Yang speaks is sponsored by expressvpn. Your data is your business protect it and expressvpn.com. Yang.
I have friends in Silicon Valley who could not watch Silicon Valley or show on HBO because they said it does hit too close to home. They're like it's too real
for me. It was a real wake-up call because I think it was season 2 or 3. We would sort of do these trips, right? We would go to Silicon Valley and we would show the episode and we sort of like tour companies and get to see what they were working on and they were very excited to have us because because you know, we're doing a show about about what they do.
I was stunned at what little thought was going into the moral and ethical ramifications of the technology that they were working on. I remember I won't name the company but they were showing us this new product. That's now on the market that many people have and they were like you do this can do this I can do this. And so we brought up a privacy concern. They were shocked that they were asked this question. They didn't even have like a fake corporate answer ready to
They were stunned and a little upset and disappointed that we would even think of that.
So we just got breaking news Andrew literally right this second you want to break it. The feds are bringing a suit against. Dr. Robert had in that assaulted Evelyn and dozens maybe hundreds of other women looks like he's going to be sent to jail and they're picking up where the Dao Manhattan somehow declined to prosecute and so the doctor has
Sitting in a house in New Jersey essentially taking early retirement and I am so thrilled that Justice is being done though. It's very late in coming not just for all the women that suffered at the hands of dr. Hadn't but also in my mind, he's a danger still, you know, I mean, the guy is like pathological sex offender just free walking around and new.
Jersey I don't even think he had to put his name on any registry or record so, you know like you and so the fact that he's being sent to prison it's it's a massive relief and it's also a massive source of Pride because I feel like he'd still be free. If not for Evelyn's courage coming forward. So thank you to everyone who supported Evelyn and thrilled that Justice is being done.
Better late than never. So I was with Evelyn when she did her CNN interview.
A couple things there's nothing you can do to take back the horror. This man has caused in so many people's lives in Evelyn's and and many other women, but hopefully this is some sort of this feels like justice and feels great. It's one of the reasons we love CNN Dana Bash and bridging knowing who we worked with on the piece and their whole team were just there world-class. They were just sensitive they were real, but they were they were honest. They were Fair.
And it's obviously a tough topic. So I'm forever grateful. I think we all are and I'll say this our campaign did a lot of things and a lot of good things. But if the only reason we ran was to put that guy behind bars somehow that still feels worth it, you know. Yeah, this this is a this is a pure good we accomplished people. So thank you and thank you for all the support. Yeah, and thank you for support for Evelyn and
Our family she really appreciates it and now there are a lot of women right now who are also feeling like their voices were heard and that they had some measure of justice for this doctor that assaulted so many of them.
yeah, it's
you know world right now where things are pretty dark. They're not much to look forward to all the time. This is this is good news. This feels fucking good, you know, so feels really good. So rotten jail, dr. Haddock. What's his name? I don't even bother learning that guy's name doctor hadn't yeah wanted to share with all of you. And for all of you that were involved with sharing or supporting Evelyn or the love. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you justice was served. All right guys on today's episode. We've got the one and only
Kemal nanjiani star of Silicon Valley star of the big sick writer of big sick and also just got ripped for his new Marvel movie pretty cool. But before that Andrew and I talked about WWE we talked about wildfires. We talked about ransomware and we even make some hot NFL predictions as a season just opened. So tune in Kemal not Johnny and Andrew Yang here on Yang speaks.
Welcome back to Yang speaks Andrew how we Livin man covid fine 2020 good, you know the there's always a qualifier when I can't I certainly can't complain.
Man,
so the pressing issue this week man youyou went off relatively unprompted. Although I've heard you go off on this in private and a couple times in the campaign show. You just went on a Twitter Rampage on on Labor Day against its Vince McMahon, who is the founder and I guess CEO Still Of The World World Wrestling entertainment/wwe SS stands for crowd Connecticut business. You might know it. Well. Yeah, so it wasn't entirely
Did they came out with a policy that was restricting pro wrestlers from using Cameo under their name and likeness which struck me as absolutely ridiculous. And so the first thing I said was well, this is strange given that they're independent contractors. It's like I want Universe. Can you restrict independent contractors from just going on and leaving video messages of themselves?
But then I thought like about what it really meant and you're right that I've been thinking about this for a while and I came out with a policy about it in regards to MMA fighters, which is to me systematic exploitation why they're getting 12 to 15% of the sports revenues instead of the 50% that other sports are getting their athletes and WWE has a lot of parallels. It's not a sport in the same way.
But it kind of has all the features of a sport in terms of being Talent driven people risking their lives and exploitation in the WWE's case. So they label everyone as independent contractors. Meanwhile, they don't get health care. They don't get recovery time, which is crucial which is one reason why a lot of these wrestlers get addicted to painkillers and other drugs because they have to go out there and perform all the time and they're always afraid that if they say look I'm not going to get
There this week or you know this month the lose their spot because that's the way Vince Works its way the business works. So this is all flying in the face of then being independent contractors particularly. When the WWE in particular controls your life more or less like they tell you where to be you what to do how to look how to act you can't do this. You can't do that like they'll control tons of
Elements of your professional life and even to some extent in your personal life and then they'll say but no no like you're an independent contractor. Yeah, and so I got angry and then I went on a little tweet storm and I was prompted to the Zack by a professional wrestler who sent me the original Cameo story like a professional wrestler who felt exploited was like this shit is ridiculous. So it wasn't just that Andrew Yang was like, you know,
Like I got upset it was that some wrestlers were upset, but could not actually vent about it because you know like Vince because it has absolute power and could and if you were a wrestler who doesn't even work for Vince, you can't say shit because you might eventually want to work for events like that. They're not quite a monopoly but but they function like it in some respects. It's one reason why I'm excited that there is genuine
Titian arising in the form of a w in particular because I feel like that company has a real chance to introduce reform and that company has a chance to introduce perform in part because it's Talent friendly. There are many very senior Executives that are current wrestlers. And so it's a different animal than the WWE. Okay, so I grew up in musical theater, which is not cool. But and very different than wrestling. However
So to me, you can look at them as athletes like professional athletes or you look at them as actors. They're probably somewhere between there. So if they're athletes you pay them like athletes get paid they have a union and they get to negotiate and they get paid based on a chunk of Revenue. Right? Like they do in the MLB or NFL or any of these any of these Arenas or if they're actors right actors have a union on Broadway. They actually have an Actors Equity card where they can't get exploited. They can't be that sort of the you need to give them benefits.
Yuna Kim base XYZ hours. How would you see how should it be structured? And then why have we are they it's two questions one. How should it be structured into? Why is it are they in limbo? Is it just to me? It's like yes, maybe Vince has an asshole. But I also kind of stuck in this like we don't know what you are so we can just do whatever we want with you, you know, is that part of it to what do you think on those two things? There was an online suggestion that they should be unionized under the Screen Actors Guild because they are essentially
Our performers on screen and so sag would take care of a lot of this stuff but I think that professional sports analog is closer in terms of the risk. They're taking physically mean for me. The big issue is what the nature of the benefits they're getting. So if they get them because they're members of sag or are their own Union fantastic or if the WWE were to say look you're clearly.
Employees, I mean heck like, you know, yeah, we control lots of elements in your Waking Life. So guess what you all get Healthcare you all get retirement benefits, you all getting off season. You can only get this like, you know, however we get there. Yeah, we just need to get there and one of the things I said, which got some news or Buzz was look if I'm not the Secretary of Labor, like I'll know the Secretary of Labor like we can get this done and it's it actually falls under the National Labor Relations Board, but the National Labor
Nations board are appointed by the administration. So right now you have a bunch of trump appointees who are putting any action under the rug because Vinson and Trump are good friends from way back Dana White and Trump are all so friendly, it's funny the parallels between anzhi FC. Yeah WWE and and UFC here. There's a lot of exploitation going on and there are things we can do about it as soon as there's a difference.
Illustration it's clearly illegal to me my questions like when this stuff happens to other athletes, there's usually more uproar and wrestling is super possible. I'm popular, excuse me in its own world, right? It's my means massive. It's prime time. Yeah top some of the top cable rated shows every week like damn we lost I checked was a billion-dollar business, you know, I haven't looked at the market Yap lately, but there doesn't seem to me that the same uproar. You know, I'm saying is it because
wrestling in that you're either your the wrestling fan or you're not there's very few casual wrestling fans. I think like why is there not as much upper or is it because a lot of these fans of WWE maybe lean more right? And so they're less care less about it. I grew up a massive wrestling fan. I feel like every kid in my town did so, you know, I don't think politics really enters in myself. It's like is every 12 year old leaning right there? Yeah, but I agree with you I think.
