Asian Americans In the Entertainment Industry

Being an Asian American and being a comedian makes me a member of this group. I have a lot to say about what problems people in this group face. So here it goes:

1) Hate from our own people.

I guess Margaret Cho would be the perfect example for this. Even til this day, Margaret doesn’t get that much love from her own people. I honestly cant narrow down the reasons for this. Maybe its her raunchy material, Maybe its her failed TV work, maybe its her tats. The fact of the matter is she does not get much support from asian america.

(She is Wang Noona of Asian American Comedians. Much Respect!)

It really saddens me to see this because you can be a fan of her work or not, but there is no doubt she is one of the first Asians in this country to get her hour comedy special and travel the country. She is truly a pioneer and I for one am a fan of all that work and hustle. Without her there would be no way for any of the asian american comedians to be where they are at now.

Daniel Dae Kim is another example of this. When Lost first came out, people didn’t celebrate the fact that an Asian American was on a hit prime time show. Rather, there were a lot of Koreans talking shit about how his korean was terrible on the show. I have heard with my own ears people saying he was a loser. Really? I wish that people understand that this business is not that easy. It is one of the hardest fields to break into and maintain. A lot of us are doing what we love to do, while most of the haters are probably stuck in a shitty job just trying to make the bills. Look, there is nothing wrong with you doing work. But it is a problem to me when you are selling cell phones or working as a receptionist at a law firm and you shitting on us. I am quite certain your dream job is not to answer phone calls and file paper work. So relax and celebrate the fact that some of us are on TV and movies.

(Good Korean or Not you are damn Sexy holmes!)

2) Lack of Support

Entertainment is a passion for us but it is also a business. Comedians don’t get gigs at theaters just because they are funny. They get booked because they put asses in seats. Same goes from musicians and actors. Movies are a business. So or tv shows. Sure you may think you rather not spend the 20 dollar cover at a comedy club or the 10 dollars at a movie theater on opening weekend, but if asian americans comedians dont fill comedy clubs, theaters, and arenas then we will never get big. Sure there are avenues that even without a big initial fan base people can reach some sort of fame, but that is nearly impossible. This blog is not meant for me to ask you guys to come to every one of my shows. I can really care less if you do or not. But I just want to explain that if some of you really want to see asians do it big in all aspects of this business then yall need to support. There are people already out there making it without the help of asians.

Ken Jeong, has been in many movies in the last couple of years. I have met Ken many times and he is so deserving of all his success. Sure you can talk about his cock size in Hangover but he is truly doing it big. Big shout outs to my man Ken Jeong. He is in a new movie coming out with Jeremy Piven soon. So check that shit out.

(Ken you are one of the funniest fuckers out there!)

Also if you want to show asian pride, how about not just showing up for the World Baseball Classic or the World Cup. Show up on opening weekend if someone asian american has a big role. Show up to comedy shows when some asian american comic is on the bill. Go tell  your local radio stations to play some tracks from your favorite asian american musicians.

3) Loosen the Fuck up.

Most of the hate mail I get is from Asian Americans. They believe that I am not setting a good example for the next generation of kids out there. I dont tell jokes wondering if I am setting a good example. Really, the only people setting good examples for children should be their parents. Fucking raise them right. Every “raunchy, racy” joke I tell, I will have asian americans cringing and some are compelled to write me emails saying I should be ashamed of myself. Most of my material are true stories that I have experienced. Yes, I have been to a shady massage place. Yes, I drunkenly pissed on a bum. Yes, I have pulled out anal beads out of a chick and she shat. I am actually not creative enough to come up with shit, I just like retelling stories of my life and situations i have been. I am just keeping it as real as possible.

Asians have been bitching a lot about things. Like the Miley Cyrus “chink eye” picture to Abercrombie’s shirt that said  ”2 wongs dont make a white” Some things are racist in my eyes but the shit above really didnt bug me. Honestly, I was kinda annoyed that people were so pissed off about that. The Tsunami song was fucked up. But the Miley Cyrus thing wasnt bad. Pau Gasol’s picture for the Spanish Basketball team wasnt fucked up. Really, pick your battles or we will just look like whiney bitches.

(Message to Asian Dude in the the picture. Please go punch everyone in the picture and then punch yourself. Thanks!)

I am sure some of you were looking for funny in this post and I apologize. I am currently at a cafe in Koreatown and when I went to take a piss, the toilet already had some other dude’s shit nuggets. Learn how to flush you fucker! Sorry I was upset and I had a brain fart.

