Jimmy Yang - How to American

During the mansion party scene, as Erlich tried to finagle his way into the fancy party, TJ improvised, “Ten minutes max, one cocktail or two, three max, he doesn’t eat,” pointing to Jian Yang. Alec Berg came over and threw me a line: “Say, ‘Yes, I’m hungry.’” I did it on the next take and it worked perfectly. Then Jian Yang turned around and screamed out into the crowd, to Erlich’s ultimate embarrassment, “Does anybody have an extra ticket, my investor cannot pay!” I went back to the receptionist. “Check again, please. E-R-I–C-A-R…” “That’s not at all how it’s spelled,” the receptionist responded. I spelled the name in every possibly wrong way in each take. I decided to pronounce Erlich as Eric, not so much because of Jian Yang’s accent but because Jian Yang doesn’t care to pronounce his name correctly. And TJ tried every way to usher Jian Yang out of the party as fast as he could. In one take he wrestled me, in another take he just screamed, “Jian Yang!!!” which became one of his signature curses.

That night, Clay Tarver came up and told us Erlich and Jian Yang were like the modern-day Laurel and Hardy. As much as they might hate each other on the surface, there was a sense of comradery underneath, just like Laurel and Hardy. It was like familiarity breeds contempt, except it was more like contempt breeds familiarity. The underlying friendship was like a love story with a touch of Stockholm syndrome. That mansion scene has always been one of my favorite days on Silicon Valley. It will forever feel like the day Jian Yang and Erlich consummated.

The hardest part about working with TJ was keeping a straight face. I cracked up many times during a take. Our goal was to always make each other and the crew laugh. If we could hear laughter from video village, we knew we did something right. As a stand-up, it helped to pretend there was an audience. It became a little game where TJ and I tried to crack each other up during takes. TJ always won.

I once asked him:

“How do you not crack up in the middle of a scene? What’s your secret?”

He jokingly responded, “I just don’t find any of this funny. That’s my secret.”

I finally broke him with a little skim milk chalice.

Some of the best moments came alive in Silicon Valley because of Mike’s and Alec’s willingness to try things and play around with a scene. I learned to swing for the fences when it came to improvisation. That’s the great thing about TV and film: you only need one take that works. You can go for the home run every time, and you only have to hit one. And the greatest thing a director can say to an actor is “Let’s try it.” In season four, when Erlich and Jian Yang went to their investor Lori Bream’s baby shower, I found a tiny little skim milk chalice on the table next to the baby shower cake. I brought the tiny chalice over to Mike Judge and asked, “Can I try something with this?” Mike said, “Let’s try it.” On the next take, I entered the scene with the skim milk chalice and drank it in front of TJ. He finally broke and cracked up. In the next take, TJ brought the whole gag to life when he put his face in his hands in disbelief and said, “What are you drinking skim milk out of?” And I responded, “It’s half half.” Which is how my mom says half and half.

The prank calls from Jian Yang to Erlich became unexpected fan favorites.

“Eric Bachman, is your refrigerator running? This is Mike Hunt.”

To be honest, I had my doubts about the prank calls when I first read them in the script. But when they got a great reaction at the table read, I realized I should never doubt the Four Amigos. The prank calls perfectly painted Jian Yang’s and Erlich’s love-hate annoying brother relationship. And it also perfectly described Jian Yang’s relationship with the English language. He had learned some canned jokes like “Is your refrigerator running?” and “Mike Hunt” from somewhere, but he just hadn’t quite got the hang of how to use them. This was like when I was fifteen and I tried to put together a shitty combination of rap lyrics based on the raps I’d heard on BET.

“Eric Bachman, this is your mom, and you are not my baby.”

“Eric Bachman, this is you as old man. I’m ugly and I’m dead, alone.”

These prank calls became some of the most classic Jian Yang versus Erlich Bachman moments. I still get random Facebook messages from fans asking me to prank call their friends. Some have even offered me money, upwards of a whopping fifty bucks.

One night, I got an unexpected phone call from TJ in real life. It was midnight and I was already half asleep. I rolled over to my nightstand and picked up my phone.

“Hey, what’s up, TJ?”

“Hey, Jimmy, you got a minute?”

