Lee Sung Jin on the breakthrough that led him to ‘BEEF’

This is Ira Glass. On this American life, we tell stories about when things change. Like for this guy David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected, and very unpleasant turn. And it did take me a while to realize that it's basically because the monkey pressed the button. That's right.

Because the monkey pressed the button. Surprising stories every week, wherever you get your podcasts. This is Fresh Air, I'm Tanya Mosley, and my guest today is creator, writer, and director Lee Sungjin. The second season of his Netflix series Beef just earned 16 Emmy nominations, including nominations for writing, directing, and executive producing. Lee says he writes what he knows, and what he keeps returning to are the pressures people carry but rarely talk about, money, class, and the anger we sometimes swallow to get through the day.

The idea for season two began when Lee was walking through his neighborhood and heard a couple arguing with each other inside of their home. Later when he told the story, his younger friends were horrified. Did you call nine one one? they asked. Friends his own age had almost the opposite reaction.

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