Keone Young Meets World

Summary

Pod Meets World – Episode Summary: "Keone Young Meets World"

Release Date: May 26, 2025
Guest: Keone Young
Host(s): Danielle Fishel, Ryder Strong, Will Friedle
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts

---

Introduction

In this engaging episode of Pod Meets World, hosts Danielle Fishel, Ryder Strong, and Will Friedle welcome renowned actor Keone Young to discuss his extensive career, experiences on the iconic series "Boy Meets World," and his perspectives on representation in Hollywood. The conversation delves deep into Keone's journey as an Asian American actor navigating a predominantly non-diverse industry.

---

Early Life and Upbringing

Keone Young shares his roots, growing up in Hawaii as a third-generation Asian American. He discusses his parents' backgrounds, with his grandfather hailing from China and his grandmother from Japan, both born in Honolulu.

Keone Young [20:57]: "I'm a third generation from my, my grandfather was from China. My grandmother and grandfather on my mother's side was from Japan, but my parents were born in Honolulu."

Despite his parents' aspirations for him to pursue traditional professions like medicine or law, Keone admits to struggling academically due to the rigid, rote-based educational system of his youth.

Keone Young [23:54]: "I was considered what we call in Japanese, yogurt, which means dirty, you know, the filthy part of life."

---

Discovery of Theater and Acting

Feeling alienated at school, Keone found solace in community theater, where he immersed himself in set design, lighting, and eventually acting. His early experiences included roles in classic plays like Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman," which ignited his passion for acting.

Keone Young [24:46]: "I got inspired to the theater and also if you know musicals, there's a lot of chorus parts where people would sing and dance. I had a bass voice."

His mentorship under industry professionals and the influence of peers, including future stars like Bette Midler, shaped his aspirations and commitment to the craft.

---

Transition to Hollywood

With limited financial resources, Keone moved to California with just $400, enrolling in the Pasadena Playhouse to pursue his acting dreams. There, he studied various disciplines, from Method acting to ballet and opera, broadening his skill set.

Keone Young [31:31]: "I think that's what Deadwood has allowed me to do was to come onto every, every project to be able to say, okay, let me give a dimension to this that is not just two dimensional or four dimensional."

His dedication paid off as he amassed over 280 acting credits, including notable roles in "Diff'rent Strokes," "Heart to Heart," "St. Elsewhere," and "Webster."

---

Experience on "Boy Meets World"

Keone discusses his audition and subsequent role as a professor at Penbrooke University on "Boy Meets World." Although he initially found the audition process challenging, referring to the lines as "gibberish," he emphasizes the importance of sound and subtext in acting.

Keone Young [49:33]: "Sound is as important as words. You know, that's what I was taught from my mentor, Mako. He says sound tells you the truth."

During his time on the show, Keone reflects on the demanding nature of three-camera sitcoms, the pressures from showrunners like Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear, and the struggle to balance artistic integrity with the show's commercial demands.

Keone Young [55:15]: "My job was just doing what I was told and that was it."

Despite these challenges, he appreciated the camaraderie with fellow actors and the opportunity to learn from seasoned professionals.

Keone Young [54:15]: "They would bring up shows, movies that they had seen me in, you know."

Upon later viewing his episodes, Keone candidly critiques his performances, embodying the self-reflective nature of actors constantly striving for improvement.

Keone Young [57:16]: "I was terrible. You know how you think as actors, you always look at yourself. I could have done that. I should have done this."

---

Impact of "Deadwood" and Professional Growth

A significant portion of the conversation centers around Keone's role as Mr. Wu in the critically acclaimed series "Deadwood." He highlights the influence of creator David Milch, who pushed actors to deeply understand and embody their characters beyond the script.

Keone Young [62:05]: "He pushed you as an actor to uncover the character. Deadwood has allowed me to find my own identity as a character."

Keone praises "Deadwood" as a groundbreaking show that blends Shakespearean depth with the Western genre, setting a high standard for television storytelling.

Will Friedle [62:07]: "It was truly lightning in a bottle. It was incredible."

He credits "Deadwood" with enhancing his ability to bring multi-dimensionality to his roles, influencing his subsequent projects and approach to acting.

---

Perspectives on Representation and Hollywood

Keone delves into the evolving landscape of Asian representation in Hollywood. He acknowledges strides made by contemporary actors like Steven Yoon and Henry Golding but critiques ongoing stereotypes that portray Asian men as effeminate or submissive.

Keone Young [74:52]: "Asian American men have a place in our story of America."

Drawing parallels with historical challenges, Keone emphasizes the necessity for authentic and diverse portrayals that move beyond tokenism.

Keone Young [77:43]: "Asian men are still shown in a non-positive light. It could be shown in a more positive light."

He advocates for cultural authenticity and urges the industry to showcase the multifaceted nature of Asian American identities.

---

Closing Reflections

The hosts express admiration for Keone Young's candidness and his significant contributions to both "Boy Meets World" and "Deadwood." They commend his dedication to the craft and his ongoing commitment to personal and professional growth.

Danielle Fishel [82:07]: "Your career is staggering. The things that you've done are just amazing."

Keone's humility shines through as he reflects on his journey, underscoring the challenges and triumphs of being an Asian American actor in a competitive industry.

---

Notable Quotes

• Keone Young [23:54]: "I was considered what we call in Japanese, yogurt, which means dirty, you know, the filthy part of life."
• Keone Young [49:33]: "Sound is as important as words. You know, that's what I was taught from my mentor, Mako. He says sound tells you the truth."
• Keone Young [57:16]: "I was terrible. You know how you think as actors, you always look at yourself. I could have done that. I should have done this."
• Keone Young [77:43]: "Asian men are still shown in a non-positive light. It could be shown in a more positive light."

---

Conclusion

This episode of Pod Meets World offers a heartfelt and insightful conversation with Keone Young, shedding light on his remarkable career and the broader context of Asian representation in television and film. Listeners gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities of acting, the perseverance required to carve a niche in Hollywood, and the ongoing journey towards authentic diversity in media.

---

Follow Pod Meets World:

• Instagram: @podmeetsworldshow
• Email: [e-mail]
• Website: podmeetsworldshow.com

Transcript

[Danielle Fishel]

You're listening to an I Heart podcast.

[Ryder Strong]

Ya girl loves her some jewelry. And for the record, I'm your girl. So imagine my excitement when I found out I get to talk to you about Pandora Jewelry. Every piece from Pandora is crafted with meaning, love and exquisite artistry. Whether it's sparkling lab grown diamonds or vibrant enamels, engravings and iconic charms, there's no better place than Pandora to express what's in your heart. Pandora makes sure your jewelry is a celebration of you, with hand finished designs and playful cuts that make everything unique like it should be. Shop Pandora today in store or [e-mail] every day is a chance to be love. Let Pandora Jewelry remind you that love starts with you. It's Danielle Fishel, Ryder Strong and Will.

[Will Friedle]

Friedle from Pod Meets World.

[Ryder Strong]

Are you a small business owner launching a company or dreaming of starting one?

[Will Friedle]

Then check out season three of Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories from Ruby Studios and Intuit QuickBooks.

[Danielle Fishel]

Join hosts Austin Hankwitz and Janice Torres as they talk to small business owners about how they've grown and maintained their businesses.

[Ryder Strong]

You don't want to miss these inspiring stories of small business journeys.

[Danielle Fishel]

Listen to Mind the Small business Success Stories on the iHeart app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ryder Strong]

Introducing New Caesar Warm Bowls an exciting feeding experience for dogs and pet parents that only takes 10 seconds to prepare in the microwave. Warm bowls are made with fresh vegetables and real chicken as the number one ingredient and can be served as a complete and balanced meal or used to enhance kibble as a topper. With culinary flavors and ingredients like slow cooked chicken, sweet sweet potato, cranberry and fresh vegetables, warm Bowls are an exciting new way for pet parents to elevate everyday meal experiences. Shop New Caesar Warm Bowls online and in stores today. Okay, so Amazon prime is the easiest and fastest way to get anything delivered.

[Will Friedle]

But there's so much more. Whatever you love, that's what prime is.

[Danielle Fishel]

Prime helps you get more out of your passions and even discover new ones.

[Ryder Strong]

Running a household with a four and six year old, I have become a connoisseur of children's toys. And not only can Amazon prime get me what the boys want as quickly as possible, which honestly can save my day, it also suggests new toys, ones I didn't even know existed, sending me down a rabbit hole of robots, ninja hybrids and happy puppets, we've all come.

[Will Friedle]

To know Amazon prime as a lifesaver. It's where I go to stream movies and listen to music. It just keeps on giving.

[Danielle Fishel]

From streaming to shopping, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.comprime to get more out of whatever you're into.

[Ryder Strong]

As a parent whose nearly four and six year olds can't be stopped, they can only be contained. I need more than a stroller. Which is why Wonderfold is an absolute game changer. It combines the convenience of a stroller with the freedom of a wagon, creating a brand new hybrid every mom or dad has been hoping for. It gives kids the independence they need while still maintaining safety and making parents lives easier. They've got a two seater, a four seater like I have, and a six seater. So every family has an option. I know you'll be seeing me with a Wonderfold at the mall or the zoo, but probably the mall because we go there nearly every 12 hours. Join me in this stroller revolution with Wonderfold. You can visit wonderfold.com that's www.wonderfold.com. so I. You guys know how much I love shoes. One of my gifts from Ryder here is a shoe candle. I just. I have loved shoes since I was a kid. I loved my mom's shoes. Then when I was old enough to start buying my own shoes, I've just. I've loved heels and espadrilles and sneakers and wedges and.

