[APPLAUSE]
SHILPA MANIAR: So, Hudson, it's a pleasure to have you here.
So if you guys don't know, Hudson is actually
22 years old, and he is age appropriate to date
for all the girls out there.
HUDSON YANG: Ha, ha, ha.
SHILPA MANIAR: Is that OK, mom?
Just kidding.
So Hudson is 11 years old.
What a great accomplishment, Hudson, at 11
to be the lead actor on "Fresh Off the Boat."
So I think it's only appropriate,
because the episode was about basketball-- who is
your favorite basketball star?
HUDSON YANG: Well, my favorite is Jeremy Lin, obviously.
SHILPA MANIAR: Are you paid to say that?
HUDSON YANG: Huh?
SHILPA MANIAR: Are you paid to say that?
HUDSON YANG: No.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: Oh, OK.
VINA HA: Have you ever met Jeremy Lin?
HUDSON YANG: I was going to, like a few days ago,
except I had to fly out to LA because he's a Laker.
So I couldn't make it.
VINA HA: So I noticed that there's
a special guest appearance of your father in this episode.
Can you tell us who's a better actor, you or your father?
HUDSON YANG: That's a tough one.
[LAUGHTER]
For him.
[LAUGHTER]
Just kidding.
I can't answer that.
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: All good, all good.
SHILPA MANIAR: So I think it was only appropriate to ask,
because you are at Google today, and everyone
says Google knows everything about everyone.
So what is the most interesting thing
you've ever googled about yourself?
HUDSON YANG: I haven't really googled about myself, really.
SHILPA MANIAR: What's your favorite thing to Google?
HUDSON YANG: YouTube.
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: Awesome, because Google owns YouTube.
[LAUGHTER]
That's the right answer.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: Is there a specific video
you like to watch on YouTube?
HUDSON YANG: Well, as my mom said,
Minecraft or sometimes tips for like games and stuff.
VINA HA: So I'm a big fan of the show,
and when I talk to my friends who are also fans of the show,
they always talk about how great you are.
And a lot of my friends say like, oh, he's so cute,
he's so adorable.
Now that we're like getting close
to the end of the season-- this I think
was the second-to-last episode of the season--
how have the last few months totally changed your life?
How does it feel to be a celebrity?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, I don't think of myself as a celebrity.
I think of myself as a well-known child.
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: That is the best answer you
could give for that question.
HUDSON YANG: But I mean, the last few months
have been extremely different.
I mean, I've been stopped on the street,
and people have been taking pictures with me.
And everybody's just been like kind
of congratulating me all the time,
saying the show's amazing.
But I mean, my friends and everybody,
like those kind of people, they've
been treating me the same.
They're just proud.
And they're like happy.
And they're like really excited for the show
all the time, yeah.
SHILPA MANIAR: So I guess that's a good segue.
So how does it feel going to school?
Because you just came from school today, right?
HUDSON YANG: Yeah.
SHILPA MANIAR: So how does it feel when you
go to school after the show.
Do you feel different?
Do teachers treat you differently?
HUDSON YANG: Not really.
I mean, they've asked about it like once or twice.
But they don't treat me differently.
It's a job to be equal, really.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: So you don't get a free pass,
extra credit for being super amazing and talented on "Fresh
Off the Boat?"
It's not an extra 10 points on an exam?
HUDSON YANG: I wish, but no.
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: So, one of the great things about the show
is that it deals with Asian American issues.
That's like a big theme of the show.
And there were a couple episodes--
there was one episode where your character Eddie was called
a "chink" by another classmate.
There's another episode where a bunch of students at lunch
complained about the smelly food that your mom packed for you,
and that's why you asked your mom
to get you some Lunchables so that it doesn't smell up
the lunch room.
So just being part of the show, what kind of lessons
have you learned about being Asian American?
And what other issues have you learned about
by just being part of the show?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, I've known about a few of them,
like how people like don't adjust to your food
right away or about how there's like upset
and like not nice names that people call different races.
But I mean, I didn't know that word before.
And there's like other things where it's like,
people nowadays at my school, they weren't that like harsh
and they weren't as like cruel and they didn't
call me names or anything.
They just kind of asked questions.
That were polite, like politely, like straight up.
SHILPA MANIAR: You have a tough role to fill, I think,
for the Asian American society at 11.
So we really appreciate what you're doing out there.
[LAUGHTER]
That was a serious anecdote.
HUDSON YANG: What's so funny?
