where stand-up is magical where it's just like you're like everyone's laughing so hard just at someone talking and you're like how and then yeah it's just such a special time i just love those first moments does it has it lost its magic for you yeah for me it's really like i if i watch it live and something's really really good i just feel uh self-hatred i feel uh i'm filled with i suck that's why i'm shocked that you're shocked i'm this way i always i to be honest i perceived you as somebody with a pretty yeah yeah but no no but i mean like yeah i, I saw, I'm like that. But that's when I see it live.

That's why I struggle to watch live entertainment. I think I feel deep envy and deep insecurity. I see. And I'm glad when you, your show was before my JFL show. I didn't watch any of you because I didn't want to feel insecure. I was backstage and I was, it was so funny. I don't know if I said it this word.

So Pete Holmes hosted both of ours. Yes, yeah. And he kind of said to our group, he was very supportive. I found him to, he did like, I think exactly what you need to do in that role. He made everyone feel good.

Yeah. Super sweet. And he said to our group, like kind of, you know, secretly in a little bit, like the second show is usually like even better like people

it's just like it's later everyone's really excited not like in a bad way like the first show's bad and he could have just he could have said the same thing

to your group and our group but he was just like making us feel good no I just know what the energy was like at the second show it was tough

yeah so then he goes out for the second show and he comes back and he's like they are tired they are tired. They are tired. A lot of people, I guess, who went to the first show, too. And I was at the end.

So, like, of course, there was a sinking feeling of like, great. Of course. Of course. That's what happens. Yeah. And then and yeah, they were tired. Yeah, for sure. And it was just very

funny for him to be like i was wrong yeah and and then luckily it it you know it it worked out yeah in that moment but um when you when you have your pitch meetings do you have to fight that voice where you want to go like you want to go to the pitch meeting and you're like, oh, don't work with me? I haven't actually done a single pitch meeting. Oh, yeah? Yeah, but I'm sure I'll have to do that. You have a story. You have a show.

I'm sure you have a show ready to go. Why are you doing that? There's so much to feel good about. Thank you, John. And I feel good. I feel like. I think it's that. Yeah.

You have no ego. And you feel good. I feel like. I think it's that. Yeah. You have no ego. And you deserve it. You were just on the Tonight Show and you had a great set. And then the first thing was the one comment that said you looked nervous. That's part of your charm in the set. When you wanted to walk out there like Eddie Murphy. Or like Fluffy. And I thought that top comment was great.

That was funny. Oh, good. Great, great. Yeah. I just, I've never, as for us, I've never tried helping a guest talk them up in my entire life. We walked in, I played the beatboxing. I was worried you were going to cry. And I said, oh, fuck, I really fucked up.

No, no, no, not even. I'm like. No, am I right? Did you think that you think that they were about to cry for a second? I didn't think tears. I thought, I did think it was a miscalculation on your part. And I thought that

it was maybe not the best way to start things. And I'm glad that I wasn't in on it. I'm glad that was very much your plan, not my plan. I was just here. I really gotta say, I think I have this idea

of these sound cues like being a comedic moment. I don't know one that's gone over well. They've all been met with, what? Why are you playing it like that? You know what it is? And I think it's I have the terrible impulse to like... Prank.

You want to be on a prank show. I have a terrible prank impulse that I hold in. But that's what the... I went through a long phase. Like a phase where I should have been in therapy where I would do the what's that on your shirt, and I'd flick people's noses. And there is something about that where I'm like, I'm going to trick you. I'm going to be superior to you by tricking you in this moment. Why do I need that?

Do you remember you wanted to do a really long form prank years ago? I want to tell. We're on a sketch team together. You ever wanted to do a really long form prank years ago where you like. I want to tell. We're on a sketch team together. You were like you wanted to pull a prank on one of the sketch team members. Chris. Chris. Where you we we were all in on it that you convinced him you were dating someone.

Because I was I was a very like like non noncommittal. And then like you were going to propose like. But I was going to like for four months. You're going to make up a fiance. Yeah. I really like you were gonna propose like I was gonna like for months be like I've seen this girl and yeah you were gonna make up someone and then you were gonna like

we were gonna build a sketch around it where I was gonna propose to this imaginary woman during the sketch and I would have a ring and like an expensive ring. Were you in on this?