18 Responses to “Asian Americans In the Entertainment Industry”

1. Christine says:

   July 20, 2009 at 2:45 pm

   You bring up some good points and I’ve always researched and kept an eye on Asian American Media. Really appreciate your opinion.

   However, as someone with a B.A. in social cultural psychology with a specialization of Asian American issues, I would say the A&F shirt and Miley Cyrus incidents are very important concerns of the APA community. This isn’t a concern of “bitching” or “bickering.” In fact, I too believe in picking battles but I also believe that in a community that is extremely invisible, we cannot ignore some important factors.

   First off, the A&F shirt symbolizes the continual misunderstanding of APA issues and racial caricature of Asian Americans. Even worse, A&F’s popularity (especially with Asian Americans) allows ignorant people to think that these racist ideals are acceptable/funny and therefore tolerable. By allowing this mentality, people begin to accept/tolerate more and more serious injustices and misrepresentations of not only Asian Americans in the media but also racism.

   Same with Miley Cyrus. As sad as it sounds, we are creatures of conformity. Even worse, when a person of a celebrity status is indulging in racist behavior, others will follow. Although we may know its stupid and silly, you’d be surprised as to how ignorant and malleable the public can be.

   Besides that, I agree that Asian Americans are extremely harsh on their own kind. I too am a huge fan of Margaret Cho and other Asian American actors and actresses. However, I believe the main problem with society and most Asian Americans is that we do not know the history, theology, and psychology of Asian American media and its impact on both the individual and society.

   Despite my nit-picking critique, thank you for voicing your opinion in both a humorous and knowledgeable manner.
2. dannycho says:

   July 20, 2009 at 2:47 pm

   Thanks for the comment Christine.
3. Frank Kim says:

   July 20, 2009 at 10:47 pm

   I was a pretty big Margaret Cho fan. And yeah, I don’t agree with everything you say but I appreciate what you do.

   Special thanks for the eHarrmony Kim Jong Il parody you did. I featured on my website. It’s important to raise awareness any way we can about what’s going on in North Korea.
4. Tracy says:

   July 20, 2009 at 11:06 pm

   Great post!

   When I’m blogging I run into these issues all the time. Either Asians like everyone who is Asian no matter what and we must support or Asians hate all Asians cause they’re setting bad examples.

   I always say forget their Asian. If you see an Asian comic like yourself or an Asian actor, ignore that he/she is Asian. It’s not an Asian role, it’s a role that can be generically played by anyone and in this case just happens to be played by Asian.

   Until we do that, we’ll always fall into our own traps.

   I love your material and don’t really care that you’re Asian.
5. Peachies says:

   July 21, 2009 at 12:41 am

   Good blog, Danny.
6. dannycho says:

   July 21, 2009 at 1:33 am

   Thanks everyone for the comments!
7. rek says:

   July 21, 2009 at 3:07 am

   wordup, that’s why i fucks wit you homie!

   asian kids want asians to “make it” but they’re scared to take risks and act wild knowing damn well the most popular AND funniest movies/tv shows are raw as fuck. Superbad, Hangover, Entourage, Eastbound and Down, I could go on forever.

   i always think about the asian nights i performed raps in. mad arguments with the event organizers about why i can’t talk about my cack, coked up white slutz and drink a 40 on stage.

   Did it anyway and everyone had a good ass time.

   mufuckaz already got tu wong fu and shmagnetic north.. Give the bad guy a chance!! HA!
8. Anson says:

   July 21, 2009 at 12:32 pm

   Sick blog Danny. Couldn’t agree with you more with everything you said. Sure, shit is racist but hating on your own fellow Asians don’t do shit. Coming from someone whose been workin in this hellhole twisted town(hollywood), some things you have to just let go and keep striving to make the next generation a better place. Who cares if a Korean dude is playing a Japanese guy on Heroes. All that matters is an ASIAN guy is on tv. I seriously don’t think Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc have come together as one ASIAN community. Its still very separate.

   I think there’s two main problems that I see that always results in us Asian Americans being so powerless and retarded and such. One is Asians are cheap, period. And I’m one of them. Studios, execs, whoever, only put out Asian content only if there’s a market for it aka PAYING customers. So even if the 12% Asians in America complain about Jet Li and Jackie Chan kung fu stereotype roles, it don’t matter to them because the rest of the 88% of non Asians WILL still pay to see them and WILL make money. Even though that’s a hollywood studio sense, it still translates to everything else. FM are the hardest working brothas alive. But they do what they do because they have paying customers. If you pay and support the Asian artist that are talented and deserve to headline at the ROXY, then they will.

