WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1212 - Eddie Huang

Episode Date: March 25, 2021

Eddie Huang has been fighting for things his whole life. Whether fighting for respect from a culture that is unwelcoming, or fighting for normalcy amidst a chaotic upbringing, or fighting for approval from his immigrant parents, all his achievements came with a cost. Now, with the first movie he wrote and directed under his belt, Eddie tells Marc why the film Boogie represents a collection of everything he's had to fight for. They also talk about his struggles with having his memoir Fresh Off The Boat adapted for TV and why Lynn Shelton was integral to him becoming a director.  Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life when i die here you'll never leave japan alive fx's shogun a new original series streaming february 27th exclusively on disney plus 18 plus subscription required t's and c's apply all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fucksters

what the fuck the pusses i don't know where that one came from. How are you? It's Mark Maron. This is my podcast, WTF. I'm speaking to you as a half-vaxxer. I'm a half-vaxxer right now, looking to be a full-vaxxer in a few weeks. Feel good to be half-vaxxed. I don't know what it gets me. It seems like there's some discrepancy about two weeks after the first shot of the Vax, I got the Moderna juice. I got the Moderna juice. I got that hit.

I heard it was 52% protection after two weeks. Then someone said, I don't know, they got a new angle on it. Might be up to 84%. I don't know. new angle on it might be up to 84 i don't know can i just take the middle and walk around feeling like i'm about 68 protected or what do i do i'll wait it out i think that what i'm going to do two weeks after my second dose is maybe i'll go visit my mommy in florida yeah my mother who's fully vaxxed at this point, she keeps asking if she can come out here. Let me rephrase that. She keeps threatening to come out

here. Now, it's not like I don't have room for her. I can fly her out even. But to be honest with you, I don't know what to do with my mother after a day. And I've talked about this before. I think if you have kids to, here, look, here's a kid. Look here, look at the baby. Hold the baby. Yeah, take the baby to the mall. Let grandma take you. I don't got any of that.

I got a couple of cats. And then, you know, after an hour of conversation, I'm sort of done. And that's like, that's day one. And then by day two, I'm starting to feel queasy, like literally physically ill. I don't think it's anything she does on purpose. I don't know if it's

because I'm emotionally incapacitated because of her. I don't know. I'm not angry. I'm not saying this in judgment. I'm just saying that I can't have her here for more than a day without becoming physically ill. I'm not me. I'm not meaning that as a negative thing or as a hurtful thing. It's just what happens. So what I'm going to do then, because it's been a while since I've seen her, is I'll get fully vaxxed and then I'll wait a couple of weeks and I'll fly down there for a bit in her terrain, in her environment, where she's distracted, where she has a car, where she can do her Pilates class or whatever, walk her dogs, go to Publix, go to Costco, go eat at the place. I don't know. Is Florida fully open? What's happening? Do you even need to

wear a mask in Florida? Is Florida just a chaotic covid wonderland? I don't know where it's at, but I know my mother's there and I know we'll both be fully vaxxed. And I think that'd be a nice thing to do. Go visit my mommy for a few days and get out. Get out, but keep it on her turf. And then at least there's distractions. I can stay at a hotel it's gonna work out look i love my mother but only for a day that's not true i you understand what i'm

saying look i've got this new kitten had some problems but let me let me do it let me do what they say as they say set up the show for today. Today, I talk to Eddie Wong. He's a writer, a restaurateur, and now a director. He has his new movie out. It's called Boogie. It's now in theaters. He's the owner of the restaurant Bauhaus. And Fresh Off the Boat is his memoir, and it's what the show was based on.

are and it's what the show was based on and we talk a lot about uh anti-asian discrimination and the pressures put on asians in america now we spoke a couple weeks ago this is before the shooting in atlanta uh in the and this was before the shooting in the atlanta area which is why it doesn't come up when we're talking about anti-Asian discrimination and abuse, which is clearly, I would say, worse and worsening and took a horrendous, violent, murderous turn. But that was not in the conversation because it had not happened. But the conversation is it has not happened but the conversation is um rooted in that but let's uh before we get to that let's talk about sammy the cat if we could you know i've got this kitten and i gotta be honest with you and i feel like i say that a lot we're all lucky i'm lucky everyone's lucky i'm not I'm not a father. I just, uh, and I don't,

it's not my bag. I don't think about it. I don't regret not having kids. I don't judge people that have kids. I've done jokes about people with kids, but they're not, you know, negative about kids per se. I'm just not cut out for it. And speaking of my mother, as I did earlier and about the nauseousness and about the queasiness and about the just discomfort i can see it in my parenting skills with this fucking kitten i don't think i've had a kitten this young sammy the red is he's gonna he's between seven and eight weeks old and yesterday or the day before yesterday i woke up and it was like i don't even know he just wasn't responding. He wasn't energetic.

He looked sad. Now, I've never had a kitten this young. I don't realize, you know, my friend Kit gave me the cat a few days ago. I don't realize they got to sleep like 15 to 20 hours a fucking day, really. I think I expect kittens to jump up and down and be excited and bite my hand and chase things and everything. I thought that's how they are all the time. down and be excited and bite my hand and and and chase things and everything i think that i thought that's how they are all the time i don't have any memory of my kittens because when i had monkey and lafonda and boomer they were all like two three months old and they were out of their fucking

minds they were feral cats just completely crazy this one's a sweet little guy never uh never out in the wild never had to eat that eat garbage never had to wrestle a lizard at six weeks old. But he may be tired, but yesterday I swear he was sick. He might have had a fever. So I spun out. I went to the vet, and it turns out he does have a fever, 104 fever. He was limping. I was like, he's limping.

What's going on? And I guess I didn't realize, I don't know if I'm emotionally prepared for this shit. In general, the amount of worry I invest in everything around me, I'm a worrier. And that's how I was brought up. I'm a worrier. And that's how I was brought up. I was brought up with extreme panic and worry in the place of nurturing emotional love with some boundaries. Just panic. Call us if you're going to be late.

Where are you? What's going on? What are you doing? Are you okay? Is everything okay? Just worry. My mother's like that. And I don't know, my father, I don't know. His mother was a worrier, but I'm just panicking about things all the time. I think the worst immediately. And you know what? Honestly,

the worst has happened to me and I didn't anticipate it, but I was worried while it was happening, and it happened in the room that I've got this kitten in, so there's just triggers abound, man. So I took him to the vet, Doc Modesto McLean over at Gateway. Great guy. His brother-in-lawan over at Gateway. Great guy. His brother-in-law works over at Fish King.

I'm learning the people. And I brought this kitten in. I told him what was up. He felt a little hot. He's lethargic. He hurt his leg. I don't know what's happening. Is he dying?