Was anyone in the sketch you've been on it? Well so we he was we talked about the plan of it. They talked me out of it. And the joke was going to be that he was going to

give the ring to Chris to have to hold Like leave it backstage like oh you need to bring it to me on stage for like this big reveal. And then I would hide it so he'd go backstage

and not be able to find it. And come back on stage just like red faced and just like and I would be like there about to propose. It was such an elaborate plan. And I kept being like, wait, but this is months of work and we have to write a sketch that the audience won't enjoy. They won't have any context of what's going on for this thing.

And it's just to make Chris feel really bad. And I was like, I don't know if it's worth it for the months and months of work. Like you were going to fake date someone it was just a crazy like well I think I think it's I think it's connected to something evil in me the same way Ellen DeGeneres was really into pranks yeah like I like

listen I really I do believe compared you to Elle I really do think though that there's something about the the desire Ellen loved doing you're sitting and someone pops out of the box and scares you. And I like scaring. I get it. I get why that's funny.

And I think there's like an evil strain of just like wanting to see someone just like – to just fuck with someone. There's a feeling of like – I think there's a fucked up – there's humor to it, but it's also like there's a superiority because you're like, look at that person. They can't even help themselves. You're playing God. I'm playing God. There's no like, and then they laugh after and we share in that joy. That's the hope. That's what I was hoping with this, with the Hennessy and the dog, and it's failed miserably.

I expected you to be like, my dog died yesterday. You're right. That is funny. One day you're going to have to share your insecurities, you son of a bitch. I have insecurities. I feel like I share them all the time. Anyways. Okay. So, alright. We talked about tonight's show.

We talked about you're in New York. You're doing stand-up. Feeling good about stand-up? Feeling good now? Oh, my God. You can't gauge how I'm doing off how I feel. What makes you feel good?

When are you happy? I've been feeling happy this week, actually. Until the moment you walk into the apartment. Until the moment. The moment we hit record. How's stand-up? Are you going on the road at all? No, I'm not and i i um i've been doing like some longer sets like here and there i just did like uh like a half hour at like bottle

rocket social hall in pittsburgh they're like cool do you know i think it's like kind of new it's it's they're like they've been booking more like brooklyn comics um and then just started doing college if i honestly like don't have like a super like i don't have like a 45 that i like want to go on tour that's what the crowd work is for it's to fill in the time i see some crowd work sometime no i come you you do how about you you do my show silver lining and you have you have my permission to fail and you do half crowd work. I'm down. Half my crowd work when I've ever done it is me apologizing for doing crowd work.

It's me sort of being like, I want you to know that I'm more scared of you than you are of me. And we're going to do it. But like it's not. It's mostly just filler about how I'm feeling. Is this like the personality that you thought I had? about how I'm feeling during. Is this like the personality that you thought I had? Because I feel like we've walked by each other so many times, but we've never really like chatted. No, I mean, I don't think I knew,

but I think that I didn't get a sense of you being nervous on the Tonight Show, so I'm surprised by the insecurity because I feel like it was a totally like polished, perfect Tonight Show set. That's really sweet. So, but now that I've met you, I'm going to go back and be like, I think, oh, their hand is shaking right there. I see a little stutter there. But yeah.

So how's things with your parents now oh they're good and i'm sorry should i have added more to the stand-up thing like i could die no i'm just i'm just curious like like what about your you said you have a brother how's kevin kevin's great kevin is kevin is nice to me but he is utterly useless on the train i remember like because i come out to my parents my parents did not take it well the first time then i called my brother to talk to him about it and i was like kevin i'm like trans and he went um at my friend andrew's house i will call you back and he never called me back oh kevin he's just like a 21 year old boy who's so sweet but like mostly just like talks to me about his new favorite weed and like doesn't really like. Yeah.

Yeah. It's younger siblings. Younger siblings. Because I have younger siblings. It's like, listen, as I've gotten older, they become full adults. But like my brother, who's I think 19, you know, if I'm going to him with something heavily emotional, I'm in trouble because he's not ready to carry that i know and i should have known better and yeah uh have you gone gone to your brother for rent you have a 19 year old like he's 19 right now uh yeah yeah 19 if i fuck it up and he's 20 i'll feel bad but yeah i think he's he's 19 just turned 19 he's he's uh in

his senior year at college in b. Definitely doesn't listen to this. I call him sometimes, you know, he's not a talker. He's not a talker. I got to really kind of push it out of him. But sometimes if I have a new joke, I'll run it by him because he's like, you know, he likes comedy. Oh, he does? Okay. Yeah. I think he likes comedy.

