SO EMOTIONAL

were, I don’t want us to forget that that sort of origin story is not just of me, but of at least two gen erations of Asian American and South Asian actors, whose names we may never know as household names. Not because they didn’t go to drama school or weren’t incredibly talented, but because it’s been a systemic problem for so very long. That was my point of telling those stories, because they are also their stories.”

As we speak of stories, I ask him how he feels about the challenges that storytelling, art and comedy—all three domains that he’s navigated with much ease—face today, in a polarised world with an ever-angry audience tweeting onlin e, an d with every second comedian lamenting about ‘cancel culture’. Is he hopeful about their future?

Speaking about comedy first, Penn dissects the problem, “You know, I’ve heard even directors saying, ‘Oh, I can’t make the movies I used to anymore, because you can’t make jokes anymore.’ And my first thought is, ‘Oh well, it sounds like maybe you don’t have the talent or skill to adapt to a changing audience.’ Like, if your job is to make people laugh, make sure your shit’s funny.”

“Even my job is to tell jokes and that’s what I love to do,” he adds. “And I think there’s never been a better time to be funny, and I don’t think any topic is off-limits. I just think there are some regressive jokes that we’ve been told a million times before. But every comedian has every right to say what they want, an d if people don’t like that, they have the right to let that comedian know!”

As to the idea of ‘angry fans’, Penn’s answer is refreshing, and his diagnosis exceedingly simple: “Just get off of Twitter,” he says. “In my experience, I think it’s one or two people who get angry (because they are bored), and then a media outlet writes an article on that because they want a bunch of ad revenue from the clicks, and it suddenly seems that everyone’s angry. But if you see how successful so many shows are today, an d how much diversity there is, it turns this premise on its head. I always feel like when