Something has its own domain in the culture and it doesn't really interact or intersect with mainstream politics. A lot of the time you have C is similar. We're just no one gives a shit because it's a fight or a wrestler and the me that's so dumb because these are people that humans. Yeah that dedicated years and years of their life honing a craft, you know, they're risking their bodies every time out there and it's a billion-dollar business.
It's so what the hell we Waitin For but I agree with you that for whatever reason it doesn't get the attention. It deserves in the mainstream news, and I'm going to keep beating a drum until I change this because I'm sick of this like as a fan It's upsetting seeing so many of your childhood Heroes die early because these wrestlers are abusing themselves in order to keep their jobs, and then they died of a heart attack at you know, 45 or
you know, like whatever the heck the ages 9 and their physical specimens to they shouldn't be you know, this should be taken care of, you know saying they're not
you know, they don't there's these some of the most elite bodies in society, you know, like there they should be in great health in some ways, but they're dying because they are not paid or I'm taking care of her. It's a it's a difficult lifestyle and there are elements of it. You can't do much about but their elements you can do something about you should do that. So I think in wrestling's case, it's crystal clear because you know, like they have a lot of discretion over what they can do their mean you
And having offseason for wrestlers that's baked in. You know, like they just get a month off more mean heck professional athletes get there's no offseason. They just go all year. Yeah. Yeah. What if you had an option the rock you were going a whole time you're just going if you are a high level wrestler. You're still getting paid on like very often an appearance basis. And so at that point you're making more money than you've ever.
Ever made and you show up not just for TV tapings, but if there were tours as there a normally are during House shows so you might be performing.
No, like 200 times like a you know, like going to give an 18-month period or something like it's like and so you can imagine and a lot of this involves travel to a different place. So one of the complaints that wrestlers have is that they don't get a break and instead if you're a top draw then the culture is like, well you better show up because if you don't show up you're going to lose your spot and then you're like, oh snap. I spent my entire career.
To get into this position. So then let's say you hurt yourself shift. Keep going. Yeah, you're hurt yourself earlier that week. What are you gonna do here in our pop some painkillers and get out there. And and so that that's what what happens to a lot of these guys for those of you like me or like not didn't grow up a wrestling fan like all this stuff is fake just watch a clip of wrestling like yes, it's fake Internet somewhat scripted, but if they're jumping from the top of a rope, they're still jumping from the top of the Rope right there still slamming their
me on the ground. They're still picking up a full-grown man and slamming the ground like, you know, even if it's scripted or they're not really punching each other still taking up beating right? Like you've it's a gnarly sport. It's very very difficult on your body. You can liken it to stuntman really, you know, it's like like real life stuntman going out there and Performing and then packing up their stuff and then driving to the next town and doing it again. Yep, you ever see that movie concussion with Will Smith.
Yeah, they are there parallels there. The NFL says Will Smith has a line in there that I thought was fascinating. He said look it's not about whether or not being a warrior is right or wrong because some people get really when their football concussions are happening. We were like, well we shouldn't be hitting each other that way he's like it's that's not as about it's about America needs to take care of their Warriors. That's what he that's one of my favorite lines in that movie. Like we got take care of the they they entertain us they we they've they're bred in our
You know like we worship these guys and gals we need to take care of them. I think that's pretty logical and that's why if you're listening this you're not arresting fan. That's why you should care because the principle of this that we care about money more than people is pervasive throughout society. And these are massive examples America needs to take care of those Warriors and every level. So that's the veterans who return home that's people are risking their body for our entertainment every given weekend or even given week are nurses on the front lines. All of
It yeah.
You are the final tweet in your your thread was Vince you'd better. Hope your old friend Donald wins because change is in the air and changes are long overdue where you're corrupt labor practices are concerned. It would give me great pleasure. The people know so for Yang Yang out there that followed him on the campaign. Like I had the same motion you had like fuck. Yes Yang. Like this is the I wish you would take off the heads of some of the maybe the your Democratic primary.
There's a times too, but maybe there's some political strategy there, but I love when you get angry and it's it's terrifying was directed at me man. But most of the time it's pretty awesome watch. So thank you for that. Sweet sauce. Are you get really youyou really humble about it too because you don't get that angry very often. But when you do it's a site which I love so I appreciate that. Um get a change gears. Um, I want you thoughts on this and I don't think you have a lot of thoughts on them, which is why I think it'll be funny.
So turns out one of the major California wildfires was started by a gender reveal. So Andrew we were talking about a little bit for and I want to dive in I don't think you're familiar with gender reveals or so it is it what I think of anjana reveals. It's like cake and you slice into it and then like the flavor of the cake tells you whether you're having a boy or girl so someone obviously knows and then you don't know so that's what a graders to me, but I did not know fire entered the equation.
So they started these things in the woman who popularized Jenny reveals, which I'm not really I could do more research about that people care of how that happened. But let's say the poem woman credited for popularizing gender reveals said they've gone too far. This is getting ridiculous, but basically people go nuts and they have these
they're like canisters of smoke either pink or blue and they they have a friendly explosion and they've done anything from like piñatas and baseball bats to soccer balls and you kick it and turns a color and some of them are cute, but generally no one gives a shit, you know, like no one and to me it bothers me because I don't know if your friends having a baby you already got to go to the baby shower and then you got to give another baby gift a gender-reveal party, which people are having and then posting on Instagram and
To whatever it is is another way to me just have to pay for another gift.
Let me ask you and you have you ever you didn't do a gender reveal for for your below know. We just knew as soon as it was medically possible for us to know because because I got you know, your I'm a practical sort and was like well sooner we know sooner we can like there. Yeah prepare and when we found out that our second was going to be a boy. I was like, well, I don't need to get much because I think we just passed.
The older ones stuff down so it to me what's going on with the wildfires is such a catastrophe and you know, I tweeted that the weather and La was a hundred twenty degrees over the weekends or record Heat Wave and then you're seeing these epic wildfires all over the state and the images seem apocalyptic. Someone called it Fire porn where you can just look at.
At the the California wildfire pictures and just have your jaw drop in wonder that it's not a special effect. And you know people ask what we can do mean this is a situation that to me after the fire is out or after the fire is Raging. It's too late in the sense that it's very difficult. I mean you need to have the right resources and everything, but ideally you'd be controlling the fuel.
And a much higher level where there are these forced to become tinderboxes as California is drying up. It seems impossible, but these wildfires are just going to get worse.
Yeah, so a lot of La people don't always realize this piece is like a lot of Allah is is Desert write a lot and part around San Francisco in some cases to it's pretty dry. But mainly LA and Southern California to me. This is what seems to happen every year. We're like, oh man wildfires are bad. I hope they're not bad this year and then we kind of like there's someone in your mind, but then they come and their disastrous and
Shocked as if like I feel like we didn't we had a whole year to kind of prepare for this or years and years. We know every year wild files are wildfires are terrible and you talked about a lot in the campaign where you would quintuple the u.s. Forest service which we budget. Yeah. Yeah, which is and it's all federal. It's mainly a federal problem, right? Because it's Federal Parks, they cross state lines and then some of these places end up a Tinderbox and you know, they're a Tinderbox like this is where they normally start.
And that sort of thing I what else I mean, do you remember some of the things you talk about in the trail about what you would do to fight and prevent these in the future a lot of it was preventative by recall that again after there's a wild fire raging it's harder to put it out. So you'd want to invest in managing the forests to a higher level right now less than 10 percent of the National Force is actually getting managed for fire suppression. So 90% is not less than 10% Yes.
You would need to invest massive resources to properly manage the tinderboxes that are forming. These fires are easier to put out earlier rather than later, but we're you know after they consume enough fuel they become uncontrollable. So in addition to investing the u.s. Forest service, I was hypothesizing that you could do more in terms of installing heat sensors in various acres of land and then
Have some kind of Rapid deployment unit that descended on the place as soon as you saw that there was a fire breaking out before it got too bad. Now. Some people will be like, wow, that sounds expensive means, you know, how much these current wildfires are costing us in terms of not just property damage but loss of life in many cases you're looking at billions of dollars over time so, which would you rather spend money on some freaking awesome fuel management fire suppression unit with
With heat sensors and your forests or watching your communities get consumed by wildfire. And this is a federal problem because like you said a lot of these lands are federal responsibilities. Even California right now is being impacted by land that it doesn't have purview over. So, you know, this is just another example of our government being asleep at the switch where you look up and be like Oh another year another another series of record-breaking
Fire is and it's like well someone want to do something about that and the the feds are like, well, we don't really exist it to adapt. We just take last year's budget and then increase or decrease it by 5 or 10 percent and then we everyone just chills out like, you know, it's very very frustrating if I was in California, I would be raging at the federal government.
