WWDTM: Roy Choi

0:00Support for NPR and the following message come from Jarl and Pamela Moan, thanking the people who make public radio great every day and also those who listen to listen.

0:14From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Alzo Slade, the man they bring in when the show conflicts with Bill Curtis's daily mani-pedi. And here's your host at the Sagerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California, Peter Sager. Thank you, Alzo. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. We are delighted. We are absolutely excited to be here in Orange County. Now, that is a beautiful part of Southern California, where people are always quick to tell you that, no, no, no, this is not L.A. Unless, of course, the Dodgers happen to win the World Series.

0:59Later on, we're going to be talking to Chef Roy Choi, the man who pretty much created the modern food truck scene. But first, we want to find out what you're cooking up. The number to call to play our games is 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Now let's welcome our first listener contestant this week. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Tammy. I'm from Flagstaff, but I'm emigrating to Portugal. Oh, okay. You're like, all right. You wanted us to know that up top, so in case we went to find you, we know we'd be out of luck. Okay, so right now you're in Flagstaff, Arizona. What do you do there?

1:31My husband and I were both retired teachers. Right. What did you teach? We were both music teachers. You were? Oh, I don't make fun of music teachers. You guys are, like, teaching them, like, wizardry and magic, and I think that's awesome. Tammy, welcome to the show. Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First, say hello to a comedian and writer for TV shows like Netflix's A Man on the Inside, out with a second season on November 20th. It's Karen Chi. Hi, Karen. Hi, Karen. Next, a comedian you can see on his Grateful Bread stand-up tour. You can find info at TomPapa.com. That's right, it's Tom Papa.

2:10Hi. Hey, Tom. And you can see her in Washington, D.C. at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in the Muslims Are Coming stand-up comedy show. On December 12th, it's Nagin Farsad. Hey. Thank you. So, Tammy, welcome to our show this week. you, of course, are going to play Who's Alzo? This time, Alzo Slade, filling in for Bill Curtis, is going to read for you three quotations from this week's news. You know the rules. All you need to do is identify or explain two of them. Two out of three, you'll win our prize, the voice of anyone you might choose from our show. Are you ready to go? I think so. I hope so, because it's happening.

2:49Yeah, that's true. Your first quote is somebody being gracious on election night Tuesday. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life, But let tonight be the final time I utter his name.

3:07So who will be too busy being mayor of New York to talk about Andrew Cuomo? That's Mananti? Close enough. Mamdani. Sorry, Mamdani. Wait a minute. Is the mayor himself there correcting you? Yes, it was Zoran Mamdani. The election was one of a number of big races Democrats won on Tuesday. And in New York, they were absolutely giddy about it. People were walking down the street going, hey, I'm walking here. And isn't it great? I am so excited to say that I cast a vote for Mom Donnie because I live in New York City. You do? And I just want to say it was my first time voting for a muz. That was exciting.

3:52It was exciting. You know, and look, he's going to be sworn in as mayor on January 1st, which means January 2nd, Sharia law. Am I right, everybody? Did you see this? I was wondering, especially, Nagin, if you saw this, that Mamdani brought his parents to the victory party on Tuesday night, which was adorable, really. But people are already saying he's too young for the job. It does not help that he did his victory speech wearing a daddy's little mayor T-shirt. Well, that's what's so exciting is that we actually have someone in office whose parents are still alive. Yes. But knowing a thing or two about immigrant parents from the East, they're probably still disappointed that he's not a doctor.

4:43It is nuts to have such a young politician. He's young enough that he met his partner on Hinge, who he's married to, which is crazy because I feel like he's inspiring everybody to get more civically involved, and he's inspiring me to get back on the apps. All right. Here is your next quote. Bring on the Dorito. Now, that was the Wall Street Journal reacting to the surprising news that what fancy, healthy supermarket chain is going to start selling junk food? I would go with Whole Foods. That's a very good choice. Whole Foods. Yes. Finally, Whole Foods, famous for their, you know, healthy foods, will be selling Pepsi and Doritos and Chips Ahoy cookies.

5:32Oh, I'm sorry. That is, of course, free-range Chips Ahoy cookies. But I kind of object to the characterization that they don't already sell junk food. They sell junk food. It's just in packaging that looks like it has a master's degree. Right, exactly. when they brought in pirates booty i knew something was up yeah like these they're they're up to something but i mean to be you know i get it these are times they're tough and you want to reward it's difficult to go through whole foods and be like i've had a hard day i deserve it and just get a big raw carrot and nibble on it you know to hell with my diet.

