Greetings, internet friends. What's going on? It is time to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Joy Regullano.
Who are you?
I'm Joy.
@joyregullano
What are you?
I'm a writer / actor / mediocre hip hop dancer / food lover. I'm Filipino American. 4'10 and a half. Myopic. Astigmatic. Asthmatic.
Where are you?
Los Angeles, CA.
Where are you from?
North Orange County. Buena Park, to be exact! Home of Knott's Berry Farm, Ripley's Believe it or Not, the Wax Museum, Medieval Times, Pirate's Dinner Adventure... we're the town you visit on the 6th day of your week long visit to Disneyland because you're tired of Anaheim. I went to Sunny Hills High School, which Better Luck Tomorrow is based on!
I lived the first three months of my life in Eagle Rock, but I don't think that really counts.
I went to college at UC Berkeley, so sometimes I like to pretend I'm from there by saying "hella" and yelling out area codes.
Now I like to say I'm from LA, because it really does feel like home.
My parents are from the Philippines.
What do you do?
I act. I've been fortunate enough to be in such shows as Supernatural, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Speechless, Garfunkel & Oates, Raising Hope and more.
I write too. I have a YouTube channel, and my very first sketch went viral thanks to Angry Asian Man! (sometimes people ask me how I got over 1M views and who I sent my stuff to and I have to respond that I literally sent it to one blog.) We just shot a ton more White Fetish episodes by the way, so be on the lookout for those. I am super stoked! I was also just selected as one of the inaugural Sesame Street writing fellows, which I am also super stoked about.
Lately, I've been getting into the stock market. I know it doesn't match my whole liberal capitalism hating persona but it's kinda fun, and so different from writing and acting. And it feeds my inner gambler.
What are you all about?
I spent a lot of time hating myself and my heritage growing up -- I thought Tagalog (Filipino) was an ugly language and I hated how dark I was, and it wasn't until I went to UC Berkeley that I realized what I was doing and where this colonial mentality came from. This is what a lot of my YouTube channel and the White Fetish series is about. Representation matters!!
In college, I used to get really angry about racism. I would speak really passionately about it and get all worked up, and I got seen as an "angry minority." People stopped listening to me. But I always loved to make people laugh. So when I came down to LA and started writing comedically about race, I realized this was the way I could get people to listen. Discussion about social issues is much more palatable when you're entertained, right?
I don't want future little girls to grow up like me. Embarrassed of their parents and their skin. Feeling like their ancestors contributed nothing of worth to the general human narrative.
That being said, I'm also all about entertaining people. I love making people laugh. [makes a wacky face, taps mic] Is this thing on?
What makes you angry?
Whitesplaining. Mansplaining. When people who don't really know anything about an issue feel the need to jump in and share their opinions. Which I guess is basically the same as whitesplaining and mansplaining. People spend YEARS studying how to talk about racism and sexism. There are books about it. People get PhD's in it. I have crazy respect for people who can talk articulately about these issues, since I am not one of them (I have to hide behind comedy to do it). So it always really irritates me when people (and this includes ignorant POC) think that their opinion is definitive, that they know everything. In general I really hate when people aren't humble. There's always something to learn! It's something I have to keep reminding myself too, to stay humble.
When people are selfish. I feel like that is the heart of most of society's problems right now. If CEOs weren't so greedy, if they were more thoughtful about the people who were working for them, they wouldn't be making 434 times their lowest paid employee. If people thought more about their fellow humans, they wouldn't be protesting universal healthcare or global warming, or women's rights. Or pretty much any "controversial" issue. JUST BE NICE DANGIT!!
And most importantly, I really hate when the Brita pitcher is empty.