I'm raging at the federal government. Anyway, my yeah your age instead of going without being there. My what about my buddies from high school actually became one of the guys that like parachutes out of helicopters and fights wildfires, which is a dangerous job, but also relatively inch I mean, it's cool for sure but and we're not a big fan of like federal jobs guarantees or excessive government labor, but this seems like a place where
There's a lot of particularly young men that probably really interested in a job like that, especially if they're unemployed or don't like their current job or or that kind of thing because that's a need that's not going anywhere at this rate. That's where I think you know, we're government resources wisely spent my opinion. Yes quintuple the u.s. Forest service budget and hire the heck out of a bunch of people that would go in and manage the forest so that we don't deal with these fires.
Breaking records every year, you know and you talk about the government and jobs mean the reality is we have millions and millions of Americans who are unemployed right now and underemployed so we should be investing in anything that makes sense as a job Creator. And this one's a no-brainer. Yeah, no brainer.
Alright everyone. It's time to get personal and a little bit a little bit deep and detailed but one of the things I love to do is try and pick up lessons from other countries where they figured something out and we have not figured it out like the metric system something like that, you know, what else they figured out but days, they're environmentally friendlier. They're more effective there the more efficient way to handle something that we all do and now you can make that happen here without
New appliances just an attachment. I know this is like technologically awesome and environmentally friendly. It just seems a little weird to Americans but to the rest of the world, they're like, what are you guys doing? You know, there are better ways. So if this speaks to you you can go to Hello to she.com Yang to get 10% off their bidet attachment. It's kind of awesome special offer for Yang speaks go to Hello to she.com.
Yang for 10% off I know but I generally believe it's funny we talk to the team about this there were like laughing and I was like, I genuinely just believe in bidets, you know, I don't know what that says about me but there you know to me this is just a better way. It's a better solution. It's more environmentally friendly. It's more efficient. It's just smarter. So yeah. Hello touchy.com. Yang
I want to change gears an interesting story. I saw cut and it reminded me of you. But also it hit my hometown so it touch on so I'm I I'm a Buffalo Bills fan. I lived in Buffalo for two years and I was a little boy I grew up in outside of Hartford in Connecticut. And so Hartford had something they're supposed to start schools after Labor Day on Tuesday and the whole public school system shut down for an extra day because of something called ransomware and someone basically hacked their bus their school bus.
Where and said if you don't ransomware is what they in this case was a virus that said if you don't pay us x y z in whether it's files or money or crypto or whatever the hell they off, you know, what are the ransom is the virus doesn't go away. We're going to keep attacking your crap and we were joking about this foot show Andrew. He's apparently this was like not a big headline. Like I saw this because I follow some you know, I check
In my hometown my people but this stuff apparently happens all the time like ransomware is actually kind of common and I for some reason we just shrug like Oh They'll worry the government Got Hijacked today for a day will go back to normal tomorrow. Like no one's talking about this at all. And it happens pretty often. Like have you seen this stuff? Like what are your thoughts on ransomware? It does happen more often than you'd think like its.
and dozens of communities and the tough reality is that it's much easier to hack a lot of these systems and it is to somehow secure them particularly if you're a cash-strapped school district or one not like the last thing you're worried about is known and investing in being hacker-proof, unfortunately, and then when someone comes in holds your feet over fire saying hey do this or do that then oftentimes your
A move is going to be like, well, let's pay or let's cancel school and let's and so these things are happening around the country and we're not making enough of it. I think we're not making enough of it because we don't have a solution in many of these communities and I think it'll roads public trust even more probably confidence even more if you know that your kids school buses software is hackable though. It almost certainly is
And this is one of the symptoms of being behind the curve on a government level. We're at a minimum. What you'd want to do is you want to have like a really
Concerted task force that's like look anyone who does something like this to Hartford or a town like we're going to investigate the heck out of you and come get you wherever you are whether you know, whether you're in the country or not, but right now I feel like these these sorts of schemes are getting swept under the rug because people don't have confidence we can fix it. Yeah and their mayor did say they invested in new cyber security technology and that
Shorten, they basically stopped this didn't have to pay a ransom. It only lasted a day. So it's better than I guess what it could have been I wonder if yeah, sometimes I have to pee. Yeah. Yeah, you can't expect every city to be extremely tech-savvy given the type of country we have but I wonder if the federal government could have a list of approved vendors or proved providers or have an internal Service as well that we were passionate about and hold those organizations accountable to offer the states.
It's I don't know to me you joke that we are in a third world country because like oh, yeah government acted a don't worry about it like that where that's the future we want to avoid if we can we can be Venezuela. I don't know just I felt bad for Hartford. I don't think it's a mayor's fault. Yeah, and that would be a tough thing to being elected official and then being like, you know, what the heck like I was supposed to be like, you know the tech expert here in you know,
Get blamed for it. Yeah, let's oh, yeah like that that strikes me is unfair but in our country today, I would be out probably would fall on that person to somehow shoulder the blame. Of course. Yeah. Now the there I mean there are things that we could do along the lines of what you're you're describing but it requires like a real overhaul Zack because a lot of these public entities are using systems from a long time ago. Like, you know, you just need a massive modern.
Ization push here in the US because some of the more modern systems are more resistant and resilient ma'am. All right on more positive news Andrew a couple things one football is Sunday. You're a bigger NBA fans. You're probably having more fun. But I am ecstatic. I think the bills are winning the AFC East this year and Josh sounds contending for MVP. So those are you listening who care don't care. It doesn't matter. You heard it here first Josh out.
It's going to have a fantastic year and the Bills win the AFC. It's our year, baby. I'm pumped and my other prediction is that I think the because of covid the teams with like culture and let's call it like consistent head coaching and consistent ownership and management will outperform. So your Ravens your Steelers your Seahawks the bills have been pretty good pasta because your Niners I think they're going to outperform thoughts on the season any predictions any hot takes you want to make man. What are you your MBA takes people yell.
You see yell at me on the trail because they were bad. Maybe you'll redeem yourself with football. I don't know certainly my football takes will be almost uniformly poor. So so certainly don't wanna tell you anyone any bad suggestions though. It does seem like the bills no one's betting on yourself. I don't think that's good. Yeah, you know, I mean the the Patriots if they manage to win post Brady then everyone else just give up.
If the Bell if the pads go to the Super Bowl again or contenders this year. I'm out dude. I can't do it the only player if that happens the the bills the Jets and the dolphin should all come together and just have some kind of ceremony where they like submit to the Patriots I would be for that because I think you could because then you'd actually say like you could put the best team that the Jets dolphins and bills could put together and we'd probably
Still lose or that now that was actually one of the jokes about what it was like actually you should have all three teams merge make it like a to team Division and they would be like you consolidate every other AFC East you make like a Voltron super team. It's so painful, but you did your bills have a good shot. You know, I mean their bills are goodness here and hanging out with you, but you I remembered for the bills because you know, if you're around someone who's rooting as hard as you were then you know,
You will naturally start rooting for them, too.
Oh, thanks, man. I tend to make everybody else's lives miserable when the bills lose. So a lot of the staff would root for the bills for their own self-interest, you know, because I'd be in a better mood the Bills win people ask for a budget request. That's when they ask for them on the campaign Trail. That's why you have you and Gregg smart. Wait a minute. Wait a minute job team. Oh, yeah. She may jump great. I'm like putty in their hands. Um, most importantly Andrew
Unagi scooter giveaway. Yes. We did it we're doing we're giving away three of them Andrew and we're going to do one on this episode. Did you know that? I don't know if I told you that surprised you knew we were giving away though. I love these scooters and I love giving them away because I know whoever gets it's going to be so happy. It's just gonna make their like life better to have this thing. Yeah, you know, it's like a 21st century magic carpet.
Yeah, I can't say enough about how much fun these things are. Today's winner. The first you Nagi scooter is drumroll. First winner is Caroline garrido. It's Caroline. Underscore. GA are Ido y'all can follow her and congratulate her if you want on Instagram Caroline, we will reach out to you. Congratulations. You're going to love this thing. Oh my gosh. I love this thing.
