"Loot" and "KPop Demon Hunters" star Joel Kim Booster | The Latest With Maya

 A conversation with Joel Kim Booster.❤️



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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Hi Joel, welcome to The Latest with Maya. Joel Kim Booster is an actor, comedian, producer, and writer. He wrote, produced, and starred in the movie Fire Island. He was also a writer and producer for the other two. Joel plays Nicholas in the Apple TV Plus series Loot and voiced several different characters in the movie K-pop Demon Hunters among many other things. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm so excited to be talking. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Um so who has had the biggest impact on you professionally?

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Wow, that is quite the question. And there's a couple of probably uh different answers to this, but I I think I'll go back to the beginning and say the answer that I I always say when people ask me this question, and that's Margaret Joe. Honestly, like Margaret was when I was growing up the only person who um not only looked like me, but also had like a similar sort of vibe um to what I, you know, always aspired to be. She was a bit of a rebel, she, you know, went against the grain. She never, you know, adjusted herself to meet, you know, the moment or or to uh or what people wanted from her. It was always based on on who she was, and she was always just fearlessly herself. And that was like, um, you know, and on top of that, she was queer and Asian like I was, and that was um a really big deal for me to see when I was uh growing up and and just to see someone who made space for themselves in this industry in a way that you know I would eventually have to make space for myself too.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Oh wow, I love that. Yeah. Um so who has had the biggest impact on you personally?

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Um, that one's easy. Um so that uh that would have to be my best friend Sarah Casey. Um she when I was in high school, um, I had a lot of uh I had a really rocky period with my own family um when I came out of the closet. It was not an easy period for my family and I. And I ended up moving out when I was 17 years old. And I had one friend um in one class, you know what? I wouldn't even say we were close friends at the time. Um, but I was sleeping in my car, I was couch hopping, and people at school knew that I was struggling. And she being really nice one day said, Hey, if you ever need a place to stay, you can stay at my house. And she didn't really necessarily mean it. Um, she was just saying it to be nice, but it was getting colder, so I showed up at her house and I was like, Hey, remember when you said that thing? And her family was very much like, you can't just invite strange boys to come and stay with us, willy-nilly, but he can stay the night. And I I spent that night talking to her mom. And the next morning before I went to school, they were like, Hey, come back for dinner before you leave. And long story short, I um I ended up living with them for the rest of my senior year. Uh, Sarah and I became best friends in that year just from living together, and we're still best friends to this day. And um, she really saved my life in a huge way, her and her family. Um, you know, I I I think I would have been um a lot worse off had I tried to do everything by myself, and to have this family that barely even knew me at the time support me and and be the family that I needed in that moment in my life was was really life-changing.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Wow. Yeah, I'm so sorry you had the uh you went through that with um your own family, and I'm so happy you had those you have those people. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Um, so what uh small things bring you joy on a daily basis?

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Um so I I I say this is like so cheesy and embarrassing, and more so for him than for me, but my husband, um, who I just married uh a couple weeks ago, a few weeks ago, um he is someone who is constantly making up songs and dances to go with the songs. Um and they're usually they're not they're not anything super elaborate necessarily, and they're always inspired by something that he's seen or something I've done. Um but it is like it's this special thing that you know he doesn't do it for everybody, and he certainly only really does it when we're alone at home. And it's just this really wonderful special thing that is just for me. And um, I you know, when I think about the things that make me happy on a daily basis and the things that I miss when I'm traveling, and the things that I miss about him when he's not around, it's always those little songs and little dances.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Oh, I love that, and uh and congratulations! Thank you so much, yeah. Um so what uh genre of movie would your life story be told as?

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Um I think it would definitely be, and it would definitely have to be a comedy. Um, because you know, as as dramatic as certain parts of my life have been, I just I just referenced, you know, a really rocky period in my adolescence when I was, you know, in high school. But even still, even through all of those rough moments, um I've always since before I was doing comedy professionally, always been looking for the small moments of humor in those really rough periods of time. And those are what really have kept me going and and really sort of given me the strength to carry on is is those moments of laughter in the midst of a lot of tumult and and struggle. And I'm sure you understand that too. You know, and so um, you know, even even though there are were definitely dramatic periods of my life thus far, uh, and there will continue to be, I always focus on the laughter and the humor, and and so I think comedy is definitely where it would be.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Yeah, I love that. Yeah, my um my mom, uh, when my sister and I were growing up, she and everything we have gone through. Um I mean, it's always been the three of us, and she's always um taught us like there's always something good to be found or something something to laugh at, and even these really um like really bad circumstances, there's always something to be found. So yeah. Um so if you had a warning label, what would yours be?

