The Discreet Charm of Bobby Lee (Part 2)

Part One Here

APA: So now that you've been on MADtv longer..

BL: Six years, wow. Nightmare.

APA: .. and more people kind of know who you are.

BL: They don't.

APA: No?

BL: Obviously, we don't get the type of promotion that SNL gets. I'm doing little parts in movies and stuff now, but I had to work, again, really really hard for those little things. Where I think a lot of people from SNL just get offered to do things. And being on MAD, I guess it put me on the map maybe underground, but to bust out in the mainstream, it's still very difficult.

I think talent-to-talent, we're equal with those guys. I mean, I love Amy on SNL and I love Fred and all those guys. But we've got good people too. I think we have the best African Americans in any sketch show right now. I forgot their names... No, I mean we got Keegan and Jordan, who are super, super funny, and we got Nicole R.J., who is very, very funny. The one thing I love about MAD is that they hired me. I don't see sketch shows ever doing that. They took a risk. Because, they talked to me about it. "You know, he's Asian...." You know what I mean? I don't know who did it, but somebody put their foot down and said, "Why not? The dude's funnier than anyone we auditioned, we should give him a chance." And they're like.. alright. And it worked out.

APA: How often would you say that you are in sketches that rely on your Asian-ness? I mean, obviously you're going to be Asian in all the sketches, but --

BL: See that's the other thing. People go, [does a stupid voice] "How come you always do Asian parts?" What, am I supposed to play, Bill Cosby? You know what I mean? What am I supposed to do? I mean, Keegan will do Snoop Dogg. That's a black part. You know what? Because he's black! You know? I'm going to play Asian guys. And sometimes I don't. But I don't mind it. It doesn't bring me down. I get to be on TV and to do what I do.

APA: There are a few sketches you do though, like the dating one, the wingwoman sketch, where it's not about being Asian.

BL: Wingwoman, yea. The last couple years I've been on the show, I was able to go, You know what? Let me do more Curb Your Enthusiasm style, where it's more me being myself, I'm playing Bobby Lee, and then me just going out amongst the human race. Because the three-camera sitcom style sketch is dead to me. A crazy character walks into a situation, and the sketch ends.. and they've been doing that since SNL, SCTV, In Living Color, Kids in the Hall, Mr. Show, so my way of changing it up a bit is to do sketches where I'm just playing myself and going out amongst the people. I think that's what, because of reality television shows, I think that's where TV is going. I think Curb is a good example of that. I'm not really interested in writing a three-camera sketchy sketch. I do them, because it's my job, but I don't necessarily love it.

APA: One thing I wanted to ask you about: a lot of people are discovering you through YouTube

BL: Yea, YouTube helped a lot. Comedy Central helped a little because we do reruns on that. But YouTube really helped a lot. Some negative. There's some stuff on YouTube I don't like, where it's like-- why did they even put that on? It's not even sketches, it's stuff that I said five years ago in some alleyway, just screwing around, and it's on YouTube. What I don't like about YouTube are the comments. Like, "Bobby Lee is gay. Period." You know what I mean? "He should die." Those I don't care for. I should die? Because I do Connie Chung? What do you mean by that? Some people say that! "He's a chink. Chink's aren't funny." And you read that type of stuff, and it kind of brings you down. But you can see how many people have seen it, how many times it's been watched, and a couple of the sketches, I'm in the millions. The Geisha sketch is over 2 million hits, which is a good thing.

APA: I think a lot of people discovered you through YouTube. Especially a lot of people, and Asian Americans especially, who don't necessarily watch MADtv will come across your sketches on the internet, when bloggers online will post the links.

BL: Yea, yea. A good example of that is: Last year I played UCLA, probably 200 people showed up. And this year, I played and it was 4 times that amount. It was packed and they had to turn a lot of people away, and I was thinking: I was expecting a little more people, and that happened, and I think it was because of YouTube.

APA: I think that's how we got most of our exposure to your comedy.

BL: Really, you don't watch television on Saturdays?

APA: No sorry, does that disappoint you?