I love it so much, you know Andrew does if I wanted to bore people I would just post videos of you and me just riding the scooter all day because that happens every day. I don't know. So here's the deal if you want a scooter. We're going to be announcing the winners on our Instagram. So that's at Andrew Yang and at Zach grauman on Instagram. The next way to win will be announced shortly probably on our next Monday at
Episode regardless though. We love we Nagi scooters. We love giving them away. We love giving shit away on this show regardless Andrew whether it's money unagi scooters football advice. What else do you give away? Mainly money? I meant sorry. I mean Humanity forwards up to 8 million dollars and Counting Applause. So thank you to everyone who supported and continues to support our efforts because this is a lot of need a lot of pain and so being able to do something about it is
Real gift and privilege. So thank you. But yeah, we love giving stuff away and that includes fun electric scooters.
That's true. And I don't people prefer money, but will do money and we'll do scooters and will do more to so our next guest. Is he such a badass? I'm going to butcher his name, but not out of.
Maybe it's out of ignorance. But it has nothing to do with how much I love them because I love this guy. How do I pronounce his name? It's Kemal. Nanjiani Kemal. Nanjiani. He's badass. So cool. Plus he got super ripped or Marvel movie. So he's like at this point now he's super smart super funny and super ripped and ready to be giving guidance to people on how to manage their mental health and well-being during the
Pandemic, I'm a big fan of his to Silicon Valley big sick everything. He does he elevates and I can't wait to talk to him. There's a certain element of elevating your acting career from my comedian to Action Hero which the steps in between include a shirtless GQ Magazine cover where you're ripped like Jim from the office John Krasinski did this. I'm trying to think of other examples
samples, but that I think that or the guy who placed the what's his name in his Darth Vader and Star Wars or not Darth Vader who's the bad guy in the new Star Wars movies?
You know, I'm talking about Adam Driver caller Adam Adam Driver. Yes, same thing. I don't know. He's been completely sure of this, but definitely more jacked. I think as a writer patches passage Here's a thought Andrew between now and the next office you run for.
We get you jacked Evelyn wood like this we get you jacked like you were in my high school college and we do we announced as a shirtless cover of GQ, or you can pick the magazine. I feel like that would probably not help my seriousness Factor, you know, whatever but it but it wouldn't but it would help my prospects of being casted a Marvel movie. So, you know, there'd be like a that's true cost.
And you just had like a Yang Yang tattoo on the left PEC like something badass but like not like a joke yanking like a I don't know like blood or awesomeness. I don't know. There's some fans listening this that I think are loving this visual that I think it's hilarious. Sorry. Sorry not as excited about it as I am, but I think I'm cracking up. This is one way to launch a new office run. Okay, I'm done man. I'm done Tony in guys.
Kemal right after this break
Yang speaks listeners, you know what time it is it is time to plug our featured sponsor expressvpn and there are features sponsor. We don't just choose that lightly. We created this partnership with expressvpn because we believe in the product. I'm using it right now. I was watching last night. I was watching Rick and Morty I think from Australia through my expressvpn on Netflix because I don't have Hulu use Netflix because they have Rick and Morty in whatever country it was.
And I got new shows on Netflix because of Express PPM but it also protects your data protect your location to protect your privacy. It's simple. Oh my God. It's so freaking easy to download this thing because I'm bad at this stuff. You literally just download it and then click a button to turn on. So this thing is rated number one VPN on the market by wired and Cena and The Verge. It's not just us saying this. This is pretty much unanimous that these guys are the best. So here's the deal protect your online privacy today with expressvpn. We're going to give you
Three months of expressvpn protection for free expressvpn.com thing that's expr ESS VPN.com sang for three months free with the one-year package of is expressvpn.com Young to learn more about this awesome deal and protect yourselves people. Jesus be smart about this stuff.
I am thrilled to welcome to Yang speaks. What know what has he not done actor comedian screenwriter Visionary philosophy and comp sci graduate of the Kemal not Gianni Kemal. Welcome to Yang speaks. Thank you for
doing this. Thank you for having me. Thank
you.
Oh that and now I feel like you're almost you're the closest thing our society has to a superhero right now because we all know you're super ripped you had to go through the Hollywood training Crucible where the task Masters at Disney assigned you a dietitian and trainers at the whole nine yards for the regimen and you know, it cracked me and my wife bought because we're I like imagine your husband does.
Going home and being like hey my job. I now have to become essentially a real life superhero. Yeah. Well, first of all, I want to say, you know, they did get me
all those people to give me the infrastructure to do a Disney but then put no pressure on me. They were like if you want to do this you can but seriously you don't have to and I was like, well, I'm gonna do it the most possible.
I really am Ali was like, you know, they don't want you to do this you're doing this because you want to do it. I'm like,
yeah, I've always
I
do like I've always wanted to do this and just haven't had like the time or the determination to really like see it through. So it was It was kind of awesome to do it was also a real nightmare and a real pain and it continues
to be
oh, so that's one of the questions I had is that so you show up you're ripped you get footage of you for this movie The eternals and then I'm thinking to myself does he have to stay ripped until the Stig wraps then when the heck is that?
Yeah. Well, you know for me, I have tried to stay in shape since then in the same way you kind of my goal was until the movie comes out when you go and do the interviews. I didn't want to look like radically.
Friend on the red carpet tonight do it the movie. So that was my goal. And now, you know the release date for the movie got delayed. So I have to have to keep at it a little bit longer but it's interesting you brought up my wife
because she does she's still a little
surprised by it every now and then she like like hug me and she just be like you just feel so different and and and I feel the most different when I'm in bed trying to like turn like sleep on my side.
And I can feel it's like trying to steer a ship like I'm not used to doing that movement
yet.
Well, I thought you're going to say you have less padding used to it like you turn on your side and you're like, oh, it's more muscle there. There used to be some cushion,
but it really is less fattening. It's interesting the ways that your body the body feels different. I was gonna say something but I feel like that's that's a little bit inappropriate to leave
it. Oh, you can give us an inappropriate as you want man. It's a podcast one of the things I
I had in mind when I was running for president was if it's a podcast it doesn't matter.
There's like no one will ever see this and it's just gonna disappear into the internet where as you know, if it was like cable news a periods and all of a sudden it was very very serious stuff so that the stuff that and you might have gone into this in a setting that I have not seen But the thing that fascinates me about you is your origin story because I have no fucking clue how a guy would come from Pakistan here for College Study computer science and philosophy at Grinnell, which is someplace. I know I campaign there.
And and then somehow somehow wind up like a TV star movie star when you have really educated parents. I have educated parents too and my parents would not have had any thing to do with me if I just disappeared for a while. I was like I'm going to do the do comedy, you know, they didn't like it very much when I said politics which is a pretty serious thing.
Yeah, if I was running for president, my parents would have a tough reaction.
Yeah, mine were not thrilled either. But the thing that is this mystery to me as I so I can see your background through college that's not make sense to me. And I don't know if you remember this, but you and I met briefly at the global entrepreneurship Summit in Silicon Valley. We were both in line to get predictors with President Obama. I don't know if you remember this you you and the cast of Silicon Valley did the skid ahead of time and then we were just like chilling in line together. Do you remember that? I room? I do remember that and
it took us over.
Over two years to get that picture because that event everyone
that was a long-ass line and I got us a command not to be like not to sound cocky whatever but like I had a picture with them from like, you know, like a couple months earlier. So I was like, why am I doing this
again? I've already seen this movie. I Know How It Ends
yeah that ends with you know me shaking Obama's hand and him talking about how awesome I am. He's
he's he was very that was the most have talked to him. He was very Charming.
Me and I was actually supposed to have dinner with them at one point. I think it was towards the end of last year and then I had to be out of the country and I couldn't do it and I was very very disappointed. But yeah, that's that's the only time I've met him
also to me. There's like this massive fog of mystery between Kemal the recent college graduate and then by the time I saw you in the world saw you you were
TV star in Silicon Valley was when I think most of the world met you and so I know you've done the club's you've done the entire circuit like tell us about that time because that time just strikes me as such a ringer like the fact that you flung yourself into that ringer after Grinnell
man. I'll tell you starting stand-up comedy is an absolute ringer. It really really is it's it's difficult and I started honestly,
I started in I started like August 2001 is when I started doing stand-up comedy. So if you remember your history, then it's 9/11 happens that year and I continued doing stand-up comedy looking like me sounding like me with my name getting up on stage in front of drunk people trying to tell jokes. So I always have this thing where like, you know, sometimes you will troll me on Twitter and then they'll be like that your feelings.