And I was about to fucking cry in the parking lot of the vet when I chased Modesto down before, as he was entering work before he had his doc shirt on, you know, freaking out about this kitten. He's like, I don't, I don't know. I mean, he looks like a little guy. What's going on? I'm like, I just can't die. I don't want him to die. I can't take it.

But then, you know, it was interesting because I had never really talked to Modesto, but he's standing there. I'm panicking that the Sammy kitten kitten sammy red is gonna die and he starts telling me about why he's a vet kind of because he used to grew up down the street from gateway and they used to bring the family dog that he'd been going there since the 70s in the 70s gateway was there with the dr feldman i had no idea i've been going there for 20 years to gateway and and he's by far the best doc i've had over there and he thinks that's why he became a vet because his mom they used to bring the family dog there

he had this what this dog that the family didn't sound like they took care of it that great just let it run wild he had this weird detail he said my mom used to feed the dog spaghetti but he he was just sort of reminiscing and tracking that as to why he might be a vet because of that place the childhood experience about it meanwhile i'm like my kitten is, my kitten, I think, might die. Can you, uh-huh, my kitten is dying. Can you please, but I didn't do that. I listened, and it was interesting. I'm glad we connected like that.

I wish I wasn't so freaked out and spun out about the kitten, but it turns out he has. $700 later, we found the leg wasn't broken. His blood work looked great no leukemia no uh fiv he got he has no sign of uh viral infection he was given some pain reliever and some antibiotics just in case and uh and yeah and and sent home with a little new kitten package new patient package and I freaked out until later that night, Kit came over and he's jumping around. He's flying around. I think he just likes Kit better than me. And now I'm in that zone. I'm worried about the cat. I'm worried he doesn't like me. I'm worried he's picking up on my intensity. I'm worried he's picking up on my

panic. I'm worried that I'm too much for the. Like he can't handle me. All my cats are fucking freaked out. Cute cat. Hope he lives. But man, it triggered everything. Triggered my, my mother, triggered bad parenting, triggered why I don't have kids, triggered the passing of Lynn, triggered, you know, just a wow. God damn it. Some people aren't cut out for the parenting. I can handle it. I've handled a lot of cats, but I have a specific style. It's hard for me to soften up just right and be open without getting sad. That's the other thing. Poor Sammy's like, why does this sad man keep touching me? Why does this sad man keep wanting to hold me? Why is this sad man back in here trying to get me to eat food? At the very least, this sad man should take a look at me and realize this is joy. This is what joy looks like, sad man. He's having the exact experience that I had with my father.

One thing I realized just the other day, it's weird. The thing that stays young inside you is your things that remain unfinished. Let me explain that. I talked to my friend Al the other day. And we hadn't talked in a while. And he's like, you know, when this is over, when we all get vaccinated, we should have dinner and make it a weekly thing. You know, there's all these things where it's like, I got to do that, man. I got to build that thing in the yard.

You know, I got to get rid of those things. I got to make more time for my friends. I got to call that guy. Why don't we talk enough? Why am I not doing that thing upstairs? How come I don't have solar panels? When am I not doing that thing upstairs? Why, why, how come I don't have solar panels? When am I going to learn how to play chess? What, you know, all these things spring eternal as the body ages, your inability to get the things you want to get done or see the people you want to see because you enjoy them stays the same. So lock in on some of those.

Because you don't want to be 90 and be like, how come we never went on that hike? You remember we were going to hike? Because I was hiking. That was 50 years ago. I know, but we were going to go. We talked about it every week. We talked about it.

It's gone now. We can't hike now. Do you want to walk? No. Well, it's nice to see you and my my daughter dropped me off well what are we gonna do let's just sit all right we should have hiked remember when we should have hiked yeah we should have eaten dinner more we should what is this a billy crystal one-man show? Anyway, Eddie Wong is here, was here. I talked to him, wasn't here.

His directorial debut, his film, Boogie, which he wrote and directed, is now in theaters and will be available on VOD at the end of the month. We did speak a couple weeks ago before the shooting in the Atlanta area, which is why we don't talk about it when we're talking about anti-Asian discrimination and abuse. Also, we talk about Lynn Shelton a bit,

and I don't know if it's clear in this conversation. Lynn was the director of the pilot of Fresh Off the Boat, which Eddie had some issues with many of the people involved in that. But he had nothing but good things to say about Lynn. And it was nice to hear that and nice to talk to him about it. And this is me and Eddie Wong. Death is in our air.

This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life. When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive. FX's Shogun, a new original series streaming February 27th exclusively on Disney+. 18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply.

It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com. Were you sick from your second shot? Is that what happened?

Yeah, the second shot really takes you out. And it's weird because everyone tells you you're going to be fine miraculously. And while you're in it, you're just like, oh, I don't know. I may die. Oh, you were that sick? You couldn't breathe and shit or no? No, I could breathe. Well, I didn't have the energy to breathe.

It was like that kind of thing. Oh you were just shut you down yeah i uh i watched the i watched the movie awesome and uh i liked the movie you know what it reminded me of though it reminded me like it made me nostalgic and sort of homesick for new york although i didn't understand anything anyone was saying and it was never my life. But, but, but it definitely, I remember watching those people. I remember walking by and seeing like, Hey, those are those urban kids having a good time. I don't know what the fuck they're doing. I love that. That's the, that's actually the reaction. Like I really want, so I'm excited to talk to you about it.

It definitely brought me back to New York. like i live there from uh geez i was there on and off from 89 to 2002 you know yeah so i was there and then i was there earlier as well but it really felt that i really felt the the new yorkness of it yeah and the like that the New Yorkness that we don't explain anything for anybody. Right, exactly. And there's a language to kids that especially that goes back, you're going back a little bit, but then even current language that I don't

know what the fuck anyone's saying. And then on top of that, you have a way of writing in your own sort of slang almost. Like your writing is very expressive and specific. So it's like two layers of like, what was that? Do we need subtitles here? I know they're speaking English.

What the fuck is going on? You know, for my director's cut at one point, I had subtitled the assistant coach, the white guy with the hat on all the time because he's kind of mush mouth. And I was like, man, it'd be pretty funny to subtitle a white guy that's mush mouth. That would be funny if that's the only thing that you subtitle. But like, where did you ride out most of the pandemic? Have you been in town the whole time? No, I was actually in Taiwan for about 11 and a half months. I was in Taiwan. And then I just

got back like January 15th to do the movie promo. Do you have family still in Taiwan? No, my family all went back to China because we're kind of, we have that immigration pattern of the Chinese that lost the civil war, went to Taiwan.