BL: Here's the thing. It doesn't disappoint me, it's just my anger towards Fox for not advertising the show. When Dat Pham won Last Comic Standing, people were like, "He's the funniest Asian guy in America." Because he was on a network show -- he was on NBC. Meanwhile, I was on MAD, and people still don't talk about me. So that disappoints me. If someone's going to promote that there is a guy -- they won't do that. But I think the right people see it. Casting directors. I don't get treated the way I used to get treated in rooms. Now people are nice. "Thanks for coming out." Whereas, before they were like, "Alright, do your audition. Thank you." And you leave. It's getting better.

That kind of stuff, dealing with suits, it's a whole different ballgame. They don't realize that, Dude, I'm not like.. you. I'm a drug addict. I spit on girls. Like, in a sexual way. Not in a "You piece of.." [spits] way, but in a "I love you" [spits] way. You know, like they do in porn. And so, it's weird having me going into these situations with people in suits, and they're like "We love it. We get it, buddy. we get it." And it's like, you don't get it. I once tried to have sex with a cat. I have scars on my thigh to prove it. You don't get it, dude. I don't belong here, dawg.

APA: Is that what you're trying to bring into the mainstream?

BL: What I'm trying to bring to the mainstream is that: there are stereotypical things, and people go, "Asians are very quiet, and God, they're focused." And it's like, no. And I'm not alone. I mean, my cousin Andy. I have cousins -- they should be in prison. These people are perverted and crazy, you know what I mean? Giants among giants. And it's like "Asians are great at arithmetic." And you're like, I used to snort crystal meth off of my math book. That's the only thing I did with it. It was like, chop chop chop chop, [sniffs]. And then you'd masturbate for 48 hours, and your penis would look like a Red Vine, and it wouldn't be good. For nobody. No one wins at that point, when you masturbate that much. So, you gotta promote that there are different kinds of people and every ethnicity has good guys and bad guys. I'm a good guy; I'm part of the team. Part of the A team, or B team, or um... [gets distracted by someone on the sidewalk]

APA: [pause] Are you checking out that old lady?

BL: Hey man, I don't judge. Everyone's fair game.

APA: Do you bring this type of annoyance with how Asians are seen, and how you're treated, to your writing?

BL: Well yea, but people walk around with preconceived notions about someboday, and I think it's people's jobs to reflect something else.

APA: How did you get involved in this new film, Kickin' It Old Skool?

BL: Jamie Kennedy called me and said, "Dude, I'm driving over to your house." And I said, Why? "Because I'm dropping a script off." And I've had hundreds of friends who are doing movies, and they come by and drop off a script, and then you never hear from them again [laughs]. And so I read the script and called him and said, Yea it's funny. And he said, "You gotta audition." And I read, and they were like, "Eh." Because the scene that they made me read wasn't funny at all; it was so flat. I mean, the script got better, but the scenes that my character had, I just couldn't find my muscle in it. So they had me read a couple more times. So there was a month where they went to other Asian actors, and they all said no [laughs]. I think they even went to William Hung, I don't know, and then non-Asians.

APA: So on the hierarchy [of casting Asian roles], it's William Hung, non-Asians, and then you.

BL: No, then I think it went to Sandra Oh... but anyway Jamie Kennedy, the whole time he was saying to them, "You gotta hire him." There's no one funnier. And I'm sure there are; I know there are, but that's he told them. Jamie is one of those guys; he's a fan of mine, he's a friend, he knows my particular brand of comedy, and he pushed for it and I got it. So I went to Canada. Because it's an independent movie, there wasn't really a lot of money put into ist, so you're like, no one's ever going to see this. But literally a month ago, they told me it's coming out, 2000 theaters.

APA: Can you describe the character you played?