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: [LAUGHS] So you don't even
have to say anything and everyone laughs at you.
I wish that was something I could do.
You're going to have to teach me one day.
HUDSON YANG: [LAUGHS]
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: OK.
So, we talk about these big shoes you have to fill.
And we've been reading, and we know
that the last time an Asian American show was on the air
was about 20 years ago.
I think that was called "All-American Girl,"
for those of you who might have watched it before.
And you're not even 20 years old.
So how does that pressure feel for you having to live up
to such high expectations?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, I don't really
think about the expectations like people
have on me or something or how like Asians think
if this messes up they're going to have
to wait another 20 years until the next one or something.
[LAUGHTER]
This is just an experience that I
want to go through, have fun with, and just make it
last as long as I can.
SHILPA MANIAR: We're supportive of you.
VINA HA: OK, so we're going to switch over to some Dory
and live questions.
So we'll take the first Dory question.
Hudson, what would it take to be cast as your long-lost cousin
on the show?
[LAUGHTER]
HUDSON YANG: I actually have no idea.
There have been like one of the episodes
where, like, my cousins came, but long-lost cousin?
I don't know.
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: Got it.
We'll send the bad news to Roger, who asked the question.
HUDSON YANG: [LAUGHS]
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: If there are any live questions,
we have mikes set up, so please line
up so that we can capture your question on the recording.
We have one live right there.
AUDIENCE: Hey, Hudson.
How's it going?
Thank you so much for coming out tonight.
One of my questions for you-- if you could guest
appear on any show in the world right now,
what show would that be for you?
HUDSON YANG: Any show?
AUDIENCE: Any show.
HUDSON YANG: At all?
AUDIENCE: Yup, any show at all.
HUDSON YANG: "Modern Family."
AUDIENCE: That's a great choice.
Great choice.
Thanks for coming out.
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: Any other live?
If there are no other live questions,
we'll take the next Dory.
SHILPA MANIAR: So the next question is, hi
all the way from Shanghai.
I'm a big fan of your show.
If you could name the top three things
from the show that really rang true for you as you grew up,
what would they be?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, some of them
are not like direct-- like the show, I don't really-- sorry,
I can't talk right now.
The stuff on the show hasn't really happened to me directly,
but there's been things on the show that kind of relate
to me, like the part where I always
ask my parents for like foods that everybody else has,
as in peer pressure or something.
That's like one of the episodes where I ask for Lunchables.
And then a time where I had to stick up
for myself at one point.
It didn't really get that big, but I mean, yeah,
it was really a long time ago.
I can't remember it.
And I think-- sorry.
And then me playing basketball with all my friends
and like being in a court, that kind of happened to me before.
That's about it.
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: We have a live question.
AUDIENCE: On one of your episodes, you got straight As.
HUDSON YANG: Yeah.
AUDIENCE: And I don't know if somebody can cue the music.
I was wondering if you could do the pimp walk.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: OK, we can't get the music,
but if you could drop us a beat.
[LAUGHTER]
Do you mind showcasing the walk?
We got any musicians out there?
You want to just do the walk?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, like that one?
SHILPA MANIAR: We need the music.
HUDSON YANG: Do you want me to like wave my hands in the air?
[LAUGHTER]
There's like a few different types of pimp walks.
[LAUGHTER]
Everybody kind of has their own way of doing it.
SHILPA MANIAR: Do you want to teach [INAUDIBLE]
how to do the pimp walk?
HUDSON YANG: I mean--
SHILPA MANIAR: You wanna learn?
[LAUGHTER]
All right!
[CHEERING]
VINA HA: Only if Hudson is willing to teach.
HUDSON YANG: I'm fine.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: Are you up for the challenge?
VINA HA: I guess so now that you've put me in the spot.
SHILPA MANIAR: Don't you love it?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, it's not that hard.
Just like kind of keep your shoulders back.
[LAUGHTER]
You can put your hands like that.
Or like go like that.
And just kind of walk like this.
[CHEERING]
SHILPA MANIAR: That was great.
VINA HA: This is going to be on YouTube later.
We can edit that out.
All right, do we have another live question?
Does it involve me dancing or doing anything?
AUDIENCE: So who is your favorite character
to work for on the show?
HUDSON YANG: Work with?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
And how is it living in LA for the show
compared to New York City?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, the question about who's
my favorite is really hard.
They're all amazing.
They're really nice, fun.
I mean, I can't really choose.
But living out in LA means that I'm closer to them,
so we can hang out, go eat dinner,
talk about what's happening in school and stuff
and like about the show, obviously.