And then we came to America. My parents and brothers all went back to China because there's more opportunity there now. So they're in China? Yeah. I'm the only one left in America. It's crazy. When did they go back? They went back well my parents, my poor parents

went back January 7th right before everyone discovered like coronavirus. So they went back then. My brothers have been back there for uh two years now so they so did anyone get the corona no luckily my whole family followed the rules they stayed really safe no one got their own yeah that's that's interesting man so like but that was never the plan i mean your parents wanted to to be here didn't they ultimately yeah they wanted

to be here and it was really crazy because they lived with me while i was in post for the film and it just got too crazy like i came home the dogs had like pissed on my art and like my mom had rearranged everything and and my parents are really funny if they moved everything from orlando like they brought an expired brick of cheese. They brought empty bottles of wine that they drank that they were like, they're nice bottles. And they put all this shit in my house. And I got home one day and all their workout equipment that they couldn't bear to throw away, they put in my room. So then there was an elliptical and like weights next to my bed. I'm like, mom, you, you turned my room into a gym while I was at work. And I was like, we have to have a talk.

So then my parents were like, look, it seems like we're just, we're two in your hair. Your brother's willing to help us get an apartment in China. We'll go to China. But like, can you hang on to our stuff? So now they have a bunch of stuff here, but they went to China. But when did you like, see, now I'm going to get, I'm going to confuse the movie with your life, you know, like with your real life. So you grew up in Florida mostly?

I grew up all over. I was until nine years old in DC. And then from nine to about 22, I was in Orlando. And then from 22 all the way till 35, I was in New York. Were you born here? Yes. I was born in the DC area, like Fairfax County, Fairfax Hospital. So your parents were already here? Yes. My mom came as a 17-year-old and my dad came, I believe, as a 25- a 25 year old but they didn't know each other they

met here no yeah my dad met my mom at a house party he heard some taiwanese girls throwing a house party so he showed up and then he knocked my mom up at the house party yeah are you the oldest yeah i'm the oldest so oldest. So it was you, huh? Yeah, yeah, pretty much. They won't confirm, but they're like, yeah, you know, yeah, yeah, excuse you. What were they doing in D.C.? My mom was a waitress at a Mexican restaurant called Anita's that I believe is still there. And then my dad was a waitress at his brother's restaurant. A waiter?

dad was a waitress at his brother's restaurant. A waiter? My dad was a student at the community college and my mom was a student at University of Maryland. Wow. And then they just kind of, but how did you, what did they end up sort of doing as adults? My mom's family ended up, so it's very, they have a very interesting story after the the civil war in china my mom's family fled to taiwan now explain to me exactly the civil war you mean the war which which war was that was that the the people's revolution was that when when the the original um uh communist takeover or the pushback from the younger i i just sort of love that you know this yeah so you know there's sun yat-sen in there like the may 4th revolution and the first one um the war that and then it became that the nationalists basically overthrew the dynasty and then it was mao's war

basically that that took over and our family was on the side against Mao, Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese nationalists. So they fled to Taiwan. And when they fled, my parents, not my parents, but my grandparents were on one of the last boats out to Taiwan. It got shipwrecked. They had to like find their kids on the shore. Yeah. And they ended up, my mom's family sold the equivalent of bagels, basically a mantle, which is just white bread. They just sold it on blankets under a bridge for quite some time until this guy who would buy their bread every morning said, the family that works at my textile factory hasn't shown up for two weeks.

Would you guys like to have a job? So they dropped the bread and they went and worked at the textile factory, learned how to do that. And they were like, we have enough family members to open our own textile factory. So they did it. And- That's your mom's family. Yeah, my mom's family. So my mom's family had enough money so that she could go to school and go to America. My dad's family was more poor. So my dad worked for his brother who was an engineer and had a Chinese restaurant. It's very complicated. My dad was at the community college and so they met that way. But then my dad ended up working for my mom's family who ended up opening a furniture store in

Northern Virginia called Better Homes that would sell things like Thomasville furniture and stuff like that. Sure. So no more textiles. No. And no. And then when my dad graduated from college, he worked as like the manager of the store. So he's working in the furniture store.

Yeah. Yeah. His in-laws gave him a gig. Yeah. Because he knocked your mother up. Yeah the furniture store. Yeah. Yeah. His in-laws gave him a gig. Yeah. Because he knocked your mother up. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. And he got along with my grandpa.

Him and my grandpa were like two peas in a pod. So they really got along. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, that's good. Yeah. Yeah. It's fascinating to me the difference.

And I think you kind of touch on it in the movie and obviously in your book that the immigrant experience uh is is similar in some ways but so different and we americans in general and i think a lot of people know so little about china and i've been there once i did i did comedy in beijing once whoa what year it was in the it was in probably in the 90s the um mid 90s i went there for expats. Some guy had a couple gigs there. There was a gig in Beijing, and there was one in Hong Kong. So I went there, and I visited the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, and I went to the Great Wall, and I did the stuff. I saw the Hutongs. Yeah.

Yeah. But I remember it was just a completely different world because they don't cater to Americans at all. No. So, like, you know, all I could, the only thing that was identifiable was the Kentucky Fried Chicken logo. Everything else. Which is the number one franchise in China. KFC goes crazy there.

Right. So, I saw the bucket, but I didn't know, I didn't see any English. Well, what do you think? How do you feel about, because that's an interesting era to go to beijing well it was like before i think it was before the olympics the air was terrible yeah but but what was interesting is i'd never seen so many different bicycle type of vehicles in my life and i did you know and just people were getting you know shaves and haircuts on the street they were selling animals on the street every There was people all over the place doing odd things. But I think the thing that

seemed to impress me the most was how many peculiar vehicles there were. Yeah. They're like half cars. They were half cars. And I'm like, did they bootleg Toyotas? And they're like, no, these are like specific models they make for the Chinese market that are like three quarters of what your car would be you know it was it was fascinating to me because I knew nothing about it and I and I in Hong Kong was was really kind of exciting and stunning but that was the only the only two places I went and only got around a little bit but uh I always found it fascinating but I don't know anything I also like get hooked hung up on food I was surprised how many different types of dried plum there are. I mean, did you like the dried plum? I tried one that was sour. It was okay. Yeah.

Yeah. I like the ones that are plumper plums. They have the really dried wilted ones. Like they look like old balls, like dusty old balls. Those are not good, but the plumper plums, they're pretty good. They're pretty good. It's really funny. I used to do a bit about Chinese groceries and stuff. I don't know if it aged well. I can't quite remember. It was primarily from walking around New York and walking around Chinatown and just spending a lot of time at those markets downtown in Chinatown

just looking at things going, what the fuck is that is that a rock is it a dried clam is it a mushroom what the fuck is that and then and then uh you know and then i did this thing about how like since china's been around for so long chinese as a civilization yeah they're going to get around to eating everything so eventually and eventually america is going to look like a chinese market you know it's going to be crazy yeah and i think the idea was that eventually because of environmental damage that all that's going to be left in the ocean is like prehistoric toxic algae and jellyfish and and i said i think the punchline was the Chinese are really the only ones that know how to prepare that stuff properly. It's so good.

