Hey, happy new year, everybody. It's Jeff Zito and thanks for checking out another episode of the Celebrity Jobber podcast. You can follow on Insta Celebrity underscore jobber underscore podcast. Also the YouTube channel is youtube.com slash the at sign celebrity jobber. Also streaming on Apple podcast iHeart Spotify wherever you listen to podcast and please hit the subscribe button. Would love a five star rating and please leave a review. If you want to check out past guests and episodes you can do so by going to celebrity jobber.com. How did it all happen for some of these people? Maybe they had a dream early on and they worked towards it for years and hit the big time after a lot of hard work or sometimes it was kind of a complete accident. Perhaps that was the case for our guest today. comedian Henry Cho born in Knoxville, Tennessee to Korean born parents. Henry became the first Asian American invited to become a member of the Grand Old Opera. Henry is well known as a clean comedian. We'll find out how Henry got his big break and how the comedy and showbiz career all got started. You know I'm sure with Korean born parents stand up comedy wasn't a family tradition. Jobs outside of comedy and he's had a few. We'll talk about those and of course his first job. On tour here in the new year you can go to henrychocomedy.com for more details that's henrychocommedy.com. In his 40th year in stand up comedy and again the first Asian American invited to become a member of the Grand Old Opera, Henry Cho is my guest this week on Celebrity Jobber. The Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. If you like what you hear please subscribe, give a five star rating and leave a review. Check out all our past episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you put it. What if these celebrities weren't famous? What would they have become? What was their first job? We're about to find out. I've known of henrycho for a long time so how long you've been in show business for? I've been doing stand up January will be 40 years. Wow. 40 years. Wow. Tell me a little something about your life before stand up. Tell me. I was in college. I was, you know, and I told my buddies I was going to stand up and of course they thought I was crazy and I went down to the local comedy club in Knoxville, Tennessee, Fanny Boone. They had some competition and I entered it not knowing what it was. And I thought it was like 12 guys like me and it ended up being a real competition. Right. So it was me and 11 guys that knew what they were doing and there's a money night and I told my buddies I was just going to go up and try it and never talk about doing it again. And lo and behold, I won and the guy who owned all the Fanny Boone chain, there were 12 comedy clubs at the time. Jared Kubuck, he happened to be there because it was that big of a deal, which I had no idea. And he hired me right there in a spot. So I started working on Wednesday and I dropped out of college on Friday and I've been through story and I've been doing it ever since. Now this is pretty amazing because you hear about, I mean, these are like stories that are told in a movie, right? Like talk. I mean, that shouldn't have happened. You shouldn't have gotten up on stage for the very first time doing a comedy competition and one with no, like you didn't know what a premise was. Did you have any idea how to tell a joke or you just like, yeah, I'm a funny guy. I'm going to get up there and do it. Are we a student of comedy or like you just got up and did it? I just kind of got up and did it. You know, I used to watch Sunfield and Blake Clark and Rich Shagner on the Tonight Show, Gary Shanley, Leno, all these guys. You know, I watched the Tonight Show like all kids did back then. You know, when you had three channels and Johnny Carson was it, you know. So I knew what a standup comedian was. I've never hung out in comedy clubs. I wasn't one of those guys. I never did open mics. I just thought on a whim that I would try it and when I called down there to find out the protocols, they said, hey, well, there's a competition next week on Monday. We're full, but we'll make you the first alternate. And if somebody drops out, you can have their spot. And I said, okay. And sure enough, on Friday, they called and said, somebody dropped out. So you're in. I went, okay. So driving my truck with my two college roommates, we're driving to the comedy club and we're they're going, you're serious. I said, yeah, they go, well, remember when this happened, remember this. So we just started talking about what I should say. Wow. And I went up there and told stories and my first joke destroyed and from then I went, okay. Wow. All right. I like this. So yeah, I got a standing ovation. Wow. So okay, Henry, let's, I mean, this is, this is pretty surreal already. Now, you're, you grew up in the South. You're an Asian American. You're going to college. I want to know what the conversation was like between you and your dad when you're like, hey, dad. I want to quit. I want to quit going to college and become a stand