Asian American Podcasts

I listen to a lot of podcasts.  I used to read a lot of books, but in this day and age of the distraction economy, I find it easier to listen to podcasts.

When authors promote their books, they usually run the podcast circuit.  So an author who's promoting his "lessons from the Navy SEALs" book will appear on the Tim Ferriss podcast, then the Art of Manliness podcast and then the Art of Charm podcast.  During their interviews they give a synopsis of their book and its main points.  You don't even have to read the book at that point, because the author told you the stories and lessons from the book.

I always try to find Asian American podcasts.  At first they were few and far between.  The early pioneers of Asian American podcasting were Fallout Central, the Fighting 44s and BigWoWo.  The Fighting 44s forum had some interesting podcasts with debates between Will from Better Asian Man, Jenn Fang from Reappropriate, the Asian Playboy JT Tran and Byron from BigWoWo.  Byron still has his podcasts up, but Fallout Central and the Fighting 44s are gone.  As they say, "Pioneers get the arrows.  Settlers get the land."

Fallout Central and BigWoWo were the pioneers and paved the way for Asian American podcasting. Here are the best current Asian American podcasts:

Bad Asians: David Nguyen and Imran G. are two stand up comedians in the San Francisco Bay Area. They discuss joke premises that have not been refined on stage, but lead to colorful commentary on current events, culture, and/or the mundane:


Bullet Train: This podcast focuses on Asian American cultural trends:




Asian Oscar Bait: Asian Oscar Bait is a podcast that tells true stories of diverse Asians throughout history, and pitches them to Hollywood.  In this episode, Matthew and Melissa discuss this year’s Olympics and yellow fever. Then, Melissa pitches you a civil war movie about Chinese-American soldiers:




KollabCast: The official podcast of the Kollaboration Movement, the KollabCast is a show about pop culture and the creative life from an Asian American perspective.  In this episode, Jeff Yang talks about his years of experience covering Asian American issues as a journalist. He also weighs in on the latest Mulan script leak and the momentum of Asian Americans in the media:




Although not an Asian American podcaster, one of my favorite podcasts is the China History Podcast by Laslo Montgomery. Here's a podcast episode on the history of the Chinese in Mexico:




MyChonny: This one's not an Asian American podcast but an Aussie Asian podcast from Youtube star Chonny.  He reminds me of an Asian Austin Powers.  I find his Vlogs funnier than his skits:



Saturday School: Brian Hu and Ada Tseng look back at the early days of Asian American cinema and pop culture.

Breaking Bamboo: New Yorkers Pudge and Vince yap on all things Asian American and not.

The Asian American Voice: BJ Kang does one on one interviews with various people discussing business, mindset, mental health, self-actualization and finding your passion.

Asian Americana: My friend comic strip artist Ian Liu had this webpage before, but now Asian Americana is a podcast hosted by Quincy.  His first episode is on the now defunct Giant Robot magazine.

Tales from Mangri-La: Tales from Mangri-La brings the raw, unfiltered voices of Asian-American men to as many ears as possible.

Asian America: The Ken Fong Podcast: Ken Fong gets to the heart of Asian American culture, history, and spirituality through interviews with movers and shakers in the Asian American community.