They Call Us Bruce: They Call Us Chef Edward Lee

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 award-winning chef, restaurateur and author Edward Lee, who appears as one of the "White Spoon" chefs on Netflix's Korean cooking competition show Culinary Class Wars. He talks about his personal and professional journey as a Korean American chef, how he got recruited to battle it out with 99 other Korean culinary professionals -- including Michelin star chefs, the "Bibimbap King," and the chicken mask guy -- and his ideas on the evolution and future of Korean cuisine. Also: The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of competing on Culinary Class Wars..

They Call Us Bruce: They Call Us AfrAId

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 back old friend Dino-Ray Ramos to discuss the techno-horror movie AfrAId, starring John Cho. We talk about John Cho's suburban dad thriller era and why it might not be a great idea to surrender every aspect of your family life to artificial intelligence (i.e. it might subscribe you to a meal prep delivery service). Also -- spoiler warning -- The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of AfrAId. .

They Call Us Bruce: They Call Us The Manicurist's Daughter

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 writer and performer Susan Lieu, author of The Manicurist's Daughter, a memoir about her search for answers after her mother dies during plastic surgery. She talks about grief, trauma, body image, her family's strident unwillingness to discuss what happened, and her attempts to find acceptance and purpose elsewhere -- including what turned out to be a cult. A yoga cult. Also: The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of writing The Manicurist's Daughter.

They Call Us Bruce: They Call Us Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In

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 host a live post-screening Q&A with Philip Ng, star of the hit Hong Kong action movie Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. He talks about the film's epic throwback to old school action cinema, the fun of playing a wild card villain like King, working alongside legends like Sammo Hung, and who got injured during the filming of Walled In (and why it was kind of Philip's fault). Special thanks to IW Group and Well Go USA.

They Call Us Bruce: They Call Us Didi (弟弟)

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 filmmaker Sean Wang and actor Izaac Wang, writer/director and star, respectively, of the indie coming-of-age film Dìdi. They talk about capturing the very specific emotional turbulence of Asian American suburban male adolescence, revisiting nostalgia for the 2000s internet AOL Instant Messenger era, and the agonizing and savage curation of one's MySpace "Top 8." Also, they share The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of making Dìdi.

They Call Us Bruce: They Call Us Jennifer Phang

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 filmmaker Jennifer Phang, director of Descendants: The Rise of Red, the latest installment of Disney's massively popular musical teen fantasy film series. They talk about her indie Asian American cinema roots with films like Half-Life and Advantageous, infusing some K-pop sensibility into a beloved and well-established franchise, and crafting the extreme meme-ability of "Jaladdin."

They Call Us Bruce: They Call Us OiYan A. Poon

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 writer and race scholar OiYan A. Poon, author of Asian American Is Not a Color: Conversations on Race, Affirmative Action and Family. She talks about breaking out of her comfort zone to write a sincere and heartfelt exploration of race relations and affirmative action, the interviews she conducted with Asian Americans who have been actively engaged in policy debates over race-conscious admissions or affirmative action, and the not-so-simple question from her daughter that inspired the title of her book.

Read These

FBI releases 600-page file on death of Vincent Chin, revealing interviews, messages
The FBI has released an extensive file on Vincent Chin, whose killing in 1982 sparked Asian American activism, offering a peek into the agency's investigation of a civil rights case that drew national attention.

* * *
The brutal killing of a Detroit man in 1982 inspires decades of Asian American activism nationwide
"For a whole generation of Asian American activists, the Vincent Chin case was the case that got them involved. It was the thing that brought them to the table."

* * *
Cameras were rolling when a chopper killed an actor and two kids. Was A-list director to blame?
Revisiting the fatal helicopter crash on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie, which killed 7-year-old My-Ca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Chen.

* * *
Don't Call It an 'Ethnic' Grocery Store
Once small, mom-and-pop businesses, as Asian groceries like H Mart, Patel Brothers and 99 Ranch expand rapidly, they are reshaping the American grocery market and how Americans cook and eat.

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Asian American farm collective targets food insecurity: 'It's been really healing'
New York's Choy Commons builds supply chain of heirloom vegetables while reviving an agricultural legacy

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Chili crisp capitalism meets a new wave of Asian American cynicism
"We've entered a strange new world of Asian American cultural capitalism. And judging by the way the Asian American community has roundly criticized chef David Chang's recent attempt to trademark the term "chili crunch," we’ve also reached a new era of Asian American cynicism."

* * *
Let's Talk About Hollywood Portrayals of Asian and Asian American Men (and Real-Life Romance)
The New York Times is asking for your thoughts on representation of Asian and Asian American men you have seen onscreen, and how those portrayals may have affected your romantic life.

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Please Stop Mistaking "Parasite" as an AAPI Film
"To lump together the entirety of the Asian and Asian diaspora’s experience under the AAPI label ignores and erases the specificity and distinct nature of not only AAPI identity but all other Asian identities as well." The Acolyte star Manny Jacinto opens up about his actual Star Wars role
[SPOILER] The newly revealed villain talks about killing all those Jedi.

They Call Us Bruce 246: They Call Us Sara Jane Ho

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 educator, socialite and etiquette expert Sara Jane Ho, host of the Netflix series Mind Your Manners and author of Mind Your Manners: How to Be Your Best Self in Any Situation. She talks about her cross-cultural, transnational journey to becoming a global etiquette leader and how context and culture are key to understanding etiquette in any social situation. Also, on the matter of wearing shoes in the house -- if you ask Jeff and Phil, it's definitively disgusting -- Sara Jane settles the debate once and for all.