BL: Well, I was a little worried because the character is named Aki Terazaki. And I was like, "Uh oh, here we go again...." But I didn't do an accent for it, which was a win for me. I mean, I'm one of those Asian actors -- well I'm not an actor really [laughs] -- I'm one of those Asian guys that doesn't mind doing accents. I think they're fun. There are different kinds. There's the deep "Hello, how are you," there are different tonal qualities and you can play around with it, so I don't really mind it. But I was able to play myself pretty much. There were some Asian-y things in it. But it's about this group of kids in the 1980s, and they have a break-dancing troupe called The Funky Fresh Boys, and they're good. It's a black guy, a Hispanic guy, an Asian guy, and a white guy. And the main guy in our group, the white guy, gets in a coma. He does a spin offstage, [then] 20 years he's in a coma, and he wakes up and he wants to bring his group back together. And that's where I come in. I had to breakdance in the movie, and that was very, very difficult.

APA: Did you guys have to train for it?

BL: We trained; we had this guy named Shabba-Doo. He played Ozone in Breakin' 1 and 2. He was our trainer, and he was militant. Screaming, "You're doing it wrong!" You have to understand. I don't move. I've never danced, I don't like dancing. But here I am, trying to do it, pop-locking and trying to do ground work. And at the end, they were like, "You all need body doubles." They were trying to avoid that. And then, they couldn't find a body double with my body. In Canada, they couldn't, so they did a search for my body. But they found a girl. They found a girl with my body, dawg. And she's so cool -- beautiful face -- but she has my body, you know? It's like, aw man. So when they cut, and it's dancing good, it's a woman. It's really heart-breaking. There's a chick. So either, my body's like a girl, or she's screwed.

APA: Have there been any sketches or things that you've done over the years that you've regretted?

BL: Oh yea, there's a lot of things I've regretted. That whole Joe Rogan/Mencia scandal. Have you heard of that? Well, Joe Rogan hates Carlos and he accused Carlos of stealing, and Joe knows that Carlos is a very close friend. And years ago, he caught me on camera saying Mencia steals, on tape. And I was just kidding around. I didn't know there was a camera on me. Anyway, they edited this footage together, and it didn't look good. It made me look like I was ratting out my friend. So there was a big, big battle that's still going on. It's insanity. All these things are out. But I was sucked into it. And now I'm out of it, but it caused problems between me and Carlos, and it wasn't good politically, so I regret that.

And Joe tapes 24 hours a day, so there are other things on YouTube where I was just kidding around. There's this thing where I say that I sucked my cousin's penis. You know what I mean? And I said Vietnamese are jungle people, and they taped me saying that. And now it's out there. But it really hurt me, because I don't really mean any of those things, but it goes out and then people believe that it's biblical, and etched in stone. And it's just this guy that's talking at a comedy club. It's crazy.

APA: Is that what you were talking about earlier with YouTube, how people can just take stuff and edit it?

BL: Yea, they can edit things together, make you look bad, and it does hurt, so although I adore YouTube, it does have negative aspects, and there's no way to monitor that stuff. That stuff just appears. And I've had it taken down, and it appears again. It's just people who want to put you down; what can you do? It's my fault for even saying those things. And I've apologized. I've apologized to groups and people, but it's still nuts.

APA: Where would you like your career to go?

BL: I just like working. I've done two pilots, and I have a Comedy Central deal where I'm developing my own show.

APA: What is your show about?

BL: It's more about myself, playing myself in the world. I don't know the specifics.

APA: Kind of like the sketches you've been doing on MADtv?

BL: It would be like that, but more specific, more of a story rather than have it be loose. I do want to do something that involves Koreans in Koreatown. Something that's that specific. The spas, the food, the dancing, the nightclubs.

APA: Would it be structured like Sarah Silverman's show?

BL: Her point of view is definitely in her show. And with Curb, Larry David has his own point of view. My point of view would be ethnic, more specific to ethnics. I'd be playing me, trying to pick up girls in Koreatown. And also, my parents own a clothing store, not in Koreatown but in America, so them owning a store, I don't know exactly what yet. It'll be a lot of dancing, singing, ethnic people singing. And, it should be fun. It'll be really gross. It will be gross.

But it is like Sarah's show, structurally. Sarah is one of those people -- I've always been a fan of hers, and when good people win, you root for them. And Carlos has a show and he helped a lot on this deal. So we'll see what happens.

MADtv official site

Kickin' It Old Skool official site

Translations: Attitudes and Feelings, Both Desirable and Sometimes Secretive

Part 1 | Part 2