Stephen Park Meets World

Summary

Pod Meets World: Stephen Park Meets World – Episode Summary

Release Date: March 3, 2025

In this engaging episode of Pod Meets World, hosted by Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Ryder Strong from iHeartPodcasts, the trio delves deep into the career and personal journey of Stephen Park, a versatile actor renowned for his roles in iconic projects like "Fargo" and "In Living Color". This episode not only explores Stephen's memorable performances but also sheds light on his experiences navigating the entertainment industry as an Asian American actor.

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1. Ryder Strong’s Key Fob Fiasco

The episode kicks off with Ryder Strong sharing a humorous yet relatable story about his struggles with a malfunctioning car key fob. This anecdote sets a lighthearted tone before transitioning into the main interview.

Ryder Strong [02:58]: "I had to literally take apart my key fob with pliers just to turn my car. It was a day of frustration mixed with unexpected human connection."

Will Friedle and Danielle Fishel join in, adding their own laughs and making the conversation feel personable and engaging.

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2. Welcoming Stephen Park

The hosts express their excitement about having Stephen Park on the show, highlighting his impressive filmography and his standout role in "Boy Meets World".

Danielle Fishel [20:41]: "When you popped up during our Season 5 rewatch, we could not stop smiling. Having you on the podcast with us makes us happy all over again."

Stephen Park responds with humility, mentioning his nervousness about the interview but expressing gratitude for the opportunity.

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3. Stephen Park’s Early Career and Breakthroughs

A. Beginnings in Acting

Stephen recounts his initial foray into acting, influenced by a pivotal decision to take an acting class encouraged by his girlfriend.

Stephen Park [24:27]: "I took an acting class, a mime class, and realized that performing was something I always enjoyed but never considered as a career."

B. Breakthrough Roles

He discusses landing his first film role in Spike Lee’s "Do the Right Thing", sharing the excitement and challenges of portraying a Korean immigrant.

Stephen Park [26:56]: "Spike Lee gave me the part right after the audition, and I was in shock. Playing an immigrant was terrifying, especially since I didn’t grow up immersed in that culture."

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4. Iconic Roles and Collaborations

A. "Fargo" Experience

Stephen delves into his role in "Fargo", detailing the depth of his character and the profound impact it had on both the narrative and his career.

Stephen Park [52:23]: "I created this duel between Bruce Lee and Rambo in my scene, blending humor with a deep well of sadness. It was about bringing authenticity to a seemingly minor role."

B. Working with Renowned Directors

He shares insights from working with acclaimed directors like the Coen Brothers, Bong Joon Ho, and Wes Anderson, highlighting the unique environments they create on set.

Stephen Park [57:48]: "Working with Director Bong is incredible. His meticulous storyboarding and the way he involves cast members in the creative process make every project a unique experience."

Stephen Park [60:12]: "With Wes Anderson, it's like you're part of an artistic family. Every night, we discuss film influences, making it feel like a collaborative workshop rather than just filming scenes."

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5. Navigating Challenges as an Asian American Actor

A. Racial Stereotypes and Activism

Stephen opens up about the persistent racial stereotypes in Hollywood and his efforts to combat them, including a significant mission statement he authored addressing racism in the industry.

Stephen Park [71:26]: "In 1999, after a disappointing experience on a sitcom set, I wrote a mission statement about status, power, and racism in Hollywood. It went viral before the term 'viral' even existed, leading to widespread discussions and recognition."

B. Personal Struggles and Growth

He discusses the emotional toll of facing racism, his brief hiatus from acting, and his subsequent spiritual journey to overcome race consciousness and ego.

Stephen Park [75:30]: "I went on spiritual journeys, from meditation retreats to ayahuasca, to understand and transcend my ego. Recognizing that my true self is beyond labels was liberating."

---

6. Reflections and Future Aspirations

A. Admiration for Contemporary Actors

Stephen expresses admiration for younger Asian American actors like Steven Yeun, acknowledging the progress in representation but also reflecting on his own ongoing search for meaningful roles.

Stephen Park [81:05]: "Seeing actors like Steven Yeun succeed is inspiring. It shows how far we've come, but I still find myself wondering what's next for me in this evolving industry."

B. Continued Passion for Acting

He remains passionate about acting, despite uncertainties, and looks forward to upcoming projects like "Mickey 17", emphasizing his dedication to authentic and impactful performances.

Stephen Park [63:30]: "Working on 'Mickey 17' with Wong Kar-Wai is exhilarating. His vision and attention to detail are unmatched, and I'm excited to contribute to such a star-studded project."

---

7. Closing Remarks

The hosts thank Stephen Park for his candid and insightful discussion, emphasizing the importance of voices like his in the entertainment industry.

Will Friedle [84:27]: "Your experiences and stories are incredibly inspiring. Thank you for sharing them with us today."

Stephen Park [84:04]: "Thank you for having me. It was a joy to talk with you all."

---

Notable Quotes

• Danielle Fishel [20:41]: "Having you on the podcast with us makes us happy all over again."
• Stephen Park [24:27]: "Performing was something I always enjoyed but never considered as a career."
• Stephen Park [52:23]: "I created this duel between Bruce Lee and Rambo in my scene, blending humor with a deep well of sadness."
• Stephen Park [71:26]: "My mission statement went viral before the term 'viral' even existed."
• Stephen Park [75:30]: "Recognizing that my true self is beyond labels was liberating."

---

Conclusion

This episode of Pod Meets World offers a profound look into Stephen Park's multifaceted career, his struggles and triumphs as an Asian American actor, and his dedication to meaningful storytelling. The hosts’ engaging conversation and Stephen's heartfelt narratives provide listeners with both entertainment and inspiration, highlighting the enduring legacy of "Boy Meets World" through the lens of a talented guest.

Whether you're a longtime fan of "Boy Meets World" or new to Stephen Park's work, this episode is a must-listen for its rich discussions, behind-the-scenes insights, and the authentic connection between the hosts and their esteemed guest.

Transcript

[Danielle Fishel]

It's Danielle Fishel, Ryder Strong and Will.

[Will Friedle]

Friedle from Pod Meets World.

[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Ryder Strong]

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

[Danielle Fishel]

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

[Ryder Strong]

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

[Danielle Fishel]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Danielle Fishel]

Believe you're looking for me Arrives in theaters.

[Will Friedle]

Magic Mirror on the Wall Experience Experience the Disney classic who's the fairest one of all? Like never before.

[Danielle Fishel]

We haven't even been in regards yet.

[Will Friedle]

Disney Snow White only in theaters March 21.

[Stephen Park]

Rated PG.

[Jenny Garth]

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[Ryder Strong]

Okay, so I feel like I've talked about on mostly off mic, but probably on mic too. You know, I always have this, this debate with you guys about how I like local places.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, yeah, small towns, bad parking.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Hard to get an experience yesterday, which is just the epitome that just distilled all the pros and the cons in like one experience. I was like thinking of you guys the whole time because my favorite example of this is when I complained about my dentist who was like, my local dentist. And you were like. And I was like, she's kind of a bad dentist. And you were like, get a better dentist. Anyway, so, so my key in my car, I went to turn it and it just like snapped like, just like full on, like, oh. I was like, what? So I had to like literally take. The metal part was okay, but I had to like take a pair of pliers to like right.

[Danielle Fishel]

To turn it.

[Ryder Strong]

Turn it right or actually, I didn't take a pair. What I did is like, I took the key fob part and like clamped it on there. Anyway, so this goes on for like a day or two. And of course I know that if you call the dealer in this case Toyota, like we had done this for my wife, it's like a $400 replacement for the key because they gotta like reprogram. And I was like, there's no way you can do this. Like, I'm going to do a locksmith, right? Well, so I go on Amazon and like you can find replacement key fobs that you can etch with the key, right? I'm like, oh, okay, $6. I get two of them. Cause two of them, I get two new keys. I go like, I find a locksmith, like the local. Actually I go to the hardware store first and they're like, oh, no, we can't, you know, yeah, we can't do that. We talked to them. No, they tried. They were like, we do keys, but like car keys. And they, they took it behind the counter. Like, no, we can't. I'm like, well, where, you know, oh, there's a locksmith down the street across from the McDonald's, right?

[Will Friedle]

Across from the Toyota dealers.

[Ryder Strong]

Go to the McDonald's and then go to the Toyota dealership.

[Danielle Fishel]

Perfect.

[Ryder Strong]

So I'm like, okay, yeah, we're going to do this. And I show up and this is Before I'm meeting you guys for lunch. I only have, like, 10 minutes because I figured this is quick, right? And I walk in, I'm like, you know, the guy's there, and he's got, like, a mask on because he's probably welding something.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, he's doing something cool.

[Ryder Strong]

And I'm like, hey, man. You know. He's like, oh, yeah. And it's five bucks a key.

[Will Friedle]

Cool.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm like, yeah, sure. And he etches my keys. I'm like, great. Hand him cash. And he tells me. He's like, yeah, you know, I just recently got cast off. So he's like, hit my hand. He hasn't used his right hand. So I'm like, oh, already? This is great. Like, I'm having the conversations.

[Danielle Fishel]

This guy lives in my neighborhood.

[Ryder Strong]

Probably we're talking about support.

[Danielle Fishel]

He gets my keys.

[Ryder Strong]

I give him cash.

[Danielle Fishel]

I would use cash.

[Will Friedle]

Weeks.

[Danielle Fishel]

Amazing.

[Ryder Strong]

He's thrilled.

[Danielle Fishel]

Off the books.

