The dragon dancers are coming for the Huang family. This Tuesday, Fresh Off the Boat becomes the first network show devoted to one major holiday that hasn’t yet received the sitcom treatment: Chinese New Year. During the episode, the Huangs miss their flight to Washington, D.C., where they would have celebrated the Lunar New Year with family. Instead they’re resigned to trying to find other Chinese people in town they can celebrate with, which is how Louis and Jessica discover the AAAOO — the Asian-American Association of Orlando.
“We were trying to figure out where to go with it. We were thinking maybe they would go to Chinatown Miami, another bigger city,†Sheng Wang, a stand-up comic and the writer of the episode, told Vulture. “We just did a quick little Google image search of Chinatown in Orlando, and it was a sad-looking little plaza that has some Chinese on the signs and non-Chinese stores. We were just like, okay, we can definitely do this with the Asian American Association just based on the picture of the Chinatown that was there.â€
Enter Rob Huebel, who stars as the white guy who’s the head of the Asian-American Association of Orlando. “Rob was hilarious as the head of the AAAOO, and I’m happy that people get to see him do that,†said showrunner Nahnatchka Khan. “Like obviously there’s an elephant in the room, but it’s alright.â€
Fresh off the Boat returns Tuesday, February 2 at 8 p.m.