[Will Friedle]

What's an espadrille? I'm sorry, I heard. I understood everything else, but what's an espadrille?

[Danielle Fishel]

Espadrille is a type of poem. It's 16 lines exactly. Doesn't it sound like it should be?

[Will Friedle]

It's a drill that drills in the. Screw the other direction. It's an espadrille. What is an espadrille?

[Ryder Strong]

I'll show you. Espadrille wedges. It's like, like, this is a classic espadrille right there.

[Keone Young]

Oh.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, it went away. But yeah, I saw it.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, you. That's an espadrille.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Ryder Strong]

Okay. Sometimes they lace up around your ankle.

[Danielle Fishel]

Is that like a finding characteristic shoe? Yeah, it's a healed sandal.

[Ryder Strong]

Kind of like a healed sandal. Yeah, they're definitely a flat. Well, I mean, there's also these. These are flat versions of it. So it's a totally different thing.

[Will Friedle]

How is that the same thing?

[Ryder Strong]

This is. So this is what the definition is. A flat shoe with a cloth upper, a rope sole, and sometimes lacing that ties around the ankle. So that as long as it has the rope bottom and a cloth top, the shape of the shoe can be anything. It's like a pirate shoe.

[Will Friedle]

It sounds like what they would have worn on ships and stuff. Like Rope bottom cloth tops.

[Danielle Fishel]

I kind of like them.

[Ryder Strong]

I love espadrilles.

[Will Friedle]

Are there male espadrilles? Can you get men's espadrilles?

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

How do you spell espadril?

[Ryder Strong]

I'm going to go get P A D R I L L E for men.

[Keone Young]

Okay.

[Ryder Strong]

They look at them up.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. I'm gonna get some pirate shoes.

[Keone Young]

That's exactly.

[Will Friedle]

That's what they're called from now on. Those are args instead of us.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, there are. When you love shoes, there are just some shoes that like really give you the ick, you know, like. Like say. I mean, Crocs used to be one of them for sure. Before Crocs. Mainstream and in your face that everybody wore them. But even crocs took me a really long time to get past. I was like, nope, never. You could never convince me to wear.

[Will Friedle]

The same way Crocs.

[Ryder Strong]

I used to feel that way about Birkenstocks.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, gross.

[Keone Young]

No.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, guess what? The pandemic changed many things for me. Also, becoming a mother changed many things for me. I bought my first pair of crocs during the pandemic. And I bought my first pair of Birkenstocks when Adler was little and we were going on a vacation and I was gonna be doing a ton of walking and I need support. And everyone's like, oh, once you break in your pair of Birkenstocks, they're the. You can spend 14 hours walking around a city in them. So I did. I got my first pair of Birkenstocks. I broke them in greatest, most comfortable shoe, never a shoe pain. If I'm in a pair of Birkenstocks, I can wear them for literally 12 hours going anywhere. I walked around Austria totally fine yesterday. I put on a pair of shoes that are so icky. Do you know the shoes that have individual pockets for your toes?

[Will Friedle]

Oh my God. The like. Yes. Rock running shoes.

[Ryder Strong]

Paluvas.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I do.

[Ryder Strong]

Okay. So I went to the gym yesterday. As you know, very healthy lifestyle I've picked up over the last couple of months. Have changed. My eating habits have started working out. I've. It has helped me. Not at all. I've only gained weight. I don't know how to explain it, but I feel better. I do feel better. So I'm keeping up with it. Anyway, went to the gym yesterday to do a metcon class, which is a HIIT workout, a high intensity interval training workout. You use weights and you do these 10 exercises. You do them. Three. You do them all 10 of them. Then you Start over and you do them again three times. You do each exercise for a minute. At my gym, the Paluva shoe people were there, and they were like, for this class only, we are giving away free socks to anyone who would like to try the shoes. And you can just wear them for this class, and then we'd love your honest feedback. Tell us what you think about them. And I was like, yeah, you know what? I'm gonna try it. Why not? Dude went out there, put on socks that have five toes for each of my toes, and it just felt too weird. And then I put. Now she's gonna love those in the shoes. They're freaking phenomenal.

[Will Friedle]

They're not. Don't be that guy, bro.

[Ryder Strong]

I will never, ever wear them out to, like, run an errand. But I am thinking about buying some for weightlifting. I can't even believe I'm saying it. I got pictures. Look, I need to show you guys. First of all, the bottoms of them are so cute. Like, I have little panda feet.

[Danielle Fishel]

So your. Your Wikifeet page is about to get an update. Is that what we're saying?

[Ryder Strong]

Bottom of these shoes? Okay. And then look, look, look, look.

[Danielle Fishel]

And they feel cool.

[Ryder Strong]

They feel great. So here's what I like about it.

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm so worried about each one of my toes. I don't know.

[Ryder Strong]

Just here's what's great. And this is what they tried to tell me. And at first I was like, I don't understand what you're talking about. With normal shoes and the way our feet are in them and as thick as they are, and with the not having individual toe brackets, you don't actually, like, your toes don't really grip the ground. All of your toes don't really grip the ground. They're just kind of like in your shoes. With these shoes. Because all of my toes were housed in their own little home when I would have to do something balancing. So say I had heavy weights in my hands and I was doing, like, a. A lun lunge that then I Where I lifted my back foot, and so I'm balancing on my front foot. All of a sudden, all of my toes were gripping the ground kind of the way they do when you're barefoot. Like, if you were doing yoga or Pilates and you're able to feel yourself, and you can, like, look down at your foot and realize, like, oh, I need to put. I have all my weight in my pinky toe. I need to put more weight in the ball of my foot. You can feel all of that with These shoes on, they were really grippy, so I was still able to run around on the floor. They're hideous. They're the ugliest shoes I've ever seen in my entire life, and I could never be seen in them. But I am thinking about buying a pair.

[Will Friedle]

Would they, in any way, shape or form, like, get in, like, screw up your man bun if you're wearing them? I'm curious. Would they mess. Would they mess with that?

[Ryder Strong]

They would screw up. They'd screw up your matcha latte, your ice. Exactly.

[Will Friedle]

I'm wondering about that. Your cargo shorts in your man bun.

[Ryder Strong]

Your patchouli is a little less potent.

[Danielle Fishel]

When you're wearing it.

[Will Friedle]

Okay. I'm just. I'm just checking.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, you can still. You.

[Danielle Fishel]

You can still do the devil sticks, though. That's right.

[Keone Young]

That's.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's.

[Will Friedle]

That's great.

[Ryder Strong]

You can still do that. I love that. Anyway, I did think you guys would not. Would just not expect me to be an ugly shoe lady.

[Will Friedle]

No, we call those douche shoes at our house.

[Ryder Strong]

I love that. Douche.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, we do, actually.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, I love it so much. The douche. The douche shoes.

[Will Friedle]

The douche shoe. So that's. That's kind of what we call those. But, hey, all right.

[Ryder Strong]

I think you talked me out of them.

[Will Friedle]

No, to each their own. I mean, that's. Again, it makes sense because if you. If you then have the same conversation, but around hands, you're talking about the difference between wearing a pair of gloves and a glove, which makes it. Which does make a big difference. Yes, but.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, but.

[Will Friedle]

No, but I just, you know, it is what it is. And.

[Ryder Strong]

And I do think. Because then so I left, and I was like, I'm gonna look these shoes up. I'm gonna see how much they are. And I was looking at them, and I did then, first of all, they're so. So hideous. On the website, I was like, I just wore them, and they didn't look that hideous in person on the website. I'm like, they. This is.

[Danielle Fishel]

Couldn't possibly be this ugly.

[Ryder Strong]

They couldn't possibly be this ugly. And. And I did stop myself from buying a pair because I thought, am I ever gonna be able to get out of my own head when I'm wearing these? Or the whole time, am I gonna be like, that person over there staring at my ugly feet shoes? Yeah, you just. I don't think I'm be able to.

[Will Friedle]

If you're gonn to just jump in with.

[Ryder Strong]

No, you. You guys have talked me out of it single Toed feet.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, no, no, it's okay.

[Will Friedle]

We don't want to talk you out of it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Get it for weightlifting.

[Ryder Strong]

No, no, it's good. I like the shoes I have.

[Will Friedle]

Shoes shouldn't define you or. Or be stereotypical. They should do. Put on your Birkenstocks, get into your Subaru and go and buy the. The Deuce shoes. I think they'll be great.

[Danielle Fishel]

God.

[Will Friedle]

I don't see the problem. What's.

[Ryder Strong]

What's. No, I'm good. I'm good. Even with the cute little bottom panda feet, I'm not. I'm not gonna. Not gonna do it now.

[Danielle Fishel]

I would not judge you for shaming me.

[Ryder Strong]

I do not.

[Danielle Fishel]

I would not. I would not.

[Will Friedle]

Every time you put them on, he would unabashedly shame you.

[Danielle Fishel]

The whole time, I'm just worried about the comfort. I just. Whenever I see, like, the idea of wrapping every one of my toes, like.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I've got toe problems already.

[Danielle Fishel]

Exactly. That's what I mean.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

No, it seems like it wouldn't fit. Like, it just. I'm like, my toes would be too fat for one of them. I just know it is.

[Ryder Strong]

We. My big toe was, like, a little too long for that size of shoe, but my pinky toe was nowhere near the end of it. So, like, if I went up a different size, my toe would have. My big toe would have more room, but my pinky would be a custom.

[Danielle Fishel]

Mold one for you.

[Will Friedle]

There you go.

[Ryder Strong]

They told me when I said that, they said, but part of the reason your pinky toe doesn't take up enough room is because it's so used to being squished in your regular shoes.