That's fun, amazing.
VINA HA: OK, we're going to-- should we take the Dory?
OK, so this question was voted pretty highly.
So Hudson, if you could create your own episode of "Fresh
Off the Boat," what would it be about?
HUDSON YANG: Oh.
That's hard.
I mean, maybe it would be where I had
like a field trip or something.
And then something wild would happen,
and I'd end up meeting like Nicole on the trip.
SHILPA MANIAR: Who's Nicole?
HUDSON YANG: Oh, the girl that I have a crush on on the show.
SHILPA MANIAR: Oh, OK.
[LAUGHTER]
I thought she was another girl.
HUDSON YANG: And then while I'm there,
like kind of like what happened before when
I was in like a detention episode,
we probably like talk a little bit.
And then, I don't know, maybe my brothers
would show up on a different field trip.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: OK.
HUDSON YANG: I can't-- it's hard.
There's a lot of different things.
Or maybe I'd meet my cousins again.
But then there would be like girls,
and they'd be like exactly the opposite of us.
And then we'd be like feuding all the time, yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: I would watch that episode.
I think-- would you watch it?
VINA HA: Of course.
SHILPA MANIAR: You've got two viewers right here.
I can't wait.
HUDSON YANG: [LAUGHS]
VINA HA: There's another question on the Dory.
Hudson, do you get all the jokes and references on the show?
Or do you get your father or mother
to explain the jokes to you?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, I get most of them.
But there's some where I have to ask my parents,
like what does this word or this sentence mean?
VINA HA: What's an example of a word or sentence,
like what's an example?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, I think there's one,
but I don't really remember it.
VINA HA: Do you remember what a Game Boy is or a Tetris?
HUDSON YANG: Yeah, I have one.
VINA HA: Oh, nice.
[LAUGHTER]
Nice.
We have a live question.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, I just wanted to know a little bit
about your favorite food preferences
and whether you've gone to Baohaus
and what you like to eat there and whether you read "Fresh
Off the Boat."
HUDSON YANG: Well, I have gone to Baohaus.
I've only eaten like one or two of the special things.
It's really good.
[LAUGHTER]
I have read most "Fresh Off the Boat,"
but my dad won't let me read any of the rest.
[LAUGHTER]
And what do you mean by food preferences?
AUDIENCE: Just in terms of what you
liked when you were eating at Baohaus
or what your favorite Asian food is.
HUDSON YANG: My favorite Asian food would be sushi by far.
But at Baohaus, I like the one with like the meat, the chicken
thing.
AUDIENCE: It's like fried chicken bao?
HUDSON YANG: Kind of, yeah.
I don't remember.
I think my dad knows.
VINA HA: Another question from the Dory--
which episode has been your favorite to film?
HUDSON YANG: My favorite would be the one
where I met Scottie Pippen.
I talked really fast.
VINA HA: What was that like?
HUDSON YANG: Well, it was really cool,
because I got to meet him.
He signed some stuff for me and we took pictures.
But he was really nice.
And so me and my brothers, my on-show brothers,
we played basketball with him.
And I actually got a few shots off of him.
[LAUGHTER]
But he was distracted.
[LAUGHTER]
But, yeah.
SHILPA MANIAR: So do you do you have a favorite basketball
team?
HUDSON YANG: It would most likely
be whichever team Jeremy Lin's on.
SHILPA MANIAR: OK, so it just goes back to Jeremy Lin.
HUDSON YANG: Yeah.
SHILPA MANIAR: Does Scottie Pippen know that?
He knows that?
[LAUGHTER]
Broke his heart.
You break girls' hearts, you break Scottie Pippen's heart.
Heartbreaker.
VINA HA: We also have a live question over here.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
HUDSON YANG: If I'm not an actor when I want to grow up,
I kind of want to be a scientist or something.
VINA HA: We can reserve a spot for you here.
[LAUGHTER]
We have fried chicken.
[LAUGHTER]
Eddie Huang has been here doing this kind of talk.
HUDSON YANG: Cool.
SHILPA MANIAR: I think his mom just
requested that you put that in writing
that he has a job out here.
VINA HA: We'll talk later.
SHILPA MANIAR: He's an attorney, so this works out really well.
Attorney, mom.
Mom, attorney.
And it's on recording.
It's great. [LAUGHS]
VINA HA: We're going to edit a lot out of this.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: Are there any more live questions?
Or should we continue with the Dory?