[Ryder Strong]

Thanks, bud. Okay, I'll see you later. Yeah. Walking out, I'm gonna use this. You know, I gotta remember this. This locksmith, he's just, like a mile from my house. Gotta remember this guy. Next time I need a locksmith, get into my car, turn it over, doesn't start. I'm like, the key fits turns, but doesn't turn over the engine. I'm like, that's really weird. So I get out and I walk in, I'm like, hey, would you know why? He's like, oh, yeah, well, probably a chip. And I'm like, okay, well, that would have been nice to know before you ride. So already I'm like, well, this backfired. Like, yeah, Toyota wouldn't have had this problem. Right? So I'm like, already like, okay. Well. And I'm like, so what do I. You know, what do I do? And he's like, well, you know, gotta go to China. No, no. He starts. He starts explaining. He's like, it's a chip. And I'm like, okay, well, you know, what does that, you know, giving me way too long of an explanation that. Like, here, if you have the old fob. I'm like, well, I do have the old fob. And he's like, well, then the chip's in there. And he's like, well, look here, I gotta bring the car around back. I can plug in my computer. I can, you know, for 85 bucks, I can give you a whole new. And he's like, and you know what? And I'm like, 85 bucks. Should have just gone to Toyota. But then he's like, but you know what if you. If you need two keys, Because I do. He's like, I'll just give you both for the same price. And I'm like, oh. So I'm like, this is great. See, this is why you go to the wall.

[Danielle Fishel]

This is why you do it.

[Ryder Strong]

Right? This is it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

And so I bring my car around back. Now we're hanging out. He's plugging in this computer, which looks.

[Danielle Fishel]

Meanwhile, you're like, I'm gonna be late date late for lunch with my friends, but who cares? I have a new friend. I have a new friend.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

And so he plugs in this computer, which it totally look like. I didn't know these things exist. You can, like, have computers that plug into the lock and read out to him what chip I need on. It's crazy. Like. And so he, like, tells me, oh, it's an i6e chip. And I mean, it looks like straight out of the movie Hackers. Do you remember that from, like, the 90s, where you, like, can plug something into a lock? And then he takes my key and he plugs it into this other little thing, and it's like. Looks like my key is just sitting in a bowl, basically. But he's able to, like, read the key. He's like, oh, yeah, it's this kind of chip, but the fobs that I bought from Amazon don't have a chip on them, so he can't program those chips. And I'm just like, okay, I'm gonna be late for lunch now.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, what do I do?

[Ryder Strong]

But. But he's like, you know, here's the thing. And he opens up the fob. You know, he's like, if you still have the old fob, and I'd already thrown one of them away. He's like, the chip is here. He's like, it's not going to cost you anything. I won't. You don't even need me. Like, just. You just pull this chip out. Work it out. And so again, I'm like, this is great.

[Danielle Fishel]

Again, I'm loving this guy.

[Ryder Strong]

But then I notice it's like his. You know, because I'm asking about his cast and his hand, and he's like, oh, yeah, his skin is, like, flaking off, right?

[Danielle Fishel]

Like, yeah, he probably has been handling some chips.

[Ryder Strong]

I was gonna say this is kind of. Kind of gross, like, you know, And I'm. He's. I'm. He's telling me about how he's like, he broke his arm and it healed wrong. Like, now it's. And they wanted to, like, rebreak it, but he's like, I'm just g. So we're laughing and telling stories, and I'm like, this is the human connection thing. Meanwhile, he is flaking his skin into your chip for my driver. And literally, like, brushing his arm.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my God.

[Ryder Strong]

And I'm like, yeah. And I'm sitting there, and I'm like, oh, Will and Danielle would love this. This is the cost of the human experience.

[Danielle Fishel]

Here it is.

[Ryder Strong]

This guy is literally wanted. Why? And I, like, what do I say? I'm like, dude, like you say, where's rubbing.

[Will Friedle]

Nearest Toyota dealer.

[Ryder Strong]

He's, like, rubbing, flaking. Like, it's like. Like corn flakes of skin coming off into my front. And I'm like, dude. And he's like, yeah. He's telling me about his wrist and his thing, but meanwhile, he keeps doing it. And I'm like, you're in my car. You are in my. And you are. And he's like. And then it's just like, these flaky. And I'm just, you know, like, yeah, in my.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh.

[Ryder Strong]

Got away. I figured it out. Pulled the chip out myself later on last night. Everything's fine. So it was only five bucks for him to etch a key. Ultimately, it did, and I had the human connection, but I also probably have, you know, some skin disease.

[Will Friedle]

Well, you've got some human connection left over, which is good. And if this poor man turns up dead, his DNA is all in your car.

[Danielle Fishel]

Over your car.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

So there you go.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh.

[Ryder Strong]

But I made it on time. You guys were late yesterday.

[Danielle Fishel]

We were late. The freeway was shut down, and, you.

[Ryder Strong]

Know, I'll use him again, I guess, as long as he's not flaking his skin all over the place.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Stephen Park]

Did he.

[Danielle Fishel]

He had all those supercomputers. Did he have a handheld vac?

[Will Friedle]

Exactly. You can Amazon that. Toyota's got all that stuff, by the way.

[Danielle Fishel]

I seriously laugh.

[Ryder Strong]

$500 for a key when my wife got her key replaced. So, like, how long. I've also. I've also been to the Toyota dealership so many times for, like, just oil changes whenever. I've never had a conversation with anybody there. So, you know, now I know this guy. He's always there.

[Danielle Fishel]

I mean, if what you're lacking is conversation, then you should definitely.

[Will Friedle]

You talk for a living.

[Danielle Fishel]

I don't know how you need more, but I can't.

[Will Friedle]

But by the way, you mentioned the movie Hackers. And just as a strange Side note, Hackers was the first big movie I ever saw that makes a Boy Meets World reference. Oh, what? It fully.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, you said hackers. I was actually thinking sneakers, but go on.

[Stephen Park]

Ah, different.

[Will Friedle]

Okay, yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Sneakers was the heist movie where they have all the exact hacker technology.

[Will Friedle]

Sneakers was the other one.

[Ryder Strong]

This is the Angelina Jolie movie.

[Will Friedle]

Correct.

[Ryder Strong]

Where she's topless for a second.

[Will Friedle]

She is, but if you pause it.

[Danielle Fishel]

She'S topless for hours.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, yeah. I remember sitting at Ocean's house for the vhs.

[Danielle Fishel]

What's the one Beast World reference?

[Will Friedle]

The one of the character says to another character, he's. He's like the youngest one of the crew, and he's like, come on, Boy Meets World. Let's go. And so he literally calls him Boy Meets. And it's the first thing I've ever seen.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, I don't think I knew that back then. Sitting in the movie theater, obsessed with Angelina Jolie.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. You could only pay attention to that one thing.

[Will Friedle]

Angelina fan, huh?

[Ryder Strong]

Back then. Right then. Well, yeah, because she had done that movie Foxfire with my brother that Chyler ended up getting cut out of. And when I saw that, I was like, who is this person? She's, you know, the most gorgeous woman alive and a good actor. I mean, I also.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, she's a very.

[Ryder Strong]

Girl Interrupted and all that. I was. Yeah, I had a huge crush.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, this is a good time for me to thank all of our dear listeners who sent in a clip for us that I'll play for you guys right now. Very exciting in the universe for. For Boy Meets World fans when something like this happens. Sitcoms for 800, please.

[Ryder Strong]

It was on this sitcom that Corey and Topanga first got together.

[Stephen Park]

Skywalker.

[Ryder Strong]

What is Boy Meets World?

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

So we were a Jeopardy. Clue, and we were in sitcoms, and so weird.

[Ryder Strong]

I was like, first got together. Oh, because of Girl Meets World.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes. First got together. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

You know that we've. We've been clues several times on.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know. Many, many times. But. Yeah, but this was one of the first times since we've started the podcast, so a lot of people sent it to us and wanted us to.

[Will Friedle]

What were the other questions in the sitcom category?

[Ryder Strong]

Is what I wanted.

[Danielle Fishel]

I have them.

[Ryder Strong]

I'll redo. Do you really?

[Will Friedle]

Okay, here we go.

[Stephen Park]

Okay.

[Ryder Strong]

I had this indie. Indy and I were at a bookstore once, and he wanted, like, joke books. Like, he likes getting joke books or trivia.

[Danielle Fishel]

So do my kids.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. It's such. And so there was one that was, like, 90s trivia and I was like, Indy.

[Stephen Park]

I bet.

[Ryder Strong]

I bet I'm in here and, like, scouring this.

[Stephen Park]

Were you?

[Ryder Strong]

It took a while. It was. It wasn't me, but there was a Boy Meets World day, and it took a while. I was like, if anybody sees me in this Barnes and Noble or whatever, flipping through this book looking for my. I was like, this is embarrassing.

[Danielle Fishel]

All right, let's play. Let's play the game. Ready? TV sitcoms for $400. In the version of the Office, this comedian played David Brent, a character similar to Ricky gervais. Okay. Yep, $800. It was on this sitcom that Cory and Topanga first got together.

[Will Friedle]

What is Boys Meet Boys Meet World?

[Ryder Strong]

Boys. The boys. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Boys Meet World. Boys meet world for $1200. From 2010 to 2016, Melissa McCarthy starred opposite Billy Gardell on this sitcom.

[Will Friedle]

Molly and Me so close. Isn't that what it's called? I've never seen it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Nope. What is Mike and Molly?

[Will Friedle]

Mike and Molly. That's okay. I never saw that one.

[Danielle Fishel]

Bronson Pinchot, who played Balki Bartolomeus on Perfect Strangers comedy. Yes. Yes, bro. It is Perfect Strangers 2000 on 30 Rock. Tracy Jordan is the star of TGS, which originally stood for.

