Ordering Korean Food in Korean

In which I am confidently wrong and cause a disaster in a restaurant. Plus recs for Shuchi Talati's new film, James Adomian's special, and Lizzie Presser's investigative journalism.

There’s no better feeling than a stranger suddenly realizing you can speak their language.

I’ve performed comedy for crowds of thousands of people. It felt great! I love the laughter of strangers. But it’s small potatoes next to the shocked expression of an elderly Korean woman realizing that I just thanked her in Korean. That’s a more potent dose of approval than anything else I’ve found. There are entire genres of viral video just based on this format. Well-meaning, dorky white guy speaks language that you don’t expect him to speak and people are pleasantly surprised.

Here’s the problem though (and the reason I’m not some sort of multilingual influencers): I can’t actually speak Korean. I took a few classes years ago (after randomly getting a job teaching English in Seoul) and memorized just enough to get people to laugh and be impressed. But once we get past the small talk, the only phrase I’m going to be using is, “I don’t understand.”

This week, my pal Elise Hu and I went out for lunch in Koreatown. Elise lived in Seoul for several years as the NPR Bureau Chief and wrote a book about the global rise of K-Beauty and “the technological gaze.” We were both excited to get some delicious Korean food and delighted by the fact that when I tried out ordering in Korean, it 1) worked and 2) did not cause the server to bat an eye for even one second. There are so many people who speak Korean in LA that the server was just like, “yup, I’ll bring more water.” I may have missed out on the praise that I so desperately crave, but it was worth it. It did make me think of the most memorable time I’ve ever spoken Korean to strangers.

The most memorable time I spoke Korean to strangers was actually the first time I ever tried to speak Korean at all. It went disastrously. I had just arrived in Seoul to teach English for the summer. I was staying at a longterm furnished room / livingtel type place. My room was so tiny that I could touch all four walls simultaneously when I lay down on the bed. I was the only non-Korean in the building. I knew no Korean except for one phrase that my friend Ivan had taught me before I left. He said, “the Korean kids in my high school taught me that ‘pangu kigima’ means ‘stop farting.’” To add to my vocabulary, I had been studying the food section of the Lonely Planet guidebook.

I left the hotel and walked into the first restaurant I could find. This was before Google Translate worked on mobile, so I was on my own. Unfortunately, no one in this restaurant spoke English and the menu had no pictures. Also unfortunately, I had left my guidebook back in the room. But I saw another person had ordered dumplings and I figured that was a safe bet. The disaster struck when I thought I remembered the word for dumpling (mandu) but instead had gotten it confused in my head with the word for fart (pangu). I confidently looked this older Korean woman in the eye and asked her to serve me a fart.

I could tell by the expression on her face that I had said something incorrect. But I figured it must just be my pronunciation. So I tried many different ways of saying "pangu”. PAN-gu? pan-GU? PANGU? pangu? pANgu? PANGUUUUU?

I realized my horrific error when another diner came over and said, exasperated, “What do you want?” He then said “Mandu NOT PANGU!” and I realized I had performed an unintentional fart-based spoken word poem while also miming that I would eat this woman’s farts off a plate.

I never went into that restaurant again even though I did have to walk by it every single day I was there that summer. But I’ll tell you this: I never forgot the word for dumpling ever again.

Without a doubt, NOT PANGU

My projects and upcoming events:

TED TALK: How find laughter anywhere - My TED talk is out now! Please watch it and share it. Link

LOS ANGELES: Wrong Answers Only at Dynasty Typewriter - Wednesday, October 9th at 7:30 p.m. Join me, Aparna Nancherla, Rob Haze, Jared Goldstein and a scientist who invents new foods. If you’re not based in LA, you can watch the livestream from anywhere in the world with a free RSVP. Details and tickets here

PODCAST: How to Be a Better Human (TED/PRX) - Angie Murimirwa runs the international girls education nonprofit CAMFED. But before she was a globe-trotting CEO, she almost didn’t get to go to school at all. This week on the podcast, I got to have a hilarious and inspiring conversation with Angie about what it means to bring opportunity to everyone and the small shifts that make giant impacts in our lives. You can listen here (or wherever you get podcasts)

This week’s list

GREAT:

One of the best parts of working in TV and comedy has been getting to cross paths with unbelievably talented people. I sometimes forget that my pals from the office are often creative geniuses. Shuchi Talati and I were co-workers on Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas, but this past week, I got to see her feature film debut in theaters. It’s called Girls Will Be Girls. “In a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira discovers desire and romance; but her sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother who never got to come-of-age herself.”

It’s one of the best films I’ve seen in years (and I’d be saying that even if I didn’t know Shuchi). The performances are exceptional and the movie had me on the edge of my seat like a thriller, despite being grounded in real life at every moment. It reminded me, in some ways, of Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up, another unusually realistic movie that I also loved. Both films show that you don’t have to give in to dramatic Hollywood writing cliches to make a movie without a dull moment.

Girls Will Be Girls is playing in a number of cities across the U.S. right now but it’s relying on word of mouth, so go see it and then tell everyone you know!

FUNNY:

James Adomian is one of the most underrated comedians of our time. It’s inconceivable to me how the entertainment industry hasn’t given him his own TV show or starring role already. At the very least he should have been on SNL a decade ago. Among comedians, he’s universally considered to be one of the best ever at doing impressions, especially impressions that don’t just mimic a person but create a full-fledged comedic take. Mollie and I have spent hours laughing at his version of Tom Leykis that somehow both skewers the misogyny of talk radio and also heightens it to insanity. Adomian also toured the country doing comedy debates as as a pitch-perfect Bernie Sanders. He just put out his debut special for free on YouTube: The Path of Most Resistance

INTERESTING:

Lizzie Presser is an investigative journalist whose stories always highlight the nuanced ways that regular people get caught up in giant, systemic problems. Her most recent piece is a heartbreaking look at the way young people can struggle to get care and instead end up tangled in the legal system. “Police knew she was selling fake Percocet but did not stop her. His mother sought the right treatment for his addiction but could not find it. Two teens got caught up in a system unprepared to handle kids on either side of the drug trade.” Maylia and Jack: A Story of Teens and Fentanyl

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That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! Please share Bright Spots with anyone you think might enjoy it.

Mandu not pangu,

Chris Duffy

This has been Bright Spots, a newsletter.

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…wait, who are you?

I'm Chris Duffy, a comedian, TV writer, podcast host, and both a former fifth grade teacher and a former fifth grade student. I’m currently writing a nonfiction book about humor for Doubleday.