Heard and I was like, whatever it takes to
hurt my feelings.
You don't got it. I promise I've ever
been to
I've been through some of the worst situations. So basically how it works is I I graduated college in computer science and philosophy one of those is practical to get you a job and the other one not as practical the issue was, you know, II found philosophy very interesting and I was very engaged and I
Like I was good at it like I could make pursuers if arguments. I was good at writing paper that really enjoyed it computer science. I always felt like I missed one class somewhere in just like never caught up. I was like not good at it managed to get a job in computer science, but never really felt engaged never felt like it was for me and and I'd sort of at that point really fall in love with with stand-up comedy just watching stand-up comedy. So I was like, I have to try this thing like
It would hurt too much to not try it and how it works is you know, so I moved to Chicago for a job. But I also knew that Chicago's were like a lot of Comedy Legends had come from, you know, Steve Carell Stephen Colbert Bill Murray, like all these big people Tina Fey, so I moved there and you basically look through the newspaper see where the open mics are on you just go and put your name on a list and then you get up on stage and you get five minutes in front of in front of people. You don't know and that's kind of how you get started and you know the first few years.
Is my Visa was tied to my work so I couldn't actually make money doing stand-up. So all I could do was open mics and that's kind of what you do is you just from 2001 to 2007. I just stood open mics over and over in front of drunk people in Chicago and then I got you know, I got pretty lucky over and over and over and over. It was right place right time over and over you know, so so so
so the reason that I'm here a lot of it is due to this due to luck and I feel extremely grateful. I always say of all the parallel universes. This is the only one where I'm here talking
to you. This is the simulation where you become a movie star. This is it man in every other one. I am I got nothing going on. So so I feel
I feel very very grateful and I feel very very very fortunate. It was one of those, you know,
Where you you doing comedy? So I moved to New York in 2007 with my wife Emily and we were to like sort of pursue comedy and I just ended up having a good set in front of somebody who then later got me a job, then that job led to another job led to another job like to another job. So it was all these small steps leading to leading to the career I have now, but at each point that was like Serendipity, you know, I just like, right
You saw me at just the right time or things like that and then all sort of fingers crossed. You know, I know this can go away at any second.
Well, there's a big golf there because you're on a Visa and you have a job where you were working with computers and then you're showing up to open mics and don't make a dime and just, you know, get pelted with occasional abuse and the better your crap. So then when do you actually switch from making a living from sitting in front of her?
Pewter screen time making a living off of comedy and then how does the Visa work? Like, when does the Visa actually start becoming something you can apply for for being a creative?
So this is how it works works for me. What you have to do is get heckled by a beautiful American woman at a show.
Fall in love with her have her fall in love with you. Marry her and you get a green card. So that's how it works right place right time man. I'm telling you
again.
So that's how it works for me, you know, if I getting getting a creative visa, and I know friends have gotten it is very very tricky because you basically have to prove that nobody else who's American can do this job. And what we do is so amorphous and vague and hard to
Q late anyway, but but how it works for us was so we met in 2006. I was still on my I was on my second H-1B visa, which I think that there's still a hole that H-1B visa. So so I really really relate with that issue. I was on my second and final H-1B visa met Emily we fell in love as my Visa was running out. We were like we should we should get married and it did not feel like a practical decision.
Is a decision made out of out of love? We knew already at that point. We've been through
some commit command loves his wife and she says she loves me you heard it
here first and yang speaks. So we basically got married. I applied for a green card got the Green Card you do the whole interview, you know where there's a woman who's like we had a woman who was trying to like trick us and make sure that there are
Was real
what colors are toothbrush.
It's that kind of stuff. It really is what helped us is you know, we had so we did our own we just basically stood in line with City Hall and got married and then when we went to meet my parents, you know when her and I went to meet my parents we were already married. We've been married for two weeks and even though Emily's not the person that they had imagined in their heads. I mean, I give them all the credit in the world they fully
We accepted her and the through a traditional Pakistani wedding and they had a Pakistani videographer there and this guy made a DVD of our wedding. That is the cheesiest fucking thing. You've ever seen it starts with a picture of the guy actually editing on his thing. So when you put when I put in my wedding DVD, the first thing is this guy editing and the song Do you remember that song? I will be your hero
baby. Of course who does
I know that song. It's Enrique Iglesias. I will take away your pain. Yeah, it's a good song but I don't know if you wanted playing
on a loop over your wet and wedding video over and over and over. So we took that with us, you know, we just had enough like evidence that obviously we weren't lying and then soon as we got married. So you
have the video you're like check this out and then the person's like
well maybe this up I'm gonna he's like, okay, I guess you get a green card.
That allowed me to quit my quit my job. We decided to just like move to New York with savings and no money, which was a huge mistake and she's a therapist. So she basically was like, I won't get a job and support you you can follow your dream and she just believed in me man. I don't know. I don't know why I think even her friends and family were like, he's a great guy. But what are you
doing? He's a great guy. But what are you doing? That's like the he's
No the but after that.
What's Wild is how much you still have to mail stuff? I just mailed stuff today. And when you need to mail things there are times when you're like am I going to go to the Post Office? Am I at a standstill? I have envelopes and all of that stuff and one way to make it so that you always have what you need is stamps.com. We used it on the campaign. We had this freaking post office in the campaign office. There's actually quite fun. It made me feel very accomplished looking at that. But now that we're
This circumstance stamps.com can actually make it so that all the stuff you need from the post office is right off your computer and you don't need to go you'll save time and money and you'll feel very modern and current right now listeners to Yang speaks get a special offer that includes a four-week trial plus free postage and a digital scale without any long-term commitment go to stamps.com. Click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in Yang that stamps.com enter. Yang.
NG and you will get some stuff including free postage and a free digital scale no long-term commitment. Why not really, you know, it's 2020 why not just let stamps.com actually save you that trip stamps.com also offers UPS services with discounts up to 62 percent and no residential surcharges. That's right stamps.com works for UPS, too.
Well, I have a you know, like at least sense that I understand that era from the big sink as I'm sure a lot of people are watching and listening to this if you haven't seen the big Syke you need to see it. It's a brilliant and touching and poignant movie but it's somewhat autobiographical in terms of your relationship with Emily and some of that era like you're in club is performing like you tell some of the jokes that I imagine you might
Old in real life that kind of belief that that is profound where someone sees something in you that maybe you're not even sure about all of the time because you know, when you're putting yourself out there as a creative that it's hard to believe in even yourself all the time.
Yeah, especially because you know, you just know the numbers he know. I mean, you don't know specifically the numbers but you know that what you're going for is so rare and so hard to achieve and so many things have to
To line up exactly perfectly and you know Emily still says that she never doubted that that I would be I don't know what what she was thinking what would happen, but she never died doubted that I would have some level of success in this industry. You know, it's the same we sort of have that for each other. I think like I believe in her more than sometimes she believes in herself and vice versa. So I am you know, honestly,
If it wasn't for her, I would definitely definitely not be here right now situation basically supported me for a year and a half while I did open mics in New York. I sort of had to start over there and then I sort of got a job like opening for a comedy for a comedy tour then I got a job writing for a TV show and then that show give me a job acting so it was all like these tiny little steps, but it all happened because Emily took a job and supported me for a year.
Emily's seems like a creative Powerhouse in our own right and anyone who wants to listen to the two of you you have a podcast staying in that is kind of quarantine themed as people might be able to tell that it's about trying to stay stable and mentally healthy during a time when we're spending a lot of time indoors with with ourselves or our significant others and it's honest it's funny.
You know, like the two of you seem like you enhance each other creatively is the sense one gets from the outside.
Yeah, we certainly enhance each other creatively and I like to think personally as well. I feel like we both think that we got the better end of the deal. I think she thinks that I definitely think so. It's definitely a little bit greater than the sum of sum of our parts. You know, it's even though we obviously have our issues everyone does but I feel
like in quarantine specifically because you know, you mentioned the big sick so you might know Emily's in a high-risk group for this virus, right? So we had to lock down before most people locked down and we're still very very strict about it. It's just too scary. We really we haven't seen anybody. We only leave the house at night and go for a walk when there aren't people around and stuff like that. So in this time just really spending time with only each other.
It has strengthened our relationship and it has made our communication a lot better. I feel like you know, it's sometimes it can be easy to take your partner for granted and not ask them. Like, how are you feeling? How's your day going? How are you doing this week that just that basic kind of stuff, you know, it can be easy to go on autopilot with that and I think quarantine.