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Um, I think it would probably say something like um short fuse, be careful. I I, you know, I think I um have always really struggled with um my reactivity. I think, you know, I've struggled a lot. Like I've been very open with the fact that I um am bipolar. And um, you know, one thing that comes along with that is that it's really hard to gauge sometimes how I'm gonna respond and react in the moment to a difficult situation. And I think like, you know, when I'm stable and when I am when things are going well and you know, um the meds are hitting right, like I, you know, I'm just like anybody else, uh pretty, you know, um calm and and even level-headed person, but I definitely have very short views at times. And and it's hard because I know that like if you don't know me well, like my husband's really great at knowing when it's a bad day and when it's a good day. And but he knows me better than anybody in the world. And I think that it's difficult for some people because I present myself most days as a very put-together, uh, you know, level-headed person. And so it can feel really uh out of character or uh extra surprising when I do have a moment of um instability, and so it's it's I think like you know, it's you never know what you're gonna get, but you do know that there's a short fuse there. So I think that's definitely my warning label, and it's something I'm working on daily.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Oh wow, yeah. Um, so what is uh the best advice you have ever gotten?

SPEAKER_00 9:35

The best advice I've ever gotten is probably you don't know the ending of the story until you have some distance from it. You know, I think um, especially when it comes to failure, uh, I am someone who definitely is is I catastrophize a lot in the moment. You know, if something bad happens, if I don't get a part, if my show gets canceled, if something doesn't sell, I tend to go to the nth degree of depression and and wallowing and oh, this is the worst thing that could possibly happen. And something that I've really been working on as I've gotten older is understanding that even though in the moment it may seem like a failure, you don't know the ending of the story because you're still in it. And there have been so many moments in my life and my career that, you know, at the time felt like massive, massive failures. And um when I zoom out though and look at the arc of the story, once I have some distance from it, I realize that that wasn't a failure. That was just uh that was just a stepping stone towards a different kind of success. And I think like someone told me that really early on in my career is that you just don't know. You don't know while you're living it what the ending of the story is yet. And so, you know, rather than catastrophize and and go to a really dark place, like maybe hold on for a second and and remind yourself that you don't know the ending of the story yet. Um, and you just have to keep pushing through until you have some distance from it and you can see what the arc of it really is.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

I love that. Yeah. Um, so what has been the biggest obstacle, either personal or professional, that you've overcome?

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Um, yeah, I think for me, one of the bigger obstacles starting out, especially was I didn't have a lot of support financially from my family. In fact, I haven't had zero. I've had zero support from my family financially. Um, I haven't, you know, taken a dime of my parents' money since I was 17 years old. Um, and it was always a struggle, you know, especially, you know, I I took out a lot of loans to go to college. Uh after college, I worked a lot of day jobs to make sure that I could pay those loans off and pay my rent and um, you know, maintain um my health insurance so that I could, you know, make sure I was staying healthy. And um, it was really tough, you know, and it was really hard, I think, especially sometimes coming up with people and I don't begrudge them this. I'm not bitter by any means, and I and I don't um uh you know wish any any ill will towards these people, but I I came I came up with a lot of people who were being partly at least in some cases supported by their families, you know, helping them with rent or you know, um making it so that they didn't have to have a day job to do this. And I think like for me, um maintaining uh uh a full-time job while also trying to make comedy my full-time career was really difficult. Um but uh I didn't have any other choice. You know, I had to I had to make it work and I had to work extra hard to make sure that while I was developing as a comedian, I was also able to support myself in the real world too. And um you know, I'm very lucky that I don't have to have a day job now, but it took a long time for me um, you know, working basically two full-time jobs to to before I was able to focus full-time on on comedy and writing and acting.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Oh wow. Um, so I am uh pop culture obsessed and I go in stages of shows that I cannot stop watching. Is there a show that you are currently obsessed with?

