10 Things Jimmy O. Yang Can't Live Without

I do a joke, I do a bit in my standup

that I say, I wish my girlfriend makes me Bento boxes.

And, now she does.

So, sometimes you just have to badger someone with standup

until they do something.

What's up GQ?

It's Jimmy O. Yang, and these are my essentials.

[chill electronic jazz]

One of my essentials is this matcha set.

I bring it everywhere with me, to set,

at home anywhere we travel to,

'cause I don't really drink coffee, it gets me too.

[doorbell dings] Great.

[crew laughs]

I have multiples of these at home.

When I travel, I take one in my trailer,

and I make myself a fresh matcha every morning.

It gets a little bit of caffeine,

but it's also a nice meditative thing to do, to whisk it.

I don't drink coffee, it gets me too jittery.

I feel like I can't get into my character a lot of times

when I drink coffee and I can't sleep at night.

So, matcha is an absolute essential for me.

And, everywhere I go I always ask for a cup of hot water,

whether it's from craft or whatever.

And, now I'm like kind of doing what my mom does.

Like, she'll go into Olive Garden,

and ask for a glass of hot water.

I don't know how older, Asian people especially, do it

like, piping hot, 120 degree water, just like, [blows]

just chugging it, right?

Just mouth of steel.

My temp is about 80/85 max, I would say

[rhythmic electronic R&B]

This is one of my favorite essentials.

It's my Bento box set that my girlfriend got from me.

She lovingly packs me a lunch every day, 'cause on set,

with catering, sometimes the food is a little heavy.

It's kind of a bit of a crap-shoot.

So, let's see what we have in here.

Ooh, we got some crab fried rice here today.

I think this is soup.

I don't, mm, this is shrimp Tom Yum Soup!

I mean, come on guys, you don't get this on set.

This is absolutely essential to have a good meal,

that's not too heavy, and it's also portion control,

'cause if there's food in front of me, I'm going to eat it.

So, if there's a whole catering portion of food,

I'm gonna eat all of it,

and then, after lunch I just would not be able to perform.

The Bento box is totally essential.

[camera clicks]

And, one of my essentials that I'm already wearing, is this.

These shoes that I discovered.

They're like tiny little rain boots,

that doesn't have a whole boot.

They just rubber shoes.

I love gardening with them, at first.

Me and my girlfriend both bought a pair, and also,

we wear the same shoe size.

So, we're very blessed

that we can just interchange our shoes.

Yeah, these are beautiful.

Look at the color.

It's by this brand called SeaVees.

We just saw it at a store in Santa Barbara,

when we were like in the midst of wine tasting.

So, this was definitely, like, a drunken purchase

but it has been the best pair of shoes, so far.

It's better than any slide.

It's like a real pair of shoes.

It's comfortable to drive in, good for the rain,

and started, what? As gardening shoes?

And now, I just wear it everywhere, even for a GQ interview.

[electronic R&B] [camera clicks]

And for my emotional support essential, I got this guy.

my Tayto Potato Squeezy Tayto.

Look at this.

It's a stress relief potato,

and it's this super cute, I think Japanese, thing,

called Tayto.

His name is T-A-Y-T-O, Tayto.

So, I've been collecting a lot of different Tayto things.

This is like my Hello Kitty.

He's super cute, and squishy, and whenever, you know,

I'm frustrated, or, like, stressed,

I just squeeze him a couple times.

I think everyone should have their version

of a squishy, squeezable Tayto.

Look at him. He's so cute.

I didn't name him anything.

When your name is already perfect, why name you anything?

His name is just Tayto, Beat that!

[high pitched electronic whir]

[rhythmic electronic beat] [camera clicks]

Another essential that I take everywhere with me,

is this Kraftgun massage gun.

I mean there's many brands out there.

Particularly love this, 'cause it's a smaller startup.

I actually waited like three months on a Kickstarter

to get this thing.

It's really cool, it switches, and it's really powerful.

[massage gun buzzes]

And, just, after a tough day, you know,

whether it's doing standup, or in this new show I'm doing,

I might have a couple fight scenes for you guys.

You gotta get your body right, you know?

And, it just feels really good.

This one has a good reach, you can go behind.

We also have a smaller theragun,

like the baby travel size one that my girlfriend loves,

'cause this one's a little too intense.

I honestly, it's so powerful.

I only have it on the first setting.

[massage gun buzzes]

I never get it on the third setting.

It just, kind of, like, too crazy.

But, it's definitely one of my essentials

to keep my body right,

for the rare times that I do work out.

Yeah, my tightest spot on my body is my shoulder blade,

so I wanna make sure I get a gun that's long enough,

and it has good enough ridge to hit that. [pleased groan]

You see like it, it just like, it's like pounding cement.

It's so stiff and hard on that part,

that is probably doing some spinal damage to me.

I'm not sure.

You know, a lot of times, after I do a big show in stand up,

or even after I wake up from like a stressful night,

I always have to tell myself to relax my jaws.

You know, like I feel like I'm always like clenching my jaw,

and I didn't realize how much stress I had on it.

So, maybe they should start making one of these

that's small enough, just a baby one for your face and jaw,

you know?

