Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Tuesday. How are you? I'm gonna say it... everything was fine until Popeye's went after God's chosen chicken sandwich. Just saying. Man, 2020 sucks, right? Everyone who wanted it to be like the 1920s, you got your wish. Watching the federal government deal with COVID-19 is like watching he Ministry of Magic deal with Voldemort's return.
Nearing the end of April, everyone’s anticipating the end of the nationwide stay-at-home order placed in all parts of the country due to the coronavirus. And people are starting to get a little crazy. Let’s just start with this fact: the state of Washington has a stay-at-home order until May 4th. Considering we’re past halfway through April, that isn’t too long from now. However, thousands of protesters in that state have called for Governor Jay Inslee to put an end to this immediately, following with the reopening of all businesses. Interesting. The mandatory social distancing guidelines that have closed down small businesses to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, has accumulated many protestors who believe that these are violations of the constitution. “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me COVID-19!” was the slogan on some of the signs of protesters who were protesting outside of the Washington State Capitol last Sunday. Along with signs like that one, people were bringing American flags, Trump flags, guns, and their kids to this protest. No masks, no face coverings, and no following of social distancing guidelines. Republican Representative Robert Sutherland claimed that they are “starting a rebellion” and will “not listen to the governor” while “taking the state back.” Sutherland, along with two other Republican lawmakers, are asking citizens to revolt against the stay-at-home order saying that if the state sends its “goons with guns, we will defend ourselves.” I guess that explains why people were peacefully marching with guns. No arrests were made, as people did peacefully protest. Governor Jay Inslee mentioned his frustrations in wanting to protect free speech, but also the lack in understanding that this coronavirus pandemic should not filter into politics. As people are losing their lives from the coronavirus outbreak, Inslee further took his argument against President Donald Trump. President Donald Trump said in recent messages days before the Washington protest to, “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!,” “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!,” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA,” supporting protesters of stay-at-home orders. Inslee claims that the Washington protest stems from President Trump “formenting domestic rebellion,” and in a statement, he said, “We’ve seen it before. The president is fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies even while his own administration says the virus is real and is deadly.” According to FOX, although Washington has 11,948 confirmed coronavirus cases and 634 COVID-19 related deaths, Inslee plans to reopen in phases, starting with businesses. I certainly hope these people aren’t biting their tongues in the near future. Who knows how everyone else around the United States will act if the spread of the coronavirus increases? I personally am going to pray for the opposite. I want to keep hearing more positive coronavirus updates. I wonder what the health care workers of these states have to say?
A video in which Pope Francis is seen accepting a bottle of Oban malt whiskey from some Scottish student priests also shows the Holy Father’s lighter side, as he reportedly declares upon receiving the gift that the Scotch-Irish delicacy is the “real holy water.” According to Director Tony Kearney, who filmed a documentary called Priest School for the BBC with his company Solus Productions, he was filming the students meeting the Pope when they handed him the bottle. Instead of being stuffy or just putting the bottle to the side like so many other gifts he receives (he’s the Pope, after all), the Holy Father held the bottle of whiskey up as if it were a sacrament and said, “questa e la vera acqua santa," which means “this is the real holy water.” The Pope then, according to Kearney, laughed hard at his own joke. Kearney also said the Pope was incredibly down to earth and was super friendly with everyone. Of course, though, a bunch of nerds at the Vatican wanted to edit out that quip from the video, saying they didn’t want the Pope to be seen endorsing whiskey. Unfortunately, Kearney had agreed to give the Vatican final say on the footage in exchange for being allowed to film there so the clip was ultimately cut from the documentary. But, whatever, we all know the cool Pope really knows what’s up. Pope Francis used to be a bouncer in Buenos Aires. He’s a Jesuit. Obviously Pope Frank likes to throw back a few. Scotch, whiskey, beer, Rumpleminze, a prairie fire shot, a couple of Jaeger bombs, a Cincinnati Colon Eraser. You name it, Pope Francis drinks it. Also, who would be upset by the Pope saying this? Saying that he enjoys alcohol? The wine-soaked Italians and French? The Spanish, who don’t even eat dinner until ten because they need five courses of booze appetizers first? The Polish drowning in vodka every weekend? It sure can’t be Mexico, Central, and South America. The Irish?!?!?! Make the Pope Cool Again.