Has shown us that those conversations just being like how are you feeling is very very it's just it's just essential and it's also me asking her how she's feeling gives me more intentionality in the way. I approach my life during this too because you know all we live all literally. All we have is each other
right now.
Before we move on to another topic. We need to expand H-1B visas in the United States. It really makes no sense the our current system and I have friends who have gone through versions of it. And the fact is these companies have to jump through million Hoops to say look only this person could do this job. I can't find an American to do this job. But in real life, the choice is between them hiring those folks and having them live and work in the United States or them. Hi.
Them in another country and to me, which would you prefer if you're us them hiring hundreds of people and having them here in the US where they end up creating value and being massive value generators or that company opening an office in Pakistan or India or Eastern Europe or wherever it is like to me. That's a very easy call and you let that lead let them hire who they want here in the United States and then you get that value.
Lovely, every knowledge worker ends up supporting multiple workers in other aspects of the economy, which is pretty obvious if you think about it, but if you you get hired by this firm and you're working as a programmer whatnot, you're going to end up pumping a lot of money for the takeout restaurant for the landlord the dry cleaner that cleaning service the dog walker like you name it. It all ends up just circulating back through our economy as opposed to someone else's economy.
Oh, yeah, as you said it's just value-add the other thing is there's this sense, you know, they're talking about immigration reform. There's this sense that the gates are wide open that anybody can come to America. Nothing could be further from the truth as a kid in Pakistan with my family. Just trying to get a visit visa to America to come visit. My sister's brother. It's almost impossible. It's so hard just to get a visit means especially from a place like Pakistan getting at when an eight.
BP says you said companies have to jump through a lot of Hoops. So so there's this idea that anybody can just move in and it's easy. It is not easy. It's a very difficult process and there's a lot of venting that happens
just the thought that you might have had to leave the the states if you had not fallen in love with Emily, etc. Etc. I'm sure is like making everyone think it's like wow, I can't imagine an American cultural landscape without become a lot as lie lie.
Like over the long really you
can well that's well. That's very flattering. I don't think it's true. But I feel you know, obviously this is my country. This is my home and the idea that a big let's face it a big chunk of this country does not see me as American. It does not accept me as American even though I know it's not the problem is not with me. The problem is with them. It's still a little heartbreaking to me and it still it still gets to me.
The fact that what is it 44 percent of the country probably wouldn't see me is as belonging here.
I feel like you might be an exception my friend where if they've seen you in something that all of a sudden you become familiar to them in a way that that that might hopefully engender like, you know some
Positivity, I feel like you'd get that if you went to a lot of places and when you were performing your comedy, I feel like you might know this country in a way that a lot of people don't because comedians head to small towns and medium-sized cities and work like a club where like you said like, you know a few dozen drunk people show off and then they're they're doing there with a bunch of other comics and you end up staying overnight in places that a lot of Americans will never see and never visit. Did you have that?
Variants as a comedian or were you more exclusively in Chicago and New York.
I certainly had that experience not as much I couldn't do it in Chicago because I couldn't make money so I would go sometimes do the shows just to do them, but certainly in New York. I have done tours of tiny tiny towns. And you know, I grew up in a really big city. I grew up in Karachi, which is like 20 million people. I've lived in Chicago. I lived in live in New York. So I was always very like Metropolitan going to this mall.
Towns was really very eye-opening because I'll be honest, you know before I went to them. I was a little bit I thought oh, I don't see the appeal. Like if I lived there I would move out but then going there you do a show in a tiny town. I did this show I'm thinking the specific one. I did a show in a Tiny Town in Ohio, then afterwards everybody went to a bar and all the people from the show went to the bar and I was kind of hanging out and talking to these people who sort of grown up there and some of them had been like best.
with each other since the second grade, you know, and I thought that that was really beautiful and even though a lot of these people may not agree with me politically now, I really it I realized that as trite as this sound we all truly have a lot more in common than we don't I know sometimes it's that gets obscured by by but just the conversation and for the screaming at each other but
but it made me feel ultimately optimistic about about where we're headed in this Grand
experiment really think comedians could be that great unifying force of our society in part because of those experiences that so many of you
had it's a lot of pressure to put on a bunch of drunks and drug addicts dude
just in one place that feels
Very very uplifting and I'd urge you to try and get there though. I guess it'd be far field for you. And you know that your your pie not going to you know break isolation, but Dave Chappelle has as cornfield near his house and he's been doing live comedy shows there with comedians who just come and go essentially. I think that their nickname for it was Chappell summer camp, so it actually takes some of the ingredients you're describing where it's a very small town.
People are discovering. It's essentially like a field of dreams of Comedy the whole thing blows your mind like you go there and because it's a cornfield everyone spread out. It's very socially distance and you're just like what am I seeing? I'm seeing like some of the best comedians in the world in this cornfield and it felt quintessentially American in part because of the backdrop. It's like just fields of corn in the summer is a gazebo. So but but the comedian's I talked to be
How they interact with people the same way you do. It's like look, we all have a lot in common. We all want the same things and there are these political discussions that are trying to pit us against each other in a way that I don't think would apply if we were just sitting across a kitchen table from each other or if we were in the same bar at the same night like the then you would just end up bonding over your common Humanity instead of you know, typing some nasty comment in Twitter Facebook or or what have you.
So I'm I'm serious that I feel like comedians are having a different conversation with Americans than politicians for sure like a better conversation in many respects.
I think that's right. I think that's right. What you said about. You know, I one of my best friends in the world is in the end people always take a Pakistani and Indian and it's like yeah those lines don't exist when you're like sitting next to someone or eating with them. You know, I always
Find like if you look at the big Sig, there's a lot of eating scenes that happen whenever people whenever walls come down and people connect and I really feel like you know, if the world could if I could bring some of these people in and feed them Pakistani food. I don't think they could think of that place in the way that they think of it right now because because our foods do
good. Yes. Well said Kemal Zephyr will be like Pakistani restaurants across the country.
By letting people know that this place is too delicious to dislike. That's right. I mean that is what we are. We're too delicious to
dislike that should be on our flag
that that means a pretty good tagline Comedians and chaps bringing the world together. I don't I don't mind it. So when you talk about the politics of this moment, so you got a green card. Are you a citizen now? Are you still trafficking and I am in turn is it now? Also, you have the freaking full rights and privileges. You took the test.
Just was the test as hard as they say.
No the test was pretty easy. In fact why like, I don't know how much I could say because I don't because I read something with they were like, oh we can start revoking citizenship sand all
the shoes. You're in for a good don't worry about you can Spill the Beans nothing's going to happen. It's irreversible.
I went in and I sat with this guy and that was really nervous. And he was an Asian is an Asian guy, very nice and right from the beginning.
He was like, he asked me a couple questions and then he saw I was nervous and he was like don't be nervous. You're gonna pass don't worry about this and I just thought it was really really sweet. Like he didn't have to do that. He didn't have to put me at ease. You know, he didn't have to make me feel better. The person who interviewed us for the Green Card certainly didn't do that. She was trying to get us she was trying to get us to contradict ourselves and you know, she was like, she was certainly like aggressive but this guy was super nice so that
The test wasn't it was not that hard now. So yeah, I'm here for good can't get rid of me.
Yeah, look at this full rights and privileges. So so and you know, you're paying noodles and taxes, which will make some
people very happy. Yeah, it's California. It's a big percentage.
Okay, this episode of Yang speaks is brought to you by freshly. Okay. This is a I'm gonna call this a command for Buddy listening stop eating like crap and I might be projecting because I've been eating like crap except when I eat my freshly meals because they're pretty good and they're super healthy because it's simple you can avoid the grocery store which avoids covid and you get these fully prepared dinners delivered fresh not frozen right to your freaking door. So you're going to get
Golden oven-fried chicken not the oil Fried Chicken, but also creamy risotto, but then you've got beef brisket that falls apart and it's beautiful and awesome and healthy and then there's 30 other health-conscious options to choose from at freshly. So Join one and a half million satisfied customers of freshly and skip the shopping prepping cooking and clean up and stop eating like crap. So fresh leading is offering our Yang's beak listeners $40 off their first.
Orders at freshly.com Yang. That's freshly fres HL why.com Yang. Why Ang check it out. It is worth it your body. Will thank you your wallet will probably thank you freshly a.com slash. Yang.
So you and I connected in part because there was an Asian American political event. We're trying to Rally folks in the community.