Honestly, sweet and sour works with anything. It's like not like the goopy sweet and sour, but like seaweed. It's just the way we cook seaweed. It's like sugar and vinegar and sesame oil. You know, it works. I guess you could probably cook anything like that. Yeah, it worked. you know it works i guess you could probably cook anything like that yeah it worked it literally i've never met anything that it didn't work on like vinegar sugar and sesame oil crazy but i thought that what was great about the movie and i think going back to your life was that the struggle for

identity as an american asian person is uh is is tough because of the judgment and the box that you're put in just by being Asian, right? But I thought what was beautiful about the movie and probably about your life is that in the midst of all this sort of urban insanity and teenage stuff and the expectation from parents, there were a few very specific disciplines and rituals that were just almost second nature to the character. And I imagine to you as well, that you grew up with, whether it was the tea ritual or the asking for forgiveness ritual or the sort of unfailing respect for parents, no matter what. Yeah. I'm really glad you noticed that because those are the things that are second nature that are really important that the grandparents and parents told us like, look, you're an American

kid, we can't do anything about that. You're probably going to forget 4999 years of Chinese culture. But if there's a few things you remember, remember to like, you know, respect your ancestors, remember, remember to like, you know, respect your ancestors, remember to respect your elders, you know, remember to do these things on Chinese New Year. And there are things that, you know, because sometimes you get insecure, like, man, am I Chinese enough? Am I doing justice to my ancestors? But I love when like Chinese New Year comes around, because I'm like, I know what to do on this day, you know, and food also became a huge thing to me because it wasn't just that I love food, but it was that it was this symbol and connection to where I came from. And it was something I could do and make that my friends

in America appreciate it as well. What do you do on New Year's? Well, on New Year's, you know, you got to wear red underwear the night before to ward off bad luck. So, you know, no evil spirits touch your goodies. No, but like, no, yeah, you got to wear red underwear. And then you open up your doors, open up your windows, leap out the bad luck, welcome in the good luck. And then, you know, I always pray to my ancestors, you make an offering. But the way I pray is really just to them, not to like a God, but I just, I bow and I kneel down and I start to talk to them. And I just miss them like my grandparents. I just pretend like they're here. And then I will just start to prepare dinner. and one of the big ones is a a whole

fish steamed with the head on and everything so that the luck comes in the mouth of the fish and then you eat eat the luck is is the symbolism with like what ginger and scallions yeah exactly that one it's classic really good yeah a shanghai steamed fish and then you know i'll make dumplings and i usually like to do Napa with pork and they symbolize like money because they're like nuggets. And you'll want to do like a whole roasted poultry is like symbolizing family. And so we have all of these things. And, you know, the oldest person that comes to dinner has to give everyone money in a red envelope. So, you know, my friend this year, Will,

was the oldest one by two weeks. So he had to give everybody a few bucks. And it was funny, you know, my guy from Harlem is the one like giving out the money at Chinese New Year this year. It's a lot of fun. But it wasn't always like, you know what? What really stuck with me in terms of the characterization, the main guy, was not just being up against New York or up against America or fighting with parents, but that the struggle of the perceived, like it felt to me that a struggle that character had, and maybe you relate to it as well. Was it just by nature of being a Chinese man in the context of American

culture, there was a feeling of emasculation. Yes, absolutely. I just, since I was born, I feel like I had begun to be emasculated for, from day one.

And it feels like there was, that was the foundation of the chip on your fucking shoulder, buddy. Yeah, it actually, it really is. And I wanted to just be like as emotionally naked as possible and be out there with it because I think it makes it easier for other kids, you know, that are going through something.

What, in the movie, you mean? Yeah, in the movie. Or just in life? And in life, like the kids watching. um yeah or just in life and in life like the kids watching i feel like an asian kid watching like oh huh i feel understood i feel seen maybe i don't got to be so mad about this anymore well yeah because like i started to think about the models that americans have for for like you know for asian you know machismo for years you just you know you all you're dealing with is Bruce Lee,

for fuck's sake, for decades. And then everybody else is like in the movie, like you said, like a math guy or the cleaner or whatever, that there's no spectrum of Asian masculinity in American culture. No, there's not. And then I remember being a kid and watching like Chow Yun-fat and Replacement Killers or Jet Li, and I'm like, they rescued the girl and they i remember being a kid and watching like chow yun fat and replacement

killers or jet lee and i'm like they rescued the girl and they didn't get a kiss they like nobody liked like what's going on like they got their sex appeals just invisible and i was like i would like to use my penis one day you know someday that'll happen that was a very awkward scene in the movie by the way yeah like i don't know if that's what happened for you, but I'd never seen it talked about so plainly. There was no foreplay. It was just sort of like, I don't know if this is going to work. I'll tell you a funny story, Mark.

That wasn't what my first experience was like because the first time I was with a woman, she was an Asian woman. Well, actually, no, I was very nervous. I will have to admit this actually. Now I think about it. The first time I was intimate with a woman, it wasn't sex, but she had to force me to kiss her because I was so nervous. She took the keys to my, to my room and she put them down her shirt and she said, you need to come get these keys and i had gotten her friend had given me a talk she's like my friend likes you you said you liked her you guys are together now because this was like ninth grade she's like you don't hold her hand you haven't kissed her what are you what are you doing so they took my keys and put them down her shirt

and then i was like okay now i gotta do stuff but it was like yeah i was i was so fucking awkward because uh i had read this article in maxim magazine right oh no see that'll fuck you up you know you read the article you see the porno movie it's over yeah maxim has ruined every child i think in this world but basically i was in the group my mom was buying groceries i'm reading maxim and they had this this like pictorial graph. And like, it was by race, penis size. And you know, like people from this continent are this big people from this country. And at the bottom was Asian. I'm like, Oh my, Oh my God. Oh my God, this is terrible. And I think right above us was like Irish, which I thought was hilarious. And I was like, shit. So I went home and i just opened up like a children's

bank account at washington mutual right yeah right in the in the pouch they give you like the pouch from the bank and a few coins and yeah one of the things was a ruler the washington mutual so i get my dick hard and i fucking measure the thing i'm like oh shit i'm better than irish i was dying but i was i was so proud of myself but i still was just like that's how much the emasculation of asian men really affected me growing up i was like man i i might be garbage but um it's so funny what's interesting though though, is like, it took one article, dude, one article that was probably pseudoscience,

you know, but it's like, if you see that shit at too young of an age, especially if it's about your dick, you're fucked for years. I mean, you're like, you know,

it's going to fuck you up for, it just rewires your brain. Yeah. It was so funny. And then this, this girl I'm friends with was like, you know, it would be really funny for the movie

when you do merch? I'm like, what? She's like, you should sell boogie rulers. I'm like, get out of here. I'm like, you know, it would be too crazy. You have every kid in Chinatown measuring their dicks. It's so funny though that that was based on a true story because it felt like that where you're like, I measured it.