[Will Friedle]

I've never seen it. I've never seen a 30 rock in my life.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. What is the girly show? Okay, that's it. There you go.

[Ryder Strong]

So never seen 30 Rock? No.

[Will Friedle]

Never seen a single episode. I've never seen a single episode of 30 Rock. A single episode of Community. A single.

[Ryder Strong]

Stop watching television at like, 2004.

[Stephen Park]

Ish.

[Will Friedle]

Pretty much.

[Danielle Fishel]

And then just goes back to the last.

[Will Friedle]

I think was the last new one that I watched.

[Ryder Strong]

That's not a new show.

[Stephen Park]

That's.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, it was.

[Will Friedle]

I mean, it ended in, what, 2010? Something like that?

[Danielle Fishel]

I don't know.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. So, yeah, I'm pretty much.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. Welcome to Pod Meets World. I'm Danielle Fishel.

[Will Friedle]

I'm Ryder Strong, and I am what is Will Friedle.

[Ryder Strong]

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp Guys.

[Danielle Fishel]

Every once in a while, I realize just how lucky I am to have the two best friends that I have known since I was 12 years old. Whether it's parenting advice from Ryder or even just a fresh loaf of bread left at my doorstep by Will and Susan, this friendship and support system is one of the most important things in my life.

[Ryder Strong]

That's nice. That's very nice, and it's true.

[Will Friedle]

But we know that even best friends don't have all the answers.

[Ryder Strong]

And not all of us can depend on our family or community to be there.

[Danielle Fishel]

And that is why we are thrilled to talk about BetterHelp.

[Will Friedle]

Therapy can be that source of support in any area of your life.

[Danielle Fishel]

Therapy has done wonders for my life, whether in times of intense stress or just to steadily work on becoming a better wife or mother. When things are good, a professional can be that extra push you need.

[Will Friedle]

And it couldn't be easier than BetterHelp. It's fully online, affordable and convenient, catered to your schedule and needs.

[Ryder Strong]

They help over 5 million people worldwide with a diverse network of more than 30,000 credentialed therapists with varied fields of expertise.

[Will Friedle]

And you can switch your therapist at any time at no cost. They want you to be comfortable.

[Danielle Fishel]

Build your support system with better help.

[Will Friedle]

Visit betterhelp.com meetsworld to get 10% off your first month.

[Ryder Strong]

That's betterhelp H-E-L-P.com meatsworld the New Year's here.

[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

Here's how it works. Spend $20 on their products, get $5, spend $30, get a $10 reward. All you do is shop your favorite brands, snap a pic of your receipt and upload it to cprewards.com it's so easy.

[Ryder Strong]

That's cprewards.com so grab what you need.

[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Austin Hankwitz]

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[Danielle Fishel]

This is Danielle Fishel, Ryder Strong and.

[Will Friedle]

Will Friedle from Pod Meets World.

[Danielle Fishel]

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

[Ryder Strong]

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.

[Danielle Fishel]

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.

[Danielle Fishel]

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

[Ryder Strong]

Listen to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories on the Iheart Apple Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Danielle Fishel]

Throughout our rewatch of the show, now six seasons in, we have seen dozens of guest stars where we find ourselves saying hey, I know that guy. He's in everything. And then Will proceeds to tell us exactly which Seinfeld episode or episodes he's in. Then he recites two to three lines from his best movie. It is like clockwork. And so we've learned that Boy Meets World really did cast some of the best TV character actors of all time. And this week we get to talk to one of the best. He somehow began his career in Spike Lee's do the Right Thing and has worked with a murderer's row of Hollywood's best directors over a three decade career that is still going strong. But you may know him best from two things. One, he was a cast member on the revolutionary sketch show In Living Color, a cultural moment where he not only helped change television forever, but introduced us to stars like Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Lopez. And two, his bone chilling scene stealing and somehow humorous moment in the Academy Award winning movie Fargo where he breaks down to an old high school friend about his deep well of sadness and then tries to seduce her after detailing the death of his wife, which is definitely a lie. And in addition to these unforgettable projects, here are some other movies you've seen him in Kindergarten Cop, Quick Change, Toys Falling Down, A Serious Man, Snowpiercer, the French Dispatch, Asteroid City and the highly anticipated upcoming Bong Joon Ho sci fi film Mickey 17 starring Robert Pattinson but today, we are sitting him down to talk about the one time he was on a primetime family sitcom, playing Jump Master in season five's standout, and an episode in Contention for our favorite ever, Raging Corey. Helping the Matthews men bond by putting their life on the line. And we'll bother him about some other things, too. Welcome to Pod meets world. A true artist. It's Stephen Park. We can see you.

[Stephen Park]

Hi. Can you hear me?

[Danielle Fishel]

We are. Stephen. So happy to have you here. When you popped up during our Season 5 rewatch, we could not stop smiling, and we talked about how amazing you were then. So to have you on the podcast with us makes us happy all over again.

[Stephen Park]

It's so funny because the role was so small and I was on. Yeah. I just felt like I was on there for, like, such a short. Maybe a little bit longer than the pig. I know there's a little pig home there, and. And I was like, why do they want to talk to me anyway? I'm so. I'm so nervous because I don't know what to talk about.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh. Don't you worry. We have so many questions for you. Also, you have to know you're in a room with some big fans. Will Friedle here can quote probably every one of your lines from almost anything you've done, but especially Fargo.

[Stephen Park]

Pretty true.

[Will Friedle]

It's pretty true.

[Stephen Park]

Oh, my God. That's crazy. So I know that. Actually. I remember when we shot this 98, that was just like, Fargo just come out recently.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

In 96. I think so. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Well, I bought. I bothered you about it basically the entire week you were there.

[Stephen Park]

I think. Yeah. And I think I remember that.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

You stood out to him.

[Stephen Park]

You were the one.

[Ryder Strong]

That's right. That's right.

[Stephen Park]

Just kept.

[Ryder Strong]

Minus the beer, lots of burger talk.

[Stephen Park]

Right?

[Ryder Strong]

That's right.

[Will Friedle]

I kept peppering you with questions just the whole week long, because it was. It was. I mean, at the time, it was. It still is. It holds up. But it was just. It's a brilliant, brilliant film. And you say. I mean, it's a perfect example where you say, oh, you're on Boy Meets World for a short amount of time, but it was such a memorable role on boy. The same could be said for Fargo. I mean, you might be on for a short amount of time, but it's such a memorable role, and it's a character and scenes that probably anybody else might have looked at and been like, you know what? We don't really need this for the story of the film. This lifts Right out. But it so works, and it's so important, and it's just so great that.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

Well, thank you so much. I mean, I remember thinking. I thought that they might cut it because it didn't seem to have anything to do with the rest of the story. And it wasn't until a few years later that it was on Roger Ebert's show. He had Martin Scorsese on, and they were talking about their favorite movies of the 90s, and they brought up Fargo, and they played my scene, and Roger Ebert was describing how Marge Gunderson's character, after she finds out that my character was lying, that kind of sets the light bulb off. And then she goes to speak to Bill Macy's character after she realizes. So it did set off a little bit of a chain reaction, but.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Stephen Park]

I didn't know that at the time. No. The Coen brothers never explained anything to me. So I. I really. I really did think, wow, they might cut this.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh. We have so many things we want to talk to you about with your career, but before we jump into it, I'd love to talk to you about your origin story. We know that you are from the east coast originally, but when did you realize that being in the entertainment industry was going to be your thing?

[Stephen Park]

Oh, my God. It was kind of a long, kind of torturous journey because my father. I grew up. My father was a doctor. I was born in Brooklyn, New York. I was born in Clinton Hill and lived there until about eight, and then we moved two years to Manhattan, and then we moved upstate. We landed in a town called Vestal, which is adjacent to Binghamton.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Stephen Park]

So I did most of my growing up there. So I first started when I went to college. I really did not know what I wanted to do with my life. And so I was pursuing medicine because my dad was a doctor. So I thought, okay, so. But I never had any kind of interest or proclivity towards chemistry or any of these.

[Danielle Fishel]

So.

[Stephen Park]

So, you know, I was like.

[Danielle Fishel]

Which hurts medicine a little bit, but.

[Stephen Park]

I was, like, failing these classes. I mean, just, like, looking at different, like, organisms in biology class. And, like, I can't tell one this from the other. So I just felt like this was not for me. And then I ended up transferring to school, which was closer to me, which was SUNY Binghamton, and same thing. I was just signing up for classes. I didn't know what I was doing. And then I would end up, like, dropping classes. And so I was kind of ready to drop out and My girlfriend at the time just said, before you drop out, just, you owe yourself, just take one semester of classes. And the only criteria is that they have to be fun, which was such an alien concept to me.

[Ryder Strong]

Such good advice.

[Will Friedle]

That's great advice.

[Stephen Park]

I took an acting class. I took a mime class, vocal class, and a body movement class. And it was to me, because, you know, when I was growing up as a kid, I was always like class clown. I was always making Super 8 movies. Like, it was something that I always enjoyed doing but never considered it a career. Right. So anyway, I ended up getting my. My theater degree and because, you know, I thought I was funny a lot of people. So I went to New York City and started doing stand up comedy. And I was doing open mic nights. And then I got involved with theater. I did my first play with Pan Asian Repertory Theater. And that got me started with. With basically doing plays. And then. So I can't, you know, I was down in New York. I started my career in 1987. Wow. And it was 1988 when I booked my first film, which was do the Right Thing. And just that little movie, I mean, who knew? I mean, but it wasn't like there were. I was at a time when there were kind of a small pool of Asian American actors. So for the first maybe 10 years, I knew every Asian American actor in both coasts. I mean, we all knew each other.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

So it wasn't like there was a big pool of actors. And anyway, then soon after that happened, I moved to Los Angeles and then In Living Color happened.

