Episode 7 of BEEF, titled “I Am a Cage,” kicks off with a bang — or really, a banger. As frustrated handyman Danny (Steven Yeun) is briefly on top of the world, he picks up the mic to lead a Korean church congregation in a rousing, high-energy rendition of “Amazing Grace.” And before you ask — yes, that really is Yeun singing in the scene. “That was fun,” he told Krista Smith in a new episode of the podcast Skip Intro, “I used to lead praise at church.” 

Yeun’s connection to the Korean Christian church goes beyond vocals, though. “As an immigrant kid growing up in the Midwest, that was really my only real safe space,” he says. “There was another reality happening [in Korean church] where maybe the ways in which we couldn’t assert ourselves in wider America, we could at least feel for ourselves in that particular place.” In a particularly emotional moment earlier in the season, Danny breaks down in cathartic tears after attending a service for the first time in years. It’s a feeling Yeun, who attended church regularly growing up, could easily relate to. Like Danny, the actor went back to church in his late 20s after stepping away during college. “I just found myself nearing tears every single time they start singing praise songs,” he said. “I’m just like, ‘Why am I about to cry? What is happening?’”

For Yeun, the “Amazing Grace” scene was an interesting one to pull off. “It wasn’t difficult to necessarily perform that,” he said, “but it was surprising to see the final rendering that was captured on camera and to watch yourself.” And he didn’t overthink it in the moment.  “Because it wasn’t a calculated thing where I was like, ‘I’m going to make sure I jump this much, or I call out this much, or I play this like this.’ It was just like, ‘What will it be if I just try to go back to what I used to do back in high school, and let’s just see what that looks like on camera.’ That’s what you get."

BEEF is now streaming on Netflix. For more great celebrity interviews, check out Skip Intro on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.