[Will Friedle]

So they're blaming their pinky toe, suffocating your pinky toe.

[Ryder Strong]

My pinky toe has shrunk itself in order to fit into the fabric of this society. And if I could, in order to.

[Danielle Fishel]

Appeal to people like you who call her douche shoes if she likes the.

[Ryder Strong]

Wrong shoe, my pinky could have its own identity.

[Danielle Fishel]

You do. You.

[Ryder Strong]

You do, but it doesn't.

[Will Friedle]

You go out there and you be the panda bottom shoes douchebag. You can. That's how I look at it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Be in a douchebag.

[Keone Young]

It's.

[Danielle Fishel]

It's. It's wearing what you want.

[Will Friedle]

Putting that.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wear that hair bun.

[Ryder Strong]

Of course.

[Will Friedle]

Wear that hair bun.

[Ryder Strong]

If you guys want to neglect your feet. If you guys want your pinky toes to continue to shrink themselves, to fit into society.

[Danielle Fishel]

But I am getting some espadrilles. I'm totally.

[Ryder Strong]

Are you?

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, because, you know, I don't have beach shoes. I hate anything that actually shows my feet.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

This is perfect. These are beachy shoes that I can wear. They're like sandals, but I don't have to actually, you know, no one has to look at my hobbit fee.

[Ryder Strong]

It's perfect. Perfect. Will you update us when you get your your mail espadrille?

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, yeah.

[Keone Young]

Okay.

[Ryder Strong]

Thank you. Welcome to Pod Meets World. I'm Danielle Fishel.

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm Ryder Strong.

[Will Friedle]

And I'm Will Friedow.

[Ryder Strong]

What do you think of when you hear Amazon prime delivery trucks outside your home?

[Danielle Fishel]

Your favorite streaming shows, of course, but.

[Ryder Strong]

There is so much more. Whatever you love, that's what prime is.

[Will Friedle]

Prime helps you get more out of whatever passions you're into and it helps you discover new ones.

[Ryder Strong]

Just today I bought a new makeup remover for my brushes and a few collagen masks that I sleep in. And Amazon prime is perfect for my never ending obsession with beauty products. Not only do I get what I need incredibly fast, I can find myself going down a rabbit hole for all new items I didn't even know existed. Nail brightening treatment? Yes, please. Green tea clay mask. Yes. Add it to the haul.

[Danielle Fishel]

And the fact that Amazon prime also puts hundreds of movies and TV shows right at your fingertips.

[Will Friedle]

It's more than just same day delivery. It's a place to explore your passions.

[Ryder Strong]

From streaming to shopping, it's on Prime.

[Will Friedle]

Visit Amazon.comprime to get more out of whatever you're into.

[Austin Hankwitz]

You see the world differently. Where others see empty lots, you see blueprints. Where others sit in lecture halls. Future leaders choose Ferris State University to build something real. Ready to dig in and learn through action, Ferris State gives you the tools, the team and training to unleash your potential. With paths to high demand careers and in state tuition for non residents at Ferris State, students don't just study. They build. They lead. They succeed. Visit Ferris. Edu Ferris State University we build champions.

[Ryder Strong]

This is Danielle Fishel, Ryder Strong and.

[Will Friedle]

Will Friedle from Pod Meets World.

[Ryder Strong]

For many, the American dream means starting your own business and working for yourself.

[Danielle Fishel]

If you're a small business owner, launching a company or dreaming of starting one, then you'll not only want to make sure you're using a platform like Intuit QuickBooks, but you'll also want to check out season three of Mind the Business small business success stories from iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio and Intuit QuickBooks.

[Ryder Strong]

In every episode, hosts Austin Henkwitz and Janice Torres talk to small business owners about how they've grown and maintained their business and tackled the hurdles and challenges that come with being your own boss.

[Will Friedle]

From tracking money in and out to.

[Ryder Strong]

Cutting through the complexity with an all encompassing platform like QuickBooks, you don't want to miss these inspiring stories of small business journeys.

[Danielle Fishel]

Listen to Mind the Business Small business success Stories on the iHeart app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Will Friedle]

Hello, it is Ryan and I was on a flight the other day playing one of my favorite social spin slot games on chumbaccasino.com I looked over the person sitting next to me and you know what they were doing. They were also playing Chumba Casino. Everybody's loving having fun with it. Chumba Casino is home to hundreds of casino style games that you can play for free anytime, anywhere. So sign up [e-mail] to claim your free welcome bonus. That's chumbacasino.com and live the Chumba Life Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary.

[Keone Young]

VGW Group Void where prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply.

[Ryder Strong]

Ya girl loves her some jewelry. And for the record, I'm your girl. So imagine my excitement when I found out I get to talk to you about Pandora Jewelry Every piece from Pandora is crafted with meaning, love and exquisite artistry. Whether it's sparkling lab grown diamonds or vibrant enamels, engravings and iconic charms, there's no better place than Pandora to express what's in your heart. Pandora makes sure your jewelry is a celebration of you, with hand finished designs and playful cuts that make everything unique like it should be. Shop Pandora today in store or [e-mail] every day is a chance to be Love. Let Pandora Jewelry remind you that love starts with you. If we've said it once, we've said it a million times. For the most part, we were pretty self absorbed as kids on the set of Boy Meets World. The sheer number of adult actors Will could have talked to about their time on mash, or the stories Bill could have told us about the making of the Graduate, or the moments I could have at least remembered from the run of the show. They all seem like missed opportunities. But now, with a Rewatch podcast three decades later, we can right those wrongs and not only shine a spotlight on some of these incredible talents that joined us on set, but we can learn more about them, even if a little late. And this week we get to right our wrongs once again. With a career spanning over 50 years, our guest this week has 281 acting credits to his name. You may have seen him steal scenes on the genius HBO show Deadwood or appear in movies like Men in Black 3 and the adrenaline laced cult hit Crank, or on TV, where he kicked off his career with appearances on shows like Diff'rent Strokes, Heart to Heart, St. Elsewhere and Webster. He's the absolute definition of a working actor. Still acting and making a killing as one of the most prolific voice actors working today with classics like Naruto, G.I. joe, Samurai Jack, Teen Titans and the Last Airbender on his long, long resume.

[Will Friedle]

He's awesome. He's awesome.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Avatar, the Last Marebender is one of those, like classic. I've never watched everyone just in G.I.

[Will Friedle]

Joe. I mean, come on.

[Keone Young]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

But for some reason, and we don't know why, he's agreed to join us this week to talk about the one time he played a professor at Penbrooke University, dealing with a group of bright eyed freshmen on our meager family sitcom for season six's Ain't College Great. This week we're talking to one of the most impressive guest stars we have ever had. Please welcome Keonie Young.

[Keone Young]

Hello.

[Ryder Strong]

Thank you so much for joining us. We are honored that you would share some of your time with us to talk about your very prolific career. Just trying to get your first credit on IMDb takes several minutes of scrolling.

[Keone Young]

Really. Yes.

[Ryder Strong]

So you were raised in Hawaii. Both of your parents had immigrated to the United States. Your father Chinese?

[Keone Young]

No, no, actually they didn't immigrate. They were born in Hawaii.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, okay.

[Keone Young]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Tell us about your upbringing.

[Keone Young]

I'm a third generation from my, my grandfather was from China. My grandmother and grandfather on my mother's side was from Japan, but my parents were born in Honolulu.

[Ryder Strong]

Okay, and so what was their reaction when you decided to pursue a career in the entertainment industry?

[Keone Young]

Well, I have to tell you that, you know, for Asians who immigrated to this country, they came as agricultural people. They came as peasants. My grandparents worked in the fields, you know of. In the sugarcane and pineapple fields. And that's where Hawaii became very commercially very viable for the United States because it provided a lot of sugar for the country. So my grandparents were indentured workers to plantations. So my grandfather and grandmother wanted their. My grandparents wanted their kids to be educated. So my, my parents were the first to go to school, finish high school. And from there, where they fed kind of like this new workforce during the 50s through the Eisenhower years, the post war years, their dream was for their kids to become doctors, lawyers, or even a dentist. Yeah, that was the lowest acceptable form.

[Ryder Strong]

Or Even dentistry, maybe a dentist will.

[Danielle Fishel]

Let you do that.

[Keone Young]

That was acceptable. And, you know, I just. I was really a bad student. And, you know, having kids myself, I realized at school, you know, my son told me, I want to quit school at third grade. And I said, why? And he said, well, school kills my creativity. And I. I couldn't argue that with him because it did that for me.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Keone Young]

Because I come from school in the 60s where everything was, you know, you by rote. There's no creativity at all. You know, you had to memorize your multiplication tables, you had to memorize all your science formulas. And I just. I couldn't. My brain didn't function that way. And so I was a real bad student. So I was considered what we call in Japanese, yogurt, which means dirty, you know, the filthy part of life. A person who is scum, actually. So. And I mean scum. I mean, the. The residue of the bottom side of society.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And I found. And because I was regarded as such, you know, my. My friends. My friend's parents would say, oh, don't. Don't play with him. Don't, don't, you know, because he's. He's no good. So I found a family in the theater. I wanted to work in theater. I wanted to actually, I want to build sets. I wanted to design lights. I hung lights. I was. I was a kid. I was like 14, 15. I wasn't afraid to go up into the. To the fly. They call it fly, and hang lights. And I was mentored by some good technical people, you know, and as I was in. I was in the Hongulu Community Theater. This is a long story. I hope you have the time.

[Ryder Strong]

We do.