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Um I guess it would have to be uh wow, that's a really tough question because there's so many. Um, Traders is probably a big one for me right now. Uh, we really love that show. It I think it's a great mix of you know, reality TV, drama, but it's also there's strategy and there's gameplay. We're a big game household. My my husband works in video games and he creates games for a living. And so we're always you know fascinated by gameplay and and um the the ways in which games can be set up and and um you know how do you how do you approach a game and you know play by the rules, but also maybe you know make the rules work for you a little bit. And so that's traitors in a nutshell, I think. And we really love all aspects of that show from the interpersonal sort of you know drama between the people and the personalities, but also how that plays into the actual gameplay and and how do you win this game while all of that's going on is really fascinating to us. So we love that show.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Oh wow, I love that. Yeah. Um so if you could choose anyone to narrate your life, who would you choose and why?

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Um, I guess I have two answers to this that immediately come to mind, and they're both very different. But I think Emma Thompson is somebody that I've always really admired and looked up to. I mean, she wrote uh an adapted sense and sensibility, and like so we have we both have a love of Jane Austen, and I think she's so classy and smart, and um, I think there's a part of me that would love to hear my voice narrated by that. And then um, you know, there's Kiki Palmer, who I think is so fun and so um big, you know, her personality is so big, it would almost be like, you know, she would be the star of my life if she were narrating. Um, and there's but there's just something so appealing about how full of laughter and love and joy, um, you know, and I think Kiki would uh it would be really interesting to hear her narrate some of the tougher periods of my life, you know, talk about finding the laughter and the humor and the joy and difficult moments. I think Kiki would be really great at that. So um one of those two for sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Oh, I love that. I love both of them. So yeah, I think those are great choices. Sorry, what can't go wrong either way? Yeah, absolutely. Um, so what show or movie do you find yourself quoting all the time?

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Oh wow, that there's a there's so many. Um, but definitely what is the one that I just showed my partner that I'm quoting from a lot. I I I quote um Clueless a lot. Um I think there's so many memorable quotes. I'm working actually with Donald Fayez on on the Scrubs reboot right now, and I my favorite thing to do when we're on set is quote some of his iconic lines from Clueless. And um just like yeah, I that movie is is a touchstone for me. I watched it, you know, I've watched it so many times since the time I was young to now. It's when I I it's a comfort movie for me, definitely a comfort watch. I watch it pretty much any time I'm on a long flight, um, and it never gets old, and I find it sort of infinitely quotable. Uh, no matter what is no matter what the situation is, there's usually a clueless quote that uh applies.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Oh, I love that. Yeah, I my brain is just filled with show and movie quotes and scenes that I reference all the time. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Um so if you had to choose a theme song that plays every time you enter a room, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Ooh, that's a good one. That's a really good one. Um, I think it would have to be um uh I I I guess it would have to be I'm trying to think of like what um I have I walk on to. Oh, I guess it would be What's My Age Again by Blinkwin 82. Um it's one of my favorite walk-on songs. It's one of my favorite songs from when I was uh in high school. And I think it's one that, you know, uh the the message of the song is definitely one that I uh hold very close to my heart because I am getting older, but I don't feel it all the time. And so I'm always um it's my favorite question to ask people when they meet me is what how old do you think I am? What's my age again? Um, and um most people don't get it, so I I'm holding on to that for as long as possible.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Yeah, oh I love that. Yeah. Um, so my final question for you is uh today, what are you most grateful for?

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Oh gosh. Um, I mean, I hate to sound like a broken record, but it is my husband. Um, I was very sick this week. Uh I had a really bad chest cold and had a fever and was today's like the first day that I felt normal again. And he did such a great job of taking care of me. And I feel so lucky that I have someone in my life that when I'm feeling when I, you know, because I I was I was single for most of my life for 33 years, you know, it was just me. And I've gotten really good, I got really good at taking care of myself. I always was someone who never felt like they needed anyone else. Um and to some extent, I don't think I need anyone else now, but it's so nice to have someone who's in my corner uh for life and um knows how to take care of me, you know, doesn't need to be asked, you know, um, and just shows up for me in in every way possible. And I'm so grateful that I have him in my life. So that's the thing I'm most thankful for.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Oh, I love that. Yeah. Um, well, that was um my final question for you. Um, I've had the best time talking with you. Thank you so much for joining me.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Thank you so much for wanting to talk to me. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

Yeah, and I hope you have um a great rest of your day.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

You too.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Thank you. Um, and that's a wrap on today's edition of the Lightest Maya.