They Call Us Bruce

It's the Year of the Snake! In this special Lunar New Year episode, Jeff and Phil welcome fellow Potluck Podcast pals -- and fellow parents -- Ada Tseng ( Saturday School ), Joanna Lee ( Sound and Fury , The Korean Drama Podcast ), and Marvin Yueh ( Books and Boba , Good Pop ) to celebrate new beginnings and the arrival of Marvin's twins while discussing the unique challenges of Asian American par...

Jeff and Phil welcome Eileen Chow, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at Duke University's Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, and Ava Chin, CUNY professor and author of Mott Street: A Chinese American Family's Story of Exclusion and Homecoming , to talk about birthright citizenship, a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution, now under attack (again) by the Trump administration. They...

Jeff and Phil welcome friends, author/podcaster R Scott Okamoto and filmmaker/professor Renee Tajima-Pena to share their reflections on the devastating wildfires that have ravaged parts of greater Los Angeles. Scott shares about the terrifying experience of evacuating from the approaching inferno, while Renee recounts her efforts to save her family's treasures and traditions. The discuss the profo...

Jeff and Phil welcome Harrison Xu and Ivan Leung, the directors/writers/producers/stars of Extremely Unique Dynamic ,  a "Meta-Asian-Stoner-Coming-of-Age-Bromantic Dramedy" about two best friends who decide to make a movie... about two guys making a movie... about two guys making a movie. They talk about making a buddy narrative to showcase their friendship and talent, how they managed to sneak in...

Jeff and Phil welcome back the crew — Rebecca Sun and Dino-Ray Ramos — to discuss season two of the global sensation Squid Game, which is officially Netflix's most watched show ever. In what is quite possibly this podcast's longest episode ever, they discuss the return and evolution of some fan-favorite characters, their least favorite new characters, the biggest new twists in the deadly game, and...

Jeff and Phil welcome showrunner/producer Echo Wu and writer Jade Chang , key creatives behind the Netflix animated series Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld , starring Ali Wong. They talk about creating a uniquely Asian American young adult action/horror/supernatural family drama; melding Asian mythology and folklore with contemporary youth culture (complete with a playlist ) to tell a multi-layered...

Jeff and Phil welcome comedian Ronny Chieng to discuss his latest Netflix special Love to Hate It . He talks about his efforts to harvest his wife's eggs (with no medical training whatsoever), the frustrating susceptibility of baby boomers to internet scams, his near-decade-long tenure as a correspondent on  The Daily Show , and why the only career move he's concerned with is crafting the next jok...

Jeff and Phil welcome filmmaker Sue Kim, director/producer of The Last of the Sea Women , a documentary about the haenyeo , a fierce community of South Korean divers fighting the save their vanishing culture from looming threats. She talks about her lifelong fascination with this "badass girl gang," her drive to tell the stories of unique subcultures like Korea's mermaids and competitive Rubik's c...

Jeff and Phil welcome filmmaker Jean Shim and actress Jae Suh Park, director and star of the independent drama A Great Divide -- also co-written and produced by our very own Jeff Yang. They talk about making a movie inspired by the contemporary backdrop of anti-Asian hate, the personal experiences with racism and xenophobia that informed the film's story and characters, the quirks and challenges o...

Jeff and Phil welcome writer Charles Yu, showrunner/executive producer of the Hulu series  Interior Chinatown , adapted from his award-winning novel of the same name. They discuss the challenges of taking a somewhat indescribable and seemingly un-adaptable book and adapting it into a 10-episode prestige series; how Interior Chinatown is actually like Pokemon ; and the fun of deconstructing the TV...

Jeff and Phil talk turkey in their semi-traditional annual observation of thanks and giving, and welcome comedians Joe Wong and Sierra Katow to talk comedy, careers and these troubled times. They talk about coming from very different -- parentally-supported versus culturally nonexistent -- standup traditions, the stereotypes that still hound them, and the future (or perhaps lack thereof) of our de...

Jeff and Phil welcome co-creator/executive producer Rachel Kondo and writer/co-executive prodicer Shannon Goss of Shōgun , now one of the most acclaimed television shows of all time. They talk about setting out to adapt the original novel with a different, shifted perspective, the complicated multi-step script-to-screen process of translating the show from English to Japanese and back, and getting...

In this special live episode, Jeff (minus Phil) talks to acclaimed playwright David Henry Hwang about his trailblazing work, including Yellow Face, currently on Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre. He talks about the mind-boggling play-within-a-play inception of  Yellow Face , what it's like to write a version of yourself ("DHH") into your show -- played by Daniel Dae Kim, no less -- and why his wo...

Jeff and Phil welcome Dr. Michelle Au , who represents District 50 in the Georgia House of Representatives. She talks about her journey from medicine into politics -- from anesthesiologist to the first Asian American elected to the Georgia State Senate in 2020 -- how she's navigated some of the electoral shenanigans of her rapidly changing district, and the power of the Asian American vote in her...

Jeff and Phil welcome law professor and state senator Dave Min , who is running for Congress in California 47th district. He talks about why he made the decision to step into this critical race, the unique characteristics and shifting demographics of his traditionally conservative district, and some of the blatant (and sadly, unsurprising) anti-Asian racism his campaign has faced. Also: The Good,...

Jeff and Phil welcome George Cheung, Director of More Equitable Democracy and co-host of the podcast The Future of Our Former Democracy , which asks an important question for our anxious times: Why does American democracy suck right now? George argues that there's a major underlying issue: the polarizing winner-take-all electoral system. He talks about what it could look like if the United States...

Jeff and Phil follow up and welcome back chef Edward Lee -- just two episodes later -- fresh off the finale of the Netflix cooking competition Culinary Class Wars . Spoiler alert! He talks about his grueling journey to the final challenge, including the Endless Cooking Hell, his unexpected new nickname, that incredible dessert dish, and how his cooking throughout the entire show told a personal st...

Jeff and Phil welcome their old friend, the one and only Daniel Dae Kim, who stars on Broadway in David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face . He talks about the play's brilliant, meta-comic exploration of race, representation and identity, his uniquely ascendant career as an actor, producer and advocate, and the twentieth anniversary of the role that changed everything for him: Jin on Lost . Also: The Good,...

Jeff and Phil 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...

Jeff and Phil welcome back old friend Dino-Ray Ramos to discuss the techno-horror movie AfrAId , starring John Cho. They 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...

Jeff and Phil 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. Als...

In this special live episode, Jeff and Phil host a 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 o...

Jeff and Phil 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 s...

Jeff and Phil 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 "Ja...

Jeff and Phil 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 ra...