“Sure.”

This sounded serious; I was hoping he wasn’t about to confess to a murder.

“You’re the first one I’m calling about this.” He takes a deep breath. “I’m not coming back next season.”

Is TJ prank calling me in real life to get back at me for all the times I prank called him on the show? I surely hoped so.

“I’m quitting the show,” TJ said.

This was for real. It felt like my best friend had just told me he was moving away to a different country. My heart sank. This meant Erlich’s and Jian Yang’s last scene on season four was our last scene ever.

TJ explained, “It was a hard decision, but I have to focus on my movie career. I have to take a chance.”

“What about just coming back for a few episodes?” I knew his mind was already made up, but I’d regret it if I didn’t ask him to stay.

“It’s hard. It was a hard decision. But I’m doing it. You’re the one I’m going to miss the most on the show.”

“Thanks, TJ.” I respected his decision as a friend and a colleague. There wouldn’t have been a Jian Yang without Erlich.

This was me and TJ’s very last take together on Silicon Valley. The end of the dynamic duo: Erlich and Jian Yang, Laurel and Hardy, Karl Malone and John Stockton.

If stand-up was my bachelor’s degree in comedy, Silicon Valley was my PhD. I didn’t just go to work; I went to school: Christopher Evan Welch’s masterful table read, TJ’s dazzling improvisations, the Four Amigos’ brilliance, everyone’s excellence in acting, costume design, camera work, props and everything else behind the scenes from the crew. It was the best education anyone could ever get in comedy. I would pay to be on a show like this.(My agent suggested I don’t say this, so I can continue to get paid to be on the show.) Silicon Valley was my career-defining big break. And I was able to share my immigrant experiences through Jian Yang’s character. From being a lost college graduate at Mike Judge’s commencement speech to working with him on Silicon Valley was an American dream come true.

I was suddenly thrown into a fantasy world. It was the HBO Golden Globes after-party at the Beverly Hilton. Silicon Valley had been nominated for Best Comedy Series and I was invited to the party along with my fellow castmates. The party was decked out in the Game of Thrones fire and ice theme with a massive HBO logo projected on the side of the Beverly Hilton. There was an open bar with top-shelf liquor, all the food a man could eat and all the who’s who of Hollywood gathered inside of one swanky party.

My first stop was the posh buffet line; there were rib-eye steak and three different kinds of fish. This buffet was beyond Guam’s wildest dreams. I was determined to stuff myself stupid to make up for all the times I ate at HomeTown Buffet. A man leaned in behind me to get a closer look at the salmon. I was about to tell him to back off my precious buffet fantasy, and then I turned around and realized it was Bryan Cranston. “Hey, just checking out what they have here,” That caught me so off guard that I practically screamed at him and shoved my plate of salmon in his face. “The salmon looks good! You want some?” He kindly smiled at my mini mental breakdown and turned around to say hi to his friend. “Hey, Patrick!” I looked up; it was Sir Patrick Stewart. I looked over to the bar and I saw Mike Judge, so I moseyed over to say what’s up. As I got closer, I saw that he was busy chatting with Marilyn Manson, and Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters and Nirvana. So I back-peddled away with my overloaded plate of high-end meats. Then I saw Harrison Ford casually having a conversation with Jon Hamm, who was holding a shiny Golden Globe statue that he’d just won that night. I was so starstruck I almost rolled into a Short Round impression: “Watch out, Mister Jones!” I was hyperventilating. I walked towards the bathrooms for a breather, and there was Jennifer Aniston strolling out of the women’s room. Holy shit! I stopped and stared at her as my brain kept telling me: Don’t stare, don’t stare, don’t stare. But my body was frozen. I’m pretty sure I was experiencing a stroke at that moment. I felt like I was high on LSD, having the trip of a lifetime. This can’t be real life. Six months ago, I was driving drunk assholes in an Uber; now I am eating free salmon next to Harrison Ford? My imposter syndrome kicked into full swing. I felt like I snuck into this party. How did I end up here? I don’t deserve this! These are gods amongst men and I am just a dude who used to pay five dollars to do five minutes at an open mic. I was looking over my shoulder, waiting for a security guard to escort me out.