I will send you to Jesus.
"EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!"
— One of Steven He's numerous Character Catchphrases
Steven He is a Chinese-Irish actor most famously known on YouTube
and TikTok for his comedy sketches, most of which parody Asian stereotypes through a number of characters (all of whom are played by himself). The most common and well-known of these is Steven's father, the human embodiment of Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable who also fits the majority of these stereotypes.
Tropes that will send you to Jesus
- Abusive Parents: Played for Laughs; due to exaggerating various stereotypes of Asian parents, Steven's dad constantly calls him a failure and disciplines him for incredibly minor imperfections with punishments intentionally meant to inflict emotional damage, to the point of saying he specializes in "failure management".
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Steven's dad speaks this way all of the time, which adds to his quotable humor.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: At the end of "How Asian Parents Flex 2", the two parents start telling their kids to do increasingly impossible things, from flying to performing Shadow Clone Jutsu to rewinding time...and then Steven's dad tells him to cook minute rice in 58 seconds. This is the one that wins the argument, too.
- Bland-Name Product: Steven's dad runs a corn company called "Beijing Corn", which gets mentioned in a few sketches. His rival, Timmy's dad, owns a competing company called "Shanghai Corn". Also the premise of the "When [X] is Off-Brand" videos.
- Blocking Stops All Damage: This ends up being incredibly helpful in "When 'Asian' is a difficulty mode", where doing just about anything deals fatal damage otherwise.
- Celebrity Paradox: A rather strange one in "If Squid Game Was ACTUALLY Asian" where Steven gets recognized by Facebook aunties as "the 'emotional damage' guy" even though it was the character of Steven's dad, who also appears in the video, that actually said the meme in-universe.
- Character Catchphrase: Steven's dad has several, with the most notable ones being:
- "EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!"
- "I will send you to Jesus."
- "When I was 9 years old, I was 25."
- "When I went to school, I had to walk 20 miles (uphill, both ways, 26 hours a day) on one foot! My other foot was starting a business."
- Corpsing: Steven occasionally leaves in clips of himself laughing after particularly ridiculous scenes.
- Devastating Remark: The core behind the "EMOTIONAL DAMAGE". Players in Asian Difficulty video games will die if they're given normal statements that are so devastating that they receive massive emotional damage and die.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- Steven's dad often grills into him whenever he performs well, but not absolutely perfect, in school. For example, in "Asian Parent Punishments", he demands Steven grab a stick to be beaten with for getting a 99% in math.
- Speaking of which, the "Asian Parent Punishments" series always has Steven's dad give flimsy reasons to give corporal punishments to his son meant to inflict emotional damage, such as kicking a slipper into the future at him through time-space for forgetting to cook rice.
- Timmy's dad considers his son a failure, despite him supposedly having become a neurosurgeon at 9 years old and being able to play every single musical instrument... because he doesn't know how to cook rice.
- Godzilla Threshold: A comedic example in "When Asians Run Out Of RICE", where Steven's dad panics and tries to call UNICEF and the Beijing Embassy for support because they ran out of rice and can't get more due to the COVID-19 pandemic, even though as Steven points out, they have a plethora of other food (which Steven's dad rejects). He ultimately tells Steven not to tell his grandpa as he takes out his phone to do something very desperate:"Hello, Panda Express?"
- Harder Than Hard: Parodied in the "When 'Asian' is a difficulty mode" videos; the titular "Asian" difficulty makes the player character instantly die from practically anything that isn't blocked and requires absurd inputs in order to win.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Steven's dad exaggerates the stereotype of Asian parents having absurd expectations, calling his son a failure unless he does the humanly impossible, and it's always Played for Laughs.
- Implied Death Threat: Downplayed and Played for Laughs. "I will send you to Jesus" is usually accompanied with Steven's dad holding a sandal that he threatens to toss to his target (which won't kill the target, but will do 'harm'). The only time he ever went through the threat is against a ghost that refused to go clean the room.