[Keone Young]

So in the Honolulu community, community theater, I'd be from up in the flies. I'd be watching actors, and I thought. I'd be thinking, they're not that good.

[Ryder Strong]

I don't like what they're doing.

[Keone Young]

No, it's not. I didn't like. I just thought, well, I don't believe them, you know.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And I. And of course, a lot of the actors during that time, they didn't want to do small parts, you know, so directors would come up to me and go, hey, kid, we need a waiter in the scene to come in and take an order. Would you do it? So while moving the sets and, you know, doing the lights, I'd go. I'd say, okay. And I do one line. I. And I did a lot of great plays. I was in Death of a Salesman. I played the waiter in Death of a Salesman where I'd come in and I say, can I take your order, sir? One cup of coffee. Thank you. But what forced me then was I'd be able to watch a play like Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and, and gain benefits from it. Realize, you know, school was important, but this is life drama and is, you know, I watched, you know, then I would meet young people from New York who would say, hey, read Tennessee Williams, read El. Edward Albee, read Chekhov. And I would go up into the. They had this little library in the theater and I sit there and I'd work as a janitor there too, just to, you know, pay for classes and whatever. And I'd read all these wonderful plays. I read out Edward Albee, the Zoo Story. And I was like, wow, this, this is fantastic. So I got inspired to the theater and also if you know musicals, you know, there's a lot of chorus parts where people would, would sing and dance. And I was. Oftentimes they actors didn't want to be in these chorus parts. So they'd throw me in there because I had a bass voice. And it was really funny because at 14 and 15, there was a young woman who was a year older than me who was in sort of the same position who kind of like befriended me and who showed me how kind theater people were to me. They didn't judge me if I didn't have the credentials like being a doctor, a lawyer, a 4.0, you know.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

Student. And, and she, she, we, we kind of like I did My Fair lady with her and it was really funny because, you know, I spoke the local patois. But then I had to learn how to relearn how to speak standard stage speech and you know, so I'm getting married in the morning. I'd have to learn cockney.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes.

[Keone Young]

And did how to succeed in business without really trying to. And she became, she was like, you know, like just not a really good. We had these good looking women stars in there, you know, and they would always kind of like, oh, treat her like very patronizing to her. But she had, she was a very beautiful person and very beautiful voice. So at 18 and I was 17, she says I'm going to New York, study, become an actress. Which kind of inspired me. I didn't have enough money to go to New York, so I had enough money to go to California. Yes, I came to California. I had $400 in my pocket. And that lady was Bette Midler, by the way. Oh geez. Yeah, she became Bette Midler. So I said, wow, that's nice, you know, that it could happen to someone who I grew up with.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, that's amazing.

[Keone Young]

And. And so that's the story. I came to LA, I had $400 in my pocket, two pairs of pants. Two. Two. Two pairs of shirts. I mean, a pair of shirts and socks.

[Ryder Strong]

And. So where did you live? Did you have a roommate? Where. How did you find a place to stay?

[Keone Young]

Well, I applied. My mother, being the Asian mother, applied to several colleges, which all rejected me because my gpa. But Pasadena Playhouse took me.

[Danielle Fishel]

Amazing.

[Keone Young]

It was a college of Theater arts back in the 60s. It was very famous at that time.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

Gene Hackman went there. Dustin Hoffman went there. So they accepted me. I worked during the summer to pay for the fee, and I didn't know they needed the money really bad, so they took a lot of people.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And I went to people like. In my class were Stally Struthers from, you know, Father, that Three's Company.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, no, Sally Stores from. From. From all in the Family.

[Keone Young]

All in the Family, Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know if, you know, Ben Murphy, he was in Alias Smith and Jones. He was. So anyway, so I studied there for two years and I was able to survive it and graduate. And I found out. Oh, this is an interesting thing. I was looking. I was. I worked during its school in the library, and I came across past students at east at Pasadena Playhouse. And I. I'd see names like Dustin Hoffman. Gene Hackman went there.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And it inspired me. And then I saw this picture of this Asian guy because I thought I was the first Asian guy that went to Pasadena Playhouse. But there was another guy there and his name was Marco. And I found out he was nominated for Academy Award for Sand Pebbles.

[Will Friedle]

Yep.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Keone Young]

Consequently, he was nominated for a Tony in Steven Sondheim's Pacific Overtures. And so I said, wow, that's inspirational. So I've been having all these. As a failure that I was as a person, you know, according to my status in life, I was fortunate to have all these experiences and these moments of, like, inspiration.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Keone Young]

So I said, wow. He got nominated for an Academy award with Steve McQueen and Candy Bergen. And so I, I, you know, I was motivated and I came to LA and I met him, I found him and he would founded a theater called the East West Players. And I had been a member there. And his philosophy was, like, actors have to learn everything. Not just because acting is like. Is not a defined science. You know, where, where one method is a correct answer. To any, every situation, he would say, actors have to learn the sciences that surround acting, which is dance music. So he sent me to New York in 76 and he told me, go to New York and study because LA is full of Hollywood actors.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

He said, they don't know nothing. So I went to New York, I studied, you know, Method Grotowski, I studied ballet, I went to opera, I studied modern dance, you know, everything I studied. I learned to music theory, I learned to play an instrument. I learned about classical music, Western and Asian. I went to Berlitz, I studied languages. So I. He made. He forced me to study and he was. He. He went to do Pacific Overtures for Sondheim at that time in 76. And he kind of funded me, you know. Yeah, I, I mean, I had to borrow 2000 from my screen Actors Guild credit union as well, in order to live. So I have to thank the credit union for funding my education at that time. So I, I was on there on my own. I lived at the ymca and I've been studying ever since. Studying is just part of being an actor. I study today, I have classes today, I study.

[Ryder Strong]

It's so incredible.

[Will Friedle]

And Mako is. I mean, forget being hugely important to me for my favorite show of all time, mash, where he must have played eight or nine different characters. But Conan, his role in Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, helped to define me as a kid. They were.

[Keone Young]

He was he.

[Will Friedle]

Well, yeah, because he. I mean, I'm a fantasy nerd. And he was one of the first quote unquote wizards I ever saw because he played a sorcerer and a wizard in Conan. And I. I think I was 8 or 9 when it came out, and it was just awe inspiring. So, yeah, he was a legend.

[Keone Young]

Can I tell you a little funny story about Conan?

[Will Friedle]

Please, please.

[Keone Young]

Well, what had happened was Arnold had hired. One of his requirements was that the director had to hire all his buddies so Arnold could train with them while he was there in Spain. Right. And one director hired them to play all these warriors and muscle. These, these bad guys. Well, one thing that they did was they developed every muscle in their body except one muscle, and that was the voice, the throat muscle. So they all came talking like this.

[Will Friedle]

It was Milius, by the way. It was John Milius.

[Keone Young]

That's right, John Milius. So I had a meeting with John, you know, and. And John said, I can't have this because they were all tied. I will kill you. And John was this kind of like Asianophile who loved Kurosawa, you Know. Yeah, I don't know if you know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Sure.

[Keone Young]

He did the Seven Samurais and Mifune and all that. So John said, I want to play this, move the scene, this battle scene. And this is how I want the battle scene to sound. Well, Mako had introduced me to John and said, john, hire this kid. And so I said, john, you don't have to run. I used to watch that on my grandmother's lap. So I know the movie backwards and forwards. I know the sound that you want. So I recreated all these samurai voices, you know, for John. So I replaced all these muscle men and made men out of them. That's so cool.

[Ryder Strong]

That's so great.

[Keone Young]

And that was in Conan Barbarian and that kind of like was a trajectory for me and my, I've done. If you've seen my IMDb, I've done a lot of voice work. Yeah. So that was a trajectory for me to start working in voice because I said, wow, I don't have to, I can wear my pajamas to the job.

[Ryder Strong]

Exactly.

[Keone Young]

Get up and walk to the. I don't have to worry about, you know, having these two hour early calls before I hit the set with the.

[Ryder Strong]

Makeup, hair and makeup.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, man.

[Keone Young]

So, yeah, so that's my Conan story.

[Ryder Strong]

What do you think of when you hear Amazon prime delivery trucks outside your home?

[Danielle Fishel]

Your favorite streaming shows, of course, but.

[Ryder Strong]

There is so much more. Whatever you love, that's what prime is.

[Will Friedle]

Prime helps you get more out of whatever passions you're into and it helps you discover new ones.

[Ryder Strong]

Just today I bought a new makeup remover for my brushes and a few collagen masks that I sleep in. And Amazon prime is perfect for my never ending obsession with beauty products. Not only do I get what I need incredibly fast, I can find myself going down a rabbit hole for all new items I didn't even know existed. Nail brightening treat treatment. Yes, please. Green tea clay mask. Yes. Add it to the haul.

[Danielle Fishel]

And the fact that Amazon prime also puts hundreds of movies and TV shows right at your fingertips.

[Will Friedle]

It's more than just same day delivery. It's a place to explore your passions.

[Ryder Strong]

From streaming to shopping, it's on Prime.

[Will Friedle]

Visit Amazon.comprime to get more out of whatever you're into.

[Austin Hankwitz]

You see the world differently. Where others see empty lots, you see blueprints. Where others sit in lecture halls. Future leaders choose Ferris State University to build something real. Ready to dig in and learn through action. Ferris State gives you the tools, the team and training to unleash your potential with paths to high demand careers and in state tuition for non residents at Ferris State. Students don't just study, they build. They lead, they succeed. Visit ferris. Edu Ferris State University We Build Champions.

[Ryder Strong]

This is Danielle Fishel, Ryder Strong and.

[Will Friedle]

Will Friedle from Pod Meets World.