6:14I'm having a persimmon. You need to stuff a whole can of Pringles down your throat in order to feel good in these dark times. I personally do not need Whole Foods to start selling junk food. I need them to start selling cleaning products that actually work. Right? I mean, you've tried this. Their dish soap, it's just an empty bottle that says, scrub harder. A friend of mine got some organic roach killer from Whole Foods, and I was like, yeah, that ain't gonna do the trick. I bet the roaches liked it. I was like, this stuff's good. Did you say organic for who, for the roaches? Okay, your last quote is a mixed review of a new$20 ,000 piece of home technology.

7:04It fetched me a bottle of water, which took much longer than if I'd simply grabbed the water myself. That was a reporter for Fast Company magazine talking about the fact that finally you can buy a human-sized and human-shaped what for help around the house? Human, a robot helper? A robot helper. It's here. We have dreamed of this for a century and now it is here. Meet Neo, the$20 ,000 humanoid chore robot who walks around your house doing all the things that you do, but slower and worse. So this reporter who tried out Neo in his home found it could fetch a bottle of water five times slower than he could do it.

7:49And in just under five minutes, this is amazing, it loaded two glasses and a fork into the dishwasher. So they're saying it's not good? I really want it to be good. You do? I've been buying everything that comes out. I got that Roomba, that little vacuum thing. I was like, oh, this is great. I'll never have to vacuum again. And then it went over some cat crap and smeared it all across the rest of the place. All right. No. Al, please tell me this thing works. I saw maybe six or eight months ago, an onstage test of it so they could share it with an audience of 2 ,000, okay? And me and 2 ,000 other people were sweating watching this robot try and water a plant.

8:45And I swear to God, the spokesperson said, he's still working out handles because he had a hard time getting his hand around the watering pot. I know, but with all technology, I mean, we can all pretend we wanted to load the dishwasher, but the majority of people out there want to know, can I have sex with it? It happened to the copy machine. Yeah. It happened with faxes. Can you, Peter? Yeah, this is a very NPR question. No, I'm just making a note never to buy any used technology from Utah. Don't. Not me. I'm saying people. People, not you. People. People. Now, you might be wondering, okay, we've been dreaming of this for years, like the Jetsons and everything.

9:35How can they finally have a robot that can do anything you ask on its own? And the answer, says the company, is that actually it can't. But it will eventually learn. And until then, your Neo, the one you paid for in your house, will be remotely controlled by a human back at company headquarters. No. Using a VR headset to see what it sees in control. Yes. I'm going to take back what I said about having sex with him.

10:06That's a shame because my understanding is one of those operators is getting pretty excited about getting to your house. Also, how did Tammy do in our quiz? She did amazing. Three out of three. Congratulations, Tammy. Good luck in the big move. Take care. Yay. Thanks. Take care. Bye-bye.

10:31Right now, panel, it is time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Nagin, as part of the investigation into the massive jewel heist at the Louvre a little while ago, we have learned the password to the museum's security camera system. You get one guess what that password was. Was it 12345? No, it was not. All right, you don't know. I'm going to actually ask the other panelists. Do you have any idea, Karen? No. Was it password? It wasn't. The password for the security system at the Louvre was... Wait. The Louvre. Exactly right. Password for the security cameras at the Louvre was Louvre.

11:12They must have thought, well, no one will ever be able to spell Louvre. That's such a weird word. They, of course, now that it has been exposed, they quickly have rectified the situation. The password is now Louvre1.

11:28they caught they caught them right they have caught a bunch of them a bunch how many were there there was a whole crew and I'm not quite sure how many there were who did the robbery but they have arrested a number of suspects was it George Clooney Brad Pitt Matt Damon

11:52coming up forget LinkedIn Then you've got everything you need in our bluff to listen to your game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT-TO-PLAY. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. This message comes from WISE, the app for international people using money around the globe. You can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart. Get WISE. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. Support for NPR and the following message come from Jarl and Pamela Moan. thanking the people who make public radio great every day and also those who listen.

12:33From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Alzo Slade. We're playing this week with Tom Papa, Nageen Farsad, and Karen Chee. And here again is your host at the Sagenstrom Hall in Costa Mesa, California, Peter Sago. Thank you, Alzo. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much.