Yeah, I think they call that a vibrator.

[soulful electronic R&B] [camera clicks]

I think everyone should have one of these in they household.

It's a Pei Pa Koa,

It's something I grew up with in Hong Kong.

It's like a throat coating medicine syrup.

It's a lot of herbs in it.

It's actually great for voiceovers.

One of my favorite actors/friends,

and one of the most brilliant voiceover actors,

my friend Ben Schwartz,

he's the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog.

I've always had this in my house, right?

But, he was the one that told me to take it

before and after voiceover jobs.

So, the word has gotten out, outside of Chinese community,

into the voiceover community, and now hopefully,

to the world, and the fashion world in GQ.

Nin Jion Pei Pa Koa is the brand and the name of this.

[Speaks Chinese] Means cough suppressant,

and dispersing of mucus.

That was actually a commercial in Hong Kong.

huh, it rhymes.

[camera clicks] [twinkly electronic R&B]

Flonase, I needed every day, just a couple spritz

inside the nostrils. [deep inhale]

[big exhale] Got me feeling right, you know what I mean?

I actually used to get a lot of strep throat,

a lot of sore throats,

and I went to an ear, nose and throat doctor,

even as an adult when I was like 30 years old.,

I'm like, maybe I need my tonsils out.

And, he was like,

mm, that's a procedure you should really avoid.

How about just try Flonasing for two/three months straight?

Don't skip a day, don't only Flonase when you need it.

Flonase every day.

And then, all my sore throats went away.

And, this is not a commercial for big pharma,

this is just something that works for me.

We need medical disclaimers.

Don't let a comedian tell you to use Flonase.

[gentle keyboard]

Interesting.

I think growing up in Hong Kong and China,

allergy wasn't a big concept.

And now, coming to America I'm like,

oh, a lot of my ailments were just allergies, you know?

But, I don't know, I don't know which culture

is actually correct, 'cause now you have people that are

deathly ill with a flu, and they're just like,

[imitates sniffling] oh no, just, just allergies man,

I'm totally cool being at this party.

So, I don't trust that either.

[camera clicks]

This is one of my essentials.

[pouch of tea shakes] What is it? It's a drink.

It's called Wong Lo Kat, or wanglaoji, in Mandarin.

And, it's literally a dollar for this whole pack.

And, if you open it, there's these little packs,

and then you can make a little tea.

It's a little sweet herbal tea.

It doesn't have any caffeine or anything, I don't think.

There's hot and cold, you know, in Chinese culture.

This is more cooling.

So, if you eat too much fried food, too much hot sauce,

you want some of this to cool you down.

So, this is what I do after lunch.

To me it's almost like a Chinese digest tea,

and it's better than, you know, drinking coffee,

or drinking another tea, too much caffeine after lunch.

So, sometimes I mix this with a little ginseng,

and that gives me the energy.

But, this is just a nice chill drink.

You pour on some hot water, and it mixes this. Pretty cool.

And, I think it's good for you? Not sure.

[electronic beep]

And, to go with my Bento meals,

it's very essential to have a good hot sauce.

I actually have a collection of hot sauce

in my trailer when I shoot.

I have some Italian teroni peppers.

I have the Laoganma, the Chinese chili oil.

And, this is one of my recent favorites.

It's the Queen Majesty scotch-bonnet ginger hot sauce.

Has a really good kick with the scotch-bonnet,

but also very sophisticated, and goes well with everything,

chicken, fish, Asian food, American food, big favorite.

I think it helps my performance to feel like I'm not at work

and I'm at home, and I'm comfortable, and I'm in my body,

right?

Like it's, I guess very actor talk.

But, the same time,

one time I brought this Trinidadian scorpion sauce to work,

just for fun.

It's delicious, and I put it on some chicken

that Bree made me, and it was so hot.

Completely ruined my whole face of makeup.

I was sweating.

They have to redo my hair and makeup for, like,

another 30 minutes, so don't do that.

Know your limits.

[rhythmic electronic music]

And, another one of my essentials is this.

It's a hand sanitizer.

It looks like a little credit card.

It's this brand, Noshinku, we got in a gifting bag once,

and now me and my girlfriend loves it.

Smells great. It almost smells like perfume.

This one's actually out. How embarrassing.

That's how much I use it.

But, it's like a wallet size, hand sanitizer,

and you just spritz it on here and it just,

you gotta just trust me. It smells really good.

I used to use some hand sanitizer before COVID,

'cause it's just easier than washing your hands at times.

But, ever since COVID, I've like,

an assortment of hand sanitizers in my house,

but this is definitely the most classy, coolest,

and best smelling one.

Yeah, it comes with a lot different scents.

This one's called Vetiver

I also don't know why I said it in like a French accent.

Like, it's probably just like Vetiver.

Noshinku, If you're listening to this, send me some more.

Send me a box. I need this.

It's kind of expensive, I think.

Oh, oh, wait a minute! It's going back to life.

[rubs hands together]

It smells like a perfume. It's beautiful.

Hmm. Big fan.

Thanks GQ.

And, these are my essentials.

Thank you for tuning in,

and peace.