It's too weird to not think about it. You know what I mean? We all measured it. You got to measure it. And then you're like, where do I measure it from the top or the base? Or like, how do I get the most out of this? Yeah. Yeah.

And then you figure out shaving and you're like, well, it looks like I just gained two inches shaving this fucking jungle. Easy. Two inches. Easy. I'm huge. And then if you lose weight, you're bigger. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. But when you, like, when're bigger. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But when you like, when did your father get into the restaurant business? How old were you? I was about 10 years old, not nine or 10 years old when my dad got into the restaurant business. And it was pretty tough. But he wasn't a chef. He was just a manager, right? Or what? Yeah, he was a manager at my grandfather's furniture store. But my grandfather had pancreas cancer and ended up very, very painful, ended up taking his life. And that, yeah, he took his own life.

And when he was about dead, when he almost when he was sick he decided to opt for that towards the end yeah towards the end i think he saw there was no light at the end of the tunnel and obviously i didn't get to talk to him about it so i don't want to put words in his mouth but that's what happened and i was only six and some for some, my mom told me. And I remember my mom telling me and I was like, why did she tell me this? You know, and the older I've gotten, I'm pretty glad my mom told me. It was a very formative moment in my life. And my life totally changed then. You know, like when people talk about like a moment where your life changed.

I changed at six because I was so, I loved my grandpa. And it made me realize how fragile life was. And also that it may suck so bad you want out, you know? And my grandpa was someone that I really respected. And I was never like, Oh, you're weak. You left us. I was like, no, he made a choice. And I'm not a proponent of it. I would never, what I'm saying is my feeling, not to get anyone else to do it. Sure, of course. Of course. But that was a huge realization as a six-year-old because everyone else is just like, life is,

you know, when you're a kid, they just want is beautiful like some days everything's great yeah and I was very early on I realized no it's it's not always great and you live for the good moments but a lot of it is terrible and you're waiting so um then the furniture business fell apart there was a lot of friction between the family the the aunts and uncles. And I don't like to get involved in it, but the story happens. My dad ends up leaving. My mom stays with me and my three brothers in Virginia. And we don't know if our parents are going to stay together or what's going on.

Because my mom's family wanted her to stay, but my dad left. My dad became a cook at Steak and Ale and LNN Seafood. And he just learned how to do it. And he was so funny. He was like, American food's so easy. It's salt and pepper, boom, salt and pepper, boom. And he's like, this shit's easy. So he stole a couple menus and a couple recipes.

And then he opened up his own restaurant called Atlantic Bay Seafood. He worked down at Steak and Ale, huh? I remember that. It's a chain. Steak and Ale, LNNC, good chains. And he was just working there. And at that time, there was a boom in Florida because Disney, everyone like around Disney, they needed restaurants for tourists and the people that were in the service industry.

restaurants for tourists and the people that were in the service industry. So in that area where the Florida project is, that's where our family's restaurant opened up by those motels. And you ever seen that documentary about Celebration Florida, that like super straight Atlantic Bay seafood was right across the street from it. When they built it? Yeah. We were there before they built it. And then they came in and it changed the neighborhood. And then we lost our restaurant. It was crazy. But that strip used to be just gift shops and really weird motels. So your dad had a successful restaurant for several years? He did. He had a very successful restaurant. At first, it was Atlantic Bay Seafood. And he got that lease. Basically, he got the lease for free.

They were like, you can have a year free of lease. You open the restaurant and then you start paying the second year because they just needed to get people in. And then from that success, he opened another restaurant, Cattleman's Steakhouse down the road. And he just went boom, boom, boom. And he kept opening these restaurants until they started going to shit. And then he sold them to Hooters. So that's what, and Cattleman's is, that's the name of the one in the show, isn't it? Yep. Yep. Cattleman's Steakhouse. Yep.

So when did you guys go to Florida as a family? Did you all go down there? Is that what happened? Yeah. Around nine or 10. I just remember they pulled me out of school in second grade. So your parents stayed, your parents stayed together. They stayed together. Okay. I don't know if they should have, but they did. Yeah. And they're still together. in second grade so your parents your parents stayed together they stayed together uh okay i

don't know if they should have but they did yeah and they're still together and they love each other now you know uh yeah i don't think they did for a while but they love each other now oh so you got you you moved down there when you were like nine or ten is that what you said yeah yeah and then and then you were there for all your uh growing up in orlando yep and like so in the movie so your mom your mom is the fortune teller yeah my mom's a fortune teller yeah and you're the uncle yeah your mom did a good job but like how much of that was so was the tension between your parents similar to that uh as those characters in the film yeah it was actually toned down for the film because in the original,

there's quite a few scenes of the parents actually, well, there was one or two scenes of the parents hitting each other and then the dad hitting the son. But, you know, the movie's already quite difficult for non-Asians, non-urban people to access. The studio was like, look, you can only push this so far. I know you want authenticity.

We know you want it like your life, but this is going to be very difficult for audiences. So I said, okay, I don't necessarily need people to see that. And I don't want to be a proponent of that. So we toned it down. Oh, I see. toned it down oh i see so to maintain empathy for the characters yeah you couldn't uh have them really hitting each other yeah and i i actually this is one of those times where i think the studio was right you know yeah because i know that you know during the making the original uh series uh the tv show i read that letter that you wrote about, you know, trying to maintain the

integrity of your story in the face of the homogenization and status quo of American family television was a plight, a plight that you had to deal with. Yeah, no, that was really tough because they went so far and, you know, we were both quite connected to that pilot episode because, you know, Lynn, Lynn, that that's my favorite episode. It's the only episode I stand by and I enjoy. And I learned quite a lot because I felt like that episode really threaded the needle on the pain and struggle of the kid while also still being entertaining for most audiences. And I really loved that episode. That one was quite special. The first episode. And then, well, how did you, what was your relationship with Lynn like?

Man, she was the only one that was nice to me in the leadership position, to be honest. You know, Melvin was nice as well, but not, it was different. Melvin, he's the writer? He was a producer. Melvin, I have to say Melvin was nice to me, but his hands were tied. But Lynn really understood my pain with it. She really went out of her way to just ask me how I felt.

