Jo Koy goes from Door to Door Comedian to Hitting the Big Time

Photo by Manouel Roman

Comedian Jo Koy hit it big when he received a standing ovation on the tonight Show in 2005. His ascension prior to that point meant he literally had to be on his toes just to get by. Renting out 1000 seat venues in Vegas, Koy would sell tickets to coworkers at his three jobs for $20 a piece. Learning quickly it was much harder to get the money after the show, he actually went door to door to collect the cash several hours beforehand. Turning a small profit most of the time, his actual comedy education also came on the cheap. In other words, the persistent downfalls found only in his home town of Seattle led to the comedic rise he enjoys today.

“It rains every damn day. Sometimes it rains just to remind you - hey you guys, I’m here to let you know it’s raining. The upside was it left me inside to watch every HBO standup special over and over. Some people go to college to learn their career. Me, I kept watching and HBO was my college,” Koy joked.

Now, his teachers are easy enough to spot in his routine. “I was watching Bill Cosby work his timing and expressions, absorbed Eddie Murphy command the stage and master delivery, and I fed off Robin William’s energy. I took all that stuff in, and now you see a little bit of each in my act,” Koy revealed.

However, when the TV went off home schooling continued. “My mom was a big influence,” said Koy, “She’s got this sarcastic humor about her that comes naturally.”

The straight man in the family had his back too. “My air force dad is the guy who tries to be funny. He tells a joke, and it just doesn’t go over. So it turned out that he was like, 'I want to live through you,' because he always wanted to be funny,” Koy said.

As for being behind their son’s aspiration to get behind a mic, the backing didn’t come as expected. “I thought my mom was going to be very supportive, because she always brought me to talent shows and stuff as a kid. So I figured, she’d be the one to say to follow your dreams, but it was the opposite. She was like, you’re kidding – that’s ok when you’re a kid, not now. You’ve got to go to college. You need health insurance,” Koy recounted.

Of course, success put her maternal instincts in their place, and rewrote the family history. “Oh yeah, she takes all the credit. She talks to everybody about me. He’s on TV, Chelsea Lately. He tours the country, goes abroad. I told him he was going to be a comedian. Are you kidding, she never told me I was going to be a comedian. The truth is she didn’t tell anybody her son was a struggling standup comedian,” he joked.

No matter, he knew what was at stake when the do or die moment came on the Tonight Show and knocking it out of the park meant resting on his laurels. “I was so nervous. I could feel my heart beating outside of my chest. I kept telling myself, I’ve got to crush it, this is my moment. But I had been doing this routine for about a year, and I just did it like I was in a nightclub," Koy remembered.

On the other hand, his fellow comedians tried to tell him not all was at stake, but he completely dismissed the assertion. “All the comics were the same way. It’s not like it was when Johnny was there, where it makes or breaks you. But either way, you’ll get good tape. That’s what they all kept saying – you’ll get good tape and it will get you into all the clubs. Sorry, but my whole thing was screw that. This is my shot. I’m going for it, and that’s exactly what I did,” he boasted.

Koy was obviously proven right. “It changed my life. I became a spokesman for a cell phone commercial and I went on a three month tour playing to 5000 people audiences, etc,” he said.

At the same time, his wasn’t the only future that was made secure. “One of my proudest moments came after the countrywide tour. I was on the tour bus for three straight months and didn’t cash any of the checks. When it was over, I deposited them, called my ex-wife and said, ‘you don’t have to worry about college. I took care of our boy,’” he conveyed.

Although his family isn’t always marked safe from his comedy - at least according to his mom. "My mom came to a few of my tapings, and she wasn’t exactly complimentary afterwards,” he said.

She wanted to know why so many jokes were about her. So the son set her straight. “I was like, mom – stop. It’s not supposed to be about you, it’s supposed to be about me,” Koy recalled the assertion.

Nonetheless, Koy still goes with what was passed down from above. “I’m not going to lie. I fought it for about three years. So when I finally decided to shave it, I was saying, God I hope I have a good head, because no one knows until they shave. After, I looked in the mirror and quickly realized, I got a good head,” Koy assured.

The same goes for what’s inside and, the sex appeal that goes with being funny. "Oh yeah, it’s a good business to be in, but I just love making them laugh. Hell, I like making myself laugh. Doing a lot of ad-lib, I’m always like, did I just say that. Somebody should write that down,” he beamed

Unfortunately, the humor got the better of him on a highly publicized occasion, and as expected, the moment became a thing. “I apologized publicly for what I said on Chelsea. But I was also saddened by it because I was labeled by this news source. They didn’t even send somebody to hear my side of it. They basically took the word from some blogger. Then copied and pasted his blog and posted it on their website. Still, I didn’t want to go the route of, 'I got gay friends so I can blah, blah, blah,'” he lamented.

In other words, he reiterated, “I didn’t want to go, wait a minute, my lesbian aunt helped raise me for five years. I mean I wore her underwear when all mine were dirty. She was kind of butch, and she wore Hanes. Anyway going that way just adds fuel to the fire. But it did feel good when gay friends and fans who knew me, came to my defense. Describing this guy as a homophobe is completely inaccurate. I’m sorry but the whole thing was just so stupid. I mean if you’re going to go after someone, do it to someone who means it.

Say like a congressmen? "Exactly,” concluded the comedian.