Season 1, Ep. 8: Catfish in Black Bean Sauce

For this week's episode of Saturday School, we're talking about the 1999 film Catfish in Black Bean Sauce, a cross-cultural comedy written/directed/starring Chi Muoi Lo about a family of Vietnamese refugee kids adopted by African American parents. Brian really appreciates the film 17 years later as a rare Vietnamese American comedy film in the midst of moving dramas about tragedy -- but understands if back in 1999, you chose to go see Magnolia in the art-house theaters instead of supporting a wacky Asian American film that got mixed reviews. Ada and Brian learn they both love Sanaa Lathan from the classic early 2000s romantic comedies Love & Basketball and Brown Sugar -- cause who doesn't? Some combination of Lauren Tom, Mary Alice, Kieu Chinh, and Tzi Ma makes Ada cry. Saturday School is a podcast where we teach your unwilling children about Asian American pop culture history. First season will be about Asian American film comedies. 10 episodes will be released every Saturday at 8am, which is when we were forced to go to Chinese school as kids.