[Danielle Fishel]

And how did you book the job for do the Right Thing? Did you just hear of the audition? How did you book that?

[Stephen Park]

Yeah, I heard the audition.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you have an agent?

[Stephen Park]

I did. I had an agent and I went into the office and I forgot what scene it was. But I remember Spike Lee gave me the part in the room right after the audition, and I was like. Because I was already a huge fan of his from She's Got to have It. I was. I was in shock. And then I just said, can I hug you? And then he gave me a hug and. Yeah. So that was kind of like the. That was kind of the beginning. And I was terrified too, because being a Korean American growing up in New York, you know, I grew up in white communities, so I didn't grow up speaking the language or anything.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

And I've had a very maybe tenuous grasp of my culture. So playing an immigrant from Korea terrified me. And so I had to kind of like my uncle actually Worked at a market in Manhattan, so I worked there for a little while and my brother in law helped me with the dialect because I'd never done a Korean dialect before. And so I was learning the dialect. So anyway, it was a kind of a big learning curve for me, just playing an immigrant from Korea. But it was terrifying.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh. I'm sorry.

[Will Friedle]

In my head, I'm just thinking, it's. So far you've mentioned the Coen brothers and Spike Lee as the directors you've been working with so far. And it's just like the list is just building where it's like, oh, man, it's some of the most brilliant people that have ever been in film ever.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah. I don't know how it happened. It's just. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

And so what are your parents thinking at this time? Are your parents supportive of you once you start booking jobs? How do your parents feel about this transition you've made?

[Stephen Park]

Well, I think they were excited, but it wasn't, you know, I think they were excited by the attention I was getting, and people were like, wow, he's very successful. But I think especially for my dad, it was more. There was no solidity, there was no constancy. So my parents also have been with me through long periods of unemployment, you know, struggling with money. So, you know, over the long arc of my career, they've seen how difficult it's been. But I think they appreciate the fact that I've had the success that I've had. But, I mean, to be honest, they don't really understand.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

Maybe what I do, or they don't understand the work so much. I don't know. Like. Like, I don't know if they've seen Fargo, you know, it's like, yeah, wow. And I meet a lot of actors like that whose parents, like, have no clue, like, what they do or. It seems so alien to them. And that's kind of been my experience. I mean, so they've been supportive, but it's always been like they have no idea what I do.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, right. They're like, we don't get it, but we're happy. You're happy.

[Stephen Park]

Exactly.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, so you do do the right thing. How does. And you're living in Los Angeles. How does In Living Color come about?

[Stephen Park]

Same. That was a little bit more shocking because it's like a regular audition. It started in a casting office, and by that point I had, I don't know, 15 minutes said I didn't really. I was still beginning as a comedian, you know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Stephen Park]

And I Wasn't really, like, it took me a while to realize that stand up comedy was not my thing, but I kind of had enough to do an audition. And then when I got called back, it was like, oh, the callback is at the Laugh Factory. And it was in front of an audience that didn't know that these were auditions happening.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, man.

[Stephen Park]

So that was terrifying. And there was like, I want to say, like 15 or 20 of us. I mean, I remember Margaret Cho is one of us. One of them or one of the people auditioning.

[Ryder Strong]

And do you remember what your material was like? Do you remember what your.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah, I did, like, I was doing, like, spoof on Asian stereotypes. I. I then did this bit where I was. I had a boombox. I had them doing it over the PA system where I was doing that bad kung fu lip syncing.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Stephen Park]

And then. Right. Yeah. In my, My memory act was very. It's very. It's dissipated. But I just remember it ended with I. I created this, this duel between Bruce Lee and Rambo. And I had Bruce Lee saying that line from, from Enter the Dragon. You all offended my family. You have offended my. My. What is it? My school. You have offended my family. And then Rambo has his rifle. And then I had about five minutes of machine gun fire.

[Ryder Strong]

Just to the extreme.

[Stephen Park]

Yes. And then. And then Bruce Lee says the line again, you have offended my tool. You have offended. So that was the end of that particular. It was so silly. And then when they called us back again for another callback again at the Laugh Factory, it was like down to, I think, five of us or something. Then I had to, like, scrounge for material. And I was doing the jokes that I was doing, like in elementary. Like, I was just coming up with the dumbest jokes. And I remember one of them was, all right, I'm going to do an impression of two worms having sex. This is my impression of two worms having sex. I did that joke at the last Factory and got on A Living Color. Did that make it the dumbest joke? I mean, it's just stupid.

[Will Friedle]

It's so good, though. But that's why it's so great.

[Ryder Strong]

It's great. Oh, my God. And so at this point, are you thinking of yourself as an actor who does stand up or a comedian who acts sometimes, or is it just all the same?

[Stephen Park]

I was still figuring it out. And I had such a huge opportunity when I was in Living Color to go on the road as a comedian, but I didn't have an act. I had just what I did at the audition. And truth be told, I was just, you know, it took me a while to just realize that I didn't have the DNA to do. Like, I didn't, I couldn't live that life. Yeah, I couldn't.

[Ryder Strong]

I couldn't either.

[Stephen Park]

It's just like I look at like people that I know, like Bobby Lee or even, you know, Margaret Cho, like, it's like they were born to do it. You know, they're, they're something. I mean, you know, a lot of stand ups, they come from some difficult background or some kind of challenging childhood or drug abuse or whatever. So somehow that fuels that career somehow. And, and also when I was starting too, there weren't a lot of Asian comedians. So also I was extremely like hypersensitive. So I was constantly on the receiving end a lot of racist jokes when I would sit in the audience. And so it was, I mean, my girlfriend at the time was like saying, I shouldn't be doing this just because I would get so depressed. I would be so. And angry that I was forcing myself to go into this environment and try to be funny. And it was just, I was just not emotionally equipped to deal with things at that time. As a stand up comedian. I couldn't, it wasn't in me.

[Will Friedle]

You're right, it's not a job or even a career, it's a lifestyle. It's a whole lifestyle being a comedian. And you're right, talking to people that do it, they have this thing, it's like, this is. Okay, you're a comedian, you're a stand up. This is what you do. This is your lifestyle. You want to be up at 4 o'clock in the morning and.

[Ryder Strong]

Right. You have to exactly not be able to not do it. It's like, yeah, because otherwise why would you put yourself through that? Like as an entertainer I can kind of see like, oh, yeah, I could do like 15 minutes. Right. But then the idea of like having to beat that the next night and beat that the next night and I'm like, no, I don't travel and not.

[Will Friedle]

Sleeping and do anything. I'm sorry, I'm still trying to recover from you having to go to the Laugh Factory and your audition is in front of a crowd of people that don't know that you're auditioning. You're also. Now, did you watch In Living Color at the time you auditioned for the show? So you already knew what you were getting into then?

[Stephen Park]

Yeah, I mean, I remember they did this, they did a spoof on do the Right Thing. I Remember which I was like, oh, my God, that's crazy. And I never. I never imagined I would be on the show. I mean, when the audition came up and I knew they were looking for, like, Asian American, they were looking for Latino actors or comedians. And so it was just an opportunity. That was an amazing opportunity that just popped out of nowhere.

[Will Friedle]

Well, it was. I mean, at the time, it was the hippest show on television. I mean, Saturday Night Live had nothing on In Living Color. This was, like, groundbreaking because I think Kenan Ivy Waynes had come off of I'm gonna get you, sucka, which was, like, amazing. And then it was like, oh, he's doing a television show. And then you'd sit there and watch it at night and go, oh, oh, my God, what's happening in front of me? I mean, it really was completely groundbreaking for tv. Was this set a fun place to be? Was it. Was it conducive to comedy and, you know, just trying to get the funniest bits you can do, or was it a little cutthroat?

[Stephen Park]

It was kind of. A lot of things. I had kind of a challenging experience just because, I mean, it was fun. I mean, the. The amount of, like, just table reads where the Waynes would be falling out of their chairs or, you know, it was like the funniest people in the world all together in the same room kind of vibe, you know, so it was, like, so. So intimidating. And, you know, also being thrown in. It's like being thrown into a situation where everybody's already a family.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Stephen Park]

So you're. Then you're. You're the adoptee.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

So that was also very challenging. And. And then also how I was not on the show anymore also was really challenging because it was not fully explained to me, and I had different explanations. So it was like 90. Yeah. So when I was not asked back, that was the year of the riots in la, and there was a lot of. Of, you know, animosity between the black. The black community and the Korean American community. And so I was feeling at the time like, well, maybe that had something to do with it. I didn't know, but maybe almost like six. Almost seven years later, I was casting a play with my current wife, Kelly Cofield, who was in the Living Color.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes. I was just gonna ask about that. You met on that set, Right?

[Stephen Park]

We met on the set, but it was just, you know, we were both in relationships at the time. It was not, you know, and also I was too stressed to.

[Ryder Strong]

How do I be funny?

[Stephen Park]

Yeah. So that Was not. That was not on my mind at the time. But then, excuse me, when this play happened, that it was. I hadn't seen her since the show, and it was reconnecting and then trying to unpack, like, so what. What happened? You know? And then she said, when they came back the next season, she. Everybody was like, what? Where's Ski? What happened? And then he said that. Because this was when Living Color was about. Keenan was fighting with Fox, the network.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

And it was like the beginning of the end, and I think he was getting a little fed up. And he said that he was having a negotiating issue with my manager and she was pushing too hard. And then. So he just said, screw it. And then he just let me go. And then I was told by one of the producers that they were looking for a comedian who had more of a stable of characters. And then when I read the release from Fox that I read in the paper, it was because I was pursuing other opportunities, you know, so everybody has their own kind of thing. And so it took me. It took probably until I met Kelly. It took. I didn't. There was always, like, a little bit of a wound there. Like I said, not knowing. Oh, God.

[Ryder Strong]

Life of an actor.

[Stephen Park]

I know.

[Ryder Strong]

You move from project to project and you just hope so.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, well, I am a huge fan. I was telling them before we got on, I'm a huge fan of your wife as well. So not just your lines from Fargo, but I could do her lines from her Seinfeld episodes if you'd like. It's the way my brain works.

[Ryder Strong]

So.

[Will Friedle]

She is hysterical. Please tell her I love her. That's all.

[Stephen Park]

I will.

[Danielle Fishel]

And you guys have two children who are both in their 20s, right? Do they have any idea how cool their parents are?

[Stephen Park]

I don't know. Well, you know, it's funny because, you know, I think Kelly and I, some, you know, we. We kind of remark on that sometimes, like, we have. They come and they bring their friends over, and we kind of wonder what. What they think of us because we're so not like the normal parents, I guess, that other. But. But in other words, we are, you know, we're just normal people. We don't do anything crazy. You know, we make food and we invite people in and, yeah, you know, please take your shoes off and, you know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Stephen Park]

Whatever. But, yeah, that. I just. I don't know. I. You. You'd have to ask my kids what their experience is. I, I, you know, I know that they hear things, and I think sometimes maybe they try to hide it. I don't know what they do, but.

[Ryder Strong]

Neither of them, no one's, no one's gone into entertainment. It's not.

[Stephen Park]

Well, actually, my daughter, my daughter is. She went to film school. She just graduated from Pratt Institute as a filmmaker and is pursuing acting. So.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah. So my son is, he's a writer. He's finishing grad school at Brooklyn College in the creative writing program, and he works at the Paris Review and he's writing his first novel. So you'll probably be hearing about that at some point. That's so cool.

[Danielle Fishel]

The New Year's here. It's the perfect time to refresh those household essentials and score some cash back rewards with Colgate Palm olives.

[Will Friedle]

From toothpaste to dish soap, chances are you've got Colgate Palmolive products on your shopping list and in your house.

[Ryder Strong]

Right now we're talking brands like Colgate Soft Soap, hello Irish Spring, Fabuloso and Toms of Maine.

[Danielle Fishel]

And right now, you can get up to a $10 digital Visa prepaid card when you buy up to $30 of Colgate Palmolive products.

[Will Friedle]

Here's how it works. Spend $20 on their products, get $5. Spend $30, get a $10 reward. All you do is shop your favorite brands, snap a pic of your receipt and upload it to cprewards.com it's so easy.

[Ryder Strong]

That's cprewards.com so grab what you need.

[Danielle Fishel]

Or maybe try something new and get rewarded just for doing your usual shopping.

[Will Friedle]

And start your year fresh by earning cash back rewards with Colgate Palmolive rewards.

[Danielle Fishel]

Available while supplies last. Limit supply US only January 1, 2025 through March 31, 2025 for full terms and conditions, visit cprewards.com hi, this is.

[Austin Hankwitz]

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[Will Friedle]

Fishel Ryder Strong and Will Friedle from Pod Meets World.

[Danielle Fishel]

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

[Ryder Strong]

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.

[Danielle Fishel]

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.

[Danielle Fishel]

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

[Ryder Strong]

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

[Danielle Fishel]

The name of this product is the Active Cash Credit Card from Wells Fargo. That's a lot of name, but it's also a lot of card.

[Will Friedle]

It earns unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. Whether it's buying tickets to the game with your mom or grabbing a coffee with your dog. Purchases big and small earn unlimited 2% cash rewards.

[Ryder Strong]

No limits, no categories to track, just straightforward rewards that keep adding up, up.

[Danielle Fishel]

So you might stumble a bit while saying it, but paying with it will make you stumble upon so much more. Shopping, dining, cooking, gardening. You get the idea.

[Will Friedle]

Let's say it together.

[Danielle Fishel]

The Active Cash Credit Card from Wells.

[Ryder Strong]

Fargo earns unlimited 2% cash rewards on purposes.

[Danielle Fishel]

You know what? It does have a ring to it. No, seriously, try saying it out loud. The Active Cash Credit card from Wells Fargo.

[Will Friedle]

Ooh, that sounds nice.

[Ryder Strong]

Learn more at Wells Fargo.com/ActiveCash terms apply.

[Danielle Fishel]

So you had already watched Spike Lee change movies forever. The Wayans brothers disrupt the television industry as a whole, and then you appear on Boy Meets World.

[Will Friedle]

Yes, the pinnacle.

[Ryder Strong]

Let's talk about highlights.

[Danielle Fishel]

What do you remember about this blip on your resume? Do you. Did you have to audition for it?

[Stephen Park]

How did you come about? And I remember thinking, because they thought it was really funny, that I was yelling, which seems like, well, of course I'm yelling. I'm inside of a hell, you know, a plane. And I got the impression like, wow, maybe the other people who auditioned, they.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, this must have been your idea. So you added that.

[Ryder Strong]

Because then it becomes the funniest part of the scene. It's the whole joke.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

But I wonder if they hadn't thought about that when they wrote it.

[Danielle Fishel]

There's no way.

[Ryder Strong]

So you just did it. Oh my God.

[Stephen Park]

I was just yelling. And then I. And then they laughed and it's like, isn't everybody doing this?

[Danielle Fishel]

Like, it was one of those helicopter oh, my gosh. That's so funny. That's so great.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

But I have no idea. I just made that up in my mind. I have no idea if that was.

[Danielle Fishel]

No.

[Stephen Park]

What actually happened. But that's my memory. That's what stayed with me.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, man. That's. I'm guessing that we didn't start yelling until you started yelling. And then we went, okay, that's. It has to be this. It has to be this for the scene. And then probably the three of us started yelling back at you, and that was it. Because it was such a good scene and so funny. Well, one of the things we talk about is that, you know, we're going back watching the entire series again, which Ryder had never seen the show, and Daniel and I haven't seen it since it was on. And so we're kind of rediscovering these episodes as we go. And your episode is in contention for the best episode of the entire season.

[Danielle Fishel]

For the number one best episode up till this point. We're six seasons in, and raging is high. Is, like, truly in contention for our favorite episode of the show.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

Based on your three opinions.

[Will Friedle]

Just our stupid opinions.

[Danielle Fishel]

But just the three of us. Yeah. You can take it or leave it.

[Will Friedle]

But not official or anything.

[Stephen Park]

It's just.

[Will Friedle]

We love it.

[Stephen Park]

Can I. Can I ask what. What sticks out? What stands out about that episode for you?

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, there's a. There's a few things. We love both the A and B storyline. It's a really well balanced episode. We like that that there's a moment between. It's a. It's about a, you know, about parenting and about a father relationship. And there's moments for all three of his kids. There's storylines for how he raises Corey. It also is something Will had joked about when we first started rewatching the show was that, like, they don't know they have another son. The show is about the little sister and Corey. They never acknowledge Eric. They never acknowledge Eric. And then this whole episode kind of about what his relationship is like with his dad.

[Stephen Park]

Okay.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm also realizing that as ridiculous as this sounds, I think the yelling choice might be one of the major reasons that the episode works. Because if I think about that dialogue without the yelling, like, take that scene and take the fact that they're screaming, you know, that you guys are screaming at each other away. Right?

[Stephen Park]

Right.

[Ryder Strong]

Suddenly it becomes pretty sappy boy meets world dialogue.

[Stephen Park]

It's a little.

[Ryder Strong]

Suddenly it becomes, why don't we have the relationship that you and Corey have? You Know if Eric and. And that turn, where it goes from a story about Corey trying to prove himself to his dad or to, you know, and then to Eric suddenly becomes very sentimental and a little, like, saccharine. Right. In like the way that Boy Meets World as a sitcom could do. But the fact that you guys are all screaming and about to jump out of the plane makes it. Removes any of that sentimentality. And so it gets the story across, but it makes it more just fun and funny. And like, I think that that's one of the reasons why the episode's so good, is that it never gets weighted down by, you know, what other episodes would. We would. We would get very sappy, you know, and it just isn't. It's so.

[Stephen Park]

Wow, that's so interesting.

[Will Friedle]

Yelling.

[Stephen Park]

It worked.

[Danielle Fishel]

It worked. Yelling in general, it's always good, no matter.

[Will Friedle]

It's also one of the things that we love, that we talk about all the. Is a great, impactful guest star. And you were. It's just somebody who comes in, doesn't have a whole ton to do, but crushes it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. We call them Drive bys. Drive by. You just. You drive by. You pop in for a moment, absolutely kill it and keep going. You just love it.

[Ryder Strong]

So important in sitcoms, you know, it's like such a key thing to have great guest cast.

[Stephen Park]

Thank you so much. I, I. Are you having every single person on the show, Everyone, whoever will come back?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes. There are a few people who have said no, but we've asked pretty much everyone up until up to this point. We have, yeah.

[Stephen Park]

But you've saw, you've rewatched this episode a long time ago, probably. Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, we've been doing the podcast now for about two and a half years. That was a season five. Five. So. Yeah. No, six months ago.

[Ryder Strong]

Well.

[Stephen Park]

Oh, okay. So recently.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, within the last six months.

[Stephen Park]

Are you guys done now or are you still watching?

[Will Friedle]

No, we're starting season six. So we have all of season six and all of season seven left. Yeah, we're milking it, Steven.

[Stephen Park]

We're milking.