   Secondly, and this sounds a little more weird but I think our community seriously needs like an Al Sharpton to do our official complaining. When we hate and complain on our own, it lowers us. It makes us feel weak because its not a powerful voice. But if we had one main leader to tell everyone officially yes this is wrong and yes we need to do something about it, then we ASIANS start to build that community. When something racist happens to black people, the black community know wassup and they wait for Al Sharpton to back them up. And once he does that, the issue is noted and resolved. Whose our Al Sharpton? Whose our one main leader to say to the public that this made us less of a human being?

   Seriously though, if you wanna complain about shit and not support in the right way and you feel like there’s misrepresentation everywhere, then all I have to say is MOVE BACK TO ASIA THEN. At least over there you won’t have anything to complain about.
9. 8Asians.com » Danny Cho: Asian Americans are Killing Asians in the Entertainment Industry says:

   July 21, 2009 at 1:06 pm

   [...] Danny Cho is a comedian based in LA — you’ve seen him before on this blog, where he was Kim Jong Il in a parody video of eHarmony — and he’s pissed about the reception of Asian American actors, entertainers and comedians; not by mainstream media, but by other Asian Americans. [...]
10. dannycho says:

    July 21, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    Right on Anson. The Al Sharpton of Asian America would be hard to find though.
11. mark says:

    July 22, 2009 at 1:20 am

    Just be funny. Be successful and everything else will fall into place. You are one of the pioneers.
12. dannycho says:

    July 22, 2009 at 2:30 am

    I just want to continue to entertain. Thanks for the comment mark.
13. Dragon says:

    July 22, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    Why don’t you be the Al Sharpton? You are intelligent and well spoken.

    Go throw some shit at the mofos the next time they go ching chonging on us.
14. kev nish says:

    July 22, 2009 at 3:29 pm

    preach on brother cho. very true indeeeed
15. Todd Angkasuwan says:

    July 23, 2009 at 12:34 am

    Preach brother! 100% in agreement with you on this. There’s really nothing I can add that hasn’t been said.

    And that’s a great point that Anson brings up. An Asian American Al Sharpton would change the game!!!
16. Xander Skyrien says:

    July 23, 2009 at 12:45 am

    Hey Danny, I haven’t seen any of your work before this, but now I think I might. Thanks for this post. Now…

    I celebrate asian america (im not sure if your lowercasing is deliberate, but i can appreciate it), and when there is an asian on television, film, show, politics, or some other area of public prominance, i halfway feel compelled to support and cheer them on, because, yes–we are an even bigger minority among minorities, at least in media.

    But think of it this way, as diversity in america has matured a bit, we’ve come to expect a bit more than just “being there”. And while it’s great that DGKim is on Lost (though after he was “Agent Baker” on 24), the fact that his korean just doesn’t cut it means that in some regard he’s just a poster asian character, and that the show just wasn’t made with the asian-american in mind. You of all people should know that JJAbrams is known for stereotypical portrayals of various cultures. I’m sure most people aren’t ashamed of his presence, even if they criticize aspects of his role.

    i think deep down, the asian american minority group is very proud of the accomplisments of our most public figures, yes even the lucy lius and tila tequilas of the world. but please, dont try and say that to criticize their roles, portrayals, or giving anything other than blind support for them is somehow insulting to asian america.

    10 million strong in the U.S., we’re not a bunch of blind cheerleaders. i for one, and many others are proud of everyone’s accomplisments, yours included. but that doesn’t mean you’ll be breastfed all the way to public glory.

    thanks for the post, it actually was a really good, and funny read.
17. Comedian Viet says:

    July 23, 2009 at 8:02 am

    As a fellow Asian comic I completely agree with you. I find myself in a constant battle with myself because most of my material is about being Asian. On one side I’m afraid of getting looked at like a “stereotype” Asian comic that a lot of people tend to hate. On the other hand like you all my material has come from real life situations of me growing up in the southeastern U.S. At the same time I feel that bringing up this kind of material helps bring about awareness of messed up things in the world. SO technically we’re doing what Al Sharpton is doing, except on a much smaller scale.

    I guess when it all comes down to it we just need to be funny. Some people are going to like you and some won’t.

    You have my support man! Keep doing what you’re doing!
18. dannycho says:

    July 23, 2009 at 7:40 pm

    Thanks guys for your comments! Let’s go take this bitch over soon!