 Your reaction to when you found out Chappie, the owner, was actually a fourth generation Spanish person from the Philippines. Colonosa! He's very nice. He's very nice. Everyone come here. This is Culture Table, a series where we sit down with different Asian comedians to have the funny conversations you thought you'd never get to have, but that you need to have. This is the Filipino episode with comedians Marcus, Jordan, and Ileana, where we address assimilation, stereotypes, comedy, and where Filipinos fit into the rise of Asia. Art everybody, welcome to another episode of Culture Table with us today. We have three Filipino comedians based in New York. Marcus Cardona, first generation born Filipino-American from Maine, living in Brooklyn. I'm Jordan Mendoza. My parents were born in Manila. My brother was born in Manila, but I was born in Boston. Hi, Ileana Innocencio. My dad was born in Altavaz, Aklan, and I was born in Virginia. And you guys are all professional comedians. That's not a common job for Asians to be pro at, at least. I think more and more Asians, like in 2020, they're, like, dabbling in it. I took an improv class in college. But as far as, like, man, I gotta live the rest of my life, check my check on a comedy check, that's new. Oh, thank you. Yeah, go ahead and you can break it down to the camera. This is our Aligepasa. This is the top-selling dish here in Cheez-Miz for dinner. The Tocino Yempo, the Pineapple Tocino Yempo, is the second favorite of the Szilag dishes here in Cheez-Miz. And we have the, the bangus, which is the milkfish, which is indigenous to our waters in the Philippines. We actually bring this product all the way from Davao. Lastly is the chorizo benedict, which is our take on the traditional American eggs benedict. Instead of you seeing a Canadian bacon, we do, we do a sweet pork patty. Filipino Americans may or may not have a little bit more leeway due to the westernization of the culture. Like, the parents might be a little bit more okay with it, that you pursue the arts. But was it a difficult journey to kind of get to that point where you're, like, making people laugh for the rest of my life? I don't think so. Yeah, my dad and my mom were always really supportive. I think they were harder on my brother because he's a little dry, he's the boy. And, you know, my mom's from Singapore, so there's that, like, I guess, like, more Chinese influence in there. I had never felt free to do what I wanted to do. I was going to be a doctor, and then when I wasn't going to be a doctor, my parents were like, well, he'll be a lawyer then, that's great. I moved to New York to be an artist, like a, like a photographer and a video artist. And then I got into comedy, and my parents were like, no. I argued so hard for this, like with my family. It was funny because, like, I did, like, the complete, like, stereotypical around. I was like a nursing student, and I was like doing comedy on the time. It was like, I basically fought against that stereotype a bunch, and then I just had to keep pushing through because, like, my parents, like, didn't, like, really see it. They'd be like, oh, I do waste so much time doing this. But then after that, like, you know, because of that, like, I had a real voice and I could actually talk with my parents. Yo, you guys, when you guys look at this food, this is the Filipino-American culture table. Garlic Pad Rice is very familiar. The Topsilog, for sure, because I would always have Lopsilog, which was, like, the sweet sausage version of that. So I love that. The other stuff looks different. Your reaction to when you found out Chappy, the owner, was actually a fourth-generation Spanish person from the Philippines. Colonosa! He's very nice. He's very nice. Everyone come here. I am part Spanish. Oh, you are part Spanish? I am dissented from a Spanish priest. What percentage? Like, did you take 23 in me to find out what it was? Yeah, I actually just took 23 in me. How Spanish are you, man? I am 8%. We're all from Spanish influence, so I think you should not take 23. I think in, like, American culture, when you're an Asian, you're at the buffet, and you can either choose to eat in the black section or the white section. The Asian section is so small, or, like, non-existent, really. So that's why you see so many Asians who are like, oh, they're a white Asian, they're banana, or they're a black Asian. A rotten banana right now. Is that what they're doing? You guys never heard of that? Why? They're rotten bananas. They're all in the yellow M&M. Oh, interesting. Obviously, the white version is a Twinkie. Different people, even in the same immediate family, might eat from different parts of the buffet. The kids are all going to pick one a more stronger angle in unity for Asians. It's like, it's a crapshoot. I want to ask this because I think this is a great segue where being Chinese and knowing so many Filipinos growing up, I was like, yo, Filipinos are so in the subculture, they're kind of more emo playing the guitar, or