OK, so the next question is, I grew up
in Kansas in the mid '80s.
And what show depicts your early time?
What show depicts from the early time
from the '80s that really resonated
with you from the '80s?
How much fun is it to try to recreate
the mid '90s on screen?
And I don't even know if you know some of these examples.
Do you know what Pert Plus shampoo is?
HUDSON YANG: Well, now I do.
SHILPA MANIAR: Now you do.
OK, so It's shampoo.
Do you know what a minivan is?
You should know a minivan.
HUDSON YANG: Yeah.
SHILPA MANIAR: OK.
And then Baby Phat clothes.
HUDSON YANG: Oh, well, I have a friend in school who
always wears that kind of swag.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: OK, so is there something
in the '80s that really rang true to you,
if you remember the '80s?
[LAUGHTER]
And then they want to know--
HUDSON YANG: I remember the '80s?
SHILPA MANIAR: They want to know how much fun it
is to recreate the '90s.
HUDSON YANG: Well, it's a lot of fun to recreate the '90s.
I mean, it's really cool seeing what it was like back then.
But about the '80s--
SHILPA MANIAR: It's too far back.
HUDSON YANG: I wasn't alive.
SHILPA MANIAR: We remember the '80s.
Should we tell you about the '80s? [LAUGHS] It's OK,
that's fair.
That's fair.
VINA HA: Hudson, has your father ever had a success perm?
[LAUGHTER]
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
[LAUGHTER]
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
VINA HA: Awesome.
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
SHILPA MANIAR: Sure.
So next time we'll make sure we bring it up to 2020
or like in the 2000s for you.
Second time you come to Google, OK?
You promise you'll come back?
HUDSON YANG: Yeah.
SHILPA MANIAR: OK.
So if you could request a guest appearance
of any actor on the show, who would you pick to work with?
HUDSON YANG: Wait, guest appearance
of an actor on that show, on my show?
SHILPA MANIAR: On your show.
HUDSON YANG: Yeah.
Wait, a guest appearance?
Wait, aren't there--
SHILPA MANIAR: Like if any other actor
could come on to "Fresh Off the Boat" and play your costar,
who would it be?
HUDSON YANG: Any other actor?
Could I choose somebody on my show?
SHILPA MANIAR: They're already on your show.
[LAUGHTER]
That's a fair, fair question, fair question, Hudson.
VINA HA: So like when Scottie Pippin was a guest
or your father was a guest.
What's another person you would want on the show?
SHILPA MANIAR: Maybe your sister wants to be on the show.
Do you want to come up?
You can come up.
HUDSON YANG: It might be my brother or maybe
one of my other friends or something.
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: For those on VC who can't hear,
Hudson's mom just made a request to be on the show.
[LAUGHTER]
HUDSON'S MOTHER: And a job at Google.
VINA HA: And a job at Google.
[LAUGHTER]
OK, another question involving your mom.
Did your mom ever try to stop you from becoming an actor?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, she's mostly supported me
whatever decision I've made.
But she did warn me not to become too full of myself
or to be like Justin Bieber acting all like--
[LAUGHTER]
Or Miley Cyrus being like all, running around getting
in trouble or something.
SHILPA MANIAR: What do you think about tattoos, mom?
HUDSON YANG: Or ear piercings?
[LAUGHTER]
HUDSON'S MOTHER: [INAUDIBLE]
[LAUGHTER]
[INAUDIBLE]
SHILPA MANIAR: It's negotiable, Hudson.
Just remember that.
Anything in life is negotiable.
VINA HA: Do you have a favorite line from the show?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, I've had a few.
I think my favorite line was-- they were all pretty cool.
I mean, I think it's the one where it's like, it's not
Shaq's shoe, but it will do.
It was really funny and it kind of
made me seem like really picky.
I don't know.
It just stuck with me for some reason.
SHILPA MANIAR: So we recently were
reading a little bit about you, and we
learned that your favorite subject in school is Mandarin.
Is that true?
HUDSON YANG: Well, because it's really easy for me.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: OK, great answer, great answer.
So have you ever tried to rap in Mandarin?
HUDSON YANG: I mean, I've been told to by one of my teachers
that I used to have.
But I failed epically.
SHILPA MANIAR: Do you want to do it for us?
There's been requests in the audience.
HUDSON YANG: But I don't know how to.
That's why I failed epically.
HUDSON'S MOTHER: He failed Mandarin.
HUDSON YANG: I didn't fail Mandarin.
