Terry Bu Podcast

Nicole  Blessing is a Los Angeles–based, SAG‑AFTRA‑affiliated actress, model, voice‑over artist, comedian, and audiobook narrator. She's featured in regional and national commercials and industrials, and performs stand‑up comedy, including her Los Uff Das Comedy Show. Represented by BritMo Agency, her skill set spans improv, jazz/tap/swing dancing, singing (mezzo‑soprano), and various dialects. She's also active on social media and professional platforms showcasing her broad creative talents. Fred Nelson is her supportive partner who's also a veteran engineer in the technology space. They met while acting in stage plays in Minnesota and both are former actors. They both have interesting lineages lol. Fred might be related to Victoria Beckham. Nicole might be related to Davey Croquette.We know each other through Dat Phan and friends open mics. Nicole is a talented standup and I've always watching her perform at places like Fourth Wall Cafe and Flappers. She is one of the first people I ever met here in LA while visiting the Flappers open mics. Nicole and Fred are very similar to me and unique because we all accidentally fell into tech industry while we originally wanted to pursue the arts like comedy or acting. They both work in tech industry now which is great because it's not always common to see people juggling a successful creative career and a demanding tech career at the same time. We talked a lot about AI in this episode. Thank you so much, Nicole and Fred! I'm glad they liked the Korean barley iced tea I made. Terry

Ruben Aguilar is a dynamic LA-native who bridges acting, teaching, and stand-up comedy. I got to learn a lot about his teaching style, and his acting background and comedic craft. He's a producer of the comedy open mic at The Barkley in the LA comedy scene, and Bert Hung and I used to go there together. Ruben taught me a lot about politics and why the No Kings protest was controversial as well as the illegal immigration issue of the Mexicans here in LA. I asked him a lot about teaching because it sounds like an arduous process but also a very tough job to teach and handle teenagers. Thank you so much for your visit, Ruben!

Dot "Dorothy" Morentin is an Armenian/Palestinian/Mexican LA-native which means almost every oppressed minority mixed together. Her recorded benchmark lifts include a 330 lb back squat, 235 lb clean and jerk, 340 lb deadlift, a 185 lb snatch, and a five k run alongside 40 pull‑ups. I know her more as a funny Fourth wall comic, a rare woman in the scene. Dot has many talents such as CrossFit training, softball (catcher was her position), and standup comedy. She lives really close to the Fourth Wall Noho location. Her idol used to be Ellen Degeneres but not so much anymore after all that shit went down. She likes Bill Burr, Mitch Hedberg, Bulbasaur and Jolteon. She is an early morning person and wakes up at like 4:30am. It's always fun when Dot and I are at the same open mics. I used to see her around Flappers and Haha comedy club mics. Dot opened up for Jack Jr. comic at the Improv. She's a big Star Wars fan. She has told me men are gross and sexist and say the N word too much. She owns a chihuahua named Turbo. Her hot girlfriend is a vet. Thanks so much for the visit, Dot! Please follow dot at “Dot” Morentin (@dottie_wan_kenobi)#losangelescomedyscene #terrybupodcast #comedianstalktoeachother#terrybuinterviews#losangelescomedians

Panda, despite his name, is not an actual panda. He's Korean-American LA-native and a versatile renaissance man of many talents including 3D character art, game development, comedy, dancing, bagpipes, cooking and many more. Panda is aesthetically talented and a rare gem in the LA game industry who worked his way up. He's now a home owner of late and invited me to an awesome housewarming last week. I enjoyed conversing with Panda on all kinds of topics. I first met Panda while performing at Def Noodles Comedy club open mics and had heard of him through the grapevine. It's easy to be overly competitive with each other among Korean comedians but Panda has always been super supportive of me, and I've always appreciated it. We recently performed together at Accidental Chaos. Thank you so much, Panda! We are both single and ready to mingle Korean-Americans here in LA, haha. There's definitely something wrong with LA dating scene because Panda is a total catch.

Dustin Chafin is a Texan-born, NYC-raised comedian who's performed together with Dave Chappelle, Louis CK, Patrice O'Neal, Nate Bargatze and more. He used to run Broadway Comedy Club, Greenwich Village Comedy Club and Boston Comedy Club which were all under Al Martin (Rest in Peace). I used to bark for Broadway Comedy Club in Times Square back in 2012 haha!I saw Dustin here in LA during the 2023 Flappers burbank comedy festival killing it with a mix of crowd work and material. Dustin told me among other great things I learned that he starts off with crowdwork almost every time and then weave into material afterwards which is amazing advice.The conversation went by really fast. We talked about a lot of our mutual NYC acquintances like Chris Murphy, Melissa Weisman, Pete Burdette, Alingon Mitra, Steve Arons, Talia Reese, Caitlin Peluffo, and others. We also talked about big names like Louis CK, Patrice O'Neal, Nikki Glaser and others. Dustin thank you so much for coming to the interview!!! Out of all the people I've interviewed so far, this was by far the most awesome. Dustin currently lives in LA with his long-time girlfriend of 18 years, Leah Bonnema who's also a comedian from NYC. Dustin has had appearances on HBO's Crashing, Showtime's Comedy Showcase and he just released a new Dry Bar Comedy special this year. Dustin currently has two albums playing on Sirius Radio and tours with Nate Bargatze nationwide.He advised me not to flirt with female comics in any shape or form. #losangelescomedyscene #terrybupodcast #exnewyorkersinla #newyorktransplants #newyorkercomics #exnewyorkcomics #dustinchafininterview #terrybuinterviews #standupcomedy #comedybookerinterview #standupcomedygem #comedytips #stanupdcomedyinlosangeles #dustinchafinadvice #lacomedycommunity