whether they're playing basketball, or they're trying to be rappers, or they're break dancers, there's so much subculture. What do you think bred that? It seems more than other Asians personally. Yeah, just how Americans influenced Filipinos way back in the 50s anyways. So I feel like we always had that aspiration to be more American. So I think we had that weird upper hand before coming to America. And because of colonization, Americans installed this ideal that the ideal is going to be that you are an American, a white American, so that I think that's why we are always searching for some kind of subculture to attach ourselves to because it's going to make us feel like we can upgrade our race in a way. When we're just talking about subcultures, if you're a Filipino and actually go into self-identity, all you realize is colonization, colonization, colonization. And even here, when I grew up, I used to be like, oh, I have an American name and they'd be like, oh, you should diminish that. Then when we go back to the Philippines, I'd have a cultural disconnect because they're like, oh, you're American. For Filipinos, changing to being black, that's also another thing. Because during that time also, black nerds started popping up, and I was like, why am I popular now? I think Filipinos being in the military. San Diego has a lot. There's a military base there. I knew a lot of the Filipinos growing up. Their parents were part in the military too. Yeah, that's where my dad joined the US Navy a few years ago, and that's how he came over here. So all of the Filipinos I knew were military guys and then their kids. Mine's weird because my parents didn't meet in the Philippines. They met in Maine. Because you were kind of referencing colonization and the different layers of assimilation the Filipinos have been through. It's funny, other Asians, sometimes we have beef with our upbringing because our groups are not assimilated enough. Obviously everyone kind of has an issue with colonization, but so much of the existing current culture is from that. I'm friends with a lot of friends, and theirs is like, you know, Vietnamese and French, and that's why they have the banh mi and all that stuff. But culturally, you know, it's just like you wouldn't be who you were without all that happening. The woke thing to say was like, it was bad. But then what, is everybody going to stop eating banh mi? Or is everybody going to say, are you guys chucking jalapeas off the door? Because that is not Filipino food. I'm not throwing my fish sauce, absolutely not. I lived in a very white town around white people, and I was like, I really just want to fit in. I think as a kid, you just want to fit in. Now I am very curious about what our culture actually is. But also, not at all, because I haven't done anything about it. Do you think you guys have different Filipino bringings because in a way you guys, and you know, the crazy thing is, being a mixed country, everybody in the Philippines looks so different. You know, you totally could be somebody in the Philippines. You could be somebody in the Philippines. You could be somebody in the Philippines. But it's almost like, you guys' 23s and me's probably look like pretty different from each other in a way. Similar but different. Is that, do you think that experience of even just looking different, but still being under the same umbrella of Filipino culture changes the way you interface with it? Yeah, definitely for sure. It's definitely one of those weird interaction ones. If I find out that we're both Filipino, usually I'm kind of more cool with you. It's not like it has to be the exact same type of Filipino. No, just Filipino if we can talk about anything. If Bruno Mars comes on and you start dancing, and then you look at me and you make a point, it's like, yeah. I mean, I get Chinese a lot actually. I don't always get seen as Filipino first. Honestly, it depends on how brown I am during the season. My best friend from high school is Filipino, but when we first met, the diversity director at our high school was like, you guys should meet because you're both Filipino. We shook hands and we went our separate ways because we were like, this kid, I'm not just Filipino, I'm my own person. Didn't you say that in a way you were eating from the white side of the buffet and your friend was eating from the black side of the buffet? My friend liked to say that I'm the white version of him and then he's the black version of me. We talked about that. I think that that is a topic I want to touch upon because we're talking about assimilation. I feel like I learned my ability to assimilate into American subcultures from my Filipino friends because I definitely was not going to learn from the Chinese kids at church. They just didn't do it. You're saying your best friend is the black version of you and you're the white version of him, but you guys are melded by that Filipino mind mel. What is that? I want to just make the section that looks like the Filipino mind mel. What