A California man was tragically shot and killed inside an Eastbay Walmart store after he threatened police officers with a baseball bat. The man, identified as 33-year-old Steven Taylor of San Leandro, first arrived at Walmart around 3:30 p.m. San Leandro Police were dispatched to the store after getting a report of a robbery. That’s when officers found no signs of threat taking place when they arrived on the scene. Officers then quickly encountered the suspect as he was swinging a baseball bat near the entrance inside the store. According to Lt. Ted Henderson officers used their tasers to detain the man but were unsuccessful. Through a video, one can hear one of the officers shooting at the suspects, striking him in the upper torso. The man is then seen taking a few steps forward and dropping the bat, ultimately collapsing to the floor. When asked several questions about the force from officers, Lieutenant Henderson stated if there was a taser deployment, there probably had to be some type of perceived threat and the officers were worried about their safety. According to the San Leandro Police Department, the officer who shot the suspect is a 25-year veteran and is now under administrative leave. Through a statement, a Walmart spokesperson stated they appreciate the quick response of the local authority, and luckily no one else was injured. They noted they will continue to assist with law enforcement and refer all requests for information to the police department. The San Leandro Walmart is currently closed for investigation for the time being, and the Alameda County district attorney and the San Leandro Police Department are currently investigating the shooting. Authorities stated at least twenty people are being interviewed as witnesses of the shooting.
Here's a nice story I thought I'd tell you... Three years ago, Liz Smith, director of nursing at Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts ran into then 5-month-old Gisele, while going about her normal day. Smith learned that Gisele had been born prematurely at 29 weeks weighing 1 pound, 14 ounces. The baby had neonatal abstinence syndrome, which is a result of her birth mother using heroin, methadone, and cocaine during pregnancy. Gisele was in withdraw from the drugs and required a gastrostomy tube for 16 hours a day. The state of Massachusetts had taken custody of Gisele in October 2016 after she was born at another hospital, but was quickly transferred to Franciscan Children’s where Smith worked. Her lungs needed specialized care and required a feeding tube. Smith quickly noticed that Giselle did not receive any visitors during her five months at the hospital, which meant she would probably go to foster care. The now 45-year-old quickly decided she wanted to help the girl, and at 9-months-old Smith got the green light from the hospital to take Gisele home. The state agreed to let Smith take care of Gisele due to her experience as a nurse and trusted she would take good care of the infant. During her time of fostering, Gisele’s birth parents were allowed supervised weekly visits, but the state ultimately determined they were incapable of caring for the infant and their rights were terminated. Nine months after, and no appeal from her parents, Smith decided to go through with the official adoption. “The day I got a phone call with the adoption date was the day that I was jumping up and down. They said ‘October 18th.’ And it’s my grandmother’s birthday and I just started crying." When the judge referred to Smith as "mom,” it finally sunk in. "I think that’s where I realized I was a parent.” Fast forward to 2020, Gisele is now a 3-year-old ball of spontaneity. Giselle still needs to use a supplemental feeding tube, but has turned into a healthy child who apparently loves cheese, avocados, and pizza. This is such an emotional and beautiful story. Not gonna lie, I shed a tear here and there. Can you blame me? I guess some of us are meant to be on this earth to help others. Smith is the perfect example of it. Let’s all live our lives like her’s, she’s going places.
Watch out! A warning to all cell phone users of a new text message scam that is targeting people nationwide. Police are sending out warnings about getting suspicious text messages concerning COVID-19 testing. The text message starts out by claiming that the receiver of the message came into contact with someone who has tested positive for or shown symptoms of the coronavirus. The sender then proceeds to recommend that the receiver of the text message self-isolates or gets tested. This is a scam! The link that follows the rest of the text message is what the Thomaston Police Department in Maine says could be a phishing scam. They continued on to say, “The virus is not the only invisible enemy… Be vigilant against all threats!” Clicking on the link in this text message scam could lead to a virus that gets your personal information. A photo of the alert shows what the text messages look like.
