Jo Koy

Koy was born to a Caucasian father, John C. Herbert, who was in the United States Air Force stationed in Japan when he married Koy's Filipina mother, Josie Harrison.^[4] His family moved from Spanaway, Washington, to Tacoma, Washington, and then to Las Vegas soon after he finished high school in Tacoma. He originally attended Spanaway Lake High School and then moved to Foss High School in Tacoma. They moved to Las Vegas to be near his ailing grandmother. Jo Koy enrolled in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, but dropped out to pursue stand-up comedy.^[1] Koy's stepfather Sergeant Fredrick Harrison died in 2023.^[5]

Koy has said that his stage name comes from a nickname his family gave him when he was growing up.^[6] It was said during his stand-up routine in Phoenix, Arizona, on September 22, 2019, that back in 1989 he was talking to his cousin about making a stage name when his aunt called him to come to dinner, shouting "Jo Ko, eat!" (Ko means "my" in Tagalog, so Jo Ko means "my Jo"), which he misheard as "Koy," and, deciding that it was a good name, has used it ever since.

Koy credits his mother for his comedic and acting talents. He frequently tells stories about her in his comedy shows. She encouraged him to participate in school talent shows and to hold impromptu performances for his family and friends. This led to performances at a Las Vegas coffee house and inspired a move to Los Angeles.

In 1994, Koy began his stand-up career at a comedy club in Las Vegas. Soon he moved from open mic night to a regular spot on the show Catch a Rising Star at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.^[1] After performing at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, he rented the Huntridge Theater and went door to door to sell tickets to his comedy shows.^[1] A talent coordinator from Los Angeles spotted Koy and landed him his first television appearance on BET's ComicView. He has appeared in two seasons of Comic View.

Koy has starred in other TV stand-up specials like Jamie Foxx Presents: Laffapalooza! Jo Koy has won the Showtime at the Apollo, performed in front of troops in the USO Tour, can be seen on various VH1 I Love the '70s, '80s, '90s, truTV's World's Dumbest... and New Millennium episodes, Amp'd Mobile phone commercials and received a second invite to the Montreal comedy festival Just for Laughs, the series for which he was awarded Canada's prestigious Gemini Award. Koy was also a regular guest at Chelsea Handler's roundtable discussion on E!'s Chelsea Lately. He has also appeared on Carlos Mencia's Punisher Tour performing stand-up comedy.^[7] In 2005, He performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Koy started a podcast together with comedian and TV host Michael Yo on July 23, 2012, called The Michael Yo and Jo Koy Show. Koy has also appeared on over 100 episodes of Chelsea Lately as a season regular roundtable guest. Other appearances include The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, @midnight with Chris Hardwick, VH1, World's Funniest Fails, The Joy Behar Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Call with Carson Daly and Jamie Foxx: Laffapalooza. Today, the comedian tours across the US and can be heard as a weekly guest on the podcast, The Adam Carolla Show. He joined the PodcastOne family and hosts the weekly podcast, The Koy Pond. Koy has done two highly rated and successful comedy specials on Comedy Central: Don't Make Him Angry and Lights Out. His third comedy special, Jo Koy: Live from Seattle is a Netflix Original, and was released worldwide on March 28, 2017. Koy released another Netflix special titled Jo Koy: Comin' in Hot on June 12, 2019. On February 23, 2019, Koy performed two shows on stage at the Wheeler Opera House, Aspen, Colorado, for the closing night of Aspen Laugh Festival.^[7][8]

On June 12, 2020, Netflix released Jo Koy: In His Elements, a comedy special featuring Filipino American comedians, DJs, and B-boys.^[9] On July 28, 2022, Koy, alongside film producer Dan Lin appeared in the Rise for Comedy festival, where they raised a $75,000 donation to the nonprofit Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA).^[10]

On December 21, 2023, Koy was announced as host of the 81st Golden Globe Awards.^[11]

Koy's monologue as host of the 81st Golden Globe Awards was met with criticism from viewers and critics with many describing his jokes as "painful", "unfunny", and "cringeworthy". Chelsey Sanchez of Bazaar described his monologue as "awkward" and "distasteful".^[12] Shirley Li of The Atlantic wrote, "practically every joke failed to land, mostly because the punchlines were dated or obvious".^[13] Variety's television critic Alison Herman panned Koy as "woefully unqualified" to be an awards show host. Koy was met with criticism for putting blame on his writers during the monologue, coming after a lengthy 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. Justin Curto of Vulture noted, that when some of his jokes fell flat, Koy "immediately threw his writers under the bus... He yelled. 'Yo, shut up. You're kidding me, right. Slow down. I wrote some of these, and they're the ones you're laughing at.'"^[14][15]

Hershal Pandya of Vulture wrote "Comedians have tanked at the Golden Globes before but none quite as spectacularly as Koy."^[16] Marlow Stern of Rolling Stone noted that many of Koy's jokes drew "groans" and "boos" from the audience.^[17] Among the barbs that drew the most ire were sexist jokes involving the Barbie movie and Taylor Swift, as well as uncomfortable jokes directed at Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro.^{[18][19][20][21][22]} Nicole Sperling of The New York Times, who was in the audience that night, wrote, "Never seen an audience rebel against an emcee so quickly" and cited a prominent director describing Koy as a "disaster".^[23] Viewers online noted stunned reactions from the crowd from people such as Selena Gomez, Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford.^[24][25]

Koy responded to the criticism in an interview with Good Morning America, admitting, "I'd be lying if I said the backlash didn't hurt", but also admitted, "I had fun. You know, it was a moment that I'll always remember. Hosting is just a tough gig. Yes, I'm a stand-up comic but that hosting position it's a different style. I kind of went in and did the writer's thing. We had 10 days to write this monologue. It was a crash course. I feel bad, but I got to still say I loved what I did."^[26] Fellow comedians such as Steve Martin, Whoopi Goldberg and Kevin Hart, as well as radio host Howard Stern, expressed sympathy towards Koy, with many of them arguing that the job of a comedian is not always easy, especially when hosting an awards show.^[27][28][29] A week later at the 29th Critics' Choice Awards, Koy's ex-girlfriend and fellow comedian Chelsea Handler made a joke about his performance by praising her writers for a joke received well by the audience.

Koy has named Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal,^[1] Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock, and Steve Martin as his comedy influences.^[30] In 2022, Blogtalk with MJ Racadio named him one of the "75 Most Influential Filipino-Americans".^[31]

Koy has one son, Joseph Herbert Jr. born at Cedars-Sinai Hospital on April 21, 2003, from a previous relationship with Angie King. Koy and his son reside in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California.^[32]

On September 27, 2021, Koy and Chelsea Handler posted an official Instagram post of their relationship.^[33][34] In July 2022, they announced their breakup on Handler's Instagram, which occurred in June.^{[citation needed]}

Koy is a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.^[35]

In 2009, The Jo Koy Foundation hosted its first philanthropic event in "Hilarity for Charity" a stand-up comedy show featuring Koy, along with special surprise comedic guests. The show took place at The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club, located in the heart of Citywalk, Universal City, California. Proceeds from the ticket sales were donated to The Children's Hospital of Orange County.^{[citation needed]}

In 2023, Koy got his arm tattooed by mambabatok Wilma “Ate Wamz” Gaspili at Igorot’s Charm Cafe across Baguio Botanical Garden.^[36]

Koy's mom is a supporter of the Republican Party and former President Donald Trump, but Koy himself has shied away from politics in his comedy routines.^[37][38]

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jo Koy.

• Jo Koy at IMDb
• Official website
• Comedy Central profile Archived October 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine