The 2008 Asian Excellence Awards took place yesterday at UCLA’s Royce Hall. After scanning over the winners, nominees and performers, I was rather surprised. This past year, many Asian artists produced a lot of great films and shows. Too bad Asians have to make up their own awards show just to get recognized. Soon, Hollywood will wake up.

Carrie Ann Inaba (Dancing with the Stars) and Bobby Lee (MADtv) hosted this year’s presentation. Performers included Jabbawockeez (yea!), Kaba Modern (yea!) and Roscoe Umali (yea, i’ve never heard of him either). Special awards were given to Steve Chen of Youtube (Pioneer Award) and Kristi Yamaguchi (Inspiration Award). Just so they didn’t take themselves too seriously, Rob Schneider received the “Half Asian” award.

Meanwhile, presenters and attendees ran the gamut from Quentin Tarantino to Steven Segal to Mini Me. Holy moly! This show just might be worth watching. Bobby Lee is a loose cannon who can be pretty funny at times. Luckily, E! Entertainment broadcasts the show on May 1st at 6 p.m. ET/PT, 5 p.m. CT and it will also be available on Comcast on Demand, beginning May 7th. So, set your tivos!

Bai Ling, attendee, performs her awards show rain dance

*Spoiler alert!* Winners listed below the cut

• OUTSTANDING FILM - Lust, Caution - Director, Ang Lee
• OUTSTANDING FILM ACTOR - Tony Leung, Lust, Caution
• OUTSTANDING FILM ACTRESS - Sharon Leal, This Christmas
• OUTSTANDING TELEVISION ACTOR - B.D. Wong, Law & Order, SVU (NBC)
• OUTSTANDING TELEVISION ACTRESS - Lindsay Price, Lipstick Jungle (NBC)
• SUPPORTING TELEVISION ACTRESS - Sonja Sohn, The Wire (HBO)
• SUPPORTING TELEVISION ACTOR - Rex Lee, Entourage (HBO)
• FAVORITE TV PERSONALITY - Cheryl Burke, Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
• FAVORITE REALITY STAR - JabbaWockeeZ, America’s Best Dance Crew (MTV)