Awkwafina (real name Nora Lum), has become one of the biggest names in the world. The Golden Globe-winning rapper turned actress has been a major trailblazer for Asian American representation in film and television, and it’s particularly prevalent on her Comedy Central sitcom, Awkwafina is Nora From Queens.
The 2nd season has recently finished airing, and while fans wait in anticipation for a third, they can go back and re-watch the funniest moments that also feature some surprising guest appearances. Awkwafina may be the star of her own series, but every so often, a recognizable face will appear to momentarily come in and steal the show.
Chloe Fineman
Current Saturday Night Live cast member Chloe Fineman plays the character Greta in the season 2 episode “Stop! Nora Time,” who’s unexpectedly transported with Nora back to the year 2003. After expressing nostalgia for the era, she takes Nora to her childhood mansion, where she ultimately ends up “loopering herself” by intentionally throwing her past baby self off of her bedroom balcony and erasing her present self from existence.
As hilariously disturbing as that concept is, it might have been for best seeing how she could potentially be a serial killer, admitting that she had saved the lives of 68 people by ending hers much earlier. Fineman expertly plays up the dumb blonde valley girl stereotype and even as her dark harrowing secrets come to light, it’s impossible to not laugh at her nonchalant and carefree attitude about her entire situation.
Natasha Lyonne
American Pie star Natasha Lyonne is featured in one of the most unexpected and funniest moments of the 1st season episode “Not Today.” It’s a very small role, practically a cameo, but it’s a moment worth checking out for a good hard laugh and something else that Russian Doll fans can watch while waiting for a season 2.
In season 1, Nora visits a hair salon after a disagreement with her father Wally about the current and past trajectory of her life. While there, she comes across another raspy-voiced New Yorker, played by Lyonne, with similar father issues, who offers her piece of advice on how to: bleaching her hair. Her character isn’t seen again after that, but her suggestion to Nora backfires hilariously.
Deborah S. Craig
During her never-ending quest for a steady job, Nora is hired by a family friend and real estate broker Nancy, played by Deborah S. Craig, as an office assistant in the season 1 episode “Savage Valley.” In the show, Nancy was once featured on the cover of Top Agent magazine in 1996, and in both her business and her personal fashion style, it seems like she never left the decade.
Despite Nora’s crazy hairstyles and drug-fueled hilarity, Craig delivers the episode’s stand-out performance with her character’s eccentricities. While she’s a mostly cheerful and grateful woman, she also seems extremely tired of her job and it’s satisfying to see her get a happy ending when she retires after managing to sell a condemned home known as the “Chinese deathtrap.”
Jamie Chung
Lori Tan Chin’s scene-stealing performance as Nora’s Grandma has made her one of Nora From Queens‘ best characters, but the portrayal of her younger self in the season 1 episode “Grandma and Chill” manages to be equally as funny. In a flashback episode satirically portrayed as a low-budget Korean TV drama, actress Jamie Chung plays Grandma’s younger self.
Most of what makes Chung’s performance so hilarious is just how she manages to play it so over-the-top dramatic. It’s a fun send-up to the acting in most real-life K dramas, and Chung’s comedic timing has never been more on point.
Kathleen Kim
Actress and Sesame Street puppeteer Kathleen Kim guest stars in the episode “Nora Meets Brenda” as Nora’s trouble-making childhood imaginary friend, Toe-Knee. It takes talent to bring a personality to a character through only their body language while in a googly-eyed purple fur monster costume, with no facial emotion, but Kim goes all out with it for maximum hilarity, even with the voice.
In one of the show’s most outrageous episodes, Nora’s long-dormant imaginary friend reemerges in an attempt to wreak havoc in Wally’s relationship with Brenda. Nora, who has been distrustful of all of her father’s past girlfriends, goes along with Toe-Knee’s schemes until she eventually realizes just how happy the two of them are and ultimately decides to let go.
Simu Liu
Before he was Marvel superhero Shang-Chi, Simu Liu had already worked with Awkwafina (albeit indirectly, seeing how they didn’t share any scenes together) the year prior on her show. Also appearing in “Grandma and Chill,” he portrays the younger version of Nora’s grandfather, who her Grandma simply refers to as “Garbage Boy.”
Much like Jamie Chung as young grandma, much of what makes Liu’s performance so hysterical is just how plays the role completely straight and serious despite the over-the-top satirical nature of the episode and its objectification of his character. In somehow managing to keep a straight face while playing a ripped shirtless man who gets smothered in grossness by taking out other people’s garbage for a living, Liu shows his commitment to even the weirdest and nonsensical characters.
Laverne Cox
Over the last few years, Laverne Cox has become something of an icon in the LGBTQ+ community. With Cox’s resume of notable film and TV roles, the Orange Is The New Black star has had quite a success, but one of her most unexpected appearances is in the pilot episode, where she makes a voice-only cameo as the voice of God.
In the series’ opening scene, Nora has dreams of confronting God as she reflects on the state of her life as an unemployed 27-year old still living with her Dad and Grandma. The casting of Cox is an amusing and unusual choice, but the scene itself is a work of genius in a way. After all, who better to introduce Nora’s character and her shortcomings to the viewers for the first time than her own creator?
Ming-Na Wen
Playing Nora’s hippie commune-living aunt Sandra, Ming-Na Wen was given a chance to flex her comedic chops as an actor. Mostly known for her more serious roles like ER and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and even Mulan, Wen hasn’t had been given too many opportunities to work on a comedy series or film. It’s obvious just how much fun she is having while doing it though, especially during her last scene, as she smokes with Nora while offering her advice.
Haley Joel Osment
Unlike most former child stars, Oscar nominee Haley Joel Osment has still managed to find steady work even as an adult. There are still several things about Osment that aren’t well known, one of them being how his role on Nora From Queens is possibly one of his funniest performances in recent years.
In the season 2 finale, Osment makes a memorable appearance as a member of Sandra’s commune who becomes Nora’s lover for a time before the COVID-19 pandemic strikes. The character’s blissful innocence and unawareness about the outside world is humorous enough, but hearing him admit how he doesn’t understand the true meaning of his middle name (an inappropriate sexual act) is absolutely hilarious.
Margaret Cho
While the character of Sandra was unfortunately unable to make an appearance in season 2, the fans were treated with a different surprise. In the final two episodes of season 2, viewers were given a more personal look at her commune and how its members function as a community and put a name and face to their mysterious leader: Miss Jupiter, played by Margaret Cho.
The commune’s lifestyle and the “natural” food and drink they prepare themselves (like a roasted penguin, who had already been dead since 2002) is already quite comical, but it’s Cho’s nonchalant attitude towards it the grossness of it all makes it even funnier to point of busting a gut.