I don't know if he loves stand-up, but he likes comedy in the way that a 19-year-old boy who has a Reddit account likes comedy. And will tell me the truth. But whenever he says to me at the end of the phone call, whenever he says, like, love you, bye, I feel moved. Because he's a 19-year-old boy, and I think we're close enough for him to say that at least. I don't think he's saying love you to a lot of his...

I don't think he's saying love you to his lot of his i don't think he's saying love you to his his dude friends and giving them a hug like we do yeah because we're we do sure um the yeah my my brother's younger too but he uh we text a lot but he's so quiet in real life uh but um we he does this thing sometimes where he sometimes i don't know if it's because he's younger or what but he doesn't he there's sometimes there should be a phone call about certain things and he always texts and i'll be like did you hear about blah blah and like not then not respond like you know you just get a thing like and it's like mom's in the hospital and you're like wait like that's a call that's a phone call you know like so i like. That must be tough for you to deal with someone who is not fully communicative.

No, but he's, it's funny too because like just nailing down plans is harder than like, we'll text like four or five times a day sometimes about like, you know, random TV things or blah, blah, blah. And then you'll be like, are you coming? Like he's literally coming this weekend, but I'm like, are you for sure coming this weekend? Like, and it's like, he's kind of cagey about it. You know? What is, what does Kevin do?

He's like, he's still a student. Yeah. Yeah. Does he see your car? Like, does he, did he like go like tonight show? Cool. I'm so proud of you. Yeah.

You know what? He was, he was like, and he was like he was like mom dad i think you should react this time we were all together during it um he was really excited about it yeah and he was so happy that his name got said yeah yeah he was very honored about that and then he's and then he texted lol what does dad think we've heard your we've heard i've heard your your we've heard, I've heard your, your mom's response to that. What was your dad's response? I, oh, my dad and he, I didn't hear from him at all. And I thought maybe he's like super weird. And so sometimes I have a hard time telling if he's being transphobic or if he's just being weird. That's a fun game show.

Transphobic or weird. Like potentially like a little bit neuro. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, good, good. So, yeah. You didn't say neurodivergent. You said it like potentially like a little bit neuro yeah yeah okay great so yeah you can say neurodivergent you said it like it was a slur in the description that there was like people need to stop using on the spectrum incorrectly and i'm like i'm speculating but i am genuinely with full earnest speculating yeah there might yes yeah yeah um i didn't hear from for like weeks which is like a little weird to not say anything to your child. Extremely weird, I would say.

Right. And then I was like, I think he is really, really mad at me. And then my mom got a surgery. So I called her to like check in on her. And then I heard from the background. My dad just yelled like, is that Sabrina? Well, Sabrina, I love you. And I'm sorry. I have to go to the bathroom.

And then just like when shut the door. So I actually can't tell he could still be in there no I'm sure he's done so he wasn't on the phone he was in the background that's a metaphor like he was like your mom was on the phone and he was in the back or did he grab the phone I love you no he just shouted like I'm so

sorry and like it sounded so urgent like he's not even on the phone just from he can only say I love you in his own way from not even on the phone yeah yeah so that's tough that's where we're at and i think i you know i am i wish we could have like done this after thanksgiving and i'd have more concrete information do you like because you had such a great joke about your dad in the in the set that you know I think the ideal response would be like, that's so cool. I love that joke.

I know. The guy... Yeah, it's tough. Do your parents say, do your parents like, do you feel like they get it? Like, did they saw Titanic? Yes.

Did it seem like they were like, wow, you killed it, son. Yeah, they were super supportive. But they understood what you had done? I think so. They were genuinely excited when I told them the news, and they both called and were very excited. You want to rub it in our faces anymore?

You have two people who don't have love for their parents? Maybe your parents could watch their Tonight Show set and get some feedback. No, so yeah, I think they do. I think sometimes it's hard in what we do to explain when things are a big deal. Sometimes it's like, you know, like obviously the Tonight Show feels like one of the easiest ways, you would think, to be like, that's a big deal. But sometimes it's hard. So I don't think it's always what you're thinking it's going to get.

But I feel like in general, they're very supportive. Yeah. You know, that's why for some, for some parents, it's money. You know,

I feel like, yeah, some parents, it's like, how much are you making for this? You know, blah, blah, blah. It's not a lot for a late night.

