I’m a big fan of Stephen Colbert and saw that Jimmy O. Yang, of HBO Silicon Valley fame, was going to be on the show, I was curious as to learn more about him. As I’ve blogged before, I am not a big fan of his character on Silicon Valley, but I was open to learning more about him and was pleasantly surprised that he came to the U.S. at age 13 from Hong Kong, was not a model minority student, and had no idea what to do with his economics degree from UCSD, which took him five years (and he didn’t get into UCLA or USC where he wanted to go, and certainly not Yale, where the previous guest had gone). He was pretty personable and funny during the interview – his first ever on a late night talk show (though he did a stand-up act once on Arsenio Hall).
He talked to Colbert about how he got into the industry and that by coincidence, Mike Judge, one of the creators of Silicon Valley was his commencement speaker and he eventually got his break because of Judge.
Yang was on the show to promote his new book:
Here’s the promotional video he put together for the book:
Best of luck to Yang and I hope to meet him one day! You can learn more about him by checking out his website: http://www.jimmycomedy.com/
Synopsis: Honey needs time away from home to relax and get ready for the baby, so Jessica tricks her into going north to Maine (instead of south to the Keys) in pursuit of a book jacket blurb from Stephen King for A Case of a Knife to the Brain. Louis orders a new sign for Louis Huang’s Cattleman’s Ranch (disappointing me and surely countless others by not naming it Louis Huang’s Kenny Rogers’s Michael Bolton’s Cattleman’s Ranch). Grandma plans to move out, so Emery wants her room, leaving Evan alone in the room they once shared. Eddie and Nicole rebel against the school dance’s policy requiring boys to wear pants and girls to wear skirts.
Most of my heroes don’t appear on no stamps: The Jessica-Honey story is too long and only interesting because you spend the whole time looking for Misery references. I Googled the name of the diner (Downy’s Diner) and hospital (Penobscot Memorial Hospital) thinking they might be King references, but alas. I think some kind of spoof on King horror stories might have been more interesting. Unless this story is a spoof and it just flew over my head, in which case I apologize.
Synopsis: Louis has second thoughts about buying Kenny Rogers’s half of Kenny Rogers’s Michael Bolton’s Cattleman’s Ranch. This frustrates Jessica, who’s sure it’s a good deal. Jessica accuses Louis of always overthinking decisions in his life, and she flies her psychic to Orlando from D.C. to spur Louis into action.
Ever since honeys was wearing Sassoon: What was up with the lobster subplot? It feels like something thrown in just to give Matthew Chestnut something to do.
Synopsis: Eddie stuns his family when he announces he’s to be inducted into the National Honor Society. Evan isn’t surprised, but he’s furious with Eddie for not thanking him. Evan has secretly been supporting his brother’s good efforts because he’d like to visit him “at Stanford, not prison.” When Eddie says he doesn’t need Evan’s help, Evan schemes to set Eddie up for failure. Jessica, still getting notes from her editor for A Case of a Knife to the Brain, goes on a ride-along with police officer Bryson, in order to make her police language more realistic. She’s disappointed when Bryson’s work seems mostly to involve getting coffee and helping citizens bag their dog poop. Kenny Rogers tells Louis he’s going to sell back his half of Kenny Rogers’s Michael Bolton’s Cattleman’s Ranch, now dubbed Kenny O’Rogers’s Michael O’Bolton’s Cattleman’s O’Ranch in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Louis is overjoyed, but Kenny Rogers tells him he has to fire Matthew Chestnut, with whom Louis has developed a close friendship.
Know When To Fold ‘Em: This is just far too big a role for Bryson, who’s okay as a very minor character but annoying in anything larger. I’ve been glad to be rid of Mitch at Kenny Rogers’s Michael Bolton’s Cattleman’s Ranch, but Matthew Chestnut has been an equally irritating replacement. I would have welcomed his firing, but Louis keeps him aboard, which likely means we’re not through with him yet. Bleah.
Synopsis: In celebration of Chinese New Year, the Huangs have a contest to see who can go the longest speaking only in Mandarin. Grandma is apparently exempt, and the game comes down to Evan and Jessica. Their dialogue through nearly the whole episode is in Mandarin. Emery is pleased that his year of bad luck is over, and he’s eager to ask his crush Celeste to the Spring Fling. His confidence is down, so Louis tries to help, much to Emery’s displeasure. Eddie doesn’t understand why he didn’t get a red envelope from Big Auntie, with whom he’s been in a fight he wasn’t aware of.
“You tried to use Hanson against me? They’re just boys!” (Evan)
Synopsis: Evan and Jessica notice a Student of the Week at Abraham Lincoln Elementary bumpersticker on someone else’s minivan. Shocked that such a thing would exist and not go to Evan, they are determined to ramp up their Good Student game. Evan joins the School Dance committee and the French club. He organizes a school garden. And in a moment of breaking under pressure, he throws glitter in a girl’s face. He is referred to Mr. Tim, the school counselor, which Jessica does not take well, since “counselor is school language for therapist.”
Vanilla Ice: The other two (or three, depending on if you count the framework of the rival moms) stories are just kind of terrible. As soon as Louis says, “Shall we take a joint family road trip to the Grand Canyon?” I knew his part of the episode was going to be terrible.
Synopsis: Louis sees Eddie shaving for what he believes is the first time. Overjoyed that his eldest son is now a man, he extends Eddie’s bedtime, long enough so he can watch the first part of The Late Show with David Letterman on school nights. Eddie, puffed up by his new manhood, takes Louis’s declaration to mean he can decide for himself what he can do with that extra time, opting instead to spend it roaming around the neighborhood at night with his friend Barefoot Dave, who of course has no bedtime since his single-parent mom works graveyard shifts. Jessica, heartbroken that Michelle Kwan has taken silver (and not gold) at the ’98 Winter Olympics, lies to Emery and Evan, telling them that Kwan has won. The boys, upon learning the truth, develop a conspiracy theory involving a Kwan imposter, which Jessica tries to convince Nancy Kerrigan to confirm.
ICP: Honey can do whatever she wants with her hair, but that Lipinski cut did not do it for me! Also, Marvin continues to be too weird even for this show. I was into the Olympics story, as nit-witty as it was, right up until the Nancy Kerrigan cameo, which just doesn’t work. Or maybe, like the Huangs, I was rooting for Michelle.
Synopsis: Jessica’s deeply involved with edits on her novel, A Case of a Knife to the Brain, and Louis worries that he and his wife are growing apart because of it. Taking Marvin’s advice, Louis plans several surprises in order to keep the spark alive, but Jessica is not very receptive. Evan gets bumped up to seventh-grade English, where he and his classmate Emery compete to be their teacher’s favorite (it’s Tig Notaro!). It’s clear that the teacher doesn’t favor either of them, so they raise their teacher’s-pet game, asking Eddie for advice, since he seems to have had a great relationship with her.
Wack: Marvin’s getting to be a pain, and Louis’s over-the-top behavior is wearing thin. I can’t stand the way the principal and the detention teacher treat “Stripes,” the student they pretty much bully.
Synopsis: Louis finds a new group of friends through his Kenny Rogers rep, but as always, he goes overboard in making himself likable. Honey’s getting-ready habits take their toll on Emery and Evan’s planned activities with her, so they help her find a new look, beginning with the maternity wear store. Nicole has difficulty asking her crush for a date. Eddie tries to help out as wingman but he’s dismayed by Nicole’s willingness to lie about her tastes in music and movies so she can seem more compatible.
Snaps down: Except for the Nicole-Eddie story, it’s too easy to let this whole episode kind of slide right by without soaking anything in.