These scam COVID-19 text messages have been sent to seniors posing as the U.S. Department of Health. These scammers are telling receivers of this message that they need to click the link to take a mandatory online COVID-19 test in order to receive the government stimulus payment. Photos of this text message scam have been circulating everywhere and need to continue to be spread. Who knew that cell phone users would experience a pandemic of text message scams as well? We can only hope that no one else falls victim as we alert the public about the scam COVID-19 text messages. The TPD said, “It is not a message from any official agency. It is however a gateway for bad actors to find their way into your world.” Ain’t that the truth. It’s a simple call to action to share on social media and with your friends and family.
Since this whole coronavirus business some churches are getting clever with their signs...
With everyone on lockdown, the banana dolphins are finally returning to the sea, nature is healing, we are the virus.
It's good to wear a mask and gloves when you go out but some people are taking it a little bit too far.
Hahaha. Whatever works. So, for fun sometimes I like to look up "Foghat" on Twitter to see what people are talking about. This is a tweet I saw recently...
I wish I could see what Foghat album that is. Okay, so, as I mentioned there's protestors protesting in different cities... here's a real protestor sign...
Ugh. This is March versus April...
Okay, I think I know what will make you happy. This pic of "dog food."
You're welcome. Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York here is...
Top Phive Things Said By People Who Don't Want To Work Out In Lockdown
5. Love being told that lockdown isn't an excuse to stop working out by rich people with luxury home gyms.
4. I wanted to get out of this quarantine in shape. Well, I guess "circle" is a shape after all.
3. Honestly before quarantine I had no idea I could get in shape by doing 20 minute no equipment workouts in my room, and if I had, I probably would've done absolutely nothing regardless.
And the number one thing said by someone who don't want to work out in lockdown is...
1. I'm using this quarantine time to diet, exercise, and better myself... nah, just kidding. I'm eating an ice cream sandwich and man crying in the dark.
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, so, you know I live in Florida, right? There's stuff that happens in Florida that happens no other place...
Florida, Florida, Florida. This is exactly why people do not respect you. As some breaches in Florida reopened Friday evening for the first time in nearly one month due to COVID-19, not everyone seemed to heed the government’s warning about social distancing. Basically, as soon as the beach opened at 5 p.m. there were several crowds of cheering people who quickly descended upon Jacksonville Beach. Several people were seen sunbathing, which is an activity that Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry said he would prohibit. But no, these people don’t seem to listen and are exposing everyone even more. Several photos were taken showing people running on the very crowded beach, as others played volleyball with friends and family and surfed within the first hour to the beach open to the public. In an effort to enforce the proper guidelines that should be taken, Florida police were also spotted issuing warnings to people and posted signs telling people to “Do your part. Stay 6 feet apart. Help keep the Beach open.” Which is the opposite of what all these people are doing, which is terrifying for most of us. Especially since under current government mandates that all social gatherings must be limited to 50 people or less. So as expected, social media being the way it is, started to bash on Florida and the government for making the decision to reopen the beach. Several Twitter users also expressed concern about the behavior which could affect Florida as a whole. Several users also shared their disappointment at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after he was seen in a video putting his mask on incorrectly during the live television broadcast. So, they decided to fuel the fire. In Florida, reports of coronavirus increased over 1,400 just this weekend, which is the largest amount in the reported cases to date. According to the Florida Department of Health as of April 18th, 2020, there have been at least 24,745 confirmed cases of a coronavirus in the state itself, with a death toll of 726. But no, that number did not scare Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry either, who announced that Duval County beaches and parks would reopen so long as people followed social distancing guidelines and participated in the “only essential activities” including biking, running, walking, and swimming. Luckily for us and for the safety of others, he did note that should those guidelines not be followed, the beaches could potentially be closed again. Basically, it will stay open if beachgoers do their part and follow the rules by complying with the times, social distancing, and guidelines required. The beaches are said to be open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. local time and then again from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Although most of us can agree this is probably a bad idea, and will probably make self-isolation last longer, Florida thinks it’s okay to put everyone at risk. Honestly, I think this is a terrible idea. You’re basically exposing this whole state even more because people are bored inside and want some fresh air. I can’t wait for this to go south.