Do you have a different perspective on what's going on politically as a result of the fact that you had to essentially fight to stay in this country. You become a citizen and then now you are in my mind one of the most prominent Pakistani American figures which and I'm can relate to aspects of this because you know, there are that many like Asian American presidential candidates. I know that not that
many.
Me see how many I can think
of.
Yeah, there's Andrew Young and his thumb. So I feel like you became a citizen just as our country started to really
turn against each other or feel like it's getting torn apart and I take it that you're with so, you know about me like I've endorsed Joe and Kamala like, you know, I'm trying to get folks to just vote vote vote because I feel like the more people that vote the better off. We're going to be right but I feel like you have a different perspective because you're like a kind of a recently minted American just like you to fight to get it and then here we are at this political moment.
Where it feels like there's a ton at stake in November.
Yeah, and you know, I always feel like obviously I relate to immigration issues very intimately and this the demonization of immigrants you remember when they were talking about the Caravan from Mexico and stuff. Is it never first of all, I find it obviously moral and immoral and unethical but on top of that it's also extremely
we illogical because you know, you were born here. We had to like fight to come here. We chose America as our home we gave up our lives, you know, we put everything on the line to choose to choose like better lives for ourselves and our families. I mean, what's more American than that? Right The Pursuit Of Life. What is it life liberty happiness, whatever it is. I don't remember from the citizen
show him. The test was too long ago, but to me,
Should be something that's commended. I mean these people are patriotic. They chose America, they weren't just born here. So so I find that it just never makes sense to me that people are able to demonize immigrants so easily and yeah, obviously the selection is very very important. You know, my parents moved here after I did my parents have been here now, maybe like 12 years or so and they move from Karachi and they they
Landed here and they love America. You know, they were like, oh my God things are like much easier here. They felt really accepted. They just my mom was like seeing her that happy and that comfortable it just brought so much joy to me and then in the last few years, it's been very difficult for her, you know her relationship to America has changed and the way she looks the way she sees America Has Changed now when I talk to her all she
Others really talk about politics and how scared she is and she says they don't want us here. I'm like know everything Mom. This is like there's a certain percentage of people. This is not how it is things can turn very quickly and she was like, she said something that really broke my heart. She's like we already we already left Pakistan, where where do we go from here where we go? And we have to leave
here, you know, she's been here for 12 years and she's happy for the first 10 years. And then the last
Two years. She's like wait a minute. Like I'm not sure if this place actually wants people like me.
Yeah, it's been it's been really really really devastating, you know, and I sort of tell her this is something that you know, this is the difficult balance right? Like how do you stay engaged and up on the news and still keep your wits about you? Like, how do you keep your mental health in check while the world is seems to be falling apart?
Card, so so I tell her I'm like, you know, you know how you're going to vote. You know, how your friends are going to vote don't watch the news all day every day. I don't think our brains are designed to really take that much stimulus over and over and over. This is how I feel about Twitter, even though I am on it more than I should be if you look at your replies. I bet you if you look at your applies, even if they're positive. It's really overwhelming. I don't think we're supposed to get that.
Much information that much communication that much feedback from that many people at in like such a short period of period of time
don't think that was happening in the state of nature where you say something at the campfire and then all of a sudden like hundreds of people stand pounds are Delta Q with with their opinion. Yeah, people are
caught tweeting you to dunk on you know, that did not happen. This is all completely new. So that's what I tell her. I'm like Mom. There's too much news right now too much is going on. I have to
I have to take breaks very very consistently. And so that's what I try and tell her but yeah, I mean there's a lot wrapped up in this election for all of us and specifically for me because I just keep thinking of my mom, you know, sometimes I wish I lived in a different state so my vote could actually
count more.
Well, you can make a huge difference trying to move votes in swing districts around the country. And I agree with you about there being an optimal amount of news and social media to consume in a given day. I've been so I I'm on CNN and CNN has 24 hours of news. But I grew up in a time when there was approximately 30 minutes of news. It was like to just and here's your nightly news and we'll do it again like the local version.
And what not and I'm convinced that there is an optimal amount of news that significantly less than 24 hours because this is the fact is if I have hours of bandwidth of content fill then I'll talk about something, you know, and and I'll try to make it interesting and I'll June up emotional responses to whatever the heck I'm talking about. And that's and social media. Is that compounded and you're right that right. So I'm
very much on Twitter and it was part of my presidential campaign. So it was very it was very high utility and it continues to be high utility because I feel like it's my responsibility and I feel I think you you and Emily is clearly feels similarly where it's my responsibility to try and put some positive sentiments or ideas out there because people kind of turn to me for a sense of uplift and you know, I'm very
Touched by that and I want to be that and you know, and and so it's it's like a function of who I am now and part of my professional role, but it occasionally someone in my Twitter feed will be like Oh, I'm trying to get off Twitter. I'm like go. Yeah leave
exactly II after this election. I'm really gonna like take a step back from Twitter. I've certainly done that if you see I'm more active now than I was.
was a couple months ago and that was by Design. You know, I was like as we get closer to the election. I'll see if if I can use my platform for any good. Maybe I'm just fooling myself. But at least at least you know, the attempt is there I can like look myself and say well I did something, you know, no matter no matter what happens, but I think you're right. It is high-value. I got on Twitter because it helped my touring tremendously, you know you when you would go to like before
Before people know your name if you're going to a small town. Usually you do like radio shows and stuff and you're sort of getting a weird smattering of people who've heard you who've heard you on that radio show, but but if it's Twitter, that's a very targeted thing. That's a self-selected audience. Right? Those are the people who want to hear from you. So I started on it because because touring fact I didn't have to do like six AM radio shows would like
Douchebags anymore, you know, and so that was that was very helpful and what you said about people looking to you for for uplift and positivity. I think that that's that's very very important and that's an essential service. I was Emily and I have talked about this, you know the time like this as people who like make stuff. I think there are two ways you can go right you can like fight against something or you can fight for something and I think I think both are very valid I
Fighting against stuff is very valid. I think that there are beautiful pieces of art that have come from cynicism and anger and negativity like beautiful pieces of Art and I find them essential I think our role is to fight for something. That's just I think how our personalities are. That's how our brains work. That's that's how we see the world with Emily and I are by Nature very optimistic people and we're generally very pretty positive people.
And so that's what we sort of decided. We try and do stuff that that fights for the positive rather than fighting against the negative which I do think. Is it still a it's a it's a very very valid battle. We have this show on Apple TV plus called Little America and that's a show that we created that an anthology show. So every every episode is completely different and then ontology show based on true stories of immigrants to America.
And and and that's the kind of stuff we want to do, you know just sort of these are like very small story. Some are some are sad. Some are happy. Some are funny. They're all summer weird and quirky somewhere like exciting and thrilling ones like a sports movie, you know, so that's that's what we sort of decided we wanted to do is we want to put stuff out that conveys our point of view in a way that hopefully makes people feel a little less lonely.
I'm a little more optimistic.
That's what I hoped. My presidential campaign would be Kemal is that before something present a vision that people can get excited about because one of the frustrations I have is that in politics. A lot of people will just point out the problem and then being like we should really think about what to do about that if it is move on it's like well, I'm kind of sure that we should actually put something on the table and so when I started my campaign and you know, I was for Universal basic income still am and saying hey we should give everyone a thousand dollars a month like
Were treating it like haha like that's impossible that you know can't happen and then now fast-forward not that long afterwards 55% of Americans are on board and something like 75% of Americans are for cash relief and a lot of its that you present this positive Vision. You say look like, you know, I'm with you and that I'm naturally optimistic and constructive it was funny too is that when I was running people presented me as like the Doomer candidate because I was talking about
about how a I was going to take the jobs and you know, the that stuff driving trucks are gonna leave the
truck. I mean you got to have that conversation to
yeah. Yeah, but I know it's always funny is that people saw me as Doom and Gloom on one hand, but then I have this this relatively positive manner and I thought like a vision where it's like look like we don't have to just wait for the trucker's to Riot like we can try and like build a runway for everyone so that we can start.
Planning for a future that I think is like right around the corner. And then now the pandemic ended up speeding it up.
Yeah, I think it was actually right. I think your campaign did so much work and moving the conversation and the positive direction bringing up bringing up things and ways of looking at problems that I thought was very very constructive, you know you the effect you had on the campaign of the affect your campaign had on the conversation as still profound and being felt and I think you talking about AI taking jobs and stuff.
