This is part of our cover series on Asian American YouTube stars. Check out our recent profiles on Wong Fu Productions, Dumbfoundead, Megan Lee, David Choi, Ryan Higa, Just Kidding Films and Clara Chung
Kevin Wu / kevjumba
actor, writer, comedian
Thank goodness for high school stress, or we might have never met the smooth-talking comic Kevin Wu … or his dad, YouTube’s token “DILF,” the equally adorable and hilarious Papa Wu who gets pranked to no end. The Houston born-and-bred wisecracker is the Renaissance Man of YouTube comedy. His rise to stardom began when he was in high school, escaping the pressures of SATs and college apps by animatedly talking straight into his webcam about everything from “elbow zits” to stereotypes. He’s collaborated with most of his fellow YouTube counterparts, attended two years at the University of California, Davis and even created a YouTube charity called JumbaFund. “I want to try everything,” says the 20-year-old. “I want to try having my own show; I want to do acting; I definitely want to pursue stand-up. I don’t want to be restricted by one thing.” Wu will also be appearing on a national television show, so be sure to catch him on the real tube sometime in the fall. Hint: He just might be racing around the world with a companion—his one-and-only Papa Wu.
By Julie Ma
Photographed by Eric Sueyoshi in Pasadena, California.
Check out a video of Kevin and his dad after the jump!
This is part of our cover series on Asian American YouTube stars. Check out our recent profiles on Wong Fu Productions, Dumbfoundead, Megan Lee, David Choi, Ryan Higa and Just Kidding Films
Clara Chung / claracmusic
singer, songwriter, all-around musician
By Elizabeth Eun
Photographed by Daniel Chae
Check out Clara’s official music video for “Offbeat” after the jump!
This is part of our cover series on Asian American YouTube stars. Check out our recent profiles on Wong Fu Productions, Dumbfoundead, Megan Lee, David Choi and Ryan Higa
Joe Jo and Bart Kwan / justkiddingfilms
writers, directors, comedians
It’s hard to get past the laugh-out-loud, sometimes crass and generally facetious humor, but once you do, it’s almost heartwarming to see what the boys behind Just Kidding Films are trying to do. By producing comedic videos about long-standing stereotypes, Joe Jo, 26, and Bart Kwan, 25, end up throwing up a big middle finger to everyone who thinks archaic conventions should still stand. In their Korean History videos, Jo and Kwan transform into Korean ajeoshis, complete with pama-ed wigs and golf hats, and break down why Koreans will win the World Cup (because they invented the ball), or how to get a date for Valentine’s Day (buy a Mercedes, get her drunk and then beat her). But for all their joking, this duo is just trying to keep it real. “For the majority of our videos, we try to teach some moral or lesson. [The skits] focus mostly on pursuing your dreams, to not be a female dog, and to go after what you want,” says Kwan.
By Elizabeth Eun
Photographed by Nathaniel Fu in Los Angeles.
Check out a video of JK repping Korea with Dumbfoundead and PK after the jump!
This is part of our cover series on Asian American YouTube stars. Check out our recent profiles on Wong Fu Productions, Dumbfoundead, Megan Lee and David Choi
By David Yoo
Everyone who knows my mom knows that she’s a magician in the kitchen, and I’ve been trying for years to learn how to cook Korean food like her. You’d think she’d want to pass on her legacy to her children, but that’s not the case. I swear she’s intentionally horrible at teaching me how to cook because she refuses to give me a straight recipe, no matter how hard I pester her in the kitchen when we visit. How much soy sauce do I add? A little. What’s a little? Less than a lot. Can you give me a more specific answer? No. How about a pinch, do I add a pinch? You can’t pinch soy sauce. Well then, how much garlic do you dice up? I just do it for a while, she says, visibly annoyed.
Sometimes I surprise them with a home-cooked Korean meal when they visit, but it’s always a disaster. I tried making them galbi last summer, but the gas tank on my grill was almost empty, so I merely browned the surface; the inside looked like a Fig Newton. My mom frowned when she cut into the gelatinous piece of meat. “It’s a fusion, modern recipe,” I lied. “Like pan-seared tuna. Or something.”
Don’t even ask about the time I attempted to make dubu jjigae.
Recently, I made my parents fried rice. My mom grimaced when I told her, remembering my previous attempts at exotic haute cuisine. I shood them into the living room, then opened up the refrigerator and gasped, realizing I’d forgotten to hit the grocery store. I had no soy sauce, so I made do by mixing balsamic vinegar with a couple tablespoons of ketchup. Instead of scallions, I had to cut up strips of iceberg lettuce. No carrots or celery, so I peeled strips of red peppers off leftover pizza. No Spam, so I chopped up some old turkey slices. No tofu, or eggs, for that matter, so I pulled off tufts of hamburger bun and smushed them into tofu-like balls. A half-hour later, my parents and wife sat down at the dining room table as I begrudgingly doled out bowls full of brown sludge.
“What the heck is this?” Dad asked, picking up a wilted piece of virtually clear lettuce with his chopsticks.
I sighed.
“Actually, son,” Mom chimed in, “fried rice is peasant food. You make it with whatever you have in the refrigerator. You’re a real Korean cook now!”
I beamed briefly, but then she added, “Let me spruce it up a bit before we eat.”
I was about to reject the emergency aid, but then my wife whispered to me, “She just wants to have her role,” and I realized she was right. For the first time that afternoon, my mom was smiling as she went through our fridge. I smiled, too, as I realized my role was simply to eat what she lovingly prepared.
FOR ONLY $28!
Featured Event
One of the the biggest Asian cinema events to hit Southern California opens on May 10. The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, features the latest works by established and emerging filmmakers, along with seminars, panel discussions and symposiums on topics relevant to Asian Pacific cinema.
Opening Night features “Shanghai Calling,” directed by Daniel Hsia and starring Korean American Daniel Henney, who plays a Chinese American expat lawyer navigating his way through the mean streets of Shanghai (the picture above also indicates he is a raisin smuggler). But does he take off his shirt? Go watch the movie to find out! read more
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