Ashoka Thomas is a seasoned veteran comedian originally from DC who regularly performs across the country at clubs like Zanie's (Chicago) and Hollywood Improv. When I first ran into Ashoka in LA, I thought he was Russell Peters. He's actually ethnically half-Jewish. I first ran into him at places like the Fourth Wall and Flashback studios and learned a lot from him. We were also in NYC during the same time together although we didn't know each other back then. We talked about a lot of things depression, mental health, drugs and dating-related. He gave me a lot of great advice on women! ;) he thought that none of the women comedians on my Terry Bu 48 list of LA comedians were attractive. He likes Sydney Sweeney. Thank you so much, Ashoka! Please follow ashoka at ‪@ashokathomascomedy‬ and @ashoktathomas on Instagram.

Dan Green is an Australian Army Veteran and creator of the online food challenge show "Are You My Vege-mate?" and the host of "The Verbal Gym" podcast. Producer of the Down Under Comedy L.A. show based in Los Angeles. He's been working as a door guy at the Laugh Factory for many years and is a staple in the LA scene.I think we first ran into each other at the Fourth Wall cafe open mics. I like seeing Dan and Frazer at the Laugh Factory open mics where the line would sometimes start at 12PM because the comics wanted to get up there so badly. One time, I got lucky and got callbacks there lol! I plan to go back. A few of my good friends are Laugh Factory comics now such as Dwight Pryde, Griffin James, Heather Winter, and more. We talked about vegemite a lot and of course comedy. Thank you so much for the chat, Dan! Also, turns out Dan is friends with Matt Rife. Damn!

On September 17th of 2012 is when I first met Tino at his open mic at Bar 82 at East Village. I can't believe 13 years later, we are both here in LA pursuing comedy still. He wasn't a social media sensation back then, but it's still good to see Tino going at it and inspiring everyone. I caught him at Improv + THC open mics and i was like "wait, is that Tino from back in 2012? LOL" I didn't even recognize him. On this episode, Tino had valuable gems to share on the nature of comedy, how storytelling and court jesters have been around as long as time and that people are designed to use humor as hope and transmute pain and tragedy. We also talked a lot about our mutual acquaintances who are doing well like Pete Burdette, Chris Murphy and Subhah Agarwal. The hugely popular “Instagram Bum” Esteban "Tino" Romero was born in 1969 in Colón, Panama. Tino is a Brooklyn, New York based Afro-Latino comedian, writer, and actor. He moved to the United States in 1984 with the intent of fulfilling his mother's dream of him becoming a Doctor – clearly comedy runs in his family. However, his emigration did quickly develop his love of the English language. In 2003, his cousin entered him into a show, alongside then newbie Ed Helms, at Boston Comedy Club in New York. Writing became a way for him to improve his skills, while expressing himself in his non-native tongue. It helped him cope during some tough years as both an immigrant parent and while experiencing homelessless. In 2015, while playing around with some ideas, he discovered the creativity behind writing puns and comedy. He recently was cast on one of Eric Andre's birthday celebration events. Tino is also a Navy veteran. Thanks so much Tino! Ex-new yorker pridePlease follow Tino at @igbumviral#losangelescomedyscene

Sierra Katow is a Pasadena-native, 4th generation Japanese/Chinese comedian who's got a Computer Science degree from Harvard and 2300-something on her SATs which makes her super Asian. She is more known for being a LA-based standup comic, writer, and actor who's performed standup on Last Comic Standing (NBC) Season 9 as the youngest comedian to be featured. She was also on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC), Just For Laughs Digital, FOX, and MTV. She shot her first hourlong standup special with Comedy Dynamics and can be seen playing Evangeline on both seasons of Mindy Kaling's The Sex Lives of College Girls on Max and was a part of the main cast of The G Word with Adam Conover on Netflix (I myself was cast on Mindy Kaling's The Sex Lives of College Girls as a background actor "Soccer Fan" sitting on the bleachers in a scene last year so Sierra is a lot more successful than me). We performed together at the Ice House in 2024 thanks to Caroline Yu/Jacob Demick and Golden Laughs group! I first saw Sierra on Last Comic Standing a long long time ago on TV and recognized her at the Ice House. Sierra was super chill and super open to being interviewed for this podcast when I reached out to her. We discussed a lot of different things involving her upbringing, her confusing life choices, her white husband and of course her comedy. She started doing standup a long long time ago as a teenager and has kept up with it ever since which makes her a comedy grandmother in the scene although she's just hit her 30s. We also both like basketball and Korean people. She did not seem like a big fan of Trump. Thank you so much again for the chat, Sierra! Please catch her performing all over LA and follow her at @sierrakatow on instagram. #terrybupodcast#sierrakatow#losangelescomedyscene #comedianstalkasian#asianamericancomedians #losangelesasiancomedians

LA-based comedian from san diego, flappers favorite, famous winner of the 1 vs 100 TV Show with Bob Saget