is it, even though you and your brother and your cousins may have all adopted a different American subculture, you guys all still got that, you know, we're still Filipino. I think it is that kindness of the Filipinos because any Filipino house I went to growing up was an auntie coming to me like, did you eat yet? And I feel like just being around that and growing up, you automatically want to be that way with the other Filipinos you meet and also on a superficial level, it's like, oh, they look like me, they're my family, you know, and it's like you want to care for your family instinctively. That's the core that's going to fall into it. Yeah. Family is very important to Filipino culture, although I wonder how much of that comes from Spanish culture. So, you know what, family? I hate you mom and dad. He's Korean. I feel like, I feel like, yeah, they're talking about family stuff, but I feel like Filipino, like, just food, that's like a big bonding one. They do like the Kamiyan meals, which is like a big popular thing. And then beyond that, a weird one is like the Balak Bayan box, which is like something that like most families do where you grab stuff and you send it back to the Philippines. So that's where like a weird like unity, even if you're in America. It's more like little things, like if they part of their lives, I'm like, oh, yeah, we're both Filipino. Or if you're walking to an airport and you go like, if you see a head turn, I'm like, oh, yeah, that guy's Filipino. That's like a weird like thing that's just family from like parents and stuff like that. What does that mean? It's like getting your attention. That's all this. Yeah, that does feel like presents to me. Everybody kind of has their own lane. I'm sure you guys all have your own audience. What do you guys think about Jocoy? Jocoy's beast. Oh man, like Jocoy, he's so good. I mean, like gets like the stereotypes right about Filipinos that every time he writes a special, I had to like cut out chunks of my joke book. Oh no. Like down, down. A lot of militant Filipinos are gonna run. They said he's kind of like a fake Filipino. Like he kind of like, He's a big Filipino? Yeah, like he's only half and then his mom doesn't have that accent and his upbringing was much more whiter and he's sort of like extrapolated on the FOB aspects to have an accent. It still has it. It's just exaggerated, which on stage like we're acting. I also have to cut a lot of Jocoy jokes from my sets as well. That's not true. Jocoy, you've been stealing my style for years now. I think he appeals to Filipino, like my parents' generation, you know? At the end of the day, it's comforting to know that there's a guy making Filipino jokes that's making that much money, right? That's successful, right? You need to see that. Is there any sense that you feel like you need to lean into this style of comedy, like make more Filipino jokes or you're like, I want to lean out for that reason? Like what are those reasonings that you have behind your comment? Jocoy doesn't really talk about money. Then you get to see like different nations talk about like Brian Chan talks about money in his set, Ali Wong talks about my in set. Jocoy kind of talks about it, but he just plays on like the bigger stereotypes everyone knows. So I had to do it like from Filipino's perspective. Because I've talked about how poor the country is. I'm like, no one wants to have the conversation, but I feel like that's the whole point of like my comedy in general is I make the harder conversations funny that you could joke about it. I'm like, it exists. Can you real quick just one specific joke did you do? Like behind every successful Asian man is like an Asian mom who beat him into success. Like the more you got beat the higher successful you are. And I'm like on the flip side, if you ever see like an Asian woman collecting cans, she's just trying to replace a son she doesn't have. And my sister's like, I'm just like, that's real. Damn. All right, yeah. We had a joke that we used to do years back about growing up and hearing this split decision between Filipinos where Filipinos would be Asian for the good stereotypes in the Pacific Islander when the Asian stereotypes got really bad. Like, oh, we're good at school. We're really smart. We're Asian. Small people. No, no, no. We're Pacific Islanders. Like, hold on. We're much more like the rock. Yeah. Samoan, Polynesian. