Quotes from Jimmy O. Yang

I tried to be a rapper. I tried to make beats before I got into comedy, and that's still one of my hobbies.

Mother always tries to buy things for a reasonable price. I was never allowed to buy things at full price. Probably, it's rooted in the Chinese mentality. We are very thrifty.

You'd see Asian faces on TV, but it was so rare, especially in the comedy space - that for me was Ken Jeong doing stand-up... it's amazing that I can call him a friend now and a colleague.

The great thing about the comedy world is that everybody is somewhat of an outsider. That's the community where outsiders feel like they're insiders.

When a Spanish actor does an accent, that's sexy. When Peter Sellers did a French accent in 'Pink Panther,' that's funny - he got nominated for a Golden Globe. How come whenever an Asian actor does an accent, he's stereotyping?

I spoke English when I moved to the U.S.A. but I had an accent. To get rid of it, I watched a lot of TV-shows and tried to repeat after the tv-hosts. I liked shows about hip-hop.

When I came to America, it was Dave Chappelle and a lot of comedians on ComicView. That was my first exposure to stand up comedy, actually.

When I quit my internship and started doing standup to pursue my dreams and do that full time - I feel like that's when I 'Americaned.'

When I was graduating college with an economics degree, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was kind of scared. So I was just trying everything.

That's what's great about standup comedy: the instant feedback. You get up on stage, you tell a joke, if it doesn't work, come back the next day with a better version of it.

If you want to do standup, you have to go on stage. That's the only way to get good - stage times.

I understand the whole constant foreigner stereotype, but for me it's important to portray immigrant characters like Jian-Yang and Danny Meng with humanity.

I don't know why people feel the need to do this to me, but my friend asked my dad, 'Aren't your proud of Jimmy now that he's a successful actor?' And my dad was like, 'No, not really. I wish he was a scientist.' I guess scientist is more noble in the Asian culture.

Normal people don't become stand-up comedians.

To get noticed you need to work a lot and have a bit of luck. And I'm here to say that it's possible.

I tried my hardest to be the opposite of a stereotypical Asian student.

As far as stand-up, a lot of Asians and Chinese are not as apt to stand-up, especially the older generation since they don't even know what stand-up is.

Silicon Valley,' I mean, the comedy is amazing, and it's one of the best-written shows with some of the best talent. I'm really happy to be a part of it.

But I try to play everything very authentically, even if it is an accented immigrant, Jian Yang, that I play on 'Silicon Valley.'

I love everyone on 'Silicon Valley.'

I was doing stand-up at the Improv and when the host introduces you, 'OK, the next comedian, you've seen him on 'Silicon Valley.' People always clap. They really watch the show and they are fans of it. And then they said, 'You are also going to see him in 'Crazy Rich Asians,' and I did not expect this, but the applause was even louder.

I've learned to not have expectations. I think the first movie I did, I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm going to win an Oscar!' You can't do that, you're going to let yourself down.

I guess I've lived my whole life as an outsider.

I'm excited to share my experience as an immigrant assimilating to a new country and an outsider stumbling my way into Hollywood.