They Call Us Bruce 212: They Call Us Magnificent Jerk

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 Maya Lin Sugarman and James Kim, producers behind the podcast Magnificent Jerk, "the true story -- of a fake story -- about a real life." They talk about the fascinating life and career of Maya's late uncle Galen Yuen, and the box of his belongings that sent Maya on mission to discover her family’s biggest secrets -- including the truth behind the possibly autobiographical screenplay that eventually became a bad B-movie starring.... Rob Lowe, Burt Reynolds, and Ice-T. Also: The Good, The Bad and The WTF of making Magnificent Jerk.

The True Story of a Fake Story About a Real Life

New podcast 'Magnificent Jerk' explores the eccentric life and career of actor/writer Galen Yuen.



The way most people probably remembered Galen Yuen -- if they knew or knew of him at all -- was as a working actor with a few dozen minor movie and TV roles, playing characters like "Yakuza Member," "Smuggler" or "Low Life #1." He also had a sprinkle of screenwriting credits, including an episode of the short-lived TV series Vanishing Son, and a direct-to-video movie called Crazy Six. Yuen died in 2015 at 63.

Fast forward a few years later, when journalist Maya Lin Sugarman finds a box of forgotten screenplays -- written by her late uncle, Galen -- that sets her on a journey to uncover the truth about his tumultuous life. She discovers, among other shocking things that may or may not be true, that Galen was a leader of a Chinese gang, that he went to jail, and, in a final twist, that he poured his life story into a screenplay that was turned into a 1990s Hollywood action movie... starring Rob Lowe, Burt Reynolds, and Ice-T.

Maya shares her journey to discover the truth about Galen in the new podcast Magnificent Jerk, "the true story -- of a fake story -- about a real life." Listen to the trailer: