42 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • AUGUST 26, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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‘Nora from Queens’ stars talk representation and comedy
BY MOLLY GIVEN
Metro
One of TV and movies’ biggest stars
has been hitting her sweet spot on both
the big and small screen.
In just the last year fans can catch
creator, actor and writer Awkwafi na
in “Breaking News in Yuba County,”
Disney’s hit animated fi lm “Raya and
the Last Dragon,” and the soon-to-premiere
Marvel movie “Shang-Chi and the
Legend of the Ten Rings.” But it’s her personal
story, the one based on her childhood
growing up in Queens, that has
cemented her as a star — and that was
part of the appeal for fellow co-stars BD
Wong and Bowen Yang.
Both Wong and Yang have hit strides
in the industry: Wong has been acting
since the ’80s in a slew of hit movies and
TV shows such as “Law and Order: SVU,”
Disney’s animated fi lm “Mulan” and “Mr.
Robot,” while Yang, fairly new to the
scene, has cemented an Emmy nomination
for his breakout work on “Saturday
Night Live” in just his sophomore season.
For “Nora from Queens,” Wong steps
into the role as Nora’s well-meaning and
hilarious father, Wally, while Yang takes
on the role of her societal, yet charmingly
funny cousin Edmund. It’s that
dynamic between their family, along with
Nora’s grandmother (Lori Tan Chinn)
that solidifi es just how relatable and comforting
a show like this can be.
Both Wong and Yang sat down to discuss
the major draw to a show such as
this and what it means for them to see
some representation on the small screen.
What was it about this series that
made you want to get involved in the
fi rst place?
BD: I was immediately drawn to the
whole brand of Awkwafi na. I was asked
to do the show and I understood that she
was not only the co-creator, but as the
center of the whole universe of the show
as a character and as an actor. I wanted
to be a part of that and I wanted to feel
that energy. She’s one of the people that
I’m watching to see what happens to her
next and just great things seem to continue
to be coming from her — I jumped at
the chance to do it.
I had also been in Margaret Cho’s
show “All-American Girl” in the ’90s and
I had experienced that being a part of
an Asian American family, there’s a lot
of spotlight put on it and a lot of pressure
put on it and I have always wanted
the opportunity to revisit that cultural
event of an Asian American family on
television. It happens very rarely … on
one hand you can count the times its happened
in our cultural history and I wanted
to see if there was a way to revisit it
and even improve on what it was before.
Bowen: I had to audition for it, and I
really just had to come in and want it —
and I did, deeply, also for the same reasons
as BD just said as they pertain to
Awkwafi na being this fresh sort of air.
I would consider that the fi rst big job
that I booked … I booked the pilot for
this before I booked SNL. It just felt like
the most thrilling opportunity that came
my way, so I was in no position to say
no or be picky about it. Even now, if you
had presented me with this opportunity
given whatever diff erent circumstances,
it would be a resounding yes to be part
of it again. I’m just very lucky that I get
to do it.
With the representation aspect, was
the outcome what you expected and
what are you hoping viewers, both
Asian American and not, will get from
the show?
BD: One thing that I’m excited about
or was looking for was the experiment of
Asian American family that doesn’t talk a
lot about being Asian American but just
is Asian American. You see evidence in
diff erent ways than normally you would
in past media history. I wanted to see
how that experiment would fl y because
I’ve always believed really strongly that
people would really love it.
So, I think season 1 being so successful
has really given the show a great deal
of confi dence. Th e show knew that it was
the right way to go and everything, but
just to have the validation of these huge
demographics of people that we’re really
reaching. It was the No. 1 freshman
show in key demographics — that just
gives the show confi dence and just allows
it to dig into that confi dence. We’re not
going to over-explain that we’re Asian
American—we know that it works and
for the show and to have an opportunity
is really great.
What would you tell fans to expect for
your characters’ journeys from season 1
to season 2?
Bowen: For Edmund, he ends up sort
of fi nding himself paired with Nora in a
lot of circumstances again and there are
other little sojourns away from Queens
that are really interesting. But rather than
this purely antagonizing relationship that
the two of them have in season 1, I think
you’re really going to see this beautiful
and emotional core with not only
Edmund and Nora, but with every character
in the show. It’s an emotional core.
BD: In season 1, Wally begins the arduous
task of starting to date again aft er living
so long alone, partly because Nora
grew up without her mom and introducing
a new woman into the house just
didn’t feel right to him. So, he starts dating
again and that’s a little step. In season
2, he continues to date one of the women
that he met in season 1, Brenda, who the
fans really seem to like and who is wonderful.
Jennifer Esposito plays her and
that relationship creates complexity for
Wally and Nora’s relationship and hilarity
ensues as a result. But how the characters
reach going through something and how
that aff ects their relationship with Nora
I’d say is the recurring theme of season 2.
Th e show touches on identity, career,
love and family dynamics. Why is a
comedy a great vehicle for these
subjects?
Bowen: In the way that you can satirize
pretty much anything. Th e wonderful
thing about the show is that it puts
all of these seemingly deep, dry concepts
through these fi lters whether it be irony
or slapstick or shock or a metaphor or a
character-driven comedy — it’s all there.
Unlike a lot of comedies right now on TV,
it’s just is such a great container for all of
those things. So, I would say there’s a prevailing
theme of identity to this season
and what happens when you take away
certain things … what happens when you
take away where you come from in terms
of Nora being really tied to this upbringing
in Queens or with Edmond when you
take away his status? Th ose are all really
sort of loaded concepts but then there’s
something about being able to bring out
some humor from that that I think is
really, really special.
BD: I think that as an audience member,
and the reason why I thought
Bowen could answer this so well — as he
did — is because as an audience member
I really depended on the whole pandemic
and the distraughtness that I felt on SNL
to really kind of get me through the day.
I think I’m not one of the only people.
We were going through a lot of political
turmoil and the way that you can
lampoon political people that are actually
bringing pain to other people is such
a release for people, they need to kind
of turn things upside down because they
feel like they are living in an upside down
world. Th at really gets society through
the day. I do think on one level, our show
actually created or creates a diversion
that touches on things that really mean
something to people and that can be
successful doing that. Having said all of
these things, it is a show of the moment
this way.
Bowen: Hopefully it becomes a way for
people to cope with whatever.
BD: Yes, there’s no question about the
potential for that.
Season 2 of “Awkwafi na is Nora From
Queens” premiered Aug. 18 on Comedy
Central.
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