Because I would speak, she would see, I would speak up sometimes at a table read read or I'd speak up in a meeting and I was immediately just shut down. And there was, it was kind of like wink, wink, Melvin, get him out of the room or get him to stop talking. And Melvin would text me like, Hey, take it easy. You know? Right. And Lynn would actually come to video village and talk to me and be like, what'd you think about that? Hey, uh, you know? And Lynn would actually come to Video Village and talk to me and be like, what'd you think about that, Eddie? You know, this, that. And it wasn't cursory either. She could really tell that there was stuff in here in my heart that would probably help with the episode. And it meant the world to me. And my best friend would come with me to set and he's like, man,

she's a pretty incredible woman. And people will ask ask me too like you've never directed how did you like learn to do this and i said i watched a lot of movies and and i honestly i watched lynn shelton you know because you watch somebody do it once you can do it you know like you watch more people more times you probably do it better but i learned from lynn that because i had fought for everything in my life and pushed really hard. But I learned from watching Lynn that kindness can get the same result. Because there was a lot of anxiety on that pilot for Fresh Off the Boat. Randall was anxious. He didn't know how it would be representing Asian America, how it would be received. Constance, when we began, wasn't that in touch with her Asian identity. There were a lot of things we were all juggling for good reason because we'd never had representation before. And all of us were fighting this thing. And Lynn's kindness and empathy and perspective really at least got me through it. And I watched her work with actors and she would approach each one differently,

but with the same level of kindness. And that was a very special thing to watch. And I tried to replicate it as well as I could in my own way. That's the best thing to learn from her because that was her gift, you know? Yeah. It's a funny thing is when you don't pose a threat to people and they let their guard down, it is incredible what they'll reveal.

When you tell them to be revealing and you push them, they're like, you know? Right, right. And that brings out the best in the uh the sort of interaction with the other actors and everything else yeah that's that's great that's nice that you learned that stuff from her so when you say that you know you fought for everything i mean it wasn't i mean it seems like it took you a while to even land on cooking you know let alone writing and directing a movie like you, you know, it's almost,

Jews are the same way immigration-wise, was that there's this pressure to sort of do better than your parents and to do whatever's necessary to succeed in a way that is stable and moves the family forward and moves you forward. And it seems that in Asian culture, that pressure is almost unbearable. Yeah. I think we do have in common generational trauma and this feeling that we don't have a home, you know, because all of us have had to flee and we've moved around and it's very much about survival. And it's different for Americans because many Americans have had family here in this country for multiple generations.

And it's like, we're all from the Valley or we're all from New York. We're like, well, I don't like, my parents are from, my grandparents are from this country. My parents are from this country. And then I ended up here. And there is this immense pressure to just survive. I think that is the mentality.

And we're expected to follow the rules. And we're not expected to excel or be different or be great. It's just just be a number and just survive. Really? That's what you grew up with? Because I guess in the movie, the father, he's very weird. My mom was the most conservative and just like the mom in the movie did not want the kid to stray. But my mom's belief in herself inspired me. And I don't even think she realized it, but my mom was like, believe the number one student at the number one women's high school in Taiwan, the most competitive high school to test into, like Stuyvesant in New York for women was and my mom was the number one student there. When she came to America for her senior year of high

school, she was the salutatorian and did not speak English. And I asked my mother once, how did you learn to speak English? She said, well, I watched I Love Lucy. I really liked I Love Lucy. But I also just used my brain. I got the yellow pages and I started to cold call every number and speak English to them. It's like a lot of people hung up on me, but then sometimes people would talk to me. And that's how I learned English. And I was like, that is insane. And so not the typical story you hear of parents. She was very wily. And my mom would give me advice that she would not take herself. And it was from observing my mother that I learned to be wily. And even in the film, the mom is the one with the plan. And it's she's the one that

finds this kind of wormhole for him to make money and succeed and get out of this family. The dad really loves him and believes in my dad. My dad beat the shit out of me. But for some reason, I knew he loved me. Because in the moments where we got to hang out yeah i saw him smile i saw him look at me with fondness and i just knew he loved me and it makes me sad to say because he didn't say it but i knew it and my mom would say it but i felt like it was an apology you know oh i love you i love baby i love you know like it was like it if i finally spoke up being like mom i i'm about to break because there were times where I just

cracked because of the tension and the abuse. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there, you know, cause my mom would run away from home and bring me with her. Cause I was the oldest one. And also cause my dad would hit me, you know? Yeah, and her too? Yeah. So she'd run away from home and we'd stay at the Red Roof Inn. And it was like when my mom hit bottom, she'd tell me she loved me. And she would also, she would put this pressure on me

that I don't resent her for, but was very tough to carry, which she would say, you know, her for, but was very tough to carry, which she would say, you know, make something of yourself, make something of your life so that mom's life's not for nothing. And that was really hard. You know, I think that's why I have so much trouble with fresh off the boat. You know what I mean? Cause it's like, it's funny and the parents get along and you know, it's, but my mom literally was like,

my hopes and dreams are in you, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So, and then, and she obviously felt compelled to protect you, you know?

Yeah. And I felt like my mom took the abuse for me and in the end, it wasn't true, but that's how i felt as a kid what when you look back on it now or or when you deal with you know the behavior of your father where was it coming from well he wasn't like an alcoholic or anything do you know i think it's at the risk of upsetting an entire country of people, I do think it's cultural. Yeah, you know, I because I when I lived in Taiwan, I met a lot of kids, a lot of kids like me,

who came from similar families. And they were like, Look, man, most of if you weren't in the government, and your parent or your parents weren't wealthy or business people, they were street gang people. They were street dudes, a lot of them. And because we were a country under martial law for, I think, almost 30 years, maybe over, it was actually over 30 years, we were under martial law. And there were a lot of very poor people coming from China to Taiwan and they ended up in street gangs. And that's the culture. And my dad, I love my dad. And I know it's very hard for like an American audience to understand.

And it's tough to parse through because you're like, this guy sounds like a monster. But my dad had it tough, too. You know, like he was monster. But my dad had it tough too. He was doing that stuff. And he told me a story when he was 12, they used to have to wait three hours to get on the bus back home from school. And everyone would line up and just wait to get on the bus. And one day him and his friends were like, I don't want to wait three hours in line. Let's go play basketball and just be the last guys on the bus. I'm like, all right, cool. So they went, they played basketball and they, they came back and the crossing guard was like, you guys weren't standing in line for three hours. And my dad's like, yeah, why would we

stand in line for three hours? And he's like'm telling your parents they told the school they told the parents of course my dad got disciplined at home you know yeah dad went to school the next day with a knife and shanked the kid in his leg and just walked away he waited three hours in line got to the front of the line shanked the kid he got kicked out of school and then he was like in night school with all the other bad kids and that was it oh my god right and i was like you're 12 he's like yeah i didn't like being hit at home and i didn't like being snitched on and that's just you know like that's that's when i start to understand my dad that's the core of yeah the the world he grew up in yeah and and when he brought me back like he got a lot of respect in the neighborhood like everyone in the neighborhood