12:57I'm excited, too, because right now it is time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Bluff the Listener Game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play our games on the air. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Ian Wood calling in from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I love Grand Rapids. What do you do there? I am a student at Calvin University. What are you studying? Environmental Health and Conservation. Oh, that's very cool. Paul, what year are you in? I'm a freshman. You're a freshman. Okay. Well, hopefully there will still be some left for you to conserve by the time you graduate. Oh, please. Keep the faith.

13:33Well, Ian, welcome to the show. You're going to play our game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Alzo, what is Ian's topic? Jobs of the future. They say that AI is going to take all of our jobs. Well, we're always going to need artists and craftspeople to feed to the robots. Our panelists are going to tell you about another new job for real human beings. Pick the one who's telling the truth, and you'll win the wait-waiter of your choice in your voicemail. Are you ready to play? Born ready. All right. First up, let's hear from Karen Chi. As AI quickly encroaches on our daily lives and leaves people jobless, there is one career that is surprisingly very secure.

14:13the amusement park carny. In fact, you'll probably start seeing them everywhere. AI is replacing waiters, cashiers, and salespeople, but marketing experts know that there's just something magnetic about a carny, that sketchy guy who definitely doesn't want to be working at the carnival, but also was maybe born there? So they predict all kinds of businesses will now have designated carnies who will attract consumers and make them feel great about their experiences. These designated carnies will add to consumer interactions by smoking in front of children, handing out merchandise with the deadest of eyes, and loudly swearing while families are within earshot.

14:55They'll also mark where their employee entrances are by standing in front of them and vigorously making out. Another advantage, an element of danger. With a carny standing there, even using the self-checkout at places like Target will have that, I might die on this tilt-a-whirl feeling that keeps you young. Carnies soon to be everywhere to provide that creepy, exhilarating feeling while you deal with the machines. Your next job of the future comes from Tom Papa. As people worry about AI replacing us, David Risher, the CEO of Lyft, assured us that our jobs won't be going away. They'll just be changing.

15:34As an example, when Lyft starts using robo-taxis to drive people around, that doesn't mean a job will be eliminated. He floated the idea of a car tender, a human who isn't driving but sits in the car along with you. Because as we all know, the main reason to book a rideshare is for the sharing part. Risher added that the car tender could help with your luggage, make you drinks, and answer questions as the local guy. Because who hasn't been in a rideshare with a creepy driver and thought, I wish this guy was talking to me more. And also trying to give me some of his alcohol. AI. There's nothing to worry about.

16:21In the future, your rideshare driver will become your rideshare cartender. Your last profession preview comes from Nguyen Farsan. When you call a 1-800 number, your main goal as a human being is to say, agent, agent, at increasing volume levels and with an expanding sense of existential dread. When the agent finally comes on the phone, you yell at them. At one point, you stop and say, I'm so sorry to get upset. I realize you're just a messenger. And then you continue yelling. This yelling is a time-honored capitalist tradition. But what happens when AI takes over the job of the agent. Where does the yelling go?

17:08The boutique staffing agency, Tech Force, is prepared for this very moment. They believe a new spate of human jobs will open up in the field of getting yelled at, or GYA for short. These venting specialists, as they're called, don't fix your problem, but they do let you yammer on about it while making empty threats about leaving a bad review and or saying stuff like, I swear to God, I'm changing my cell phone carrier. The agency is also hoping to expand operations to offer an in-person combat experience where you can just punch a representative of your internet service provider right in the gut.

17:50All right.

17:55Let's say you lose your job to AI. If so, you might be able to get one of these jobs of the future. Was it from Karen Chi, the universal carny, bringing that aura to every kind of consumer interaction? From Tom Papa, the car tender, since humans will no longer be needed to drive the cars? Or from Nagin Farsad, the venting specialist, The person whose job it is will be to get yelled at by people frustrated by the AI. Which of these is a real potential job of the future? Well, everyone loves self-driving cars, so I think I'm going to go with Tom Papas. You're going to go with Tom's choice of the cartender.

18:34All right, well, we actually spoke to somebody who has not yet lost his job to an AI to bring you the real story. I don't know how you would stock a car for a full-service bartender. Seems like a nightmare. Yeah, that was Griff Richards, a bartender at Do or Dive in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, talking about the potential of having car tenders in your ride shares sometime soon. Congratulations, Ian, you got it right. You've earned a point for Tom. You've won our prize. The voice of your choice on your voicemail, thank you so much for playing. Thanks for having me on. Take care. Bye-bye. Thank you.