I got an A+!
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: OK, any other live questions?
OK--
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
HUDSON YANG: Yeah, sometimes.
More of to my mom's mom and sometimes to my grandma,
who's right there.
SHILPA MANIAR: Aw.
OK, well so I guess if there's no more live questions,
we ran through the most of the Dory questions.
We want to wrap up the conversation
with an interesting round of questions.
We like to call this Vina and Shilpa's rapid-fire round.
So what we're going to do is we're
going to ask you a question in Mandarin.
And we're going to test how well you understand Mandarin.
And you have to respond with one-word answers, OK?
HUDSON YANG: Oh, my gosh.
VINA HA: But we get to use Google Translate.
SHILPA MANIAR: Yeah.
Because I don't speak Mandarin.
I was just kidding.
But we are going to ask you a question,
and what we want you to do is we want
you to either choose between one or two
or give us a one-word answer.
HUDSON YANG: All right.
SHILPA MANIAR: OK, are you ready?
HUDSON YANG: Yeah.
SHILPA MANIAR: Yeah?
Are you a little nervous?
HUDSON YANG: Yeah.
SHILPA MANIAR: You should be.
No, I'm kidding.
This is going to be fun, OK?
HUDSON YANG: Yeah.
SHILPA MANIAR: So our first question for you
is, Google or Bing?
HUDSON YANG: Google.
[CHEERING]
SHILPA MANIAR: Good answer.
VINA HA: Good answer.
HUDSON YANG: Bing is unreliable.
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: Uh, disclaimer-- we didn't put him up to that.
[LAUGHTER]
Making sure.
Biggie or Tupac?
HUDSON YANG: Biggie.
SHILPA MANIAR: Favorite food?
HUDSON YANG: Sushi.
VINA HA: Favorite subject in school?
HUDSON YANG: Science.
It's changed.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: What's your favorite part
about being famous?
HUDSON YANG: I'm not famous.
SHILPA MANIAR: That's very humbling.
VINA HA: Who's your role model?
SHILPA MANIAR: Aw.
HUDSON YANG: Dad.
SHILPA MANIAR: What's your favorite line in the show?
HUDSON YANG: I said that already.
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: What's your favorite sibling in the show?
Who is your favorite sibling in the show?
HUDSON YANG: Oh, I mean, they both have
really good qualities.
[LAUGHTER]
Like one of them I like him because he's
really fun and enjoyable.
And the other one, I like him because he's a good kid
and he's really good at acting.
And so he's kind of like a kid role model.
SHILPA MANIAR: OK.
VINA HA: Somebody already asked this, but when I grow up,
I want to be-- just making sure your answers are consistent.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
HUDSON YANG: Scientist.
VINA HA: OK.
[LAUGHTER]
Just testing, making sure it's same.
SHILPA MANIAR: When I say Hudson, you say--
HUDSON YANG: What do I say?
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: All right, I'm gonna rap you another line, OK?
As I walk through the valleys of the shadows of death,
I take a look at myself and--
HUDSON YANG: I don't know what I'm supposed to say.
SHILPA MANIAR: OK.
You just finish the line.
Just finish a line.
OK.
Do you got another rap line for him?
VINA HA: I don't, but I have a regular question.
SHILPA MANIAR: All right, we'll just move on, then.
VINA HA: The key to being a good actor is--
HUDSON YANG: To work hard.
SHILPA MANIAR: Who has more swagger, mom or dad?
HUDSON YANG: Mom.
I mean, depending on what type of swagger.
[LAUGHTER]
VINA HA: OK, I think that's all of our questions,
so we'd like to thank Hudson Yang.
[APPLAUSE]
We do have a gift for you, so can we
bring up the gift for Hudson?
SHILPA MANIAR: That's because you picked Google
as your favorite search engine.
HUDSON YANG: Google swag!
[LAUGHTER]
I got a Google NYC shirt.
SHILPA MANIAR: Oh, everyone gets to see what you got?
OK.
HUDSON YANG: Yes, they do.
SHILPA MANIAR: We hope you like it.
HUDSON YANG: Thank you!
[LAUGHTER]
SHILPA MANIAR: Bye.
Thank you all for coming.
HUDSON YANG: Thank you.
SHILPA MANIAR: Thank you.
Thanks for coming.
Do we get to shake your hand?
Awesome.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
Thanks to your family members that came to make it out.
What an exit Hudson made.
Great round of applause for Hudson again.
Thank you so much for coming out here.
[APPLAUSE]