Randall Park: ‘Before Fresh Off the Boat, the idea of having an Asian family on American TV was absurd.’

You know comic actor Randall Park from basically everywhere. Mostly, as Louis, the dad figure in Eddie Huang’s memoir-turned-series Fresh Off the Boat, which in many ways opened doors for how Asian-Americans were depicted on television. Suddenly, this household of Taiwanese immigrants seeking the American Dream in Florida was as easily relatable as any other TV family.

But you know Park from other things, too — whether as the feckless FBI guy in Ant-Man, the annoying officemate of Amy Schumer in Trainwrecked, paired with Ali Wong in the rom-com movie Always Be My Maybe, or playing Kim Jong-un alongside Seth Rogan and James Franco (The Interview). His deadpan delivery and expressively arched left eyebrow might be his calling card.

As a UCLA graduate who took his love of comedy to the stage, TV and movies, Park thinks a lot about how Asian-Americans are represented in culture. “With every example like Fresh off the Boat, it motivates and inspires people to do more of that,” he says. “It motivates creators to tell more stories like that and networks and studios to greenlight more stories like that.”

Now, as the sixth, final season of Fresh off the Boat airs, Park tells us about life during quarantine, directing the finale episode, and the balancing act between comedy and stereotype in popular culture.

The Philippine STAR: How are you faring during this pandemic situation? What ways do you strive for “normalcy” during these abnormal times?

Randall Park: I’m trying. It’s been challenging in some ways, great in some ways and definitely weird all around. But I’ve been keeping busy, doing a lot of writing and doing those things in quarantine that you can do. But also spending lots of time as a family, which has been really nice. I feel very lucky in a lot of ways, but I definitely empathize with what the world and the country are going through. It’s a very tough and confusing time.

Fresh off the Boat was a groundbreaker in many ways. How do you feel it changed the view of Asian-Americans?

Before Fresh Off the Boat, just the idea of having an Asian family on TV on American TV was, like, absurd. Like, there was no way they were going to let that happen. And it’s not because there wasn’t an audience, there was always an audience for that. And it’s not because there wasn’t the talent, but I think it was just this belief that, yeah, putting an Asian as the lead of a nationally televised show, people wouldn’t understand it, you know, that it wouldn’t be relatable. And that’s changed now. I feel like everyone knows how absurd that is, that just because someone looks different from you, doesn’t mean they’re not relatable. And we have proof, time and again, say, with Parasite (winning the Best Picture Oscar), which is not even an American movie, you know, it’s a Korean movie with Korean people who are not even speaking English.

Has it opened the door to more realistic portrayals of Asians on TV? 

I’m not saying our show takes sole credit, but it has helped to open up people’s minds, especially in the industry, as to what’s not just possible, but what’s profitable and what’s compelling, and that great storytelling can come from people who look different from what we’re used to seeing.

Is that even the “goal,” to change how American audiences view Asian-Americans? Or is there another goal?

The goal is to tell great stories, human stories. A part of that does include humanizing a community. Throughout so many years of not having the opportunity to portray complex, lead characters in shows and movies, it sometimes has the tendency to simplify and dehumanize the community. If you allow them to take the lead and put a spotlight on them, their everyday lives, their struggles, the people they love, their neighbors — if you show them as human beings, then people see that and relate to them, and think, “Oh, I’m not so different from them.” That has a positive effect. There are people in the country who may never have seen an Asian person in their daily life, but if they turn on their TV and see us, our family, then they have. They’ve gotten to know them and they realize, “They’re not so different from me.”

Do you feel that’s always in flux? That you, as an Asian-American, have to somewhat guard your identity against things that are ignorant or uncalled-for out there?

Yeah, but it’s something I think every artist that I know, and every actor and writer who’s Asian-American — it’s something they are mindful of. As an actor it’s like, “Do I take that role? In what ways is that role too stereotypical, or makes the community look bad?” These are things we think about that are not necessarily things other people think about — minorities are very aware of these images on TV and in movies, and how they shape people’s thinking. It’s something I’m conscious of, and it’s my hope every time to portray something that’s a little bit more human, more complex than what we’ve seen in the past.

Comedy, by its nature, relies on exaggeration. Did Fresh off the Boat have to deal in broad stereotypes, in some way, to get its message across?

I think it gets its message across. To me, a stereotype is equating a group to one thing, one action, or one way of thinking. And you don’t show anything to counterbalance that. Our show, we show elements that can be considered stereotypical, but it doesn’t register as hateful or negative, because it’s just a part of a bigger life. It’s counterbalanced by so many other things about these people. You understand why Jessica is so strict with her kids — there’s the whole “Tiger Mom” stereotype, but when you get to know the mom, you understand where it comes from, how she loves her kids, how she worries about them. So it comes from so much more than just that one stereotype.

How has Fresh Off the Boat been as an acting experience for you? 

One of the most special things about the show has been seeing the kids grow up, from where they started and where they ended. They grew so much physically — their literal height. Particularly Hudson (Yang), who plays Eddie. They didn’t have much experience acting, especially Hudson. At the beginning, you could tell he was struggling and getting frustrated. But he worked so hard, he was so quick to absorb. He really took notes. For me, the best way to mentor these kids as actors is to be professional, show I’ve learned the lines and I’m prepared. And they pick up on these things. And over time they became these great comedic actors. And even better, they became these great, kind, wonderful human beings. That was one of the great takeaways of the show.

You directed the finale. Was it hard to say goodbye?

It was a lot of fun. It was bittersweet because it was our last week of production after six seasons. It was very emotional. A lot of people were in tears. I was very focused on doing a good job as a director, because it was my directorial debut, so when people were hugging and crying and reminiscing, I was thinking of the next shot setup. In a way, it gave me a nice distraction from getting too emotional, but it was a very emotional week, because I love that cast and crew so much. Directing an episode was definitely a nice way to end it.

Ali Wong was on the writing staff. What sensibility did she bring to the show, and will you work with her again?
She’s an old friend of mine and a comedic powerhouse. We co-wrote and did (the Netflix movie) Always Be My Maybe. I love Ali; I think she’s one of the funniest people I know. And hopefully we’ll get to work on something together again down the road. We want to do it when the time is right and we get another great idea.

Just wondering what TV shows you watched growing up as an Asian-American?

Oh, God, I watched so much TV growing up. I had the TV schedule memorized. Sitcoms Family Ties, Cheers, all of those shows. Even the older shows, like Sanford and Son I loved, I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke, the detective shows like Columbo. I loved late-night talk shows I stayed up late as a young kid to watch Johnny Carson, David Letterman. I watched everything, but mostly I loved comedy. I was always a fan of comedy, and still am!

***

Fresh Off the Boat Season 6 double-episode finale airs June 14, 9:50 p.m on FOX.