All right, let's move on to our next segment. This has got to stop. This has got to stop. Great. This is why I have my journal. Oh, great. Please tell us your,

this has got to stop. Oh my i had my journal oh great please tell us your this has gotta stop oh my god okay uh okay my number okay uh i i think we need to stop shaming people for liking animated porn i john marco have you already you have you believe this uh yeah i i agree who's who's who's doing the shaming wait i just i maybe i just like grew up in circles where i i feel like it's always like uh i mean it's prudes sure prudes being like and and it's people it's not overt it's like it's not no one's ever like you should be ashamed for loving like hentai but it's always like ah that like weird fuck likes hentai or like that sick fuck likes hentai yeah when i feel like animated porn is easily the most ethical porn to have ever been created it's the most conservative like nobody like if if it's a sin to have sex like this is this is the the one i agree i think it's like, I grew up, I was an anime manga kid. Yeah.

And so like, of course, I've seen some hentai in my life. I think it's one of these things where, first of all, people who don't watch hentai, what they do see is like the ads on Pornhub where it's like Marge Simpson getting fucked by Scooby-Doo. By Peter Griff. Yeah. Douglas has that bit on like, on like the world's being mixed. Like doesn't like it when it's like

a Marge Simpson getting railed by Peter Griffin from Family Guy. Like it should not be... You're like, these are both married people. These are different worlds. You know, like...

Like, yeah. I think that's what a lot of people like see and think it all is. I think that that's the majority of what people see. You think the majority of people are upset about the crossover episode.

No, no, no. I'm just saying they see like. That's what we would see if we're not watching it. When I was in high school, I was a big Dragon Ball Z fan. And I wasn't like a Sailor Moon fan. But there was like the famous like hentai thing that. This was before I really like knew how to find porn on the internet. It's hard to imagine at the time.

Yeah. Where I was doing like Google images and I turned the safe search off. And that was what porn was. Dirty dad. I believe the hentai was called Sailor Moon X. It was like, I think Sailor Moon is getting married to Goku, even though

he's married to Chi-Chi. They all fought. I remember later in life finding this porn and it is the most poorly animated. it's like two stick figures you know like going in and out yeah and that's that's the fucking yeah and uh uh so i think people that's what it's still that thing where where people don't realize how how uh what had i have you seen be honest we're being honest right now no one's listening no i haven't i've

i i'm i'm one of those people that the example would be the ads on the side of it. You've never been curious? You've never clicked on a video? No, no. Not because of like, it just never had, the thoughts never,

I had never been taken in that direction with porn. But you're also not a cartoon person. No, so that's why. So I'm not like a, I don't even watch that much animation. Like, there's like funny things that I would, I haven't really watched because I can't get into that much animation. There's funny things that I haven't really watched

because I can't get into it. People also think that it's a lot of the octopus stuff. What does that mean? I feel like there's a certain genre of animated pornography where the octopus is just doing everything to a person. Like the tentacles? Yeah, the tentacles. Okay. That's a genre.

I feel like that's also people's understanding of what cartoon porn is. I think there is a genre even if it's not a full octopus. It's like an alien with a bunch of tentacles. Yeah, because animation lets you be more imaginative with what can... Yeah. But is there not

live action tentacle porn? Live action tentacle porn? I don't know. Sorry. I haven't heard tentacle porn in a long Yeah. But is there not live action tentacle porn? Live action tentacle porn? I don't know. Sorry, sorry. I haven't heard tentacle porn in a long time, so I, yeah. What is your, are you a, so you're a hentai fan, I would imagine, if you're. I, oh, I'm so sorry. Listen.

No, I. You brought this, this wasn't me this time. I know. To be honest, I thought this was going to be more of like a rapid thing. Like, I would just want to sit. You're not going to sit. I didn't think I'd have to like really revel in what I had just said. Yeah, or pull up a therapist and be like, so, hentai.

Okay, okay. I can talk. I'm not, okay. Completely honestly, I don't really watch that much porn, period. Neither do we. Who does? So I can't say I'm like a hentai head

but I do think I just love to like deeply think about you know and comment on what's happening in the world

and like I guess it is weird to have any sort of like when people have like judgments on like why certain things

are just more accepted and normalized than others in in porn categories i'm just genuinely shocked it's not more popular okay anyone and like my main thing is like i'm just always so scared i'm like how do i know this person isn't human trafficked and i never have to worry about that with like oni-chan like she's not she's not real like some guy drew her and like i'm I'm just a little bit shook that there isn't a conservative movement around let's just animate this thing. Does that feel crazy?