It's so weird to me that people don't want to hear that stuff or talk about it. What if you think about it for 30 seconds? It's inevitable that that's where we're headed. And that that's something that we need to be ready for and deal with you know, specially because we're dealing with we're in this situation where massive tech companies control our lives in ways that are so complete and thorough we've given up so much just to have
Did you just just for convenience that it's really shocking how quickly it how quickly it happened? And I mean, you know, obviously Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook is in the news all the time. I think that's a great example of of a massive massive Tech Forest that's affected the way that's affected the world and I believe to be a profoundly profoundly negative way. And I said, so I think these conversations are our essential we kind of ignore them anymore.
More
I have friends in Silicon Valley who could not watch Silicon Valley or show on HBO because I said it does hit too close to home. They're like, it's too real, you know, the
first time it's really interesting because our show we started filming in 2011. I think maybe 2,000 the wait what maybe 2013 I forget but when we when I was doing the pilot, you know, it was my judge was HBO. I told my friends I was if I'm doing this pilot, they're like, what was it? What's it about and I said, it's called silicon.
They were like, oh is it said in the 90s? I'm like no this crazy shit going on in Silicon Valley right now. It's weird to think back then. We didn't know I mean some people did but we didn't know who Elon Musk was. We didn't know how Peter teal was like people had not heard these names. Now. These are household names in the six years that we ran or the seven years that we ran the way that people look at Silicon Valley has changed so quickly and for me, it was a real wake-up.
Up call because I think it was season two or three we would sort of do these trips right? We would go to Silicon Valley and we would show the episode and we sort of like tour companies and get to see what they were working on and they were very excited to have us because because you know, we're doing the show about about about what they do. I was done at what little thought was going into the moral and ethical ramifications of the technology that they were working.
I remember I won't name the company but they were showing us this new product. That's now on the market that many people have and they were like you do this can do this. I can do this. And so we brought up a privacy concern and it wasn't they didn't have
they were shocked that they were asked this question. They didn't even have like a fake corporate answer ready to go. They were stunned and a little upset and disappointed that we would even think of that. I feel like there's this sense in the tech world and I'm sure you know this much better than I do. The technology is completely amoral. It's a tool you make it and how it's used. Well, it's not up to us. Well, I don't think that's right. I think first of all, there's no
Way that laws can keep up with technology and I do think it's the responsibility of people developing this technology to consider the negative the possible negative uses for it. You know, I'm I can I mean the the Deep fake stuff all that stuff like I don't think you can just like keep developing and close your eyes and ears to the fact that these things can be can be really misused.
They're being missed used every day in part because they serve the almighty Marketplace and we know right now the marketplace just wants to monetize Austin our attention whether or not that's good for democracy. Our mental health Humanity free will our ability to come together and solve problems or ability to settle on back to the truth. You know, we're all now just subject to this this surveillance capitalism machine that sells and resells us.
To the tune of 200 billion each year. That's what
you always hear you like if the app is free. You're the
product.
And so right now I'm trying to help people wake up to what's going on with our data and our privacy rights. There's actually a problem in California in November prop 24 that I'm super excited about that. It's going to create a dedicated data Protection Agency in the state of California to look out for California data and privacy rights, which right now a lot of companies are frankly just totally abusing and spilling whatever like there's no enforcement course so in prop 24
Passes in November then all of a sudden the state has to create an enforcement agency in mechanism. And then you're going to see corporate Behavior change. That's because until there isn't until is actually somewhat looking after and then showing up and saying hey like that there's a problem here. So so believe it or not. This stuff is Cutting Edge right now. This does literally on the ballot in like a matter of weeks
good. I mean, that's the tricky thing, you know, if you see like these hearings when wouldn't like Zuckerberg or any of these folks go the questions, they're being a
I asked it scary
because you're not inspiring not inspiring
stuff about the most basic Tech stuff. Like it
just is
it's really upsetting that honestly, I mean this prop 24 you vote Yes on Prop 24, that's good. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna use two together to get that word out because I do think that that is sort of the big existential crisis that we're heading towards right now is it
It's it's big tack. I think I think it's a formidable foe. I feel like for all the great stuff that the internet has done. I think it's it's it's I mean, you know, it's it's fractured the conversation so much to the point where it's not even a conversation. I remember when I was a computer science major, I would go to my professors office and he was this guy he was like a philosopher and a computer scientist and he was one of the, you know original
All guys who was involved with the internet and stuff and he had this quote on this desk from a group of early people who were sort of trying to talk about technology in the benefits is going to provide humanity and it said something like the rise of the internet is the promise of the return of voice and I found that so inspiring I was like that's true. The promise of the internet is I can talk to someone in Bulgaria, you know, I can like have a real conversation with them. You really can connect with people.
Who have different experiences from your different perspectives from you see the world entirely differently and you can have a conversation with them in reality what's happened is you just find the people who exactly agree with you and then you just Talk Amongst yourselves and then you yell at the other people who disagree with you. So it's really gone in a completely different direction. And I think these original sort of tech thinkers had thought had thought it would and I don't know how
don't know. I don't know where we go. I feel like the internet is like this serpent that we made that's now swallowing us whole
one of my goals is to get the serpent under control come out and like I may actually have that job before too long if things had in a particular direction
of let I hope they had in a particular direction,
you know, it's funny. I was just using device off the fact that I feel like you're one of the most prominent voices in this direction because of
Like hot Valley which is sort of ironic because obviously it you know, it was a television show and yet I feel like everyone identifies you so closely with with this set of issues in part because you know, we just watched you on HBO for years on end. I
know and I'm just saying stuff that they wrote for me. I really shouldn't be the guy don't look to me for any insight into it. But but you know, we did the writers and the Creator's were very very I mean they know new all these CEOs, right? So we
and
it's all real let you know that the fact that it's like art imitating life or one dot plus the fact that you're genuinely like a computer science crowd who worked in the field for years. So I don't know if that helped them cast you where they're like, oh this guy's really convincing. Well, no because I was really
bad at computer science. I never got it, but I was just it's funny to go from sitting behind a row of computers being the worst guy to then being on set sitting behind a row of computers and big the
That guy like I was the only one out of the cast that like understood a little bit with the code was so that was a weird experience. It didn't really, you know, it didn't really help me to Too Much knowing the tech side of it really what you know, my my approach to it was just was the character itself like that type of guy was was really my way in
well, you did a phenomenal job on that show. I can't wait to see
see you on the big screen with the eternals. You're a literal hero to so many people and a force for progress and reason and humanity mean your family stories incredible. It's such an American story and we have to let people know that you're American your mom's American. I'm American and that America Is Us. It doesn't look like a particular set of images. I may be 1421 political parties putting out there being like, hey, let's just try
Like inflate this with America, you know America is Austin to you. It's you and yours
exactly American looks like the world because the world is in America. I remember the day I got my citizenship you're in a room and you sort of do the pledge and everything and then the video played until the video as a music video that they had made for this proud to be an American and it was like cowboys and horses and like little white girls and swings and and
then Obama comes on.
Was it the actual song? I'm proud to be an American because I lie. Wow, they really use that when you become a citizen. It's officially the citizenship song of the United States. I'll tell you man. It sounds
cheesy, but I had tears running down her face had my head. I was like, I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free, but then Obama comes on and he gives you the speech this really moving speech about welcome to the country. You're here. Now, you're one of us and I just felt so full of Hope.
And optimism and I don't know what's happening with people who become citizens. Now. I kind of imagine that there's a there's a there's a video that plays that makes anybody feel. I
have a feeling they replaced the Obama part of building that they did they like change that part. They probably kept the first
part. Oh, I'm sure they kept the first part then maybe some Maga has added to
it.
Well, I tweeted during the RNC that I really like that song because I do really do like that song like a problem. They play it. I'm proud to be it almost like really like this song and then all these folks it's tough. All these folks were like, oh no like I used to love it or are they ruined it for me? And I was like, oh, they haven't ruined it for me. I still just love this song now, so you're really letting experience. I mean like I'm proud you're an American. I know a lot of us are Kemal and hopefully we can keep
At that energy and belief strong so that your mom feels right at home here, you know really as soon as this elections are but even before then
I hope so thank you. That's very kind of you to say, thank you.
Thank you such a pleasure Kemal. No Johnny. Let's keep an eye out. He's got a podcast with Emily and he has the show Little America. It's on Apple Plus. So you can check out some inspiring stories of immigrants do
great things around the
country and that show is free right now. So you don't need to have a subscription to Apple TV plus just go on your Apple TV search for Little America and you can watch all the episodes for free
little America's free on apple. Plus that's great big speaks people love free. So
yeah, check it out. Yeah. I know you have the time to watch it right
now.
