Off Duty is a series of lively conversations with influential people, from CEOs to celebrities, on life, work and the art of taking time off.
Illustration by Photo Illustration by The Globe
Andrew Phung loves sneakers. His converted closet is chock-full of them, in every imaginable colourway. When I ask him how many he owns, the always boisterous comedian blanches – that’s “a scary question” – but confesses to about 500 pairs.
“It’s a lot,” he acknowledges, a hint of pride showing through. He even has a system for managing them all: He lets each pair sit for six months, and if his love for it sticks, he’ll wear it. If not, he’ll flip it or trade it for something he likes better.
A Calgary native, Phung is a sitcom mainstay, having won a Canadian Screen Award a whopping five times for his supporting role in Kim’s Convenience. Nowadays he’s not only the lead of CBC family sitcom Run the Burbs – playing suburban stay-at-home dad Andrew Pham – but also the executive producer, writer and co-creator. As possibly the busiest man on Canadian television, then, Phung sees his love of sneakers not as an addiction, but a necessary hobby. It’s also his only splurge.
“I don’t have jewellery, I don’t have watches, sneakers are my thing,” Phung explains. “They help me invest in something truly different, relax and get my mind off my job, and then come back to it with a clear mind.”
Amid filming Run the Burbs, currently in its third season, Phung shared what keeps his creative juices flowing, from his favourite food to his go-to playlist.
You’re well into the third season of Run the Burbs as an actor, writer and creator. What have you learned through the process?
Season 1 was really tough on me because I was trying to do it all, and I didn’t take the time to take care of myself and to build a team around me. This season, I made sure to bring on an assistant, who is a friend of mine and a fellow improviser. She assists me, but she’s also my acting hype person. We go through each line and scene, and she pitches me ideas that we workshop together, which has been so helpful for my performance.
You wear a whole lot of hats. Is there one that’s especially satisfying and cathartic for you?
Performing is always a joy. I’ve been doing it since I was 16, so I know it. But what I love these days is mixing an episode together, and I think I’m really good at it. I love having the team beside me, going through an episode and being like, all right, let’s go to this scene. Let’s bring up Andrew’s audio here. Can we fade the music in? Can you give me a sting that’s a little bit shorter here?
While you’re dreaming up episode scenarios and character hijinks, do you have a personal routine that gets your juices flowing?
Because I’m a performer and in production, every day can look different, so sticking to a routine is the most helpful thing for me. I wake up at the same time, I try to work out for 20 minutes. Then I shower, for the same amount of time every day. I have the same thing for breakfast, and when I come home, it’s the same thing for dinner. I talk to and play with my kids, have a long conversation with my wife at the end of the night, and then I have the same bedtime.
That makes a lot of sense but, hold on a second – what’s your everyday breakfast?
Toast or a bagel or a rice cake, with an avocado spread with a bit of pepper, like sriracha powder and garlic, and a single egg. Now, that’s all ruined if that avocado isn’t ready yet!
Speaking of food, have you had any special fixations lately?
I’m really into marinating tofu right now. In a recent episode of Run the Burbs, Andrew has a gout flare-up, and gout loves Asian people because we have a very meat-heavy diet. I got gout five years ago, so I cut out all red meat and I’m an Alberta boy, so I love steaks. But one thing I discovered in the last couple of years is cooking with tofu and, for example, making bang bang tofu – putting it in a curry, frying it, marinating and freezing it. It’s my new thing.
When it comes to your go-to playlist, is there anything we might be surprised to learn is on there?
For executive producing, I do have a hype playlist, and it’s mainly music from 2006 to 2010. I love Kazzer’s Pedal To The Metal, from when rock-rap was trying to be a thing. [Here, Phung cuts into a brief and delightful riff of the song.]
As a storyteller, is there any other type of content or art that inspires you?
CNBC has a great YouTube channel where they produce specific, in-depth slice-of-life videos. Like, they recently had one about why rental companies are moving away from EVs, and another about why Domino’s is so popular in India. They cover society, economy, the world, and quickly teach you things you might not have learned about otherwise.
Coming from improvisational comedy, I taught myself to learn five things about everything, so when you’re on stage, you can drop that knowledge. It inspires the creative process and keeps your mind sharp.
I’m getting the impression you don’t take a ton of time off, but when you do, what helps you truly relax and reset?
If I’m microrelaxing – and I can’t believe I’m using that word, but if I have an hour – it’s my sneakers. I also love playing with action figures with my kids, I love building and drawing with them.
If it’s a larger vacation, I love rock-climbing with the family. I love road trips. Growing up, my dad worked seven days a week; even in retirement now, he’s a workaholic. My mom was also working two jobs then, so we didn’t go on a lot of road trips. Now, I’m trying to give my kids what I didn’t have growing up. I think a lot of kids of immigrants try to do that.
Basically, if it’s what we do on vacation or my love of shoes or the videos I’m watching, I’m constantly trying to find things that aren’t my job, but help me do my job better.