selling food like remembered my dad and he has brought you back where to the street he grew up on and now it's like a tourist place it's the most famous ding tai it It's called Yong Kang Jie. But back in the day, before Ding Tai Fong was like crazy famous, it was like a street that a lot of kids would hang out in the park. And they were tough kids. So I remember eating noodles on that street from a vendor in the early 90s. He brought me back. And the guy's like, your dad, my dad went to the bathroom. He's like, your dad ran this neighborhood this is his neighborhood and i was like what and he's like yeah one time these guys chased him down here

yeah and we were back to back with cleavers fighting these guys off and and i'm 12 and i'm like you got cleavers so my dad was slicing people he's like we were fighting and it was that it was just always this weird mysterious thing like they would never say what they did right and i i remember too like i was maybe 15 a guy showed up at my house when christmas dropped an ak-47 on the dinner table said merry christmas to my dad and a huge scar down his face and i was like, I don't know what the fuck my dad was doing in Taiwan, you know? But it started to make sense

why he was the way he was in our house. And he was just hit a lot growing up. Yeah, but also, like, I have to assume that whatever his status was in that world, which seemed to be of some recognition, that, you know, then, you know, coming to America and learning this hustle, working in a furniture store and then figuring out how to run restaurants and then losing restaurants. I don't know how it all went with him financially, but, you know, it is it's a different game here. Right.

And there must have been some disappointment or something. Yes. You nailed it. When he was in taiwan even though he didn't have money he was the man you know respect and yeah that's a big thing to somebody yeah and he came to america and he told me a story um and it's very similar to something happened to pop smoke and pop you know but my dad was a bartender at a restaurant and he made these guys manhattans a few white guys ordered no a few guy white guys ordered martinis they ordered martinis and my dad didn't know which garnish to put in it so he dropped a few cherries and thought it looked good and brought the martinis with cherries and yeah even i'll speak on behalf of the white guys i get a martini with the cherry

i'm gonna fucking laugh at you i'm gonna right what are you doing and they laughed at him and kind of like threw the drinks back at him and they're like yo we need olives like they're supposed to be out so my dad said he got really mad and got the olives and came back and threw him at the guys and um he was like i never wanted to be embarrassed like that again you know and yeah i think it really affected my father but most of the fights at home were because my dad i think was down on himself and my mom would really yell at him things like you're a loser you know like i don't know how you're gonna raise three kids we got no money and you know she would really go at him and i would tell her to stop but she wouldn't stop and it just yeah it was it was fucking nuts mark i can't believe i'm telling you all i i've always kind

of sidestepped a lot of this but now that the movie's out i'm just like fuck sides i'm done sidestepped my parents are in china they're never gonna hear this and they know i love them which is cool because we're good now you know like when you're good you can talk about it they're not i don't think you're embarrassed because they know, they know why it happened and they've worked on it and they love each other, you know? And also they're, you know, at this point, you know, you're a grown ass man. They're probably proud of you. They know that, you know, you know, you can make choices on your own.

And if they want to remain in contact with you, they got to behave themselves. Yeah. Yeah. It's really true. And they want, they want to behave themselves. Yeah. Yeah. It's really true. And they want, they want to have a real relationship with me. So over the last, since we finished the movie, we've really had some very good conversations about what happened and where we stand. Yeah.

My mom. It took that long. It took that long. They watched the movie and they sat there and they didn't say anything for 30 seconds to a minute after. And my dad just said, I'm proud of you. He said, I see myself in this. I do. He said, I see myself in this and you understand me. And my mom didn't say that, but she said, I'm proud of you. This is a phenomenal film. She was just like, I love the film. She didn't engage the personal as much, but she was like, it's, it's really good. I'm, this is an insane accomplishment, you know? And she was proud of me in terms of accomplishment. My dad felt very seen as a person because he, I think, wanted to know that I knew like he loved me. Yeah. That was really cool.

That was really cool. My mom, my mom is so amazing as a woman. I think she sacrificed me loving her or me knowing she loved me for me being successful. And over. That was the most important thing. She wanted me to survive. She didn't want me to be like my dad yeah but like at some point it seems that were you ever a criminal yeah yeah and it was funny i asked my mom once i

said mom what'd you see in dad because i until the age of 10 i could not believe my mom was with my dad and when we'd be at the red roof inn i'd be like we should just leave mom we should not go back this is before you had siblings how many many siblings? When did they come? I had two siblings, and they didn't like being there either. I love my brothers, you know, they were amazing. And I would hide them, I would build forts out of the couch pillows and be like, stay right here. And I would usually go stand by a phone, in case my mom would let me call the police, and she never let me call the police but that's what i did every time so it was it was completely dangerous and out of control and

terrifying yeah it was very you know what it was almost exactly like uh connie and carlo and the godfather honestly that's why i would watch films like that i'd be like oh it's like home it was it was like that oh geez exactly like that and well i'm glad i'm glad you survived it that's terrible it was tough and yeah that's why like even as a kid i'd sit there and watch cassavetes like woman under the influence like oh shit this this is nice other people go through this you know it's so weird like when your life is shit you watch other shit and you're like oh this i just rub go through this you know it's so weird like when your life is shit you watch other shit and you're like oh this i just rub myself in shit you know yeah but also like it it's shit that makes you at least know you're not totally alone exactly exactly and uh

and but you know but what how did you not end up uh fucked up i mean i think i'm fucked up but did you go through a period though? I mean, I know you went to law school for a time. You finished law school, right? You know, yeah, I did finish law school, but I think what saved me was I really loved my mother and I wanted to save her.

And my response, I never raised a hand to my dad. Ever? I ended up fighting, never. I just took it. My middle brother fought my dad once and got him. And my dad was very scared of my middle brother because my middle brother got so sick of being hit. He just lifted weights and trained martial arts and got so big. And I think by the time my brother was 16, my dad could not hit him anymore. But I took it till I was about 19 your brother hit him though

yeah my my brother got him one time you know not like punched him in the face but like i believe my brother pushed him down i can't remember and said don't fuck with me it's over yeah emory gets mad when i don't get the particulars of it correct but in emory in an apology in advance the the crux is my brother did something physical to my father that made him realize the days of him hitting us were over. I was too pious and I was too respectful of my dad to hit him back. I just took it. And you didn't hit other people? You didn't take it out into the world?

I did take it out in the world. Because when other kids fought me at school, I was like, well, now I can fight. And there was a part of me that was just like, don't fuck with me. I went to school for pretty much most of the days just going like, just everybody leave me alone. Like, just please leave me alone. I just want to do my homework. I want to make my mom proud. I want to get home and I want to watch basketball.