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. These guys, that's us when it comes to the dick game. Yeah. So I was in a meeting, like a general meeting with someone in exec. And they were like, what's your comedy like? And I went, ah, like I really freaked out. But I liked, like, inspired by, I like Zach Alphamac. It's a lot. I look at what like Taika Waititi did with his career. And I'm like, that's exactly what I want to do. Do you think being Asian will either help or hurt that? It's true that obscure oddball comedy, typically, even though highly regarded as a difficult to do, more of a white thing. Maybe the closest thing is a Hannibal Burris and even he's kind of linear. But he's considered an oddball black comedian. I've just been like, how do I make this joke work? I've never really thought about it. Are you guys from round two? What was your favorite? Like the Hannibal Burris? Yeah, the pasta. That was really good. I like the fish, whatever that was called. The bangles? Yeah. Wait, wait, wait. This is just like a weird sandwich in Filipino. I like the lechon. That was really good. That's like, yeah, pork belly. We're onto the dessert section, you guys. I had a question, because you know, we're all in comedy. What do you guys feel about how you guys like look and how it affects the comedy, right? My whole perspective on it has always been in terms of a widespread mainstream level, really years away from having an Asian sign felt, because people just can't get over how different of a culture we represent. Well, I mean, like I was saying, I actually have like an all Asian sketch group and pitched a show to UCB, which was at the time predominantly like white male community, and then we got a run. We were smart enough to know that this is what they would want of us, because they've never been an Asian group that had a show there. So we were like, okay, we got to do it this way in order to get our foot in to create what we want to do. That was like five years ago and I think that's changed so much. But how did you feel? Because you said even, uh, I'm not gonna lie, one of my modern Asian jokes does super well. I think people yet they really want you to be the thing that they see. They're like, come on, crazy rich Asians. You, I know you got to do that. It's like, that's just racism. Does your part white side feel some white privilege to be like, I don't need to talk about the sandals every other minute. I really hope that one day I can feel more white privilege. Maybe you should announce people you should bring the 23 and me results. I always thought my friends that were Filipino that were trying to be comedians said that they were trying to not talk about being Asian because people couldn't immediately identify them as Asian. Like conventionally Asian, I'm not saying that's not Asian but like, because I was like, oh yeah visually they have more leeway to get away with like being seen as something else. I benefit from some sort of like mixed privilege of like, we don't know what it is so he can do whatever he wants. You mean the thing, same thing Vin Diesel has or like, or the rock. There's like, put him in something. He'll grab a couple of demographics. I could see your ambiguous racial look being a benefit in certain systems but if they come to you for that Asian hour long special, it'll be a con. Yeah. I remember auditioning for like a summer stock thing where it was like they were doing King and I and Miss Saigon and then I went in on audition and the casting director was basically like, you're good but you don't look Asian enough. I've like, literally had like audiences be on my side and it's like, I thought it was one of ours. I'd say it's like, a lot of my comedy set up is like misdirect anyway so I'm like, if they don't know what I am then I can just kind of play the field. I wanted to ask you guys about Filipino representation in the mainstream as all this other Asian stuff is going up, this particularly East Asian looking, whether it's K-pop, you know, even Aquafina's Rise or like Crazy Rich Asians which are more Chinese based. I think Filipinos had their time, you know, 10, 12 years ago. But yeah, it's not really including Filipinos right now. I think the issue though of bringing up here, like we're all Filipino but we all don't look like the same race. You can't make a family sitcom because it might look very different. You have to be 100% Korean to be this place. Yeah. I always thought that the Filipino advantage of being racially ambiguous was good 10 years ago growing up in real life like just on the streets and then it's weird in a media way when you sell it to a media company then they're like, oh, we just wanted them. It's sort of a give and take. Would you guys take the higher risk of not fitting into a Christian society as a person in your personal life but you get the easier typecasting for roles? Yeah. What are you going to... What are you going to do? I have a... We're all Japanese. But even just like having like Filipinos in writer's rooms because we're always like the digital editors, the choreographers to answer that question you're like, dude it's not about just being able to physically look like an Asian, Asian Asian that Hollywood sees as an Asian. You're like, it's about just getting all the way through the system. And me, Japanese. It's Japanese. Background and on camera. And honestly, like whatever culture you need me to be, I'll just like be that. So this is Jordan's video of selling out entirely. Man, in a way the people I see making it right now they can emote and be family like gregarious like a Filipino but they don't, they