[Danielle Fishel]

We're going to make it take as long as possible. So do you. Did you know of Boy Meets World before you got the audition? Had you ever heard of the show or was this the first time you heard the show?

[Stephen Park]

Yes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. You had heard of it.

[Stephen Park]

I think it was a little. I was a little long in the tooth, I think, at that point. So. Yeah. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

You weren't our demographic.

[Stephen Park]

No.

[Danielle Fishel]

Do you remember hanging with us all week? Do you have any other memories Other than Will being annoying and talking to you about.

[Stephen Park]

Really? That was the main memory, poking you on the shoulder.

[Will Friedle]

Hey, I have another Fargo question. Hey.

[Stephen Park]

I just remember. I do remember. I feel like I disappointed you because I think you were talking about, was it Ren and Stimpy or it was a show that you were fascinated by.

[Will Friedle]

It's Beavis and Butthead at the time.

[Stephen Park]

Beavis and Butt Head, which I wasn't really watching. And you were asking me about it, and I had nothing to say. And I felt like, oh, man, what a dud I am. I felt like I really weren't watching.

[Danielle Fishel]

More Beavis and Butthead.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, no, I mean, I remember Will probably did make you feel bad about that. Oh, you were in Fargo, but you don't know if he was in Fargo.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah, it was something along that. Yeah, it was something like that.

[Danielle Fishel]

Maybe it was South Park.

[Will Friedle]

It might have been south park.

[Stephen Park]

Actually.

[Will Friedle]

It might have been south park at the time.

[Stephen Park]

No, it might have been South Park.

[Will Friedle]

I think it was south park at the time.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

I bet Spike Lee watches it.

[Will Friedle]

No, you know what I remember the most about our conversations? By conversations, I mean me peppering you with questions and you very politely and calmly answering them. I remember you saying that you were shocked that people thought your character was funny.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

In Fargo.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah. You know what happened? I remember I've told this story before, but after they first started screening it, I got a call from Ethan Cohen and he told me how funny I was. And that was the first time I'm like, what? And it didn't occur to me because I was still so in the characters pov. Right. And I know doing that part, I remember the day I was. I had somehow, like, put myself in this more emotional torture. I was really, really like. You know, because internally, it was like I was screaming in pain and then covering it and then doing the scene. Like, that's kind of how I approach the scene.

[Danielle Fishel]

That was your prep work. Wow.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah. And then I was. I was bringing up my mother. I like, bringing up all. So I was a mess, really, inside, and I was really. So that was My goal was just to be, like, barely holding it together and then to do the scene. And I knew it was weird. I knew, you know. You know, connection next year, Mark, you know, and so all that. That stuff, I knew it was weird, but to. To hear about how everybody was laughing, it took me a while to wrap my head around and then realized, oh, yeah, like. And then I understood it, but it was because. Yeah, I just was too. Too still. Too, in the character's mindset, to. To.

[Danielle Fishel]

To see it from an outcome at.

[Stephen Park]

The audience point of view at that point. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

So you mentioned that the Coen brothers didn't tell you much. What did you know about your character, Mike Yanagita, before the movie? What did you. What were you prepped with?

[Stephen Park]

I think a lot of the characters were based on people they knew growing up. Growing up there.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Stephen Park]

And I. There was. I think his name was Glenn Yanagita, the actual person, maybe that they grew up with in high school. Not that this character is based on him at all. And that's about it. I mean, because when I did the audition, you know, they. Of course, you know, they hired me. And I remember the. The main thing, when I got the job, he was on the set. The. The main kind of surprise was working with Elizabeth Himelstein, who was the dialect coach, and how hard she was pushing the dialect. Like, no, you want more? Oh, yeah. And it sounded so kind of phony. It sounded, like, weird. So just. Just going into that and feeling comfortable bending those R's and. Oh. And doing the dialect to that extent, it felt unnatural until it didn't anymore. But as far as the scene, I think maybe I was just giving them. I felt like it took me a long. It was a long road, personally, to arrive at the character, because when I. When it first saw the audition, I passed on it because it was described as overweight, 40, and, like, why do they want to see me? Like, you know. Yeah. And then it came back, and I was like, okay. And then I flew. I was in LA at the time, so I flew to New York. And. Yeah. So I just kind of, like, as I started learning more about this character and kind of investigate, it was like, I'm not this character. I'm not this character. Oh, my God. I am this character.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

You know, I don't know if it's ever happened to you as an actor where the role feels like you don't feel connected to it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

And it's. And then I think a lot of it is because it's like, well, this guy's in. You know, you have a judgment about the character.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Stephen Park]

So once the judgment, I think the judgment somehow dropped, and I realized, oh, I am this guy. Like, because I understood that loneliness. I understood the pain. I understood emotionally this guy. And I know people like this. So I. Once that happened, I feel like I knew the character. And I think the Coen brothers maybe felt like they didn't really need to say much.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

Because I felt like I. I knew. I knew this person.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you do a lot of takes or was it from different.

[Stephen Park]

It was really more just different setups. But I did, you know, when they were on me. There. There is one. I was kind of like finding things with each take. It wasn't like a lot of takes, but, you know, the one where I'm like, oh. And then, you know, I shouldn't have done it. You know, like, that wasn't kind of improv. Like, that was a spontaneous moment and. But it was. I won't say it was a lot. It was. I mean, we did. I remember they started on Fran. They started on March Gunderson, so. But I was fully in it when they were on her first. And then at one point, Fran says, you know, you better turn around on him now. Just because I was so in it. And so then they were on me. And it was enough takes to find the little moments like that moment and to. To. To just get into the little nuances. But it wasn't like. Like Wes Anderson, like.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, right.

[Stephen Park]

You know, take 72. Yeah. There's like one more for the pleasure, and then there's like 10 more.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

In your intro, we mentioned a ton of the classic films that you have appeared in, but also, we're not sure anyone can beat this list of directors you have worked with. Ivan Reitman, Barry Levinson, the Coen Brothers, Barbit Schroeder, Joel Schumacher, Wes Anderson, Bill Murray, Miranda July, Bong Joon Ho. I mean, you've worked with a lot of these people more than once. So in your opinion, is there something that all of these incredible directors have in common?

[Stephen Park]

You know what I think it is Fargo. I think Fargo was my, like, entree into all of these directors work. I think that they. They. They love. I mean, when I first met director Bong and he. I was. We were in Prague. We were at Barandav Studios.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

And he was introducing me to John Hurt, and I said, well, remember he was in. And then he referred to me as Fargo. Remember in Fargo? So that's kind of was like, oh, okay. You know, so that was my. That was how these directors, I think, found me and wanted to work with me.

[Will Friedle]

Well, not to put you on the spot, but is there one that you prefer working with over another? Is there a director where every time the name comes up, you're like, oh, I can't wait to work with this person again?

[Stephen Park]

Well, I have to. You know, I love working with, you know, Director Bong is like, I'm Gonna, hopefully I'm gonna see him next week because Mickey 17, which I worked on, I'm gonna get to see it next week. And so I hope we'll get to see him. But he is such a sweet, down to earth guy. I had the, like, complete honor of hanging out with him after the big Oscar night and we all went to Koreatown and we're at a restaurant and the cast and the producers and wow, that was an amazing evening.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's incredible.

[Stephen Park]

And so he's, he's just a sweetheart and I, I, I love working with him whenever I, you know, twice now. So that's been really great. But I have to say, like, working with Wes Anderson is another level because he is like an independent filmmaker. So when I worked like on Mickey 17, I was Warner Brothers, so I was dealing with Warner Brothers and, and I was kind of living in Camden and everybody was kind of spread out, so I didn't really have a connection with the other cast members so much unless I like, I had a party once, I invited a bunch of people over, but it was a little bit alienating and which, which helped for this movie, you know, because the alienation was helped because there was a lot of that in terms of the story. But the way west works is he'll, he'll be in some countries privatize a hotel and like the whole cast is living there.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

And the crew is living. A lot of the crew, we're all living, you know, it's not in the same hotel, in a next door hotel. And the studio usually is a golf cart away because west likes to like drive the golf cart to set. And so every night, like, they'll wrap around 7:00 and then everybody meets for dinner. West at the head of the table. And you go down and it's just like you're sitting with all of these movie stars and you're like. And then listening to Wes just, I mean, he talks about film and you just, it's like going to film school. And one of the things he does too, that so great is he has a table of maybe about 20 Blu Ray DVDs of all of these classic movies that had some influence on the movie we're working on.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oof.

[Stephen Park]

And so, you know, you have Blu Ray machine in your room. So you pick one, you sign it out, and then when you're not working, you're just watching these great movies and then you're going downstairs and you're meeting movie stars and you're talking to Wes about this movie or that or what was the influence on this scene? So it's like, that's just an amazing.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, man.

[Ryder Strong]

You feel like you're part of a company. You feel like you're all, you're all entering the same artistic mindset and collaborating together. That is.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah. And it's so great. And you know, like when we were in Potsdam, Germany for this latest film, the Phoenician Scheme, where. Which opens May 30, I want to say, or 31st.

[Ryder Strong]

I love his titles. Phoenician Scheme.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah, the Phoenician Scheme. It's going to be amazing. And talk about star studded, you know, cast. Benicio del Toro and Michael Serra. Wow. Mia Thor Appleton. Like, that's the other thing. Like, they also like both because when I did the French Dispatch, that was in Angouleme, France, and they had these electric bikes that you borrow. So, you know, we would go on these, like, you know, bike trips together. So, I mean, it was my. My wife had come and so it's like Hope. Hope Davis and Michael Cera and we're just riding around Potsdam, you know, going to a beer, you know, it's so much fun. It's like camp and everybody is so cool and it's like there's no, there's no hierarchies. It's just everybody is the same and it's just beautiful. And Wes is so meticulous about everything. Like when we went to Cannes for the French Dispatch, I remember they were setting up the dining room for after the screening and Wes is in there with one of the employees and he's putting the names on all the tables. He's deciding where everybody's sitting. He knows everything. He knows where everybody, like what room everybody's in. Like, his mind is incredible and what he, what he remembers and, and what he's paying attention to. So, you know, he talks about how, like when he goes to sleep, he's. He's constantly centering things, you know, because he's doing that all the time in the frame.

[Ryder Strong]

He's like Wes Anderson film.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah. So his dreams are like a Wes Anderson.

[Ryder Strong]

Right?

[Stephen Park]

Amazing. Jeez.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, that's so cool to hear.

[Danielle Fishel]

What we were. You just mentioned Mickey 17. What are you allowed to tell us about that project?

[Stephen Park]

Well, it's out now, kind of. I mean, it's. It's the, I guess the. It's going to be released on March 7, but it's based on Mickey 7. He, you know, Bong Joon Ho has expanded, obviously, and. Yeah, that also was just a lot of fun in his imagination, as, you know, just. It's just incredible. And he's so. It's so fluid. Like as a director, he's like. I mean, this is something that Director Bong and Wes have in common is. There's their. Their storyboarding is. Is like the movie's already been made and, and the filmmaking is really the constructing of it. But if you look at his storyboards, it's like every little frame, you know exactly what's going to happen. So with. With Director Bong, sometimes he's storyboarding the night before, but you have a sense like he. He's shooting to. To exactly what he wants on the storyboard. So there's no master shot. So if there's a shot with me crossing the screen and like, like there's one scene where I'm crossing and I. I have this injury on my arm. And the. The storyboard is me going. So that's exactly what I'm doing. Just going across the screen and like, I'm in pain. And then cut. So he's shooting exactly what's on the storyboard. He's not. He's not having a scene play out and all kind of, you know, I mean, like, he's shooting exactly what's on the storyboard. And Wes goes like even one step further where he does an animatic, which is basically a moving storyboard or cartoon. So every shot has already been planned and visualized. And then he voices all the characters. And so before you. When you arrive on set, you get to watch the animatics. It's like you're basically. You watch the movie with his voice and. And then he pretty much sticks to exact. So in a way, like when you look at a Wes Anderson movie and you look how the characters move, they kind of, you know, and then they kind of move side. You know, there's a kind of stick figure kind of quality.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

Maybe to his movies. And it's. It's kind of looks like the. The animation, the animation.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow.

[Stephen Park]

But he likes that. That's his aesthetic, you know, and it really. It really works. And there's something very funny about it. And there's something very kind of almost cartoonish, but it's very. It's very west. Very affecting.

[Danielle Fishel]

Who is left for you on your dream list of directors or co stars who, who have you not worked with that you'd love to.

[Stephen Park]

I don't know. I mean, my God. I mean, I mean, I would love to work with Park Chan Wook. I. I don't, you know, I. It's funny because I don't. I don't. I haven't even asked myself that question because it's like every. Everybody I've worked with has been such a surprise.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right?

[Stephen Park]

I never thought I'd be working with any of these people. So I don't know, because I've already been blessed with working with so many amazing people. So I don't even. I don't know. I can just draw.

[Danielle Fishel]

You're. No, it's okay. It's been.

[Stephen Park]

You're.

[Danielle Fishel]

I love that for you. You're like, why would I. The career you never could have. Exactly. You never could have imagined it, and it turned out better than you could have imagined. So why bother to think ahead now? The New Year's here. It's the perfect time to refresh those household essentials and score some cash back rewards with Colgate Palmolive.

[Will Friedle]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

Fishel Ryder Strong and Will Friedle from Pod Meets World.

[Danielle Fishel]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

So one more thing I did want to talk to you about was back in 1999, after a disappointing experience on the set of a very massive sitcom you wrote way ahead of its time. An incredibly brave mission statement to Hollywood about status, power and racism in Hollywood. About the difficulties you faced finding work as an Asian actor and especially work that you felt like you could be proud of. So I really recommend everybody read it. It is still on the Internet. And you'll realize, you know, Steve was saying these things 26 years ago and they are still relevant. Can you tell us what the effects of that letter were at the time?

[Stephen Park]

Well, let me just say the show is Friends.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Stephen Park]

It was at the time for me, I felt it was kind of a toxic environment.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yep.

[Stephen Park]

And this racist, the the ad calling James Hong was, was the actor who was also on the episode with me, and he was calling him to the set and, you know, essentially saying, you know, where the. Is the oriental guy? Get the oriental guy. So when I, I called Screen Actors Guild after that happened, and the person I spoke with recommended I write an article to the LA Times, and I thought, oh, okay, that might be a good idea. And. And I just seen Jerry Maguire. I don't know if you remember that movie, but he writes a mission statement. Yeah, my wife Kelly's in that movie, by the way.

[Danielle Fishel]

Way.

[Stephen Park]

And for some reason that just kind of like, struck me, like, that's kind of a. Yeah, why don't I write a mission statement to Hollywood? Because this is bigger than this show. This just. This isn't the first time this has happened. Yeah, you know, but this is the environment where this is business as usual in Hollywood in 1997. I guess it was. And. And nobody felt the need to correct this or say anything about it. So this is, this is normal behavior. And so I started writing this mission statement and I sent it to the LA Times, they sent a couple of reporters and they interviewed me, and then they never printed it. And so this was like the beginning of the Internet. And I had my email list and I sent my mission statement out to who was on my email list. And I said, said, you know, if this moves you, you know, please forward it along. But I just explained, I, I was interviewed and they're not going to print this, so if you feel moved to send this along, please do. And then within a week, I was like, I was getting responses from all across the country from publications that were asking permission to reprint it. And so this, it was like this. It went viral, you know, before viral was even a word. And I went to San Francisco at some point that year to do a play and I was like, interviewed up there. I was on the COVID of the Guardian, you know, wrapped American flag. I was interviewed in the examiner, and it all kind of culminated. I mean, I also spent about a year being invited to different colleges to speak about this. And. And then I was given this award by an Asian American Arts foundation up in San Francisco, and it was handed to me by Jesse Jackson. And so that's kind of how this all played out. And then, you know, soon after, it was like, my son was born in 2000, and right before that, I decided to quit acting like I was. I was kind of. I had become so race conscious and so angry that I, like, I. Everything, I was looking at everything through the lens of race, and I Felt like I couldn't. There's like I was just. There's no freedom. I didn't feel any freedom, so. And I didn't have any idea what I was going to do, but I just decided to drop out and I told everybody I'm not acting anymore. And so about a year went by. I was just being a, you know, stay at home dad. And maybe about a year later, somebody asked me to audition for something and I said, okay, because I didn't know what. I wasn't doing anything. And then that was like a slow climb back into the business. And it was very, very gradual. And I think, you know, there wasn't a lot of work anyway for Asian American actors.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

But it wasn't until a few years later, I remember I was listening to Bobby Lee's podcast and he was talking with Margaret Cho and Bobby Lee, like, he mentions my name and he said, oh, you know, he got blacklisted. And like, I was blacklisted. I had no idea. Yeah. But. But then I realized, like, oh, that is the common kind of like. I think a lot of people thought that, especially in the Asian American community.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Stephen Park]

I think believe that I was blacklisted. And I thought, oh, wow. I remember I texted Bobby said, you know, I wasn't blacklisted, but. But who would, who would have known anyway, you know, because I wasn't really working much anyway. There wasn't a lot of. A lot of work. But yeah, it took me a while, I think, to, to not only get back into the business, but to move beyond this. This race consciousness that was. That had overwhelmed me. And it was a lot of spiritual work. I've been on huge spiritual journeys. I've like, gone to Machu Picchu with Dom Miguel Ruiz, who wrote the Four Agreements. You know, I've done meditation retreats, I've done ayahuasca. You know, I've done so many things. And I think over, over the years, I began to understand the ego. I began to understand, identify how the ego works and how I like just this identification with the body, for instance, is egoic. And recognizing that the true self is the presence that is always here and always now. And that the body comes and goes. And this, my name, my race, everything that you can, all the labels you can put on me, all came after what I call. I like. They're not inherently this eternal eye that we all are.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Stephen Park]

And I think that's what I eventually arrived at. And so that freed me, that insight. Freedmen.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow, wow, wow. What an incredible journey.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. Amazing. Well put.

[Danielle Fishel]

I mean. Yeah, very well put.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm curious about this moment. You know, you talk about this race consciousness that you sort of arrived at. You were already like mid career. I mean, you had already been working. I mean, was part of this recognizing that, especially, you know, auditioning for parts and reading scripts before that that. I mean, there must have been so many times when you were asked to audition for what was essentially a stereotype or a role that.

[Stephen Park]

Yes.

[Ryder Strong]

And were you turning those parts down or were you just a hungry enough act? Oh, yeah. So you were. You were already making choices?

[Stephen Park]

Oh, yeah, yeah, I was turning stuff down all the time. Yeah. So, yeah, that was just kind of the norm at that time, right? Yeah. I mean, now it's just a completely, totally different scene now. Yeah. I mean, it's. It's kind of amazing.

[Will Friedle]

I'm curious, when you were growing up, you said you were the class clown, you were funny. Were there any Asian American entertainers that you looked up to when you were a kid?