No, no, no. I think if I ran a hentai site, that would definitely be like none of our stars were trafficked here. You can believe they're all of age. The animator was 65. You also don't have to rely on good actors.

That's the other thing. I was like, actually the storytelling is a little bit better. I would love to do, I told you I once did an audio book where I thought it was a regular audio book

and it was like porn and I couldn't do it without giggling and I was alone. But I would love to do a voiceover role of a hentai just to be in And I was alone. Yeah. But I would love to like, I would love to do a voiceover role of like a hentai just for,

just to be in a booth, just to, just once. Yeah. Oh! That's my, that's, that's how I do it.

Yeah. Uh, uh, okay. Do you have another one? Yeah, I have many. Okay,

we go, go rapid fire. We can do a rapid fire. We can change it up. Russell, your camera's recording, yeah? No.

Oh, yeah. I was going to kill you. I was going to jump over this. Okay, this has got to stop. And we can, We can change it up. No, no, no. Russell, your camera's recording, yeah? No. Oh, yeah. I was going to kill you. I was going to jump over this. Okay, this has got to stop. And we can go deeper. I mean, these are all so stupid. Okay.

Oh, I do think we need to stop calling queer people or people of color badass. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah. There's a degree where it feels like, uh, would justification be a, a term that goes with it? We're just like, uh, like,

yeah, totally. But it's not always that guy who's saying it to me. Like it will be like my high school teacher being like, you were always like such a bad-ass. And like, I mean, yeah,

I mean like, you've met like every day of my goddamn life for the last decade. I've just been like, I bump into something. I go, sorry. Like, so I've been saying, sorry. I bump into something. I go, sorry. I've been saying sorry for 10 years.

I don't know if I'm a badass. I'm going to pick a couple adjectives for you. I don't know if badass. You're not listening to me. Toby's going to say, how is Sabrina as a guest? Badass. They walked in. Yeah.

Okay, I like that. Okay, that's fair. I like that. It's a weird, and I'm sure it's well-intentioned. It feels a little condescending sometimes maybe to like lumping everyone into this category of badass. Totally. You can be gay as lame as fuck. Yeah.

You know? It can be boring. Of course. It's like, it's so well-intentioned. And I think it's like, even my therapist has been like i was like i hate when people call me badass or brave or courageous and she was like oh really like why is that and like was like take like because i think there is an impulse to be like you know like you existing is so hard and like to validate like yeah like i guess it was like harder for me to like go on

the tonight show knowing like a lot of people were gonna comment on like who i am i'm gonna wait like but i did it in such a cowardly way like you know what i mean i want you to see that like i want you to see everything in my and that's just why i just think it's like and it ultimately means nothing if you're just throwing it out to every freaking yeah i think especially like with stand- think it's like, and it ultimately means nothing if you're just throwing it out to every freaking. Yeah. I think especially like with standup, it's like the only thing you correct me if I'm wrong,

but I feel like the only way to like compliment the standup is to be like, it was really funny. Like if someone says your standup is brave, part of it's like, okay, but was it funny? I was going for, that was the goal. Did you laugh?

And if people say anything other than that, it just like okay that's not yeah that wasn't i wasn't like oh god yeah that was my bravest set of all time yeah you wanted to be like oh that was funny yeah so yeah totally i think about it all the time ever since like i started talking about like and like if i just say the word trans now just more than i used to I get so many like after shows like thank you like so many like thank you for what you did up there and I'm like well half the set I was talking about sliding like a tampon in between my two ass cheeks but like sure like you're welcome for that like yeah I'm glad that was so whatever like but that's like my curmudgeon. Like, you know,

like it's also so sweet that they feel that way. I just like, I do find a way to make everything kind of a bad thing. Like, but no, but that makes sense. You, you want someone to say like,

Oh fuck that ass cheek tampon bit fucking kills me. Like something that a lot of people don't have to, like, it's kind of putting it on you of this, like this, like, like you're doing this kind of role of rather than a comedian who makes people laugh. And sometimes that's it. You know, some rather like there's just a lot of people that don't have to have that responsibility of like, you know, totally like. Yeah. And I think part of why I'm also like I feel stressed anytime someone's like, oh, you're like doing great.