This defiant vector for disease...
Okay, it's time for my daily live look at Port Jefferson...
Looks like a beautiful day and nothing going on.
President Donald Trump is wrongly casting blame on governors and the Obama administration for shortages in coronavirus testing and declaring victory over what he calls relatively low death rates in the U.S. That’s too soon to tell. A look at his claims over the weekend, also covering the economy: TESTING TRUMP: [on governors urging wider availability of virus tests] “They don’t want to use all of the capacity that we’ve created. We have tremendous capacity. They know that. The governors know that. The Democrat governors know that; they’re the ones that are complaining.” Trump’s assertion that governors are not using already available testing capacity is contradicted by one of his top health advisers. He’s also wrong that Democrats are the only ones expressing concerns about the adequacy of COVID-19 testing; several Republican governors also point to problems. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, told the Associated Press that the U.S. does not yet have the critical testing and tracing procedures needed to begin reopening the nation’s economy. “We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we’re not there yet,” Fauci, a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, said Tuesday. Among Fauci’s top concerns: that there will be new outbreaks in locations where social distancing has eased, but public health officials don’t yet have the capabilities to rapidly test for the virus, isolate any new cases and track down everyone that an infected person came into contact with. His concerns are echoed by several Republicans. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, on Friday said his state’s testing capacity was inadequate and urged a larger role for the federal government. He said states have been competing with each other to try to get more testing supplies, a process he described as “a slog.” “It’s a perilous set of circumstances trying to figure out how to make this work, and until we’ve got the testing up to speed... which has got to be part of the federal government stepping in and helping... we’re just not going to be there.” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, plans to keep applying pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to address the rationing of a key component that is necessary to produce tests. He said full testing capacity can’t be reached unless it is more widely distributed. Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Sunday called the lack of virus testing “probably the number one problem in America, and has been from the beginning of this crisis.” “And I can tell you, I talk to governors on both sides of the aisle nearly every single day,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The administration, I think, is trying to ramp up testing, and trying... they are doing some things with respect to private labs. But to try to push this off to say that the governors have plenty of testing, and they should just get to work on testing, somehow we aren’t doing our job, is just absolutely false. ” Trump said, “Some partisan voices are attempting to politicize the issue of testing, which they shouldn’t be doing, because I inherited broken junk.” “We inherited a broken, terrible system.” His repeated insistence that the Obama administration is to blame for initial delays in testing is wrong. The novel coronavirus did not exist until late last year, so there was no test to inherit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instead struggled to develop its own test for the coronavirus in January, later discovering problems in its kits sent to state and county public health labs in early February. It took the CDC more than two weeks to come up with a fix to the test kits, leading to delays in diagnoses through February, a critical month when the virus took root in the U.S. Not until February 29th did the FDA decide to allow labs to develop and use their own coronavirus diagnostic tests before the agency reviews them, speeding up the supply. Previously, the FDA had only authorized use of a government test developed by the CDC. Meantime the U.S. bypassed a test that the World Health Organization quickly made available internationally. Trump has said that test was flawed; it wasn’t. “The United States has produced dramatically better health outcomes than any other country. On a per capita basis, our mortality rate is far lower than other nations of western Europe, with the lone exception of possibly Germany. You hear we have more death. But we’re a much bigger country than any of those countries by far.” His suggestion that the U.S. response to the coronavirus has been better than many other countries’ because its mortality rate is “far lower” is unsupported and misleading. In each country, for instance, the age and overall health of the population are important factors. Many countries in western Europe such as Italy have an older population than the U.S., and seniors are at an especially high risk of death from COVID-19. Beyond age, underlying health conditions increase risk, too. Indeed, an AP analysis of available state and local data found nearly one-third of U.S. deaths are among African-Americans, with black people