[Stephen Park]

Not that I was like, oh, I want to be like that, but I remember, like, Johnny Yoon. I don't know if you remember him. Sure. If he's from Korea. And, you know, I knew, I was aware of actors like Suntech, oh, you know, Pat Morita, you know, I was friends with his daughter Ally, so George Takei, like all of these different actors who are like a generation ahead, you know, I was aware of them. But I think at the beginning of my career, I. I was always like, I want to break new ground. I want to break new ground. I want to do something that I hasn't been done before. Also, you know, like, doing. Doing roles without an accent was a big deal. Like doing an accent or not doing it, like, that was always like an issue. Like, that was hard. That's why, you know, do the right thing was hard for me to be. To have.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

To do that. So it's just been a slow evolution, you know, and. Yeah, I've forgotten the question.

[Will Friedle]

No, no. I was asking about your. Your. If there are any Asian American actors you. You looked up to when you were.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah, I mean, I was aware of them. I wouldn't, you know, it's not like Bruce Lee was my, you know, he was my. My guy.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

You know, but. And I was martial artist. I was really into martial arts growing up, but I entered my career knowing I didn't want to do martial arts, knowing I didn't want. I didn't want to just fall into that, that, you know, stereotype. So I act like, actively kind of did not go in that direction.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, I know with all the talk we just had recently about the ego and all of that, this may not, you know, land as well. But I do wonder, you know, you've worked with Steven Yeun, an incredible young actor who is getting opportunities that probably didn't even exist 10 years ago.

[Stephen Park]

I know, right? Yeah. Thank you for noticing. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

What does it feel like, like, for you to see some of these changes, having been a whistleblower well ahead of your time a long time ago? Like, how does it feel now?

[Stephen Park]

Well, it's amazing, but I still feel like I'm still in it. I'm still pursuing jobs. I'm still wanting to get work. So it's great to see. Like, it kind of blows my mind. Like, Steven Yun's success is so. So. And he, you know, by his own admission, like, he's one of these people who just is incredibly lucky. Like, just amazing luck that that has happened with him. And. And I think. I think it's really, really great. I. I do sometimes feel like, wow, what's. What's next for me? What's going to happen?

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Stephen Park]

And. And I have no idea. I have no sense, because I don't know what. I don't know how to be this age because I'm just doing it for the first time. And. And then it always goes back to all of the stuff I learned in my spiritual journey, you know, which it all points to. Well, everything is here, right? Nothing's missing. What's here? There's something from the Bhagavad Gita. What's here now is everywhere. What's not here now is nowhere to be found. So the moment I feel like something's missing or I'm not getting what I want, it's my ego. My ego somehow has been hooked. And I feel like something is unfair or I don't. I'm not getting what I want. It's some narrative that. That has taken hold in my mind that. And so I now have the tools to recognize, oh, my ego's hooked. And just to come back to the present moment. So that's kind of what I do.

[Danielle Fishel]

Stephen, thank you so much for joining us today and spending your valuable time with us. Like we said when you joined, we could not stop raving about you when your episode came up.

[Will Friedle]

And I just have another 70 Fargo questions. Is that going to be a problem?

[Ryder Strong]

It's just no big deal.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

I'm just going to poke you on the shoulder and keep asking you.

[Stephen Park]

Okay? Well, you know, by now, there's a. There's book. There's a book that was written.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, send him somewhere else, please. Send. Send him to another.

[Ryder Strong]

Just go on the Internet will get your answers now. You don't have to bug Stephen.

[Will Friedle]

No, no, no. I want him.

[Stephen Park]

I was interviewed like little White Lies on YouTube. Look it up. There's a whole interview just about cargo.

[Will Friedle]

Okay, cool.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. You've sent Will on a mission. He will definitely do that.

[Will Friedle]

I will be at your house later today with several questions written out.

[Danielle Fishel]

We won't give him your interview information, I promise. Thank you so much for joining us. It's really been a pleasure to talk to you.

[Stephen Park]

Oh, my God, it's been great. I. I really was so scared. I was telling Kelly how scared I was. I didn't know what we were going to talk about.

[Danielle Fishel]

I don't. I. I hope it did. Was it. Was it scary?

[Will Friedle]

Was it okay?

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Stephen Park]

Was it. Oh, no, no. It was a joy.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, great.

[Stephen Park]

Thank you.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, great. Thank you so much.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Great to see you.

[Danielle Fishel]

Great to see you again. Bye.

[Stephen Park]

Bye. Bye.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, man, I'm so excited to see Mickey17, by the way, for our dear listeners who may not know, follow up to Parasite.

[Will Friedle]

I just can't. I can't get over the scope of the directors that he's worked with, the experiences that he's had, good and bad, in this industry. Just incredible. Again, one of those people I could sit and just listen to talk all day.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know.

[Will Friedle]

Just please keep telling me stories.

[Ryder Strong]

I mean, I. Yeah, I feel exactly the same way, but I also love that it move it. The interview moved from, you know, Hollywood stories, which I obviously love. And I just want to sit and have dinner conversation about that to, like, really intense, spiritual, interesting, philosophical stuff that I'm like, I also want to hear your thoughts.

[Danielle Fishel]

So I just.

[Will Friedle]

I'm still the whole James Hong thing, because I got. So. I grew up a huge James Hong fan, and I've gotten to work with him three times, and he's the nicest human being you'll ever meet in your life. So hearing anybody say anything about him made me viscerally angry. It was weird to hear that he had a bad experience on the set because you could not meet a nicer human being than James Hahn and talented as hell. So, like, hearing that was just. I didn't like that at all.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, I know. It's pretty. It's a. It's pretty crazy. Wow. Yeah, he's got. He's got quite a story, and I love how there's nothing about the way he talks that give. He's just. Everything he says is just, well, yeah, but this is what happened. It's just this is. And there's no, like, shame in sharing it. This is. This is. Who said this? And then this happened and then got the call. Like, I don't know. It's just. He seems like such a. Just straightforward, honest, but thoughtful guy. Well, he also.

[Ryder Strong]

He's so even keeled. And. And what's interesting about that is that, you know, actors, comedic actors especially, are usually not right. You know, it's like, it's hard. You know, a lot of the reason that people become actors often is because they're very expressive and they're very emotional and they' up and down.

[Stephen Park]

And.

[Ryder Strong]

And so the. The result is that often actors are kind of, you know, erratic, wackadoodle people, and they're just harder to, you know, they're harder to feel like a person relaxed around. And he is clearly a great actor. Listening to him talk about how he thinks as an actor, like when he was talking about his Fargo experience and how he was so invested in the emotion, he made it personal for himself like this. I mean, he's just a genius actor. But then he can also be very even keel, talk very intelligently and sort of like. Like, you know, basically about his life and his experience and his thoughts. Just, wow, I want to have dinner with him.

[Will Friedle]

He talked about the internal struggle he put himself into to shoot one scene in Fargo one day, one scene. And he probably beat himself up and got himself to such a state for weeks, if not months beforehand. To go in there to the point where he's sitting across from this, one of the most. Probably one of the most gifted actresses in the history of Hollywood who says, you've got to turn the camera.

[Ryder Strong]

He's more in. He's.

[Will Friedle]

Or he's so in it right now.

[Ryder Strong]

And I love that she's so sensitive to that, because that's totally. Her style is to be like, oh, whoa, let's be.

[Stephen Park]

You know.

[Ryder Strong]

And of course, she's, like, married to the director, so she can tell them.

[Stephen Park]

Turn around, turn around.

[Ryder Strong]

I mean, apparently she's that way. Like, she's just so.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, like, you got to be looking that way right now because look at what.

[Ryder Strong]

I also just love that, like, every other story is like. And then I was doing a play. I'm like, why are you still doing plays? Because you just are an actor. Because he can't know.

[Will Friedle]

Yep. Like you said with.

[Ryder Strong]

Except for that one year when he. Which also was super interesting like that he reached this point where he was like, I need to take a step back because I'm getting too caught up in something that is.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Is hurting me. Ah, he's so fascinating.

[Stephen Park]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

An interesting guy.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Thank you all for joining us for this episode of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on Instagram Pod Meets World show. You can send us your [e-mail] and we've got merch.

[Will Friedle]

This week's merch sponsored by Jake's local mechanic shop, key fobs and skin flakes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Pod show.com writer, send us out.

[Ryder Strong]

We love you all. Pod dismissed. 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 Sugbash, 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 podmeatsworldshowmail.com.

[Danielle Fishel]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Danielle Fishel]

Supply well, I'm excited to announce I am on a seafood diet.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, I remember this joke. You used to always tell it when we were kids, whatever food you see, you eat.

[Danielle Fishel]

No, this time I mean it. Thanks to Gorton Seafood. I absolutely love their fresh tasting fish sticks and so do my 3 and 5 year old. We made the butterfly shrimp into tacos one night and it was so easy to prep and it was the perfect excuse to break out the air fryer.

[Will Friedle]

I love the quality of Gorton's. It's a brand you can trust. Susan and I made a butterfly shrimp bowl for lunch and it was seriously restaurant quality, but in the comfort of your own home and for a fraction of the cost. I'm gonna join you on that seafood diet as long as it's Gorton's.

[Danielle Fishel]

With over 175 years of experience, Gorton's is committed to spreading the goodness of the sea by making quality seafood accessible to everyone while responsibly sustaining its future.

[Will Friedle]

Visit gortons.com to learn more, find a store and get a recipe inspiration the Unshakables Podcast is kicking off Season two with an episode you won't want to miss. Join host Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business, as he welcomes a very special guest, Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Jamie Dimon. Hear about the challenges facing small businesses and some of the oh moments Jamie has overcome. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Chase Mobile app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply JP Morgan Chase Bank NA Member FDIC Copyright 2025 JP Morgan Chase & Company.