It's like I just like I think I just want to be stupid for like like i just want to be like so dumb and i feel like so many comics are just like just being dumb on stage and i don't feel like i'm like that serious of a person but like you know like i'm so grateful for everything that's happened but like it's not i think it probably happens a lot to like people of color like who are doing comedy or like writing or whatever like half your meetings like people will you're like 20 like there's no way like you know I mean like I barely read I really like I undertreated 80 I don't read enough but but half the people I meet with are like you know you could really be the voice of a generation like how like how could I do you know what i'm like and i just don't think which is so nice but it's just like not true and like that pressure like really crushes me i'm like i

don't like want to speak on behalf of like anyone ever and this is like not a new thing but it does like it does eat away at me yeah yeah yeah it's a lot of it's but, but it's just that thing with this business. It's like you ride whatever wave is given to you and you just try to ride it well. And that's your responsibility as a comedian. If you get, if someone's like, you're the voice of the generation, fine. If they give you a TV show, it gives you a chance to do good work. And you have to just ignore that part. I mean, it's a blessing and a curse. Totally.

Totally. Do I sound insane? Please cut this off. I sound insane. Like, yeah. I don't think so at all. Okay.

How would that be? How would it be insane? What would I, I'd be like, no, you, this sounds accurate. I'm sure,

I'm sure it's like a pressure you have to deal with. Okay, fine, fine, fine. But you know what I mean? Like, it's not always like an amazing look to be like,

yeah, all these people say like these really nice things about like a promising future. And I'm over here. Like, I hate that you say that to me but yeah no i under i mean luckily for me no one i never have to deal with people coming out like it's brave of you up there yeah yeah as a straight white man to like do stand up you're like the billionth i saw today yeah um uh uh we we do have to go quickly do you have any more you want to say really quick no no not at all I'm happy to wrap up

whenever I appreciate it let's go to our last segment you better count your blessings do the blessing you want to

share us share us that's how quick we're going. We're skipping. We're skipping. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, sorry. No, no, please.

Oh, I'm just so grateful that my grandma cannot speak or read English or use her iPad. We still have a great relationship because she knows so little about my wife. Did your grandma watch The Tonight Show? No. No, and she never will. That's nice. That's a good blessing. That's great. Did you have one you have to get off your Show? No. No, and she never will. That's nice. That's a good blessing. That's great.

Did you have one you have to get off your chest? No, no. We have a thing. Yeah, let's... All right, this is coming out November 22nd. Anything you want to plug, Russell? No. Are you going to tell your news or no?

I'll tell it on the next... Oh, yeah. So my blessing and news, I'm joining the cast full-time of Titanic, the musical off Broadway. So I'll be starting shows there November 20th through February.

So and so eight shows a week. How long is the contract for? It's running right now till the end of February. We'll put a link in the bio. Yes, come see me. Eight shows a week. Musical.

This is a big fucking deal. This is a big off Broadway. You haven a big off-Broadway show. You haven't been to an off-Broadway show since that Bachelorette show. And this is a real one. Equal in importance, these two shows. Anything you want to plug? I don't think so. I've got nothing.

I've got nothing. Your social media? Oh, sure, sure. Yeah, you can follow me on Instagram at asabrinawoo. And watch Sabrina's Tonight Show set. It was an excellent set. Watch it. Oh yeah, join the debate. Yeah, join

the debate. Talk about how confident they seemed. And it seemed like they're ready to take over the Tonight Show. And none of this brave shit. It was funny. It was a funny, very funny set. Oh, we didn't even talk about you knowing Amanda Gorman. We'll have you back. I'm sure you'll never come back again.

You'll never come back. For me, I'm going to be headlining this weekend. It's Thanksgiving weekend. DC Comedy Loft. This is my homecoming show. I grew up here. I got middle school friends, high school friends. Please come out. They moved me to the big room. I hope it's not a mistake. Two shows

Friday, two shows Saturday. DC Comedy Loft. And then the weekend after that, I'll be at the Stress Factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut. I think that's the name of the city, Bridgeport. I heard it's a big room. I don't know what we're doing. We keep, you know, you finally get some fans. And then they go, great, let's make the room way too big now.

And that's just, that's the name of the game. And, you know, normally I say something sad. Would you do just a hair of beatboxing? Oh, sure, sure, sure. And then it'll lead us into the music and then we'll go out. Okay. All right, that's really all I can get. Thank you.

This is The Downside. One, two, three. This is The Downside. One, two, three. Downside. You're listening to The Downside. The Downside. With Gianmarco Ceresi.