Jo Koy is our guy.
All the big comedians are coming through town these days: Kevin Hart at Resorts World, Jerry Seinfeld back at Caesars Palace, Adam Sandler at Cosmo, Sebastian Maniscalco and Jim Gaffigan and Chris Tucker at Wynn. Koy’s name might not always be grouped in with those guys—he certainly wouldn’t put himself in that category—but the guy has been absolutely destroying his arena tour this year. This is a comedian who got his start in Las Vegas coffee shops while attending UNLV and has slayed audiences this year at Radio City Music Hall, Climate Pledge Arena in his original hometown of Seattle and the SM Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippines.
He’ll follow up last week’s Madison Square Garden gig by becoming the first comedian ever to headline T-Mobile Arena. What makes that even sweeter is that he totally gets it.
“There are other arenas, big giant ones in Las Vegas, but there’s something special about T-Mobile, just sitting there on the Strip,” Koy says. “Locals claim it. And people from out of town, when you say T-Mobile Arena, they know it. It’s already an iconic part of Vegas.”
Koy says he’s been pinching himself throughout the tour, over the types of venues he’s getting to play. Maybe that’s because he’s reached a new echelon in his comedy career over the past few years, when he’s broadened his horizons with his first book, the autobiographical Mixed Plate: Chronicles of an All-American Combo, and the first film he can really call his own, Easter Sunday. That Jay Chandrasekhar-directed comedy flick was released this year and is based on some of Koy’s most popular stand-up subjects—his family.
“Making a movie, people don’t know what it takes. It’s stressful, it’s so rewarding, it’s a lot of fun and there’s zero sleep,” he says. “But there was a lot of responsibility on my shoulders to make this movie, a lot of representation [issues].
“There were so many firsts I had to take care of before I could even think about trying to make it funny. It was the first time you had a story in a Hollywood film where the lead is a Filipino woman.”
Anybody who spends time on Netflix—where Koy’s recent specials Live From the Los Angeles Forum and Comin’ in Hot remain in heavy rotation—can see we’re living in the most diverse era of comedy yet. It might just be an hour-long stand-up special here, a movie there, but the impact of this particular progress in the entertainment industry cannot be measured.
“People saw the movie and will say, ‘Oh, he’s making a movie about what he talks about onstage,’ and yeah, I am, but it’s the first one. Just imagine how Filipinos feel, to be living in this country for so long [without that],” Koy says. “My grandmother lived here for 50 years and never saw anything like that in her lifetime. My mom is 75 now, and that’s the first movie she’s ever seen like that. That’s what that movie meant—a lot of people being felt, being seen.”
And after his Easter Sunday experience, Koy is ready to play his part to ensure other deserving artists are being seen.
“I want to continue producing. I’m addicted to being behind the camera now, and I want to showcase the other talent that’s out there,” he says. “I know how hard it was for me, and now that the door is open, I want to keep it open and present more talent, not just Filipino talent but other cultures and ethnicities that want to be heard. I want to see what I can do to help make that happen.”
JO KOY November 19, 8 p.m., $51-$700. T-Mobile Arena, axs.com.
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