representing about 14% of the population in the areas covered in the analysis. Health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and asthma are more common in the black community. But more broadly, it’s too early to know the real death rate from COVID-19 in any country. Look at a count kept by Johns Hopkins University, and you can divide the number of recorded deaths with the number of reported cases. The math nevertheless provides a completely unreliable measurement of death rates, and the Johns Hopkins tally is not intended to be that. First, the count changes every day as new infections and deaths are recorded. More important, every country is testing differently. Knowing the real denominator, the true number of people who become infected, is key to determining what portion of them die. Some countries, the U.S. among them, have had trouble making enough tests available. When there’s a shortage of tests, the sickest get tested first. Even with a good supply of tests, someone who’s otherwise healthy and has mild symptoms may not be tested and thus go uncounted. The only way to tell how many went uncounted early on is to do a completely different kind of testing... blood tests of the population to find how many people bear immune system antibodies to the virus, something only now starting in selected places. “China was supposed to catch us. For years, I’ve heard, ‘by 2019, China will catch us.’ There’s only one problem: Trump got elected in 2016. That was a big difference. And we were going leaps and bounds above China.” No matter who got elected in 2016... Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton... China’s economy could not have caught up to America’s. Even if the U.S. economy had not grown at all since 2016, China’s gross domestic product... the broadest measure of economic output... would have had to have surged by 79% in three years to pull even with America’s. That comes to growth of more than 21% a year... something even China’s super-charged economy has never approached. Before the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese economy had been slowly narrowing the gap because every year it grows much faster than America’s. In 2019, for example, the International Monetary Fund predicted Chinese GDP to increase 6.2%, more than double the 2.6% growth it expects for the United States. The global pandemic isn’t expected to change that trend line: last week, the IMF said the U.S economy will fall 5.9% this year and China’s will manage to grow 1.2%. That means China has got a long way to go to surpass the U.S., whether Trump is president or not.
The 121st book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...
Mike Reiss will be on the Phile tomorrow. Okay, wanna laugh?
A man wakes up in the hospital, bandaged from head to foot. The doctor comes in and says, "Ah, I see you've regained consciousness. Now, you probably won't remember, but you were in a pile-up on the freeway. You're going to be okay, you'll walk again and everything, but... something happened. I'm trying to break this gently, but the fact is, your willy was chopped off in the wreck and we were unable to find it." The man groans, but the doctor goes on, "You've got $9,000 in insurance compensation coming and we have the technology now to build you a new willy that will work as well as your old one did... better in fact! But the thing is, it doesn't come cheap. It's $1,000 an inch." The man perks up at this. 'So," the doctor says, "it's for you to decide how many inches you want. But it's something you'd better discuss with your wife. I mean, if you had a five inch one before, and you decide to go for a nine incher, she might be a bit put out. But if you had a nine inch one before, and you decide only to invest in a five incher this time, she might be disappointed. So it's important that she plays a role in helping you make the decision." The man agrees to talk with his wife. The doctor comes back the next day. "So," says the doctor, "have you spoken with your wife?" 'I have," says the man. 'And has she helped you in making the decision?' 'Yes, she has,' says the man. 'And what is it?' asks the doctor. "We're getting granite countertops."
Today's guest is an American actor, comedian, and writer. His debut stand-up album, "Model Minority" is available on iTunes and Amazon. Please welcome to the Phile... Joel Kim Booster.
Me: Hey, Joel, welcome to the Phile. How are you?
Joel: Hello!
Me: Where are you from, Joel?
Joel: I was adopted from South Korea as a baby and raised by white evangelicals in a quiet, mostly white, Chicago suburb.
Me: Did you have any brothers and sisters?
Joel: I had two older siblings who my parents' biological children.
Me: In your stand-up you talk about your parents were strict, religious and dedicated to home schooling him so you wouldn't learn about sex and evolution, am I right? Is that fair to say?
Joel: Yeah, it's a lot and I also cannibalized my life in my career so I can't get too mad when people ask evasive questions of the how's and whys of my upbringing. It's definitely wild, I have a lot of asterisks next to my childhood.
Me: Did you ever go to regular school? My son was home schooled pretty much all his school life.
Joel: I went to high school and pretty much when I was in my senior year everything changed.
Me: Like how?
