Youngmi Mayer poses next to her new book, I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying

Photo credit: Fujio Emura

hide caption

toggle caption

Photo credit: Fujio Emura

Youngmi Mayer poses next to her new book, I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying

Photo credit: Fujio Emura

Youngmi Mayer, Korean comedian and writer, rose to social media fame for mocking casual racism white people seem to get away with in everyday life. But she also dishes out brutal critiques of Korean culture, too – the perks of being biracial. In her new memoir, I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying, Mayer writes about humor as a tool of survival for the generations of Korean women in her family, from her grandmother to her present self.

For producer Schuyler Swenson, Mayer’s comedy stood out as deeply clarifying and immediately relatable to her as a Korean adoptee. They spoke about the Korean comedic tradition, inappropriate humor and why the saddest stuff is what makes them laugh the hardest.

This episode was produced by Schuyler Swenson and Xavier Lopez, it was edited by Leah Donnella and Dalia Mortada, and it was engineered by James Willetts.