In November 2023, Jo Koy strode onto the stage in Brooklyn, blending in with the crowd and surveying the grand Kings Theatre with his charisma and infectious smile, where he taped his 2024 Netflix special, “Live from Brooklyn,” his fifth special on the prestigious network. As he strode across the stage leading up to the theatre, the comedian was overjoyed by the smiling faces before him.
“That’s my favorite part because this time we brought the stage into the audience. This time we brought the entire stage into the audience,” Koi said of the special in a recent interview with Inked magazine, adding, “We wanted the audience to feel like they were in the moment, so we captured the essence of the theater.”
During the show, the former b-boy proclaimed his preference for old-school hip-hop over modern rap music and delivered blunt portrayals of mothers that were offensive, funny, and all sorts of emotive, just as blunt as the adult works of the great comedians he idolized in the ’80s, like Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor.
Straight talk from an outstanding stand-up
When we spoke to Koy, he was a few months removed from hosting the acclaimed Golden Globe Awards. Supporters like Steve Martin congratulated him for taking on “the toughest job in show business,” but critics said his jokes didn’t live up to expectations. And he was in the final stages of his Funny Is Funny World Tour and preparing for an upcoming European tour. “After that, I’m going to take the summer off,” he said. But it’ll only be a short break before he heads to Houston in September to begin his next tour, Just Being Koy.
On that April day, Koy’s left wrist was adorned with a fresh tattoo from the night before, a bold black band inscribed with the number 89 and the phrase, “If you ain’t dreamin’, you ain’t living.” He stretched out his tattooed arm to reveal textured tribal designs of beehives, mountains, sashes and branches, and on his right forearm was a jeepney inscribed with his mother’s maiden name. His left bicep was graced with more black tattoos, like a timid fish swimming through a white space. The new tattoo sat where “Joe” once was, flanked by crowns and crosses.
Focusing on his right arm, Koy said, “I dedicated this whole arm to mothers and sons and Filipino culture. And then, of course, this side is my comedy arm. So, my journey, my path, is on my left arm.”
Touching on his ongoing struggles with CPAP machines, lactose, sciatica and modern technology, Coy spoke candidly about the often-discussed realities of aging for the comedy mogul, saying, “This technology is all new to us, but for our kids, they’ll grow up with it and it’s as simple as writing their name on a piece of paper.”
“I feel like an old man asking, ‘How did you do that with the lights?’ I feel like I do that every day with my son. He grabs my phone and says, ‘Do it like this, dad. Do it like this,’ and I can see his fingers doing it,” Coy said with a laugh, swiping and flicking his fingers on an imaginary phone.
“Life was easier when you had to pick up the phone and dial. It was a lot easier because when you wanted to hang up, you could really signal your intention by banging it. Now you can’t do that anymore. You just touch the little red dot and it hangs up,” Coy said. Recalling the days before mobile phones, he added: “When I was mad, I’d have to bang the phone seven times, you know?”
While the days of the landline may be a thing of the past, Koy is clearly still thriving by making a strong statement. Fans of the comedian already know that the 53-year-old figuratively slammed the phone down in 2017 when he put it all on the line for his comedy show, “Live from Seattle.”
Koy knew he was funny, but fully understood that he needed a bigger platform to take his career as a comedian to the next level. Without Netflix’s financial backing, he paid for the project himself and hoped that a network would pick it up after its release. “If we hadn’t put this together ourselves, it never would have happened. It was that moment when we were like, let’s just do it, why wait,” Koy explained. “I remember saying, ‘I’m almost 50. I can’t wait any longer. I have to do something.'”
In the end, major networks and laugh-loving fans devoured it: Netflix actually picked up the special, propelling the actor to new heights. “It changed everything for me,” Coy said.
Koy began doing stand-up comedy in 1989. Looking back at his early entertainment days, we can see that Koy rarely missed an opportunity to be in front of an audience, even if it was just for five minutes. “Nowadays you can really get the exposure you need, but back then it was hard, you had to do it yourself,” he explains, “A lot of the time I would send videotapes to comedy clubs or perform at comedy festivals.”
According to Coy, it was in 2005 that he began landing lead roles in competitive comedy shows. “I got famous on Just for Laughs, and that’s the path you had to take to make it in this industry,” he said. He explained that it’s easier today to share your craft with the masses than it was 20 years ago. “Now we have TikTok and Instagram, where you can instantly get your content to your fans, so that helps a lot.”
5 things you might not know about Jo Koy
Koy’s fans already know that he’s a Filipino-American comedian whose mother and son are central to his work and daily life — in fact, his son, Joseph Herbert Jr., has accompanied him on his “Funny is Funny World Tour,” which Koy said was “a dream come true.” But we’ve uncovered a few gems that might surprise even the most ardent of his comedy fans.
He plans to open a secret space for creative people.
“I want to launch this venue in LA and have it be a secret show vibe,” Koi told Inked. “I want to provide a place for up-and-coming artists to come together. I don’t want it to be a rundown bar; I want it to feel like an amazing venue where like 150 people can go and see the show.”
“It could be acoustic, it could be comedy, it could be poetry, it could be whatever you want. You could sing,” he further explained. “I think I’ve built the best stage and it’s the perfect venue, so it’s going to be a secret show. I’m not going to do it every week, but it’s going to be amazing.”
He has buttock-style tattoos.
About a year ago, an indigenous tattoo artist known as Ate Wams (@atewamz) inked a traditional batok-style tattoo of Koy’s Filipino family and culture on his right wrist. The tattoo artist then inked the same tattoos on his niece and nephew, who were vacationing with Koy.
Coy called it a “stabbing sensation” and said, “I didn’t really feel it, but I think I was also distracted by the click, click, click, click, click. It’s kind of funny.”
He wrote his first book.
In 2021, Koy released his autobiography, “Mixed Plate,” outlining the opportunities and obstacles he’s had in the past. In the book, readers can learn about Koy’s upbringing, his support system, influences, parenting skills, and the extra efforts he put in place to reach the next level of stardom.
He’s a big foodie with big plans.
In “Mixed Plate,” Koy talks about the Filipino food that fueled him as an adolescent and discovered his taste for it as an adult. When asked about the recipe for lumpia, a traditional Filipino dish featured in the book, Koy said, “It’s so funny that you said lumpia. It’s exactly what I want to do, what I want to do. So be prepared for something that involves me having lumpia. I can’t tell you the name yet. The deal isn’t done yet, but it’s done. It’s going to be awesome, by the way.”
Honolulu named the day for him.
After selling 23,000 tickets and playing 11 sold-out shows at Honolulu’s Neal S. Blaisdell Center in 2017, the mayor’s office declared Nov. 24 “Joe Koy Day.” “I always wanted to know what it felt like when someone says, ‘Oh, he has a key to the city,’ and it happened. What’s going on?” Koy said.
Every year, Koi takes his family back to Hawaii around “Jo Koi Day” to soak up the love. “It’s been fun,” Koi says. “I brag a lot, especially when we’re in Hawaii. I love it.”
From forcing his way into the comedy world where “there’s no room for amateurs” to packing out arenas and appearing on some of the most popular TV shows, Coy has always found joy in the incredible journey that is his life.