Joel: I've been begging them for years, since pretty much when I understood what school was, I wanted to go. They were very nervous about me being exposed to sex and evolution and things that they couldn't control. I finally wore them down and they sent me in my junior year. Then a month of being in public high school I had come out of the closet, smoked weed for the first time, and drank for the first time, and became sexually active.
Me: What a great year you had, am I right? Hahaha.
Joel: Well, this was all in the month of October. It was a big month for me. There were a lot of anniversaries to celebrate on top of each other.
Me: Why did you do all this in just a short time, Joel?
Joel: I think because they held me down, they had just put so much pressure on me my entire life and held me back from experiencing anything. I think as soon as it was available to me I let loose and went wild.
Me: You said before you know you were gay before you were Asian, am I right? Haha.
Joel: That's the line, yeah.
Me: Is that a true story? How is that possible, Joel?
Joel: That is true. I mean I remember at four telling my brother and sister I liked looking at David Hasselhoff naked more than I liked looking at the girls naked. It wasn't until probably around six or seven years old I really had sexualized rape as a concept even. Because when they homeschooled us it was just me and my family unit for the most part. I wasn't out in the world, I had friends in the neighborhood or whatever but everything just felt so normal to me. And then my mom's side of the family is mostly from the south and I remember we would go to Alabama semi frequently to visit family. My grandparents had a big weeding anniversary and it was a huge family reunion and I will always remember we got this picture that we had taken at the family reunion and I was the only Asian person at the family reunion. I will always remember at looking and observing this picture and realizing that I looked different than everyone else in my family. Everyone else in my family have roughly the same coloring, the same hair color, the same everything. Then there's just me.
Me: How did you feel when you realized this? A lot of angst?
Joel: There wasn't a lot of angst but it was the sort of beginning that was this euphoria that starts to happen when I started to conceptualize all these sort of ideas about race and being treated differently and all of that stuff. My parents did a really great job though of treating me not treating me any differently me and my sister and allowing me to explore. They were always like "if you want to learn Korean go to the Korean rec center, we'll find resources for you." They never pushed it on me neither, they just sort of had a healthy approach to it which is "this is a part of you and we want you to experience it if you want. If you don't then you don't." I think I was too young to really want to embrace it. I just wanted to be like everyone else so I sort of said no, I'm a Booster and that's it. I don't need to learn Korean and boy, do I regret it now.
Me: I have to tell you that I saw you before on "Conan" and thought you did a great job. Here's a screen shot of you on the show...
Me: When did you realize you wanted to talk about your life so much in your stand-up?
Joel: I think I definitely took a lot of cues from stand-ups that I've been observing for a while like Kumail Nanjiani and John Mulaney was sort of big and Tig Notaro, they were big early influences for me. When I started doing stand-up in Chicago I didn't really know I was doing stand-up. I started doing these story telling shows and it wasn't until I moved to New York I really started to learn how to edit and craft and write the punchlines around the story. I just felt more fulfilled when I got a laugh than any other moment in telling a story. It sort of felt that that's what I should do.
Me: When I did stand-up I didn't really talk about personal things, and a lot of stand-ups don't, but you do. Was it hard or easier for you to do that?
Joel: I'll say that I love those jokes and I'm proud of those jokes on my album, especially about my upbringing and the stuff from my past, they'll still be moments when I go back to that in jokes that I'm working on now. I will say a lot pf my early days as a stand-up I was really fighting against an "imposter syndrome" like that's not for me to do and write those observation jokes because no one gives a shit about my observation as a XYZ whatever and so I should stuck to these stories, I should stick to these small stories. I really had to tell myself no, I'm not setting myself apart as an XYZ comedian, I am a stand-up comedian. But at the end of the day what I do and what I excel at is exactly the same as all of the other boys that I was coming up with. I had to believe that I could write a certain kind of joke without having to lean on anything else.
Me: You were labelled as an "alt-comic" when you started out. What is that and why were you called that?
