They Call Us Bruce 166: They Call Us Katherine J. Wu

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

In this episode, we welcome journalist Katherine J. Wu, who covers science as staff writer for The Atlantic. She talks about joining science with storytelling, where we went wrong (and right) with our collective pandemic response, and the most erroneous assumptions we're making about COVID right now.

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What It Means to Be Asian in America
In a new Pew Research Center analysis based on dozens of focus groups, Asian American participants described the challenges of navigating their identity in a nation where the label "Asian" brings expectations about their origins, behavior and physical self.

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How a tiny Chinatown bookstore became a hub for authentic Asian American stories
Yu and Me Books, the first Asian American female-owned bookstore in New York, highlights titles from immigrants and people of color, with a special focus on Asian Americans.

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To 'Free Chol Soo Lee,' Asian Americans had to find their collective political voice
NPR talks to Julie Ha, co-director of the new documentary Free Chol Soo Lee, which tells the story of a 20-year-old Korean American man imprisoned for a murder he did not commit -- a case that became a pivotal moment for the Asian American community.

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Jo Koy's 'Easter Sunday' puts Filipinos front and center
Comedian Jo Koy stars in Easter Sunday, the first big studio movie with an all-Filipino ensemble.

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Tia Carrere in "Easter Sunday" Marks a Profound Change for Filipinos in Hollywood
Tia Carrere, who cemented herself in Hollywood three decades ago as the iconic Cassandra Wong in Wayne's World, appears in the family comedy Easter Sunday -- the first time in her prolific, 30-year-plus career that she is playing a Filipino.

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Nobody wanted to make 'Squid Game.' Now it’s making history
For a very long time, no one wanted to make Squid Game. Now it has 14 Emmy nominations.

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Paper Girls Star Ali Wong on Comics, Erin's Journey, and Her Childhood Dreams
Ali Wong, who stars as adult Erin in the series Paper Girls, talks about her relationship with the Paper Girls comic book, the dynamic between the two Erins, and her childhood dreams.

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88Rising's NIKI is Owning Her PAST - and Taking a Cue from Taylor Swift
Filled with reproduced and never-before-heard music, NIKI's second album is an exploration of her start in the industry -- and a taste of where she wants to go from here.

They Call Us Bruce 165: They Call Us Jo Koy

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

In this special bonus episode, Jeff talks to Jo Koy, comedian and star of the movie Easter Sunday. He talks about the execs who told him his Filipino American story was "too specific," getting the backing of none other than Steven Spielberg, and doing it for the culture. For the culture!

They Call Us Bruce 164: They Call Us Lou Diamond Phillips

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

In this episode, we welcome the man, the myth, the legend: actor Lou Diamond Phillips, who appears in the new movie Easter Sunday. They discuss how Filipino Americans are having a moment, LDP as LDP, achieving "icon" status, and The Good, The Bad and The WTF of being ambiguously Filipino.

They Call Us Bruce 163: They Call Us Simran Jeet Singh

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.


What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

In this episode, we welcome Simran Jeet Singh, scholar, activist and author of the book The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform You Life. He talks about his journey of faith, dad jokes, his refusal to give in to negativity, and The Good, The Bad and The WTF of being Sikh.

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How a skid row store faces the tensions in Black-Korean history — by discussing its bleakest chapters
Danny Park, owner of Skid Row People's Market in Los Angeles, wants his store to be more than its inventory. On a given shift, employees might serve as therapists, social workers, confidants or mediators.

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Food Is Identity. For Korean Chefs Who Were Adopted, It's Complicated.
Raised in the U.S., Korean American adoptee chefs are exploring a heritage they didn't grow up with through restaurant cooking -- and finding both fulfillment and criticism.

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For Asian American cooks, ties with Italy run deep
They may not share a common origin, but evidence suggests that these starchy foods developed concurrently for hundreds of years, with China coming first.

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Why Wearing a Mask Makes Me Feel Powerful
"Over the years, my constant poker face hardened to such a point that it could cut diamonds and became so natural that it took little effort to maintain. People often told me—unsolicited, of course—that I looked unhappy, or bored, or even contemptuous."

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The Biggest Boba Fan in the World
Nataraj Das is an audio-visual engineer and drinks 200 boba beverages a year.

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East West Players: Asian American Visibility, Also Sustainability
How the historic theater company East West Players has stabilized both its mission and its finances.

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Pop iconoclast Rina Sawayama: 'Drag is turning trauma into entertainment. That's what I'm doing'
British-Japanese pop star Rina Sawayama's genre-mashing second album is the product of her hard-won self-knowledge. She talks about reckoning with her Asian identity, forgiving her mother and her determination to be happy.

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Why Brandon Perea's 'Nope' Audition Made Jordan Peele Cry
Breakout ator Brandon Perea's unexpected take on Angel, the Fry's worker, so won over Nope director Jordan Peele that he decided during their meeting to rewrite the script.

All The Asians On Star Trek 28: Eric Bauza

The Podcast In Which We Interview All The Asians On Star Trek.



All The Asians On Star Trek is the podcast in which we interview all the Asians on Star Trek. In Episode 28, we welcome voice over artist Eric Bauza. He played the role of "Cerritos Conn Officer" and other characters on several episodes of the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks. Outside of Star Trek, he's a prolific voice over artist with dozens of credits, having provided voices for some of animation's most iconic characters -- including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Tweety most recently in Bugs Bunny Builders. He talks about getting his breaks as a voice actor, almost getting cast as another Lower Decks character, and making merchandise from obscure Canadian kids TV shows.

They Call Us Bruce 162: They Call Us Love and Noraebang

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

In this episode, we welcome key creatives behind the k-drama/telenovela-inspired narrative podcast rom-com Love and Noraebang: co-director Amy S. Choi, co-writer Quincy Cho, and actress Julia Cho. They discuss telling stories with joy and authenticity, and why Randall Park is the perfect voice of Los Angeles.