phil yu

Day 279: Laughs in the Empire

After the show with the hilarious Jenny Yang.

After the show with the hilarious Jenny Yang.

Me and the missus skipped tonight’s episode of Fresh Off the Boat and the Internet after-show Fresh Off the Show. We’re not weekly TV series watchers, preferring to binge on shows on Netflix whenever we have time, but we always watch FOTB and FOTS.

Not tonight, though. While we missed the show and Phil and Jenny’s always-funny recap, we couldn’t miss Jenny at the Improv in Ontario. She was the host for an event that featured Asian American female comedians and that’s something we don’t get very often in the Inland Empire.

There was no way we were not gonna be in the audience tonight … especially after Jenny tweeted out a code for 50 percent off tickets.

We laughed, we were inspired by seeing each woman (and one man for “diversity”) own the stage, and my wife got a kick out of Jenny giving me a shout-out at during the show.

I like to think my wife thinks I’m cool (I mean, she married me and all), but having the host call out your name onstage? My coolness factor just grew exponentially and I finally get to use the hashtag #humblebrag.

Thanks, Jenny!

 

Day 272: Boy II Man

Boy II Man

Boy II Man

I have to admit, I was apprehensive about the second season of Fresh Off the Boat (yes, I still get repsweats). Would it continue to deliver laughs along the lines of the first season? Or would it fall victim to the dreaded sophomore slump?

Two episodes in and all is well in the Huang world. The show, despite losing the real Eddie Huang as narrator, is still cracking me up. And tonight’s homage to the Boyz II Men classic “End of the Road” was nothing short of genius.

Remember in the movie Swingers when the guys joked about the Goodfellas steadicam restaurant scene and then re-did it a few moments later? Tonight was Fresh Off the Boat’s moment, when Eddie is down in the dumps about Nicole then he’s suddenly living out the Boyz II Men video.

Hilarious … and it only got better as the Huang men later sang an acapella version, complete with the “Girl …” breakdown. My wife and i were literally laughing out loud.

Shout-out to Phil Yu, Jenny Yang, and the #FreshOffTheShow crew for the best after-show wrap-up on the web. Go here next week to join the party; the show begins about five minutes after Fresh Off the Boat.

Day 112: Fresh Off the End

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Me, Jenny Yang, and Phil Yu on the set of Fresh Off the Show.

Last night I got to meet two of my favorite social media personalities, Phil Yu and Jenny Yang (as well as these good people). There was a screening of the Fresh Off the Boat season finale at the Japanese American National Museum, so Mrs. G. and I made the trip out from the Inland Empire. It was fun being part of the live studio audience for the Fresh Off the Show recap and review show hosted by Phil and Jenny. In keeping with the ’90s era of the show I wore my old Kobe No. 8 jersey for good luck, in hopes that ABC renews Fresh Off the Boat.

My wife and I always talk about how cool it is to not only have an Asian-American-themed show on network television, but also a fan show by and for Asian Americans. Phil and Jenny are the perfect hosts for the weekly review and discussion that followed each episode: they’re both intelligent, articulate, and funny. Last night’s wrap-up was more of the same, with a terrific panel discussion and free beer afterwards (unfortunately, the long trip home prevented us from partaking).

So, fingers crossed for another season of both shows. It just wouldn’t be right to end either after only one season. And I don’t want to wait another 20 years between Asian American comedies.

Day 97: Fresh Off the Happy Hour

Tacos and cupcakes, yum!

Tacos and cupcakes, yum!

Mrs. G. and I didn’t feel like cooking tonight, so it was time for Taco Tuesday at our local taqueria and cupcake happy hour at our local designer cupcake shop. The food was good, filling, and inexpensive, but more importantly it was devoured in time for our favorite show: Fresh Off the Boat.

I’ve talked about my love of the show before (here, here, and here) and while watching the after-show Fresh Off the Show I learned that the final two episodes are airing soon. It’s been a critical success so far, which should guarantee its renewal, but you never know what Hollywood executives are thinking.

So, in keeping with the positive #RenewFOTB vibes on my Twitter feed, here’s hoping ABC does the right thing with this groundbreaking show. I want more adventures of Eddie and the Huang family. I want more diversity on the air. Most of all, I want more quality television.

Day 48: Two on Tuesday

Statement of Accomplishment from coursera.com

Statement of Accomplishment from coursera.com

Two things that made my Tuesday:

1. I received my Statement of Accomplishment (with Distinction) for completing the U.S Department of State and the University of Oregon’s online course Shaping the Way We Teach English 1: The Landscape of English Language Teaching. I enjoyed this class on coursera.com so much that I immediately enrolled in second part of the course that started last week.

2. I got another shout-out from two of my favorite social media personalities Phil Yu and Jenny Wang during their Fresh Off the Boat post-show chat. I could get used to these weekly 15 seconds of Internet fame. I’ll wait until at least next week before hiring an agent.

Day 41: Fresh Off The Air

Fresh Off The Air 2/10/15

Fresh Off The Air 2/10/15

This made my night: getting two of my social media heroes to laugh at one of my tweets. My wife was impressed!

Jenny Yang is a brilliant comedian based in L.A. and Phil Yu is the genius behind Angry Asian Man. I’ve been following both for a while; their thoughts on Asian American culture are smart, funny, and a welcome sight on my Twitter feed.

Tonight, they hosted a live chat after the two new episodes of Fresh Off The Boat. It was fun listening to them re-hash the plots and going over favorite moments. Viewers were encouraged to tweet #FreshOffTheAir and at the end of the show, Jenny said my name (correctly, thank you!) and read my tweet. I’m glad my ’90s-era joke was met with such enthusiasm.

I’ll write more someday about how great it is to see so many Asian Americans in the media, from youtube to network television. For now, I’m going to re-watch my 5 seconds of Internet fame on my laptop while pretending to search for things to do on Valentine’s Day.

(If the video isn’t embedded below, click on the link and go to the 38:00 mark.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIMMRohe_kg