I’ve been following adult filmmaker and comedian Oliver Wong since the COVID era, and I was intrigued by his comedic storytelling about his days working in the adult film industry right after college. Oliver is confident, assertive, and holds no shame about his line of work. We discussed what led him to the adult filmmaking world and what he experienced along the way regarding racial and gender stereotypes in adult film. He shared more about it through his stand-up comedy. Also, we get into the hot topic of AI and how we are trying to make sense of this new reality. Listen to this full episode for more on our deep dive.

Follow Oliver on IG at oliverwongcomedy or through his Linktree: click here

Bio:

Oliver Wong is a Taiwan-born stand-up comedian who moved to the U.S. at 23 and learned to speak English by watching How I Met Your Mother.

With degrees in film production and screenwriting, Oliver came to Hollywood hoping to make movies—and somehow stumbled into directing adult films. For three years, he wrote and directed narrative-driven, cinematic adult movies that received recognition from AVN and XBIZ. Yes, they had plots.

Now he brings his love of storytelling to stand-up, joking about being an immigrant, being gay, stumbling through his 30s, and his experience working as a film director in the adult industry.

Oliver also produces Drunk on Boba, a monthly comedy show in Los Angeles.

He regularly performs at The Comedy Store, The Ice House, and Flappers Comedy Club.

What can creating healthier masculinity look like for all Asian men?

Leo Xia (IG: lowhiofficial), founder of JinShan Collective, joins me to discuss his personal experiences as a straight Asian man and what he has continued to unlearn and heal from over the years. We discuss the toxicity of the “manosphere,” the challenges that Asian men face, and how to create a safer space for vulnerability and empathy to happen. Leo shares what he observes in those spaces through his virtual groups, and I share a few of my experiences as a queer Southeast Asian and my relationship to straight Asian men. Take a listen to the full episode as we get into the nitty-gritty of what vulnerability and empathy can look like as Asian men.

To learn more about JinShan Collective, visit here

Bio:

Leo Xia is a men’s group leader and facilitator of support groups for Asian men. He has spent over 6 years holding conversations about masculinity, identity, and culture for 500+ men.

He facilitates his own men’s group, JinShan Men’s Community through his company JinShan Collective, as well as the Proud Asian Men group under Asian Mental Health Project.

TW/CW: Discussions of g*nocide regarding Palestine, Congo, and Sudan. Vicarious trauma

Palestinian American poet and doctor, Fady Joudah shares his poetry, essays, and photography in collaboration with Gaza Soup Kitchen on his upcoming collection, Exhibit G. We discuss the vicarious trauma of witnessing a g*nocide through his work as an artist but also as a Palestinian. Fady shared the painful and complicated process of trying to share the resilience, strength, and humanity of the Palestinian people while also reminding the world of what was done to them. We had a very frank conversation about the process of creating this collection and what he hopes to see for the future of Gaza and its people.

Order your copy of Exhibit G: Link Here

Bio:

Fady Joudah is the author of [...], a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. His other poetic works include: The Earth in the Attic; Alight; Textu, a book-long sequence of short poems whose meter is based on cellphone character count; Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance; and Tethered to Stars. He has translated several collections of poetry from Arabic and is the co-editor and co-founder of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. He was a winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition and has received the Jackson Poetry Prize, a PEN award, a Banipal/Times Literary Supplement Prize from the UK, the Griffin Poetry Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Arab American Book Award. He lives in Houston, with his wife and kids, where he practices internal medicine.