have a more Asian-y book. I don't think it's like oh, Filipinos really had their time only 10 years ago and that's it. I'm like, not really, it all come around and everybody's going to be able to do everything and ultimately like as Asians come up and diverse faces come up I do think generally it's still good for everybody. Did you guys watch the debut? Oh, I do. Yeah. What is this? Shave. Shave. Rufio. Great. I don't know what that is either way. It looks like our mascot for like years. Shave. Shave. Oh my gosh. I told you. I'm Spanish or Japanese. I'm not Filipino. All right. This is my application video for Terrace House, right? So, thank you so much for the food. This is toshikado, dimeric, dipuzmen. What do you guys hope for the future of Filipinos in America? Here's what I think is going to happen. You know, I think Filipinos are already everywhere, so I think we're kind of like a sniper. We're going to like show up and then all of a sudden it's going to be all Filipinos everywhere like on camera, behind camera, like everything because I think that assimilation is something Asian August, like that time when like, was that when Crazy Rotations and Searching and all the boys I loved for all that came out, that was great. But it should just be about not like these peaks and valleys, but like this just like consistency. Yeah. I was at Trader Joe's and they had an ube ice cream like months ago. And I was like, that's awesome. I'm going to keep buying it. And then it went away. I missed the ube ice cream. The way that I see it is just about investment and like the next thing I'm like, okay, we've seen the K-pop people. We've seen like, they're going to be like, oh man, I wish I had a show that had like some kind of black people, some kind of white people, Asian people, some Latino people, like, oh crazy, Filipinos, like that's what I feel like is going to make the next switch. I've assembled all five special cards, all five pieces of the puzzle. Exodia obliterate. Like you ever like, damn, like that's weird that we got to even have that, like question about like how the group is going to like impact our careers? Or should we just exist as like solo units? Because theoretically that's how, if we were all like blue people, that's how it would be, right? There wouldn't be any movement of like lighter shaped blue or like we're all just one color of blue. It's just like everybody on their own. But because we're Asian there is some sense of like, damn, I really hope they make like three Filipino sitcoms on NBC next year because I'm going out for that. And if that happens, like I'm Filipino. So yeah, if you guys are looking for like, I can do the accent like, I'll do whatever you want. It's like when people came out of Black Panther, I saw people coming out there. I was like, all right, these are agents of like, all right, bye Koreans. Bye Koreans. I'm just going to walk by myself. So eventually they're going to come to all the Asians at some point. We're like, we're like phase three in the ACU don't we? Well, what's one project that you guys would like to see? Because if anybody's watching this out there and they like any of you guys, like what's something that you're either working on that you want to pitch or just like throwing it out there like, yo, I want to see debut number two. I might just try pitching like a fictional like national treasure story about General Sal and then all you guys know about was the chicken. So that's it. Okay. I wrote a Marie Kondo romcom recently and I really like the premises that it's about a Marie Kondo person who believes objects have feelings and falls in love with a client and his lamp. So it's a psychological sort of sexual comedy. Who are you hiring as a cast? Who, you know who I like is the person from Maniac. Some freaky kind of freaky-deaky Japanese stuff. Is that one of the one you're writing with Fumi? The show that Fumi and I are writing is called We're Asian Now and it's about like in your 20s having like this late adolescence and realizing like, oh yeah, I am Asian and it's a sketch show. For me, my group Asian Pop is working on a pilot right now. So the thing that is cool about Asian Pop is that we each represent a different Asian country. So we wrote a pilot that we're trying to pitch around. What countries you got in there? India, China, Japan, and Philippines. I've got all the big ones. Yeah, major players. Why don't you leave A to Korean? Why don't you leave A to Korean? Why don't you leave A to Korean? Well, let's be honest, the Koreans they didn't want to be a part of it. The Koreans have all the pop groups right now so they have that. Yeah, they have everything else going on. But we have like a pilot about how basically all these Asian women date one boy guy and it like comes into fruition. It's very good. So this is based on a true story of course we know that. All the guys here shook our heads and they just were like, shit. No, because we knew it was true and I understand that. This guy is bad. He's the