- Large Ham: Steven's dad, as part of his exaggerated Asian parent persona, does a lot of melodramatic shouting.
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle:
Improvised on Steven's part in "When KFC is Off-Brand," when Steven's dad tumbles so roughly, one of his slippers flies off. A close-up was added in post-production. - The Nameless: Steven's dad and Timmy's dad are never named in any of the skits due to their lacking plot.
- Nintendo Hard: The unnamed video game in "When 'Asian' is a difficulty mode" on the titular difficulty is this taken up to eleven, to the point that even taking a single step can instantly kill you.
- Parody: "Ginormo!" is a light-hearted, Stylistic Suck-y parody of Showa-era Toku cheesiness - most notably Ultraman.
- Self-Deprecation:
- A number of Steven's videos have him poke fun at how he got an acting degree to begin a YouTube career.
- In "When Everything is Off Brand 2", when Steven's dad is offered with 'Failure Man', he corrects it with "It's called a Steven He channel."
- Shoddy Knockoff Product: The "When Everything is Off Brand" videos and "Sprint. It's Sprite but Faster." have Steven's dad react to a number of these.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: Steven's dad has this dynamic with the father of a kid named Timmy, as the two constantly compare each others' sons' accomplishments in the "How Asian Parents Flex" series and own rivaling corn companies. According to "How Asian Parents Flex 3", the kids do not share this animosity.
- Some Dexterity Required: Parodied in "When "Asian" is a Difficulty Mode 2"; once Steven's Dad hands Steven the controller, Steven randomly tosses the controller around in his hand, and whatever he's doing lets the character actually survive and even get an assault rifle. Even more ridiculous in the sequel, where the "finisher" requires Steven to spin the controller around by the cable and toss it around in a frying pan.
- Suddenly Shouting: A common talking behavior of Steven's dad along with characters based on him.
- Take That!:
- "How Shopping Bundles NEVER Have What You Want" makes fun of store bundles that always seem to require getting something you don't want, eventually transitioning to bundles that offer completely unrelated items for no particular reason.
- "How They Write Villains in 2021" mocks how common villains with Freudian Excuses tend to be and points out that they still don't justify the crimes the villain has committed.
- "How MTA Hire Train Announcers" portrays the corporation hiring an announcer who mumbles into the microphone, constantly causes disruptive noises right into it, and gives out unhelpful information.
- "When you don't get paid but it's 'Good Exposure'" is this towards people who offer to pay artists in "exposure" instead of actual money, depicting Steven's dad cooking a non-existent meal with all of his "exposure".
- The "When everything is Off Brand" series shows off various real-life Shoddy Knockoff Products and Steven's dad's incredulous reactions to them. Occasionally will include a double Take That to the original product.Steven's Dad: (upon being asked if "Cardboard" is okay over "Pop Tarts") WHAT- (Beat) Oh, they're about the same.
- "When Super Bowl has WAY TOO MANY ads" makes fun of Super Bowl sponsors, specifically how many there are and how they tend to disrupt the game.
- "Asian Parents Going Through Your Room" has the dad mock Steven for liking Sakura Haruno because they're both useless.
- "How Asian Parents Roast Your Dreams" has the dad mock Steven for wanting to be an actor because, even setting aside his ugly face which he himself takes responsibility for, he'll likely fail every audition, not make any money for several years, write a "shitty script" to cover for how he can't get an acting job, and, once he hits rock-bottom, will likely make a "shitty video" online that no one will ever watch. The dad also points out 98% of actors can't even hit minimum wage and most end up taking fast-food jobs.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Steven's dad is completely unfazed when he encounters a ghost and Santa Claus in "Why Ghosts Don't Haunt Asians" and "When Santa Goes to An Asian House" respectively, simply ripping into the illogicalities of their tropes and demanding the former does his dishes.
Life Ruined
"EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!!"