up comedian. I can't, I can't think that that conversation went well. You know, tell me, tell me a little bit about it. You're spot on. So I do this and I get hired and I go back to class that week and I'm just writing jokes in class and, you know, my college roommate says the, he says, when I walked off stage that very first time, he said, you know, I don't know if you remember, but you high five me and said, I may never have to take another college course the rest of my life. And so my parents immigrated here 75 years ago. They didn't speak English. They learned English because that's what you did back then. And they're, you know, they were the top students at their schools in Seoul, Korea. That's, their reward was come to college in United States. And back then it was Warren Wilson, junior college in Asheville, North Carolina. I mean, nowadays they go to Harvard or Yale or something. Right. Back then, it wasn't that way. And so, you know, there are like 16 doctors in my family. Right. So that's what I was supposed to be, but I was born here. So that's what I tell my dad all the time. I said, look, I said, you left. I was born here. So my priorities are girls sports school, right. School is a distant third. So, you know, I was close to graduating. I was in my six year of college and my fifth major. And my mom had no problem because she always knew I was going to do something else. I mean, I was going to play pro baseball. That was my whole. Really? Yeah, that was my, that was my whole attitude. And yeah, you know, the funny thing is playing, I only played through high school, but, you know, we were, we were city champs. We lost one game, that kind of thing. We were really good. And so, you know, we travel and play baseball and everybody kind of freak out that, you know, here's his Korean kid playing baseball. I mean, you know, this is late 70s. I graduated in 1980. And so, even in college, you know, we played in our football and I was the quarterback because I was always the quarterback. And all these other teams were playing. They never seen an Asian kid be a quarterback. Right. So, they had this whole thing. I, you know, it's like George Lopez said, yes, ethically impossible for me to be an athlete back then. Right. Right. So, I told my dad. I said, hey, look, I dropped out of college. I'm not going to finish school. I'm going to stand, do stand up comedy and he had no idea what that was. He didn't even know what you were talking about. Oh, my gosh. No, you know, he didn't know. And so, I tried to explain him, you know, like on Johnny Carson, and he's like, oh, you're going to be on Johnny Carson. And I said, well, not exactly. Yeah. I just started last Monday. So, oh, man, this is, this is Sunday afternoon. Because I dropped out of college on Friday. This is Sunday I went by the house. And he did not really speak to me for about a year and a half. And then I did a thing on Showtime. And he happened to catch it on TV. And before that, I was doing a show in Cincinnati because I hit the road a couple months after I dropped out of college. He was up there for some, I don't know, nuclear physicist seminar. And you're not kidding. He's a nuclear physicist. Oh, yeah. He had an MD degree. He had a couple of doctors. God. So, he, he, he was up there for some conference and his colleagues came to the comedy club. Well, I was in him. So they went back talking about this kid they saw that they never seen anything like these other. He's in it. He's Korean, but he was born in Knoxville and my dad's like, going, what was his name? And they said, Henry Cho, man, your Cho, do you know him? I did. He did not tell him that I was his son. He just said, no, I don't know him. Oh, my God. But he found out that's what I do. And then, you know, 18 months after he didn't really, he was an onboard. He was on board. He told me I should stick with it. And, you know, after that, I was bulletproof and I was off and running. Wow. What an incredible story, Henry. Celebrity jobber, the celebrity jobber podcast with Jeff Zeta. You're telling me the story. And in real time, I'm thinking to myself, what would I do? And how would I feel if I had to tell my old man what my new career path was going to be? And I would have been frightened. You had to be your father had to be strict. I know, you know, they, they, you know, I'm sure Asian American or I'm sorry, Asian parents are strict and they want their, their kids to do well and they want their kids to get an education. It's probably the most important thing in, in their life is for you to be successful and get an education. So this had to absolutely destroy him, which it did for a year and a half. He wouldn't talk to you. Yeah, it did. And I still have ants and who, you know, I still have relatives that don't appreciate what I do to this day. I have cousins who were forbidden to watch me on TV. Oh, my God. Their parents didn't want them to be influenced by me whatsoever. I mean, it's still, you know, it still holds true and, and, you know, for the most part, I get it. But, you know, like I said, I was born