[Ryder Strong]

For many, the American Dream means starting your own business and working for yourself.

[Danielle Fishel]

If you're a small business owner, launching a company or dreaming of starting one, then you'll not only want to make sure you're using a platform like Intuit QuickBooks, but you'll also want to check out season three of Mind the Small Business Success Stories from iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio and Intuit QuickBooks.

[Ryder Strong]

In every episode, hosts Austin Henkiewicz and Janice Torres talk to small business owners about how they've grown and maintained their business and tackled the hurdles and challenges that come with being your own boss.

[Will Friedle]

From tracking money in and out to.

[Ryder Strong]

Cutting through the complexity with an all encompassing platform like QuickBooks, you don't want to miss these inspiring stories of small business journeys.

[Danielle Fishel]

Listen to Mind the Business Small business success stories on the Iheart app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ryder Strong]

Ya girl loves her some jewelry. And for the record, I'm your girl. So imagine my excitement when I found out I get to talk to you about Pandora Jewelry. Every piece from Pandora is crafted with meaning, love and exquisite artistry. Whether it's sparkling lab grown diamonds or vibrant enamels, engravings and iconic charms, there's no better place than Pandora to express what's in your heart. Pandora makes sure your jewelry is a celebration of you, with hand finished designs and playful cuts that make everything unique like it should be. Shop Pandora today in store or [e-mail] every day is a chance to be love. Let Pandora Jewelry remind you that love starts with you. We all have that piece. You know the one, the thing that's so you. You've basically become known for it.

[Will Friedle]

And if you don't have yours yet.

[Ryder Strong]

You'Ll find it on ebay putting you on here fashionistas.

[Danielle Fishel]

Ebay is where you'll find those One of a kind can't stop researching. Stay up dreaming about pieces again and again.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm talking that mew mew off the Runway. Red leather bomber, the cousteau Barcelona top.

[Will Friedle]

With the cowboy on it or that.

[Danielle Fishel]

Patagonia fleece in the 2017 colorway.

[Will Friedle]

All these finds are on ebay and.

[Ryder Strong]

They even offer millions of main character pieces backed by authenticity guarantee.

[Danielle Fishel]

Ebay is the place for pre loved and vintage fashion ebay things people love.

[Ryder Strong]

Let's jump into your TV career a little bit. You began your career on shows like room 222 and Kojak and movies like Private Benjamin, but I think most of our audience may have first seen you on Diff'rent Strokes, so I wanted to talk to you about that experience. But also the kinds of roles you were auditioning for as an Asian American.

[Keone Young]

Well, let me just say this to you, quite frankly, that Asian Americans are not seen as Americans. 95% of my roles has been as a foreigner.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Keone Young]

So. Which was really difficult for, for, for many of us because when we were growing up, our parents said, no, you're American, don't speak our language. Right. So, you know, it was a kind of like a contradiction. Here I was in Hollywood and I realized that shortly. I said, wow, they only see me as a foreigner, but I speak English and I can speak English better than a lot of English speaking people.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

So. So Different Strokes. So I had to learn to adjust. I had to learn to learn other people's cultures, which I was fortunate because I was in Hawaii and it was multicultural. You know, we grew up with Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Portuguese and so on. So I kind of learned the culture. So Different Strokes was interesting. You know, at night I would be doing Ibsen and Tennessee Williams, like I said, Albie. And then in the day I would be doing stuff like Different Strokes and Golden Girls and stuff like that. And I was kind of weighing what is most important to me. You know, I was doing regional theater. I went to Milwaukee, I went to New Hampshire, I was traveling around the country working for Peanuts. And then I would do these TV shows and make incredible amounts of money, and I just could not understand it, the contribution. So what I found out, though, was that when people were working in Hollywood, or particularly in TV and particularly in three camera comedy, people were very anxious about their longevity and their life. Yeah, people always worried and scared, particularly the adults, whether they were going to get canceled, what their ratings were, where they were going to live, where their character was going to die, whether they were, Whether the writer, producer, runner of the show was happy with them, you know, because if they weren't, they might be written out of the show or they not enough dialogue. So I said, well, screw it. I'm. I can't. You know, I'm. I'm just a guest there and I'll be a guest everywhere I go. I'll never be a part of this infrastructure. You know, I'll never be part of that society. Number one, they wouldn't allow us in. Unlike today you might see more of us because we fought for that. But I said, you know, I cannot rely on these people. I just have to do a. My own thing. So I was never worried about being fired or being banned or being, how would you say, an outcast. I mean, I just did my thing. And I guess there was some smart enough people to realize, yeah, that guy knows. He's always on time. He always knows his lines, he always hits his mark. Get him.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Keone Young]

You know, and I realized that I would spend more time being proficient and efficient as opposed to trying to get somebody to love me.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Keone Young]

So I don't know. I really. I really felt a contradiction. You know, I was happy doing the show, but I. As I watched the kids around me, I was kind of sad at the same time, if you know what I mean? It was very sad because I felt no one's really educating the young people about the potential of their potential, you know? And consequently, what happened was proved to be true. I loved working with the old timers. Conrad Bain was a wonderful gentleman who came from theater, and he could understand me.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And so we. We kind of bonded there, and it was. It was enjoyable. I'll say one other thing. Like. Like Golden Girls. Golden Girls. Everybody would warn me about Bea Arthur. They say, oh, you gotta watch out for her. She suffers. Well, she doesn't. But she does appreciate actors who are serious.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And when I did the scene with her, it was. It was delightful because she was. She was good.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, yeah. One of the best ever on television.

[Keone Young]

I think so. I. I mean, she was. She was very good, very professional, and she was a fellow. I don't want to say the word artist. I never refer to myself as one. A fellow artisan, you know, very craft. She was craft. Respected the craft.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And that's what I really loved about her.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, you would go on to appear on literal classic TV shows like Taxi, the Jeffersons, Cheers, and St. Elsewhere, alongside our pal William Daniels.

[Keone Young]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Did you ever feel like, you know, that sense you had as a kid that you weren't gonna amount to much because you weren't the traditional good student? Did you ever feel like you were making it, moving here from Hawaii and booking so much incredible work?

[Keone Young]

No. No.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Keone Young]

Because, you know, my mother's friends, their sons were doctors and lawyers and very, very wealthy, very established. And my mom was very impressed because they grew up in the Eisenhower days. They grew up the Rockefeller days. They grew up in the how to influence people. You know, with your magnanimity. They would Love Donald Trump today because he was wealthy.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Keone Young]

And that would be the criteria. Yeah. I mean, I'm presuming.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

But I tell you, one time I did a movie of the week with Karen Allen, and it was about the Challenger shuttle. You remember the shuttle, that course. So I played one of the astronauts, Ellison Onizuka, who was on the flight at the time. And I went home and I. In Hawaii, and finally my mom was kind of proud of me. And then. But then she would go around to her friends going, like, well, you know, where he got his talent from?

[Will Friedle]

So taking credit. No, no praise, but taking credit.

[Keone Young]

Well, you know, because I was a. You know, when high school, I was.

[Ryder Strong]

You know, in a play.

[Keone Young]

In a play. Wow. So I really, you know, it was. It was kind of funny. But when my dad asked me how much money I made, and I made a lot of money, as you can imagine, he just. He would not believe me because what I made in a week, he made in a year. So they all kind of like in the final decades, kind of like, was proud, but they were proud because I was part of the family.

[Will Friedle]

You know, I have to ask about the. About the movie of the week was Karen Allen. Krista McAuliffe.

[Keone Young]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Keone Young]

And Barry Bostwick was in it. You know, man, Peter Boyle was in. Was a fun project. Yeah. Wow.

[Ryder Strong]

Let's get into your time on Boy Meets World. Do you remember the audition for the role of Professor?

[Keone Young]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

And what was that like?

[Keone Young]

It was like any other job. You know, I've been going on auditions for all kinds of stuff. So if you know the role, I mean, it was just gibberish.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Keone Young]

And so I just didn't get gibberish.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Ryder Strong]

We talked about it when we recapped the episode because you say it was just gibberish. As if doing gibberish is actually easy. Easy. It. It is not. We all, like, practiced on the day we recapped your episode, and none of.

[Will Friedle]

Us could do it.

[Ryder Strong]

None of us could even come close.

[Danielle Fishel]

It's one of those things that conceptually, like, if. Even if you wrote it, you'd be like, oh, that'll be funny. But to actually deliver it and sell it is really difficult.

[Keone Young]

Well, you know, sound is as important as words. You know, that's what I was taught from my mentor, Mako. He says sound tells you the truth. And just in. You go back on this tape and listen to yourselves, how much sound you just said.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, right.

[Keone Young]

And it has subtext to it. So sound is very important. When we're singing opera, we're singing Italian. And like, I don't know what it means.

[Ryder Strong]

Right, right.

[Keone Young]

You know, when I'm singing German, I'm singing Andy Music in Schubert's Andy Music to hold the Kunst and weevil Grauen stunned. I don't know what the actual meaning is. I've since learned. But while I'm singing it, I'm kind of like thinking of the German, you know, royalty at that time and, you know, the music of Bach. And sound is really important. So sound was not a problem with me because I grew up in a country or a state that sound, you know, I. I would hear the Filipinos speaking and the Korean speaking and their sounds were, for example, like Chinese would. In the moment of expression, they would say, Koreans would. Koreans would say, I go. Philippines would. In Filipino you would say, I know. And in Japanese you would say aria. They're all sounds and they. They're sounds that relate to what you feel. Deep feelings that you feel. So sound was not difficult for me. Wow. What was difficult was, you know, when you do three camera, I'm really talking a lot. I don't know why, because maybe because.