villain. Okay, that's funny. What was your guys' favorite dessert that we had? I liked the corn bibingka the most. So I like this one. Just bibingka is just other ratui dish. I was like child. I like the silvana. I've never had that before. It's good. I actually like that ube puree French toast. Yeah, that was good. I was like really, I know that was the fusion dish but yeah, it was good to sell. What do you think it is guys that made Filipinos and continue to have this reputation of being like, always down for a laugh, dancing, jovial. Where did that joy come from? Happiness is free. Happiness is free. That's it. I feel like, that's it. No, I'm like, I'm like, I'm not about it but like, most of it is like, yeah, we drink and eat and stuff like that like in our free time like karaoke and stuff like that. I'm like, if we had the karaoke machine we'd rather do it at home rather than go out. It's just happiness is free. That's my opinion. And also I guess island life because like Philippines even though there are cities it's 7000 islands so it's like, we have that like chill culture. That's my Filipino joke is dead. I think we are very NBC sitcom. Like I think we're accessible, you know? We're network TV. Historically speaking. No, I am NBC sitcom. I am NBC sitcom. Did you guys know this that in the board ABC whichever one that when they first started really coming to America there was this sense that Filipinos were taking white women. That's the only Asian group that's the only Asian group that I heard that from. I primarily dated white women and then a couple of years ago I was like, oh my God, am I racist? Like so I started like actively dating Asian women and then I would have dinners with them and they would also be like are you like only an Asian woman? And I would be like, no, I'm new to this. And then they were like me too. I think there's like a cultural thing of like, okay, now we can date each other again and it not be seen as we only date within our race. He was just talking about like dating Asians. Like it was hard for me to date Asian girls because it was like, like super Asian girl who was like, I can date a doctor trying to date up that weird like hide and prejudice type thing. That was like a weird thing because I'm a Filipino and I want us to do comedy and they're like... I never felt like I got to dictate who I dated or who was attracted to me because I think the reason why black girls like me early on was do you remember Roger and Hammersteins like Cinderella with Brandi? The Prince was Filipino. And then Dante Bosco was like this recent thing and then like all of a sudden like four weekends like two years ago because Bruno Mars and Cardi B came out with that thing and they're like, oh, you're cute now. Like why? What do you advise do you guys have to people from other Asian groups that are not necessarily born with that same like I guess inherent openness or you literally like, no, if you're just not born Filipino, you're just not in the cards for you to play that video. I kind of feel that like it's hard. Don't be a comedian. Don't just say like, don't just say that PC like stars shooting across the sky. Like now you know answer. Well, like, you know, like we can't even figure out what, how we're this way. So it's like, how the fuck are you going to figure it out for yourself? You know, like, I don't know. I don't have all the answers. You should just be yourself, which is a lame thing to say, but also like, I don't know, meditate and like take drugs or something like that. Oh, wait, aren't we talking about like, break out of your identity? Like you, I mean, we're all like, attached to these body bags that we think are our identity. Oh, we're really just a universal hypothesis that like, it's just like, in the evening, like, like months, like months, like, I can do the accent of the play. We're just building energy and then this is the casing. I know. We're all the same, but we're also all different. What, I'll end on that. Yo, I want to give a big shout out to Chismis, um, this restaurant over in the Lower East Side, guys. You guys got to check it out. Check out to Chef Chappy over here. Thank you, guys. It's a bit of a pleasure. I hope you guys enjoyed the food. Thank you. Amazing food here. This is what culture is about. We're just being real, being funny. Having the conversation that a lot of people don't have. All right, everybody, thank you so much for watching that episode of Culture Table. And until next time, we out. Peace. Yeah. I always say that Culture Table is like a conversation you might have from like, anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes with your friends, but then like, drawn out to 90 minutes. Yeah, so I'm just glad because like, you know, most times, even in a mixed group of Asian friends, like your chances are you're probably not having a conversation like this at this length. So I think it's so cool to be able to have that. Man, they're all involved in some really cool projects. So check them out down below.