here. So there's your first mistake. Wow. And you turned into a success and now it's, they've got to understand and tell me. So when you're in college, you said your, your plan was to become a doctor. Was that your major? Were you going to med school? What were you planning on? Yeah, I started out, well, I started out in pre-VET because I was not going to be a real doctor. Okay. And I loved animals. I thought, okay, if I'm forced down this path, this is what I'm going to do. And then I found out I have to go to school for seven years now and I'm not. All right. So I went into engineering, I took all these chemistry and physics, all these classes and I did well, but I'm like, I can't do this. And then I, so I noticed more girls were in business. So I changed over to business. Right. Right. Then I was in accounting and I thought this is going to be born for me. So I went into marketing and then went into advertising, which was actually kind of my lane. And I was doing really well. And then I started doing stand up and I just quit. And, you know, the crazy thing is back when I started, I mean, I did any show anywhere to get as good as I could get as fast as I could. So even though I didn't do open mics, that didn't mean I didn't do horrible shows, horrible situations, I was just getting paid for it. Right. That was the difference. And I was actually getting real time. I wasn't doing two minutes every third Monday of the month. I was doing 15, 20 minutes sets. So I worked super hard to keep moving up. And, you know, the funny thing is Gary Shanley ended up being, you know, hit the name drop that I'm going to. He, he in Seinfeld, long, long time mentors of mine. And I'll never get Gary saying, you know, if you ever write a book, we'll write the first two chapters of how to start out in comedy because no one does it like you do. Right. No one gets hired. He gets to that kind of stage time. No one gets that good that fast. I mean, you know, I did my first headline show with him my first year. Oh my gosh. You know, one of the things, one of the things I wanted to ask you, Henry, and I'm sure you could probably elaborate on it. But I think you already gave it to me. Like, I was going to ask you like, what, what was your big break? I mean, it seems like you were off to the races immediately. All this happens to you very first time that you get on stage and you try comedy. But you know, after that, can, can you remember a moment where your life changed forever? Was it an appearance on Johnny Carson? What was the thing that happened to you that changed your life forever? The moment the big break, if you will. Okay. There's probably three or four. The first one was being on that stage during that competition. When I had no idea what it was, I just thought it was a local competition. And it was a funniest person in the Tennessee competition for show times. Funniest person in America. Okay. That's why the owner of the funny bones was there and it was packed. And everybody in that room knew what was going on, except for me and my two buddies. We had no idea. I mean, I barely had enough gas to get my truck there. So. And so the biggest break was that me doing as well as I did, which was crazy. And Jerry Kubak seen me and hiring me right there on the spot. Because I came up stage because, hey, how long you been doing comedy? I said, that was it. He goes, no, really? And I said, that was it. And my buddy's gonna like going, that was it. That's the first time he's ever done anything. And he said, well, I need an MC this week. So that's the other big break. They had to show that week, which is, you know, MC, middle act headliner in a comedy club. And they didn't have an MC had they had an MC. This probably wouldn't happen. But the MC that week had had bailed on him or whatever. So he said, hey, I need an MC this week. Do you want to work this week? And I said, what's that? He goes, you do 15 minutes and you introduce the other acts. And I said, well, I got five. I don't have 15. He said, we'll do that five. It's the best five I've ever seen in my life. So I said, okay, I'll do it because I'll pay you a couple hundred bucks. I'm like, really? Okay. So I started working on Wednesday. And then I worked with a guy named John Hitten who was the middle act. The headliner, he didn't have that greater device. But John Hitten was the middle act. And John Hitten just became an actor on living color. So I'm sorry, not living color. Was that the heavy guy? Was that the, you got a him? Was that him? No, no, no, no, no, no. John Hitten's a black comedian. He was on living, living single, living color. Okay, living single with Martin or with, uh, with, uh, with 2D from, uh, from Faxalife. I know. Yeah. Yeah. So, so John Hitten gave me the device the first night he ever saw me because he knew the story that I started on Monday. And he was freaking out because I can't believe you've been on stage three times now. So that was, that was the biggest break. The second break was Jerry Seinfeld was in Atlanta. And there was a, his opener couldn't make it for some reason. And