Stream "Blasian" for FREE on Amazon

Blasian, Michael Yo, presents his uniquely personal comedy on his debut stand up special, "Blasian." In this special, he discusses growing up half Black and Asian in Houston, TX. Check it out for free on Amazon Prime!

Kamala Harris for President!

A post about Kamala Devi Harris is long overdue. Harris was elected US Senator for California in 2016, becoming only the second female African American to serve in the Senate and the first ever South Asian to serve. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2019 (January 21), she announced her campaign to run for the Democratic nomination for the President of the United States in the 2020 election!

Kamala Harris was born to a Tamil Indian mother (Shyamala Gopalan) and a Jamaican father (Donald Harris) in Oakland, California. Both of her parents were immigrants. Her mother immigrated to the US from Chennai in 1960, and her father immigrated from Jamaica in 1961. She grew up going to a black Baptist church and a Hindu temple. The family lived in Berkeley, California. After her parents divorced, she and her sister, Maya, moved to Montreal, Québec, Canada with their mother. Harris returned to the United States to attend Howard University, where she became an Alpha Kappa Alpha. She moved back to California to earn her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Side note: Maya Lakshmi Harris is also an accomplished lawyer and is a political analyst for MSNBC. She was one of Hillary Clinton's senior policy advisors during her 2016 presidential campaign. She is currently campaign chairwoman for her sister's campaign for president.

She was the first African American and first woman yo serve as Attorney General of the state of California, and she is now vying to be the first Indian and first African American woman to serve as President of the United States!

Find out ore about Senator Harris at https://www.harris.senate.gov. Support her campaign at https://kamalaharris.org.

Michael Yo on "Blasian" Tour

Michael Yo is the first and only blasian comic, and he's currently on tour!

Michael with his parents

Michael was raised in Texas, where he got started on radio.  He then got recruited by Miami's #1 station, Y100.  He did that for years before getting an offer from E!. He moved to Los Angeles and was a correspondent on Extra and E! News. He has appeared on The Insider and The Talk on CBS, as well as The Wendy Williams Show. Then Chelsea Handler (of Chelsea Lately) dared him to do stand-up. Fellow half Asian, Jo Koy (Filipino/European American), has been his comic mentor. They even did a podcast (The Michael Yo & Jo Koy Show) together for a few years.

"[Jo] told me that I had great stories about my parents and that is where comedy comes from, real life. Not about people writing jokes but what really happened in your life. Growing up in the situation I am from, that is automatic comedy. Having [an Asian] mom, we all know Asian moms and how they say the craziest things no matter who is around and it can sound racist at times. But they don't think it is racist and they are just honest people, you know what I mean" So, I talk about the crazy things my mom says about other people." 

Michael doesn't like kimchi (김치) and doesn't speak Korean, and he didn't really connect with his Asian side until he started doing stand-up.

"I can honestly say that stand-up has really made me connect more than I ever have because telling the stories about my mom. My stand-up is all about my dad, my mom, how I grew up, dealing with racism, and finding my identity. So, the whole show is about that. Me and my mom have always been super close, and I feel that telling these stories, Asian people are starting to come out and relate to it. I find it weird because I didn't connect to it while I was going through it, but it is more that I'm connecting to it now."

"Blasian", his new comedy tour about growing up biracial, started in San Francisco on December 31, 2018. It was released on digital and on-demand platforms on November 27th and is available on iTunes and GooglePlay. His tour continues in Sacramento on January 11, 2019. 

Michael is an actor, stand-up comedian, and television host. Currently, he is a co-host on the Bravo series, Play by Play, and hosts The Michael Yo Show on Sirius XM's Entertainment Weekly. The Michael Yo Show premiered on September 4th via satellite on channel 105 through the SiriusXM app.

Selected Sources
* Houston Chronicle, "Houston-born comic Michael Yo releases special about growing up biracial", November 1, 2018.
* HalfKorean.com: An online community for mixed-race Koreans, "Interview with Michael Yo", August, 16, 2013. 

Photos courtesy of Michael Yo/Metro Public Relations.