[Danielle Fishel]

I feel comfortable with this.

[Ryder Strong]

Why we wanted to talk to you. This is the goal old.

[Keone Young]

Usually I don't spend that much time explaining, but with other actors, I think you guys could understand it. Really?

[Will Friedle]

Sure.

[Keone Young]

But when you, when you're working in three camera comedy and, you know, I work with guys like Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear and those guys, it was brutal. No, but it was brutal because Bud would come down, you know, after you have a run through and he'd watched run through, he'd come down with a martini with his guys and they would sit there and criticize. And you know, these guys were. They were not theater people. They didn't, you know, they were just. They wanted the laugh, they wanted the moment of response. They wanted results.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Ratings. Yep.

[Keone Young]

Well, results in terms of the scene, in terms of acting, they wanted results. And wow. I. I was not that. I was the type of actor where I be like, you know, we loved Brando. You know, he'd be like searching and wondering and, you know, that was our kind of like hero when. When I was a kid and. And James Dean and we try to find the moment of the scene and they weren't interested in the moment. They see, they wanted to laugh. You know, it was rhythm.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

So I. When you say the audition, I just, I mean, the gibberish part wasn't the problem of. Was the results and what the showrunner wanted.

[Ryder Strong]

So when. So you get the job, you come. You come. You're on set with us during that week. What do you remember that week about the rehearsal process, taping. Because, like, you mentioned, we had a showrunner that would come down after, you know, run through and give very long notes. What was your experience that week?

[Keone Young]

Well, for the young people, I really liked them. They were very respectful to me, you know, and I liked all the young people.

[Ryder Strong]

That would have been us. We were the young people.

[Keone Young]

I mean, they were very supportive and friendly to me. They would bring up shows, movies that they had seen me in, you know.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And we talk. The older people were always, like, nervous, particularly with the showrunner, you know, like, is he upset? Is he mad? Did he think I was funny? And I always go, well, that's not a way to live a life for me anyway. Yeah. And so I was, like, on my tiptoes, you know, like, trying to, like, be careful. Like, just be careful that I would make it through the week, get my check, and then go on to do other things. Yeah. I. I don't know if you talked to the woman that kind of, like, talked to me about the show. And I said, well, it was not a really great experience for me, so I don't know why they want to talk to me.

[Ryder Strong]

We want to hear your experience. Good, bad. We want to. We want to hear it all.

[Keone Young]

Well, like I said, the showrunner was, you know, pretty alpha, pretty dominating.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And I understood the necessity of it. I understood the importance of that. I mean, I had worked in many, many shows where, like I said, I worked for Dorm Bud Yorkin, you know, and Bud was doing the Red Fox show. And Red banned him from the set. And Red. And he said, but Red, I own the show.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And Red says, I don't care. I'm not coming to the set if you're there. And ABC had called up Bud Yorkin and said, don't go down to the set. So, you know, you have that kind of conflict and contradiction. And I just. I was, like, not intimidated, but I didn't want to be around that kind of, you know, and I. Every three camera comedy, I had seen it, you know.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And where the showrunner is the boss and you there. There's no way to have a conversation about it. You know, you do what you're told or you're done.

[Ryder Strong]

Mm.

[Keone Young]

So I. My job was just doing what I was told and.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Keone Young]

That was it.

[Ryder Strong]

Yep. Get in, do it like this and leave. Take your shack. And then Go do something that actually fills your soul.

[Keone Young]

Yeah, well, yeah, but I enjoyed the people on the show. There was one writer who. I can't remember his name, but he was very kind. And like I said, the young people were very fun to be with.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, good. I'm glad. I'm glad. At least we were fun to be around.

[Keone Young]

Yeah. I mean, I'm glad I was done with it.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. Yeah. You got to leave. Did you ever watch the shows when they aired? Did you see your Boy Meets World episode when it aired on tv eventually?

[Keone Young]

I only watched it recently.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, really?

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Keone Young]

When you told me to watch it, yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

What were your thoughts on it now? What were your thoughts watching it?

[Keone Young]

I was terrible. You know how you think well, as actors, you know, you always look at yourself. I could have done that.

[Danielle Fishel]

Of course.

[Keone Young]

I should have did this. I should have done that. You know, I could have been better, which has always been my mantra. You know, I could. I can be better. I should be better, you know, so.

[Will Friedle]

Such an actor thing. It's such an actor thing, too. You Monday morning quarterback your own performance all the time, and, oh, if I could just have given it a shot, if I could do it one more time, I would have done this. But the truth of the matter is, then if you watched it a third time, you'd want to change the thing you just did again. Never be perfect, no matter what you think. Yeah, yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

But we absolutely loved you in it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. Hysterical.

[Ryder Strong]

So funny. Absolutely nailed it. Laugh out loud funny. I mean, truly sparked an entire discussion for us about how much harder what you are doing, how much harder it is than it looks. It looks like how. I mean, you make it look seamless and effortless, and then all of us, with effort, could not come close to it. So truly, um, we also wanted to talk Deadwood with you, where you played Mr. Wu. This was a magical show created by David Milch that even with all the acclaim, it did get, deserved even more. Do you consider this maybe the best thing you've ever done? And if not, what do you think is the best thing you've ever done?

[Keone Young]

Well, yes, I was very fortunate to meet David Milch. You know, David, oftentimes, like I said, people see us as foreigners. Well, we are, in a sense. At least my grandparents were. And I've always wanted the opportunity to show them. Not to glorify them, but to show them that they had desires and passions too. And. And David Milch was open to that. It's kind of character that I've. I am And I've always wanted to develop, and he did, too, so. And he did that with every character. You know, he did that with every character. Find out, get the essence of what that character represented, what his dreams were, what his failures were, and his inner dialogue, what. What we really thought about the situation. It was just grand, you know, just to be on the set to work with all these great actors. It. I don't know about you, but, you know, like that old joke about when you look at a script, you go to my line. My line, my life.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes.

[Keone Young]

Well, we would, like. I would come down to the set just to watch people act.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow. It's just so fun. Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And just watching Billy. Sorry, I can't think of his name. William Anderson. Billy Anderson. He was in that Bob Newhart show. He was the. One of the brothers he played. Yeah, he played the mayor of Deadwood. And he is such a great actor. I would just go down to the set just to watch him act, and it was just wonderful. It was like being in school, you know, like being like an actor studio where you'd go and watch somebody's scene, and you'd learn from that. And Milch would come down, explain to you what the scene was about and how stupid you were. And you. You don't know the great feeling it is when somebody as smart as David Milch comes up to you and go, that was stupid. And he goes, you know what I'm trying to say? Right. You know what I mean? Right? And I go, yeah, I know what you mean, David. And then we would go back and work it out, and David was the kind of guy. He was great. I mean, he feared nobody. You know, he'd go, we'd be on season episode three, and he'd go. He'd watch episode three, the scene, and go, you know that scene in episode one, I want to rewrite it.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Keone Young]

The producers. And he'd go, I think that I could make that scene better. And they go, david, we have to rehire all those actors. Build a set.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And. And he goes, I don't care. Do it because it'll make better. And I think that's why HBO kind of, like, canceled it, because it was. It was an expensive show because of how David wanted to do this show. And that's when TV can be its best.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I agree.

[Keone Young]

I think. I think.

[Will Friedle]

You know, but I mean, watching it was. It was. I remember the first time, the first couple episodes, it hit me, I was like, oh, this is how Shakespeare would do a Western. I mean, it Was that level. It was literally Shakespearean with the characters. And I mean, it was amazing what it did for television, but also for the Western where it was just such. On a different level all the way around. It was truly just one of the most magical things that I think has ever been on television. And I know people would think that's, that's a bold statement, but I, I truly think it's deserving of that statement. It is. Was magical. It really was lightning in a bottle. It was all the, the ridiculous platitudes you hear about something wonderful that was fleeting was Deadwood. It was incredible.

[Keone Young]

Well, let me ask you this question then. Do you think that every western since Deadwood on tv, successful, successful Western has been influenced by Deadwood?

[Will Friedle]

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely, 100%.

[Keone Young]

Do you think not? I do. I read an article recently that said every Western that has followed Deadwood has something to be thankful for.

[Ryder Strong]

Absolutely. Trying to replicate in some way Deadwood. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

That's amazing.

[Keone Young]

The, the struggle that we had, the challenge that we had at act as actors was great because where in TV does it challenge you to, to surpass your present state and, and become something greater? Where, where in TV does that. You know, and I find that that has carried me in my career. I just recently did a, A series with Jessica Beale.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

In New York. And it was one of the first times I felt as an actor that I was complete, that I had my own identity. That my identity was not defined for you by the writer or the director or the, or the producer, but that I had felt that. That I had my own identity as the character and I had established it.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Keone Young]

And I guess that's what Deadwood has allowed me to do was to come onto every, every project to be able to say, okay, let me give a dimension to this that is not just two dimensional or four dimensional. Let me be more abstract. Let me, let me uncover the character. And consequently. Wow. That, that seems to work for me. Which, what I learned from Deadwood, that you're much more than. The printed page is two dimensional. Right. You read it on the page. You read on the page eight times and you think, what can make this work? Why? And you find it. And so that push by David Mills to find the character. Don't be stupid. Don't take the least common denominator. Take the highest common denominator.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes.

[Keone Young]

On the other extra spectrum. And challenge you as an actor. And I guess that's what Deadwood did. And I was very fortunate, I'm so fortunate that I was to meet somebody like David Milch.

