Steven Yeun & Sona On Being Raised By Immigrant Parents | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

Steven and Sona compare their experiences growing up with immigrant parents.


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ABOUT CONAN O’BRIEN NEEDS A FRIEND
Deeper, unboundedly playful, and free from FCC regulations, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend is a weekly opportunity for Conan to hang out with the people he enjoys most and perhaps find some real friendship along the way. Watch highlights of Conan, Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley chatting with celebrities and meeting fans, along with special segments like “Review the Reviewers” and “Big Dick History.”

ABOUT TEAM COCO
Team Coco is the YouTube home for all things Conan O’Brien and the Team Coco Podcast Network. Team Coco features over 25 years of comedy sketches, celebrity interviews and stand-up comedy sets from CONAN on TBS and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, as well as exclusive videos from podcasts like Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,
Literally! with Rob Lowe, Why Won’t You Date Me? with Nicole Byer, The Three Questions with Andy Richter, May I Elaborate? with JB Smoove and Scam Goddess with Laci Mosley.

Team Coco

[asifsba]

I love how Conan can have an intense serious discussion on this topic and then at the last second take an opportunity to crack a joke at Sona’s expense.

[brokenglassshimmerlikestar]

Second generation immigrant kids are the bridge between their parents and the adoptive culture. But they're also perpetually a little stuck in the middle and not fully in either. I'm probably on my way to becoming a first gen immigrant, having lived alone abroad in different countries for a while now. I feel like the identity crisis is prevalent amongst immigrant children. I envy their abilities, especially in terms of language. As good as I am I'll never be considered native, while you hear one of them talk and immediately you know they grew up here. But then again what does it say about me that I want to blend in so bad, am I ashamed of my own culture?

[obiwankenny]

Conan just had to get that dig in at Sona. Poor Sona. I love these podcasts.

[prp]

It’s fascinating how immigrant children can connect with their experience even though they came from different countries.

My parents brought me to the US when I was 5 and they also didn’t explain anything at all to me. I remember crying everyday because I had no clue what the hell was going on. I didn’t even speak English and I was thrown into an English speaking school. It was honestly hell. But now I feel like I assimilated so much to the “American” culture, there’s a very distinct disconnected with my parents and I and even my home country.

[Andresckim]

Both of my parents are South Korean but they met and married in Argentina. I was born in 1980 and moved to the US in 87. Senior year of high school I remember having having friends from all the groups. Just to paint a picture, I drove a 1990 Chevy Silverado with 3" exhausts, Pikachu sticker on the back bumper, and played tennis in the summer heat with dip in my mouth. Still the same now and completely open to anyone who wants to golf, rescues any animal, or likes to eat good food. You are now my friend.

[vonzaag]

Steven is so articulate. I love listening to his interviews

[jissanhuq]

So many of us share the same story almost specifically. My parents also emigrated in ‘88 n i feel like they’re my grandparents in how different we are and what we value.

[thetakeaway]

The very same happened to me at nine years old. I now have daca but man the displacement and having an abrupt family separation. That pain was beyond comprehension.

[marval]

I hope they upload the full interviews on youtube someday. Great podcast!!!

[marcevans]

Good interview with Conan going sincere and deep…about himself and others…more like this :-)

[dingypt]

this is what i love about conan, and i think i do the same after years of watching him. He touches a very interesting subject, speaks with knowledge and at the end smacks it with a joke as a way of demonstrating that he is not full of himself and he is just a silly guy.
I'd love to be friends with him :)

[whatever]

I can relate to this so much. I came to Canada at the age of 12 and now I am 26. I feel like I am suspended in the air not allowed to reach the sky or plummet to earth.

[kristinedraws]

I have immigrant parents and so connected with this

[kallutherqeldroma]

Oh jeez, alienation from your parents. That's a thing I've known has been happening for a while, but never really said aloud to myself. Chilling but true. Good insight man!

[marigabirabi]

Sona always makes great points! I, too, come from an immigrant family and several points stuck with me.

[ambersimplicity]

I was born in South Korea and raised in MI. I feel such a connection with Steven and appreciate everything he’s done for Asian American representation.

[copaceticetal]

"My parents both moved from Istanbul... they married here, then had me and my dad--brother here." As the youngest raised by my older brother I can strongly relate to Sona's freudian slip there. When I was a kid I so often absentmindedly addressed my older brother as "dad" and then, on occasion, slipped up and called our father by my brother's name.

[afrosymphony]

i was just waiting for that regular jab at sona, i almost thought wow conan was nice to sona throughout an entire clip, this has got to be record, 5seconds towards the end he viciously jabs her loool

[bulgomi]

i met steve in college, i was friend of his cousins and he visited couple times. he was very nice and humble guy and i thought he was born in US.

[PuffySofty]

My parents actually did the reverse of Steven's. Moving from the quiet suburbs of Pennsylvania to a crowed city in East Asia in the mid 90s was such a cultural shock to me. I HATED what my parents did, I literally felt like I was robbed from a happy life when school ended at 13:30 to studying past midnight at 8 years old. And it sucked even more cuz every one in my class actually looks like me now yet they treat me and bully me like an alien.