I was been doing comedy. I don't know, six months at this time, but I already had a reputation in the area that I was clean. I've always been clean since day one. So I get a call to go open for Jerry Seinfeld in Atlanta. And Seinfeld took me under his wing and helped me out. And he great advice went back to LA told, you know, Leno and Gary Shanley and all these guys about me. So lo and behold, the next couple of years I'm torn 75% of my shows are with the best stand-ups in America. Uh, early on I worked with Bill Ingvall. Bill Ingvall took me under his wing, had me out to LA, stayed at his house, uh, introduced me to comedians and all the clubs there. And so I went up on stage in 1986 and then I moved to LA in 1989 and Linda Bloodwood Thomas and saw me on TV. And next thing I knew I'm doing design women and all these things are happening so fast because that was all I did. I ate drink, slept, stand up comedy, writing jokes. I toured. First two years I was ever working. I worked 50 weeks a year. Right. Oh. You know, the first tour I had was I was gone from my house 18 weeks. I worked my way nine weeks out and nine weeks back. So you know, I was doing shows anywhere and everywhere. So the biggest breaks came from the first night, Jerkubak being there, being clean. So I got to work with Bill Ingvall and Jerry Soundfield early on. And then the other break was doing the connection back when it, when everybody watched the tonight show. It was just one of those things. The celebrity jobber podcast with Jeff Cito. Celebrity jobber. You did not have, I'm sure, a similar path like others that have, have gone before you, Henry. Have you ever had a regular job? What was your very first job? And then, you know, while you were developing your, your stand up comedy, did you ever have to work odd jobs outside of comedy? Yeah. You know, I had, like all kids, I had part time job, you know, I had a paper out when I was in elementary school, middle, junior high school, I had a paper out, you know, and then I'd clean up after concerts at the Coliseum when I was like 15, 16. That kind of stuff. But in college, I drove a truck for four years. I delivered, delivered auto parts in a hundred mile radius of not full. So I was gone somewhere after I'd go to school in the morning and dropped the truck in that for names and evenings. So I had all these part time jobs, you know, as a temp job, I mean, I worked on barges on the, on the Clinch River. I'd worked in butcher shops. I did all these horrible jobs, just to make cash. Sure. And then I worked at the post office and actually I was really good. They wanted hire me, but I started doing stand-up, thank goodness. So I worked at Target for two weeks during Christmas rush. Right. I was Christmas help for two weeks just to get a paycheck to go watch Tennessee beat Miami in the art, sugar bowl and all these things. So, you know, I had jobs, but not real jobs. So I've never had a real job. Your very first job was the paper route. Very first paycheck was the paper route when you were a kid. Yes. First one, we, you know, is the old school delivered papers? Yeah, you book, you'd go collect on Tuesday or Wednesday, deliver all week. So man. And then, and then at what point, how old were you when all the odd jobs kind of went away? You didn't have to do this stuff anymore because you were a full time comedian that was successful and making it. How old were you? I was, I was in my six year college. So I was 24 when I started. Unbelievable. And, and I've never had a, yeah, I've never had to like clock in anywhere since. Wow, man. And inducted into the grand old opera, this has got to be kind of, you know, first, you know, they don't, they don't induct many people. I mean, how many people have been inducted into the, to the grand old opera, like 200 and, and something people? I mean, this is a, kind of a, kind of a huge thing. You're the 200 and 29th member of the grand old opera. And I would imagine the first Asian American. And I say that. Oh, yeah. And I don't mean to bring your, your ethnicity into the mix. But when one thinks of the grand old opera, you think about, you know, Southern boy, you know, which you are, you are Americans, Southern guy born and raised in, in Knoxville, Tennessee, but it's just something that you, you don't hear about. It's a, it's a pretty amazing. It's, you know, it's crazy because I'm the first comedian inducted in over 50 years. Wow. Right. Right. And I, I'd been a guest performer, probably 100, 110, 120 times before this happened. I'd been going to the opera and performing for 15, 16 years, something like that. And the fact that I'm a member and, you know, I was born and raised in Knoxville. I know all about the opera. Right. The, it was never on my radar. You know, right after I got inducted, you know, I was getting interviewed. People say, is this a dream come true? And I'm like, no, why would I dream this? Are you crazy? Right. So, I mean, yeah, I mean, I never even thought about it. Even when I was performing all those times, I'd never thought about it. Even though, you