[Ryder Strong]

What do you think of when you hear Amazon prime delivery trucks outside your home?

[Danielle Fishel]

Your favorite streaming shows of course, but.

[Ryder Strong]

There is so much more. Whatever you love, that's what prime is.

[Will Friedle]

Prime helps you get more out of whatever passions you're into and it helps you discover new ones.

[Ryder Strong]

Just today I bought a new makeup remover for my brushes and a few collagen masks that I sleep in. And Amazon prime is perfect for my never ending obsession with beauty products. Not only do I get what I need incredibly fast, I can find myself going down a rabbit hole for all new items I didn't even know existed. Nail brightening treatment? Yes please. Green tea clay mask? Yes, add it to the haul and.

[Danielle Fishel]

The fact that Amazon prime also puts hundreds of movies and TV shows right at your fingertips.

[Will Friedle]

It's more than just same day delivery. It's a place to explore your passions.

[Ryder Strong]

From streaming to shopping, it's on Prime.

[Will Friedle]

Visit Amazon.comprime to get more out of whatever you're into.

[Austin Hankwitz]

You see the world differently where others see empty lots, you see blueprints where others sit in lecture halls. Future leaders choose Ferris State University to build something real. Ready to dig in and learn through action, Ferris State gives you the tools, the team and training to unleash your potential with paths to high demand careers and in state tuition for non residents. At Ferris State, students don't just study, they build. They lead. They succeed. Visit ferris. Edu Ferris State University we build champions.

[Ryder Strong]

This is Danielle Fishel, Ryder Strong and.

[Will Friedle]

Will Friedle from Pod Meets World.

[Ryder Strong]

For many, the American dream means starting your own business and working for yourself.

[Danielle Fishel]

If you're a small business owner, launching a company or dreaming of starting one, then you'll not only want to make sure you're using a platform like Intuit QuickBooks, but you'll also want to check out season three of Mind the Business small business success stories from iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio and Intuit QuickBooks.

[Ryder Strong]

In every episode, hosts Austin Henkiewicz and Janice Torres talk to small business owners about how they've grown and maintained their business and tackled the hurdles and challenges that come with being your own boss.

[Will Friedle]

From tracking money in and out to.

[Ryder Strong]

Cutting through the complexity with an all encompassing platform like QuickBooks, you don't want to miss these inspiring stories of small business journeys.

[Danielle Fishel]

Listen to Mind the small business success stories on the Iheart app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ryder Strong]

YA Girl loves Hirsam Jewelry and for the record, I'm YA Girl. So imagine my excitement when I Found out. I get to talk to you about Pandora Jewelry. Every piece from Pandora is crafted with meaning, love and excite exquisite artistry. Whether it's sparkling lab grown diamonds or vibrant enamels, engravings and iconic charms, there's no better place than Pandora to express what's in your heart. Pandora makes sure your jewelry is a celebration of you. With hand finished designs and playful cuts that make everything unique like it should be. Shop Pandora today in store or [e-mail] Every day is a chance to be loved. Let Pandora jewelry remind you that love starts with you. We all have that piece. You know the one, the thing that's so you. You've basically become known for it.

[Will Friedle]

And if you don't have yours yet, you'll find it on ebay.

[Ryder Strong]

Putting you on here fashionistas.

[Danielle Fishel]

Ebay is where you'll find those. One of a kind. Can't stop researching. Stay up dreaming about pieces again and again.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm talking that mew mew off the Runway. Red leather bomber, the Cousteau Barcelona top.

[Will Friedle]

With the cowboy on it, or that.

[Danielle Fishel]

Patagonia fleece in the 2017 colorway.

[Will Friedle]

All these finds are on ebay and.

[Ryder Strong]

They even offer millions of main character pieces backed by authenticity guarantee.

[Danielle Fishel]

Ebay is the place for pre loved and vintage fashion.

[Will Friedle]

EBay, things people love.

[Ryder Strong]

I won't talk about all the video games that you have worked on because those companies have to pay your union first. But in animated projects, you voiced Naruto, Avatar, the Last Airbender. Hi, hi. Puffy, Amiyumi, Batman, and now Gremlins, the Secrets of Mogwai. All of these projects have had huge spikes in popularity over the past few years. Are you surprised by the mainstreaming of anime and animated shows? No.

[Keone Young]

Let me tell you what I'm surprised about that is young people's devotion to it.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And I wish it wasn't so much so because they're obviously looking for an outlet that relieves them from anxiety and pressures. And I go to all these. I'm invited to a lot of comic cons.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And I see young people just throwing themselves into that kind of like a cult of anime and not understanding what that anime means. In Japan, it's the same thing. You know. You know, in Japan. You know, Japan is a very controlled society in terms of behavior, in terms of how you relate to each other, in terms of not only personal relationship, but in class relationship. There's forms of language that you must speak. If you're talking to someone older than you, superior to you, and there's a Way to talk to somebody who's beneath you in. In Japanese, you know, to cuss somebody out. There's no real cuss words. It's is the word you and. And the different forms of you.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, wow.

[Keone Young]

So I can have a formal way of saying you or I can have an informal way. And the way you use it to somebody determines your religion. So what I'm trying to say is Japan is very controlled society and they let their emotions out by watching all this manga. And you know, you say, wow, they have so much violence in their things. Well, yeah, but that's the one way what they use in order not to commit violence.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, right.

[Danielle Fishel]

To release. Yeah.

[Keone Young]

But in America, kids are really like, put so much equity in these things and it. It doesn't bother me. But I. I just wish I could sit down with him and say, okay, you know why you're doing this, right?

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

You know, do you know why? And Star wars has been coming a cult as well, you know, and it's. It's fine. You should love these things, but you should love them in terms of how that relates to your life and what you want to do with your life and what you want. How you want to be progressive, to progress. So when you say, am I surprised? No, I'm not surprised. Because we live in a cult kind of world right now.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

Where we're not thinking for ourselves. You know, we're not looking at factual evidence and heroes. Heroes are not going to save our day for us ourselves. And so it really bothers me that about this kind of implosion of anime and manga and, you know, I mean, it's. It's great. We have cartoons. There's some really great. You know, I don't know if you know the history of like, comics like Will Eisner, who was sure. Who was a great, great novel. Comic book novelist.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

He wrote about the struggles of the Jews in the Lower east side during the Depression. And. And that's what I find kind of missing sometimes.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow. Well, we talked. We talked a little bit about this with Stephen park when he was on the podcast. But obvious you have witnessed a total evolution of opportunities for Asian actors in Hollywood. What are your feelings when you see actors like Steven Yoon or Henry Golding starring in massive movies without any signifying mark about their race?

[Keone Young]

It's good, it's good. But you know, in plays, I've done Ibsen, I've done Chekhov. You know, I've done a lot of. And I think I laid that found is my generation that Kind of laid the foundation for them thinking where they could go.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes, sure, for sure.

[Keone Young]

You know, the generation before me, which was the first generation, that was with like, people like Richard Lu, Key Luke. After that generation, I'm the second generation. They were kind of like immigrants and kind of fulfilling the role of being the Asian, you know, the Fu Manchu or the Asian stereotype for what? Right. What America needed in terms of like a growing. As a fir. As a first world, they needed to picture the enemy properly for people, you know. And so we came up and said, hey, you know, we're Americans too, so we want to. So. And theater was our outlet because like I said, I think I said 95% of the characters I played have been foreigners. And to see that change now is, is very, is very good. It's what we've worked for as, as a community of Asian American performers in this country. Don't forget we got reparations for when Japanese Americans were interned during the war. We got reparations from the Amer, an apology from Ronald Reagan. So that Mark, was very important for us because it showed, hey, we are humans too. Which consequently transferred itself to a lot of writers, novelists, who wrote crazy rich Asians and who wrote all these books, and Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan, they wrote all these novels and then movies were made from them. So. Which is really, really good. But I, I just have one question, one point of view that you might not agree with me. And, and, and I'm sure it'll offend a lot of people that Asian men are still shown in a non positive light. It could be shown in a more positive light. And you mentioned these guys like Steven Yuan, Harry golden, which is good, which I really admire. But we're still shown as subhumans. We're really shown, we're still shown as effeminate, submissive, passive. And in my community, we're not. We're not. And that's what's not being shown. And so our culture has to be brought out into the open so people can see.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

You know, and, and then some people do. Some people do, you know, some people do. I remember when I was young, people would say to me, you guys eat raw fish now? Everybody eats raw fish. Of course.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, yeah, Right, Exactly.

[Keone Young]

Right. But it's what kind of raw fish now that's important.

[Will Friedle]

Right, Right.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

You know, it's not just some fancy exotic kind of thing, but it's the, you know, it's, it's the real versus the fake. And that is always our struggle as human beings on this earth is always what is real, what is fake.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

And I subscribe that Asian American men have a place in this, in our story of America. You know.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes. I really appreciate you sharing your pov. I know you started it by saying there are going to be some people who may disagree or who find it offensive, but, you know, truly being willing to speak out and say your experience, you have a POV that certainly the three other people on this zoom with you don't have. We can't speak from your pov. And so for you being willing to say it and to share your honesty with us, like you said, your generation is the generation that helps helped propel and make these changes. But there are still more strides that need to be taken and that, that need to happen. And so thank you for sharing that thought with us and your perspective with us.

[Keone Young]

Yeah. I can tell you one thing. You look at what the women's movement has done, you can get kicked off a show now if you sexually harass somebody.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Keone Young]

You can get. Your career can be destroyed if you, if you engage in those activities. Well, in my time, those activities were common.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, right.

[Keone Young]

Yeah, it was. You had to expect it if you wanted to be an actress, if you wanted to be successful. Not only an actress, an actress, too. You'd have to succumb to it. You'd have to accept it.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. It was just part of the job.

[Keone Young]

Yeah, it was part of the gig. Right.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

So now that's change. But can you stop somebody from harassing you racially? No. Yeah, not yet. Yeah, not yet. So, I mean, maybe my, my look at life is skewed. Skewered. You know, twisted. And it is, it is because going back to when I was a kid, I was not accepted by the general public, so my view of life is kind of skewed. Skewed. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Keone Young]

So I, I, I ask you for, for your understanding and forgiveness for having that kind of, like, view as a yogurt. But I am one. But because of who I am, because of the race I am, because of the class I am, I have been twisted. So you must forgive my twisted view.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, Keone, we have been so honored to have you as a part of the Boy Meets World legacy. An actor with almost 300 credits to his name, so many memorable roles and projects. We really thank you very much for spending your time and coming on the podcast and talking with us. It was.

[Keone Young]

Well, thank you.

[Ryder Strong]

A real joy conversation.

[Keone Young]

Well, I am honored as well. I know about your careers, and I am Very honored as well to be accepted by you.

[Ryder Strong]

Thank you for spending your time with us. We really, really appreciate it. And I hope it's not the last time. I hope our paths cross again. I mean, who would have predicted that almost 30 years later, our paths would cross here on this podcast? So I hope it's not the last time. Thank you so much.

[Keone Young]

Thank you very much. I'm honored.

[Ryder Strong]

Have a wonderful day.

[Keone Young]

Bye. Bye.

[Ryder Strong]

What a great conversation.

[Keone Young]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Amazing.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Again, his career is. Is staggering. The things that he's. He's done, it's just. And. And the idea that even with that career, he. He kind of. It seems like he kind of still looks at himself as almost a failure, which is.

[Ryder Strong]

I know.

[Danielle Fishel]

You know what? He's just a journeyman. You know, he's just like. Like, when he calls himself an artisan, I was like, right, right. Because you're never done, you know, like, you're always. This is about process. This is about acting. This is about learning. Like, he still wants to learn new skills and new things. That's so cool, man.

[Ryder Strong]

What.

[Danielle Fishel]

What a great, healthy, artistic perspective. You know, I'm sure it's led to a lot of periods of, you know, difficulty and feeling bad about himself, but ultimately, like, he's succeeded because he. It doesn't matter what project he's in, he's always going to be doing it, and he's always doing it 100%.

[Will Friedle]

Like, I also. I ran into him at. At a Comic Con, and, you know, he. He talks about how he, you know, he's. He's a little disturbed by the cult, like, you know, stigma that. That surrounds anime and things like that. But I can also tell you just from experience of watching him, he's so good with his fans. I mean, it's one of those things where he's still just so open with everybody that was waiting in line. Again, he had a line, you know, that. That's sitting there waiting to talk to him. And so, yeah, he might have that internally and he might talk about that, but if you're a fan and you go up to him, he's still gonna show you just the utmost respect, and you're gonna have a great experience when you see him.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, I know, but, like Will, like you said, the impact. His families and the peers of his parents, that their opinion of him is still just so forefront of his mind that it feels like there's a. It makes me emotional to think about, like, you know, we look at him and his career, and we're, like, awestruck. By all of, like, wow, look what you've been able to do. Look what you've been able to accomplish. And you can tell that for him, he. It does. It's. It's. I don't know. It just feel. I don't know. It makes me emotional.

[Danielle Fishel]

It's interesting, like, you know. Cause I've talked about being friends with Larry Pressman, who's an older actor, and I remember one of the first, like, times talking to him about people he knew, like great actors who were always ashamed that they were an actor. And that does seem like a generational thing. Like, especially for certain guys of certain age, like, you know, that were acting in, like, the 50s or 60s, it felt like a cheap career. Like, it felt like you were sort of avoiding a real job by being an actor and by just being a pretty face or, you know, like, there was an insecure. And I remember hearing him say that and being like, oh, wow. Like, I think I had some of that, too. Like, I think I was often like, well, I don't want to just be an actor. Like, it just. It's something, right? And it's like, wait a minute. This is an amazing thing. Like, that skill and the ability to do it and, like, embrace it. So, yeah, when I heard him say that, I was like, oh, yeah, you're never going to let that go. That you didn't, you know, become a doctor or whatever. But in reality, what you did accomplish is insane.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Like, it's so much like.

[Keone Young]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

So much more rare. But I do think that nowadays, a lot of people, you know, especially people who are listening to something like this podcast, you think of actors or acting as, like, automatically just a cool job.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

But I think for other generations and other contexts, it's not. It's actually like kind of like being a carny. It's like vaudeville. Like, oh, that's like this, you know, this superficial job, this, like, weird thing that you do that maybe you'll get lucky. But it's not a real person's job.

[Will Friedle]

As we just lost all of our carny fans.

[Ryder Strong]

Sorry, Carney.

[Danielle Fishel]

I think being a carny is awesome.

[Ryder Strong]

I know when we go on our live show, when we go on our live show tours, I'll never forget. I don't remember where we were, but there was some green room that we had that was, like, really not anything pleasurable. And I was like, oh, man, this green room kind of makes me sad that this is where we are. And Ryder's like, I love it.

[Austin Hankwitz]

This is what we're doing.

[Ryder Strong]

We're corny folk. We're weirdo car folk.

[Danielle Fishel]

You go into some awful, disgusting room and then we make a show out of it.

[Ryder Strong]

We do the jazz hands.

[Danielle Fishel]

I love it.

[Ryder Strong]

Theater, kid energy. That's a cool. That's a cool way of thinking about it. And it has changed the way I feel when I walk into a really musty green room.

[Danielle Fishel]

I kind of like them. I like them when they're weird and like, you got these, like. Do you remember that one time I couldn't find the coffee machine? It took like 20 minutes. It was like that whole other warehouse room. We don't know what it's for. I kind of love all that.

[Ryder Strong]

It's like I don't want people to think we're just. We're of underselling what this. I mean, I'm truly talking about the dankest.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, it's like a lot of backstages, they don't care. It's like, that's the point is they. You care about. You take care of the stage, you take care of the house, the front house. But backstage is like, it's just terrible. It's just for the actors who care.

[Ryder Strong]

Some, some, you know, bugs and very, very, very bare bones. Feels like maybe an unclean hospital space. And so.

[Will Friedle]

Can't wait to do it again. Can't wait to do it again.

[Ryder Strong]

Carney folk.

[Keone Young]

Carney folk.

[Ryder Strong]

Thank you all for listening to this episode of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on Instagram Pod Meets World show. You can send us your messages. You can send us your thoughts, your emails. Pod meets World Show. Gmail.com and we've got merch.

[Will Friedle]

Step right up. Buy some merch. Guess your weight. Step right up.

[Ryder Strong]

Pod meets world show.com we love you all. Pod dismissed.

[Danielle Fishel]

Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fishel, Wilfred L And Ryder Strong, executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara Sugbach, producer, Matty Moore, engineer and boy meets world superman, Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow us on Instagram odmeatsworld show or email us at podbeatsworldshowmail.com.

[Keone Young]

I already love same day delivery with Shipt, but it's so much better since I signed up for target's circle 360. Why? Because I no longer pay price. Markups from the majority of stores through Shipt. Only a handful of alcohol retailers and items don't count. That means no markups on groceries, pet food, even home goods and makeup. So to recap, I have more time to catch up on life while someone shops for me and I spend less. It's a win win. Order [e-mail]360 Terms Apply Introducing new Caesar.

[Ryder Strong]

Warm Bowls an exciting feeding experience for dogs and pet parents that only takes 10 seconds to prepare in the microwave. Warm bowls are made with fresh vegetables and real chicken as the number one ingredient and can be served as a complete and balanced meal or used to enhance kibble as a topper. With culinary flavors and ingredients like slow cooked chicken, sweet potato, cranberry and fresh vegetables, warm bowls are an exciting new way for pet parents to elevate everyday meal experiences. Shop New Caesar Warm Bowls online and in stores today.

[Austin Hankwitz]

You see the world differently. Where others see empty lots, you see blueprints. Where others sit in lecture halls, Future leaders choose Ferris State University to build something real. Ready to dig in and learn through action, Ferris State gives you the tools, the team and training to unleash your potential with paths to high demand careers and in state tuition for non residents at Ferris State, students don't just study, they build. They lead. They succeed. Visit ferris. Edu Ferris State University we build champions.

[Ryder Strong]

Ya girl loves her some jewelry. And for the record, I'm your girl. So imagine my excitement when I found out I get to talk to you about Pandora Jewelry. Every piece from Pandora is crafted with meaning, love and exquisite artistry. Whether it's sparkling lab grown diamonds or vibrant enamels, engravings and iconic charms, there's no better place than Pandora to express what's in your heart. Pandora makes sure your jewelry is a celebration of you, with hand finished designs and playful cuts that make everything unique like it should be. Shop Pandora today in store or [e-mail] every day is a chance to be love. Let Pandora Jewelry remind you that love starts with you.

[Will Friedle]

This is an ad for the Active Cash Credit card from Wells Fargo.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, that's a mouthful, but that's because it packs a lot in. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with it, big or small.

[Danielle Fishel]

So whether it's buying tickets to the game with your mom or grabbing a coffee with your dog, earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases made with it.

[Ryder Strong]

Let's say it together. The Active Cash Credit Card from Wells Fargo.

[Will Friedle]

Learn more@wells fargo.com ActiveCash terms apply.

[Danielle Fishel]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.