Recently, NBA star Baron Davis sat down with actor John Cho to talk about life, the NBA, his television roles, the much-hyped Star Trek movie due out in 2009, and Cho’s current role in “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay”, which hits theaters on April 25th.

Baron Davis: What’s happening, NBA? I’m your NBA movie critic, Baron Davis, and I’m here with the famous John Cho of the new “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” due out April 25th. Welcome to the Boom Dizzle NBA Movie Critic show. First of all, I’d like to welcome my guest here … It’s a pleasure to meet you.

John Cho: Thank you so much.

BD: Let’s just jump right into it. You’ve been doing a lot of work (obviously, we’ve followed your career with the first Harold & Kumar flick) and this year, it seems like, has been a big year for you with Ugly Betty and How I Met Your Mother. Tell us about that. You’re blowing up and getting all of your “just due.”

JC: Yeah, it’s been an exciting year and, you know, to be frank with you, I’m just happy to be working, man. This is a tough game for Asians in this business and so my parents are just happy that I’m paying my rent, so I’m really excited. Also, I’m working on “Star Trek” which is a mind-blower. We’re just about to finish up. So that’s been good, too.

BD: Yeah, That’s big.

JC: It’s fun, man. It’s cool being on a space ship.

BD: Now, are you a “Trekkie”? Were you a big fan of “Star Trek”?

JC: I wasn’t a big fan growing up but, you know, it’s one of those things you see on TV late at night and you just end up watching it. It’s a really thoughtful show, you know. And it’s a meditative show. I kind of dug it. They didn’t decide things (with violence). Well, Kirk did get into a lot of fistfights but, it seemed like wisdom won out on that show, so I dug it that way.

BD: That’s cool. Great cast … Eric Bana, Winona Ryder. Tell us what it was like to work with people like that.

JC: I don’t have any scenes with those two because they’re on the … [Both laugh] I can’t reveal plot points.

BD: It would be nice if you could. This is sports, man; we’re coming to see it!

JC: It’s a really good cast. Zach Quinto, who is on “Heroes”, is Spock and there’s a guy named Chris Pine. Are you familiar with Simon Pegg from “Shaun of the Dead”? He’s playing Scotty and he’s great. We’ve just been having a blast. And walking around in spacesuits …

BD: Right. That’s incredible. And you’re also from Los Angeles -- I’m from South Central -- local Los Angeles resident blowing up. Doing it big for the Asian community. What part of L.A. are you from?

JC: I was born in Korea, we moved around a lot, and we settled in Glendale, where there’s a lot of Koreans. That’s where I went to High School. Then I actually went to college here at Berkley.

BD: [Jeers and gives thumbs down] Yeah, but it’s cool. [Both laugh]

JC: You guys (UCLA) used to beat us. It was a beatdown, a beatdown. I’m man enough to admit it.

BD: It’s all good. [Still laughing] Cal’s a great school, great program.

JC: [Laughing] Blah, blah, blah, blah…

BD: They produce great people. I have to say that. Let’s talk about the new film. Talk a little about the first one (Harold and Kumar go to White Castle). I know that was fun being on set. Did you guys have a lot of practical jokes? Now, being able to do it again, how does that feel?

JC: It’s good. You know, we didn’t know each other the first time around and this is a sequel, so now it’s really easy stepping right back into it and, now that we’re all friends, we can just jump right into it. So, it’s been fun and people seem to be excited about the new movie and especially, one thing that we didn’t really expect that people would be so keen on is the racial politics of the first one.

The second one takes it even further because now we’re … We try to go to Amsterdam and Kumar brings something on the plane that someone overhears as a “bomb” and we get sent to Guantanamo Bay because they think we are North Korea and Al-Qaeda working together. [Embarrassed] So, ah, you know, it gets political a little bit. That’s one thing, I wasn’t expecting people to so in to but, they are.

BD: Yeah, especially with everything going on in the world today and the presidential election, I’m sure poking fun at that must have been a pretty amazing time.

JC: Yeah. I was a little afraid that they were going to open up an FBI file on me. [Laughing] I really did. We have a cordless phone at home and I found out it didn’t have enough gigahertz or something like that. I was hearing clicking noises whenever I was on the phone and I said to my wife, “they’re listening to us. They caught on to what the movie was about”, I was so scared man. [Both laugh]

BD: You would have really been locked up at Guantanamo Bay, huh. That’s awesome. This is obviously an NBA thing so, you know, I know that you are a huge NBA fan.

JC: Yes sir.

BD: The fans would like to know: Who is your favorite NBA team?

PART II: John Cho Talks NBA, and Reveals Whether He's "That Guy"