19:16And now the game we call Not My Job. Roy Choi trained as a chef but found himself burned out working in gourmet restaurants in New York, so he came back to his hometown of Los Angeles and eventually opened a food truck selling Korean tacos, which first, yes! You wish you thought of that. And those food trucks first revolutionized the food truck scene and then the L.A. food scene and then the food scene everywhere. He now runs a bunch of trucks and brick-and-mortar restaurants here in Southern California. He co-hosted The Chef Show on Netflix and has written a best-selling memoir and a cookbook.

19:53Roy Choi, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you.

19:59So first things first, you drove from L.A. where you live to be with us today. Now, whenever you drive somewhere, do people just expect you to show up driving a food truck? They don't expect me to show up, but on the freeway when we're driving them, they expect us to throw them food. Do they really? They expect the food to be ready. Yeah. I was about to make a joke. Because it's almost like a reptilian or instinctual thing. Yeah, the instinctual thing. They see it. They start to salivate like Pavlov's dogs. Absolutely. I was about to make a joke about them wanting you to throw them a taco at 80 miles an hour, but then I remembered, this is L.A.

20:34They want you to throw them a taco at five miles an hour. At five miles an hour. If they're lucky. Yes. Right. Exactly. So you grew up in L.A.? Yes, I did. L.A. boy. We understand that you were like been involved in the food industry from an early age. Is it true your mom kind of got you involved in the business? I ate a lot of food that my mom cooked. I grew up in a house where she was cooking constantly for many people, but there were only three of us in there. Really? Yeah. She was cooking for like hundreds of people at all times. So I ended up eating most of it. And early on, my mom used to make the kimchi in the house.

21:14Yeah. Very much like you would see mothers right now making pozole or menudo. Sure. Putting it in big igloos and then putting it out on the corner and selling them in styrofoam cups. Yeah. It was the same thing we were doing but in kimchi jars. but we had a big 1976 Thunderbird and a late 70s station wagon. So there was a lot of room to store a lot of kimchi. These trunks were huge. And so she would stuff all of them and we would go around. We would hit up people like at a stoplight. Really? It was like a drive-by but with kimchi. Like we would just roll up on the side. And I was the one. I was in shotgun.

21:57And I would roll down my window, and then we would just talk to the person at the stop line. He'd say, you want to buy some kimchi? And then we would... Really? Yes. How? Yes. How? She was ready to roll at any time. She had... How old were you when you were doing this? Started when I was like five. Okay. Because you could sit in front seats back then. Oh, sure. Yeah, I know. That's why most of us were killed, but... Yes. We were the only ones that remained. The only ones left. Yes, exactly. So a big moment in your career is you got fired from this big restaurant, and then you, as history now celebrates, opened a food truck.

22:36What was the inspiration for it? You know what I really want in my moment? Getting fired. Getting fired. But I think that, you know, because I've had time now to reflect and look back, and I truly believe it was something spiritual that happened. I do, you know. It wasn't like you were walking down the street with some bulgogi. Some guy was walking down the street with a taco. You hit each other. Fell to the ground. You got my bulgogi. Not like that. That would have been like a Mentos commercial. I know. That's right. That would have been really nice if it happened that way. But unfortunately, I had to go through all of these trials and tribulations.

23:13And from that came the soul of this Kogi Taco. But I think that I had to fail. I had to have this amnesia and have no other opportunities out there. Now you have how many food trucks out there you're operating and how many restaurants? Do you even, can you even keep counting? Not that many. Not that many. We only have four trucks. We're, we're, we're a company that looks bigger than we are. Right. Yeah. And, and we have, I have three restaurants. I got two more things for you before we play our game. Sure. First of all, we live in an age where like all of a sudden everybody's interested in the lives of chefs, right?

23:48TV shows. You actually were a consultant on a movie called Chef that your friend John... That's really weird. Yeah, I know. Thank you. Which basically, for people who haven't seen it, the character played by the director and writer John Favreau basically recapitulates your life. Sort of. Sort of. Sort of, kind of. What do you think? Are there any of these shows that you like? I mean, do you watch The Bear, for example, and say, oh my God, that's exactly what it is? No, no, no, no. Yeah, like, do you watch Ratatouille and go, that's exactly what it is? I'm more Ratatouille. Yeah, really. As far as you, just between you and me, as far as I know, that's the only movie she's ever seen.