You know, like, I just listen to rap music and I played basketball. And I, I always like had like one friend all the way until ninth grade. But this was the thing. The thing that saved me was wanting to save my mother. And I had a kid across the street, Warren Nielsen was my best friend I met when I was 14, ninth grade. And I saw him get hit at home. And I saw the shadow of his father hitting him. And then I saw the shadow of his dad making him clean up something on the carpet with spot cleaner. And I just saw this man towering over this kid and seeing him that way got me upset and made me feel the same way I felt for my mother. Cause it's hard to pity yourself. It's easier to have empathy for someone else, at least for me. Yeah. And I went up to his window that night.

I snuck out of the house and i threw mulch at his window and i said you all right dude and i don't know if anyone had ever asked him and he's like i'm okay and he snuck out and we went and we sat on the bridge in our neighborhood and we we've been best friends ever since I talked to him two weeks ago, you know, like, but that kid saved my life, because I felt less alone. And he was, I mean, it's weird to say about another guy. But I mean, he was like, six, one, blonde hair, blue eyes, like beautiful kid, every girl in school loved this guy. And the tough guys at school liked him too. He's just very, he's the most popular kid at school. I didn't know.

I had no idea because I had just moved into the district. And I didn't know he was getting hit at home. I became his best friend. And then at school, everybody loved him. And he was like, well, Eddie's my best friend. And everyone was like, the fucking Chinese kid? He's like, yeah, the Chinese kid's fucking cool. And he kind of brought

me into, like, the cool kid white world. You know, because I was always friends with the Palestinian kids and the Dominican kids. And, you know, I, I never really had anyone to bring me into like the white circle and be like, yo, yeah, you know, it was Warren, huh? It was Warren. And it was like, you know, it wasn't that I wanted to aspire to. I never wanted to be in that world. I was never welcome. But because Warren was my best friend, I then befriended his friends. And, you know, there was a Persian kid and a Native American kid. But, you know, it was me and the Persian kid were the darkest ones in the group, you know? Right. And, you know, it was very strange because I didn't really like his friends all through high school, but I just loved Warren. And we were able to share this like secret that we were getting beat up at home.

Yeah. And then it turned out all his buddies that were like skater dudes they were getting hit too and all the kids that were kind of like the cool kids at school and into like rap music and street we were all we were all abused kids to to a man and i i remember one time one of my buddies i won't say his name because he's cool with his pops now we were smoke we skipped school we we were smoking weed in a backyard. And his dad came into the house, ran into the room, we were smoking weed in this room, and he just punched his kid in the face. And that was the first time all of us activated. Because we'd all talked about being hit at home. none of us fought back, but seeing our friend get punched in the face by his dad,

we jumped in and we held his dad back and the kids started staying with us and staying with other kids. And he started moving around everybody's house and he, he didn't go home. We were just like, you can't go home, man. Like your dad just punched you in the face, man. That's fucking crazy. And then everyone kind of left home. And so that was a very crazy time in high school because a few of the kids got emancipated.

And then we weren't going to school. We were just hanging out at the apartments they lived in. And then that's when I caught my first charge. And it was just crazy but that's for what you would watch that like you know i would watch movies like kids or like guide to recognizing your saints and those were films we connected with right and and it's funny to see reviews now because it's it's definitely i thought the movie would connect with like dominant culture a little more and reviewers like this is a dark fit this is they're the characters aren't likable you know this world's not likable like

why are the parents together i'm like dude you know this is how a lot of people's families are well yeah and i thought it was like a directly uh uh like now that you say those movies like the way that you work the camera you stayed tight on everybody. Everything was moving. You could feel the sweat on the stuff. It's a lot like kids. And then also the undercurrent of all those basketball movies that you grew up with. Yeah, Above the Rim and things like that, for sure. So it's funny because I talked to Jimmy O. Yang, and he's like a hip-hop kid too. It's just interesting that some of you Asian guys

just completely got into that. Yeah. Well, I think for me, it was funny. Before I got on, I was still listening to No Doubt and Stone Temple Pilots. I'm a music guy. I listen to everything. But culturally, yeah, I gravitated towards black music and black culture because I just saw similarities in the way our families were. And I saw similarities in our struggle. Not that our

struggle is the same, but I could feel, you know, like when I heard interludes, like with Tupac and you know, people screaming, like parents screaming or wives screaming on me against the world, I was like, well, that sounds like my house. Did you feel like that? Because I don't know how you got it together to figure out how to cook, but it seemed like that must have saved your life in some way. It did. That was the thing. So basketball was the thing I got to do with my father that brought us closer. Cooking was the thing I did with my mother I missed my mom. I'd just cook her food. And I was really scared that when I grew up,

all the old Chinese people would die and then we wouldn't get to eat it anymore. That was really the foundation for wanting to cook food. And that sort of made you, that's what lets you make your mark on the world. It did, Mark. It did. And, and I, I really am. So I'm very thankful to the world for being patient with me and kind of

allowing me, or maybe I created the space and allowed myself, but I'm, I'm thankful to the world because without the early customers about house, the early people that read fresh off the boat, like I never would have had this chance to tell this story. And so I'm just very thankful. Yeah. And you didn't end up in jail. It sounds like you could have at some point.

Yeah. I went a couple of times and I got really close to fucking my life up fully. And I was able to get it together when I needed to. And that's kind of been the MO of my life is like, I dick around and I, I get upset and I, I flail. And, but then it's like when it's game time and I know my back's against the wall, I show up. Well, it was a, it was a, it was a fun, it was not fun. It was a, it was a powerful movie, dude. And you know, it was a, it kind of made me rethink about, you know, the struggle of somebody, you know, coming up, you know,

Asian in the city and America and, and you know what that's like. So, so I learned something and I was moved by it. Thanks Mark. And thanks for having me on the show, man. I've honestly been a fan a while and I followed you cause you know, Chris Jackson edited fresh off the boat and he, he would always talk about you. Oh yeah. And he'd always say, you got to meet Mark.

You got to meet Mark. You guys are both crazy. Well, let's hang out. Let's get some food when we can. Yeah, I'd love to. Okay, buddy. Thank you so much, man. That was Eddie Wong, folks.

And the new film, Boogie, which he wrote and directed, is now in theaters and will be available on VOD at the end of the month. And a reminder, if you want a handmade cat mug, just like the ones I give guests, go to brianrjones.com slash shop. Okay? Maybe I ought to get new cat mugs made with the new cats. Maybe we need some Sammy and Buster mugs. That means I got to call Dima and see if he'll do the art again.

I don't even know if he does that shit anymore. I guess I could ask. Because sadly, all the cats on those mugs are gone. Those are memorial mugs at this point. But they are the originals. All right? Maybe that's the thing to do. I'll ask Brian.

Maybe that would be the 10-year thing. Why am I just sitting here thinking out loud? Here's some guitar. Thank you. Boomer Lives Monkey La Fonda. Cat angels everywhere. Did I say that already? It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th

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