know, all the, all the old school veteran historical performers there, always told me, you know, we got to make you a member. We got to make you a member of the staff. I mean, the crew, everybody's telling me this. I'm like, you guys are crazy. I'm going to be no member of the opera. Right. And lo and behold, I'm a member of the grand old opera. So for something like that, and the fact that I'm Asian is the sidebar. And it's always been the sidebar of my entire career. Here's another thing people can't figure out. You guys, you look at any other ethnic comedian and their audiences, 95, 98% that, that ethnicity. Yes. That ethnicity. Mine is 98% white. No one's figured it out. That is something. That is something. And marketing people have always tried houses happen. You know, kind of my show and though, it'll be 100% white. Right. And though, like, how's this happened? And I never did. I had a deal with CBS and they hired a Asian writer. I want to, I think she was Korean. And she came to watch me do a set at Igbeys and West L.A. And the audience was probably 95% white. Maybe there may have been eight Asian people and, you know, 20 African Americans. And some Latinos because it is L.A. But it was over 95% white. And she noticed. White people were reacting to me like she never seen anyone react to an Asian man. And she couldn't figure it out. So she couldn't write this sitcom because she couldn't figure out. She kept trying to write me like a Korean guy. And I said, I'm not, I'm, I said, I'm Korean, but I'm not a Korean guy. I tend to see guy who happens to be Korean. And she couldn't figure that out. So, um, yeah, being a member of the grand old operating. It's, uh, one of the coolest things in the world. And here's something for you too. I'm, I'm the only guy in the planet, the only person in the planet, who's a member of the grand old operating and Harv, Harvage National Lamp. That's, that, yeah, that's on two opposite sides of the spectrum, isn't it? Exactly. And two of the most iconic. Absolutely. Institutions in America. I mean, you know, they do it. So they made a caricature of me. And they, they put my caricature on the wall, you know, next to John Cleese and Billy Crystal. I mean, come on. How iconic. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. I mean, look, man, you need, uh, you need somebody to help write your movie. I'm telling you, I'm interested because what a hell of a story. I mean, this is, this is a movie. I mean, your, your life is a movie. Celebrity jobber. The celebrity jobber podcast with Jeff Cito. Henry, have you ever like sat back and like, I don't know, maybe a burn one. You get a little buzz and you, you think to yourself, oh, man, uh, reflecting on everything, reflecting on your life and you're like, man, I almost, you know, what became a doctor or veterinarian or a marketing advertising executive, I almost became like, have you ever had that thought like, man, you know, this is kind of crazy. How this happened? I might have been wearing a pair of khaki pants and a short sleeve dress shirt and a tie and going to work every day as, as this. Have you ever thought about that? Or is it just so far in your rear view that you've never really took time to ponder? No, no, no, no, no, no, if I did burn one, I wouldn't need to help to ponder. Anyway, so, but I do ponder and trust me, it's not lost on me. Every time I walk off stage, as you kind of go, wow, I got away with another one. Right. I mean, I, I feel like I've, I've snuck in and, and stolen the last cookie out of the jar, right? Because, yeah, I mean, I, I was definitely not thinking about doing this as a career. I was, you know, for my entire life, it's not like I love, you know, I studied standup and I wrote jokes all the time and stuff like that. Right. This is just something I, I thought I could do and I went and tried it and it, all the planets aligned as they say because Jerry Kubak was there and it was a huge national statewide competition. And I mean, it was, it was, it was working comedians in me. I mean, right. Like real, real, real working comedians and you, that's crazy. Yes. And, you know, a lot of these guys, I get it. I would have been mad too or maybe not mad. I've been maybe a little resentful because they're like going, wow, he had to be doing, you know, he must have been doing spots in Atlanta and came up here. There's no way that was his first time. Right. It was my first time. So, you know, because it was, it was, it was lightning in the bottle and it just happened and knowing it ever, you know, so Steve Allen who invented the tonight's joke. Right. And every standup joke, every joke probably traces back to Steve Allen because he's, then I'm on. Steve Allen was a huge phenomenon. And in 1989, I did the comedy festival in Las Vegas and I came off stage and Steve Allen is standing there. Wow. And he introduces himself and I'm like, oh, Mr. Allen, I know you are. He said, you know, you'll say there's no such thing as a new joke. I said, right, because you did him all. He said, well, besides that, he said, there's no such thing as a new joke. He goes, but you have like 10 because there's been Southern comedians and there are some Asian comedians, but they don't speak with a Southern accent. Right. And you've told 10 jokes that no one has ever come from your perspective ever and no one else can tell those jokes, but you. Right. You have 10 years, you probably have more just in that set alone. You had 10 new jokes that no one has ever heard that I've never heard that I never even thought I would hear. And I'm like, wow, you're Steve Allen. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I was speechless. Yeah. It's just such an incredible story. And by the way, Henry Cho Comedy.com. You can see a list of all of Henry's shows again, Henry Cho Comedy.com. By the way, locally here in the Gulf Coast of Florida, January 23rd at one of my favorite venues, the Tampa Theater of January 24th. 24th is Barber B. Mann performing arts hall in Fort Myers and January 28th in Orlando, Dr. Philip Center for the performing arts. There's two venues though, the one in Fort Myers, great and up in Tampa. I love the Tampa Theater. It's an iconic theater up in Tampa. So get Henry's tour dates again, Henry Cho Comedy.com for more information on where he's coming. And man, I gotta tell you, I really, I had some technical difficulties. People listening, they don't know. I had to call, you know, I talked to Henry and I said, hey, I'm having some technical difficulties. Can I call you back in about five minutes? Henry was gracious enough to give me the time and give me a little extra time. So I really appreciate it. But I really enjoyed the conversation. And it was just a hell of a story, great, great story. I would say good luck to you, but it seems like I'm a little late for that. And but can you always need love for me? Congratulations. Congratulations on all your success. What a great, what a great story. And again, I get the anxiety just thinking about that conversation between you and your old man. I'm dad, I'm quick, I'm quick and college to become a traveling stand up comedian. I can only imagine how frightened you were with that conversation. Oh, terrified, terrified. Henry Cho Comedy.com once again, thank you so much, Henry. It was a real pleasure speaking with you. Thank you. Yeah, everything I do is Henry Cho Comedy every social on all that. So thanks for having me on the air. And local boy Nathan Wallace will be with me in Fort Myers, Florida. He's been touring with me for three, four years. So come check out all the Florida shows. I'm going all over Florida. Excellent. Thank you so much, Henry. Take care. Have a great day. Thank you, man. You too. Bye bye now. See you, man. Thanks. All right. So he was in his 60 year of college, fifth major and one night with his college buddies try stand up at like an open mic night. He's some like local contest that he wins. Just a natural had no idea. Never did it before. Didn't know anything about telling jokes. Just kind of a funny guy. And from there, it all happened his comedy career, which is not usually the story for 99.9 percent of the people. This was like kind of a special thing that happened to Henry Cho. You know, his parents were from Korea. So I mentioned, you know, breaking the news to his father that he was quitting college to become a traveling stand up comedian had to absolutely destroy him. And he said, yeah, his old man didn't talk to him for about a year and a half. They wanted him to become a doctor. So obviously when you say, hey, not only do I not want to be a doctor, I want to be a traveling stand up comedian and I'm quitting college, I could see where that conversation went south. And hey, look, things like that don't usually happen to people like they did for Henry. He said he wanted to be a professional baseball player. And he said he almost worked at the post office, but the comedy career started right then in there. Very first job delivering newspapers. That was my very first job as well. And he said he had other jobs, you know, like part time gigs. He said he worked at Target. He worked in a butcher shop like I mentioned the post office, but he said he never really had a real job. So part time gigs here and there, but other than comedy, that was his only real job to date. Or I should say show business. Pretty incredible story, isn't it? On tour in the new year, you can go to Henrychocomedy.com as well as all of his socials for more info on where Henry Cho is touring. So happy new year. And thank you once again for checking out the celebrity job or podcast, pasguests and episodes online celebrity jobber.com, streaming on Apple podcasts, Spotify, I Heart or wherever, you listen to podcasts. Please hit the subscribe button, would love a five star rating, and please leave a review. I'm telling you, this story from Henry Cho could turn into a movie. Hey man, sometimes you just step in it. And then the reason that Henry's successful is a lot of hard work followed. Anyway, thanks again for listening. Happy new year. Until next week here on the celebrity job or podcast, I'll see you then. I'm Jeff Zito.