Joel: I wasn't telling jokes as a straight white guy. I always got that label which was always so strange to me because the structure and the sort of form that I was using to write jokes is pretty traditional. It wasn't that different than what Mulaney is doing, I'm not saying quality, he's an incredible comic and I still have a long way to go. There were so many comics that I was coming up with at the time, when you watch them do comedy they're doing something completely new and they're pushing the form and sort of perfecting it in an interesting way and I'm getting up on stage and telling a set-up and a punchline. How is that different? I don't know how that makes that "alt."
Me: Do you ever feel like the Asian community is watching you closely as you're "representing" them?
Joel: Um, it's hard to say a little bit. I never tried to reverse engineer it. Early on especially after my first "Conan" appearance after I got on TV the first time there is this weird pressure of like I am representing this huge community and there's a responsibility there. I take that seriously to a point but for me I don't go in to writing a joke going "how is this going to reflect back on the Asian community?" I talk about it in my set too, there are people that are mad. The biggest trolls I have in the comments section, yes I know I'm not supposed to read the comments but I'm a sociopath and I love to read the comments. People who are most angry and are the most upset about my success are Asian men.
Me: What? Why is that do you think?
Joel: I think there's an anger specifically from straight Asian men about the kind of representation they're seeing and if it's not exactly correct. It's sort of like an off shoot of these men's rights activists who sort of see my success as another cog in the Hollywood conspiracy to feminism and humiliate Asian men. It's so weird to see myself a part of that narrative, I don't think my success is a result of some conspiracy. In fact I think I'm successful despite a lot of that stuff. So it's always interesting to me to sort of dip in that world and see the problems they have. And gay men get upset because I talk about sex very freely in my sets, and that's just leaning into the stereotypes of gay men being promiscuous. I think some of the fun for me is subverting expectations and not rejecting who my ethnicity is. I am sexual and promiscuous but I also read. I think there's a lot of things that could be true about a person and I think the problem is not the stereotypes, it's the one dimension.
Me: Do you ever feel pressure in what you're doing stand-up about? Does that make sense?
Joel: The pressure of being mythologized for saying "if I like X" or "I do X" in the back of my mind I know there's going to be some people in the audience will be like "I don't know gay people or Asian people did X, Y and Z" and that's a frustrating thing. Or just broadly, every time I step out on stage I know, especially then I'm touring in the midwest or the south or places where they're probably not seeing a lot of Asian people or a lot of gay people especially on stage I know when I step out on stage I may be the first one they've ever seen and if I do poorly they're going to walk away and say, "See, gay people aren't funny." Or "Asian people aren't funny." That is a pressure that John Mulaney doesn't have. If John Mulaney bombs no one is going to walk away from the show and say, "White guys really aren't funny, I knew it." It's not something that Mulaney has to deal with and it's a frustration. Even when I was successful, when I got my special or got my album or any of the success that I had I constantly hear it from people who say "you only got that because you're deserve." That's always a question at least with people. There are plenty of people who I don't think are funny who have gotten a lot of success in this industry. When it's a white straight guy it's always a question, how did they get that? With me the question is immediately answered. "He got that because he's diverse" and that is frustrating for me.
Me: So, how do you want it to be?
Joel: I like to to be at least a question. I'd like it for people to struggle at a bar and figure it out.
Me: Where did the title "Modern Minority" of your album come from?
Joel: It's a play on the idea that Asian people are the "modern minority," the myth that look at how successful Asian people are in this country. It's often used as a wedge to sort of degrade African-Americans and Latinos of if they could do it why can't you. And of course there's a lot wrong with that, specifically if you broke it down by Asian group. Not all Asian people are doing well in this country and that's sort of not only disrespectful to minority groups but not helpful to groups that are struggling in this country blah blah blah blah. A part of it is I am hot and I like to talk about that. Especially because it's not associated with Asian men a lot in this culture and so I wanted to play a little bit on that.
Me: Joel, thanks so much for being on the Phile. I hope it was fun. Stay well.
Joel: Thanks for having me. I'm always shocked when people want to hear the nonsense that I have to say.
That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to Joel Kim Booster for a great interview. The Phile will be back tomorrow with Mike Reiss. Spread the word, not the turd... or virus. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.
I don't want you, cook my bread, I don't want you, make my bed, I don't want your money too, I just want to make love to you. - Willie Dixon
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