They Call Us Bruce 245: They Call Us Charlie Chan and Anna May Wong

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 Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll, a biography on the life and career of movie star Anna May Wong. They discuss the "golden age" of Hollywood, the enduring popularity of film sleuth Charlie Chan (who was inspired by real-life Honolulu police detective Chang Apana), The Good Earth, the legacy of yellowface and performance/perception of Chinese-ness.

They Call Us Bruce 244: They Call Us Cage Fighter

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 back Shin Yu Pai, poet, museologist and host of Ten Thousand Things, an award-winning podcast about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life. She is joined by Jenny Liou, poet, English scholar and former MMA cage fighter -- and one of the subjects of the latest season of Ten Thousand Things. They talk about Jenny's entry into the sport, the cage as a space of limitation and liberation, and the impossible and contradictory expectations of an Asian American female fighter. Also, stay tuned for "Cage," an extra episode of Ten Thousand Things featuring Shin Yu Pai and Jenny Liou.

They Call Us Bruce 243: They Call Us Lee Jung-Jae

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 Korean actor Lee Jung-jae, star of Squid Game and the new Star Wars series The Acolyte. Speaking through an interpreter, he talks about joining the iconic Star Wars franchise, making in his English-language acting debut as a Jedi master, and working with the show's young stars. He also gives us The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of making The Acolyte, and even dangles a tiny crumb of news about Squid Game season two. Special thanks to Isue Shin for interpreting this conversation.

They Call Us Bruce 242: They Call Us 1587

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 Adam King and Sam Hyun, co-founders of the Asian American sneaker brand 1587. They talk about their inspiration for starting a company dedicated to "unapologetically Asian American" footwear, and how they're celebrating our community's oft-forgotten or neglected stories through shoes. Also: The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of starting an Asian American sneaker company. (This episode is sponsored by the HBO original limited series The Sympathizer and its official companion podcast.)

They Call Us Bruce 241: They Call Us Rising from the Ashes

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, recorded live at Village Well Books & Coffee in Culver City, Jeff and Phil celebrate the book launch of Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire with author Paula Yoo and Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Hyungwon "HK" Kang. They talk about Paula's drive to tell a nuanced and empathetic account of the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, the three families at the center of the unrest -- beyond the headlines and soundbites -- and some of the incredible and heartbreaking untold stories from this incendiary moment for Los Angeles' Black and Korean American communities. (This episode is sponsored by the HBO original limited series The Sympathizer and the official Sympathizer companion podcast.)

They Call Us Bruce 240: They Call Us K-Drama School

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 writer, stand-up comedian and media studies PhD Grace Jung, author of the book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television. They discuss the explosion of Korean dramas from bootleg VHS tapes to DramaFever (R.I.P.) to the most popular shows on worldwide streaming services; the wildest K-drama tropes from amnesia to leukemia to kimchi slaps; what makes these shows so irresistibly bingeable, and what can we learn about our societies and ourselves from watching them.

They Call Us Bruce 239: They Call Us The Sympathizer

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 discuss the HBO original limited series The Sympathizer, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, with author Viet Thanh Nguyen and scholar Philip Nguyen, host of the official Sympathizer Podcast. They talk about the meta-upon-meta textual sandwich of adapting this modern classic into an epic television series, that time director Park Chan-wook came over to Viet's house -- hide the octopus! -- and the brilliant decision to cast the "dude playing a dude disguised as another dude" as alllll the white guys in The Sympathizer. BONUS: Keep listening to hear an episode of The Sympathizer Podcast with Robert Downey Jr., Hoa Xuande, Vincent Van Dyke, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Don McKellar.

They Call Us Bruce 238: They Call Us Corky Lee's Asian America

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 historian and professor Mae Ngai, co-editor of the book Corky Lee's Asian America: Fifty Years of Photographic Justice, a collection of over 200 photos celebrating the history and cultural impact of the Asian American social justice movement from the lens of late photojournalist and activist Corky Lee. She talks about Corky's calling as "the inundisputed, unofficial Asian American photographer laureate" and his lifelong quest to document, empower and create community change with his camera. Also: Jeff talks about that time he and Corky lost track of time.

They Call Us Bruce 237: They Call Us 3 Body Problem

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 co-creator/executive producer Alexander Woo and director Derek Tsang, two of the key creators behind the Netflix series 3 Body Problem. They talk about the challenges of adapting Liu Cixin's epic science fiction novels for a global television audience, the authenticity required to re-create a dark moment China's history, who is responsible for what is possibly the best line of dialogue in the entire series, and the painstaking considerations that went into making that one really horrific scene. If you know, you know. Also: The Good, The Bad and The WTF of making 3 Body Problem.

They Call Us Bruce 236: They Call Us Monkey Man

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 our old friends Sujata Day (Definition Please, Heroes' Feast) and Dino-Ray Ramos (DIASPORA) to talk about the action revenge thriller Monkey Man, written/directed by and starring Dev Patel. We discuss this new take on storytelling from the South Asian diaspora, this blessed era of the Dev Patel Glow-Up, some of the political, religious and cultural controversy surrounding the movie, and of course, the badass action sequences (both borrowed and new) -- including the moment that had everybody in the movie screaming. Also: The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of Monkey Man.

All The Asians On Star Trek 36: Garrett Wang - Part 3

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 36, we conclude our conversation with Garrett Wang. For seven seasons, he starred as Ensign Harry Kim on Star Trek: Voyager. In Part 3 of our interview, Garrett talks about the nuances of cross-cultural casting; negotiating the relative Asian-ness of Harry Kim (how "Asian" is playing the clarinet?); his very first on-camera acting role as an extra in Death Wish IV; and the heartbreaking missed opportunity to reprise the role of (a finally promoted) Harry Kim in Star Trek: Picard.