In Jo Koy’s new Comedy Central special, “Don’t Make Him Angry”, he builds his material on typical stereotype humor yet adds playful ties with familial additions from his own daily experiences. Jo Koy doesn’t shy away from his Filipino heritage. Contrastingly to many other comedic genres, Jo koy addresses more detrimental issues like raising kids. All of these comedic topics are executed in Jo Koy’s great method of character portrayal through voices and gestures. Unlike other comedians, Jo Koy humbly thanks fellow identity comedic, Carlos Mencia, and talk show host, Jay Leno, for giving him the opportunity to show his talents. In one of his Canadian interviews, Jo Koy even states that his performance at The Tonight show was “the moment where became a full-time comedian”. The comedian, Jo Koy, embodies his identity comedic genre in his 2009 Comedy Central special, “Don’t Make Him Angry”, in an interesting way by emphasizing stereotype mindsets, demonstrating character impersonations, and portraying his own family situation.
The beginning of this special will automatically throw you into fits of laughter. Jo Koy dives head first into the blaring issue of racial stereotypes. Yet he does in it in a peculiar way such that he mentions not only one stereotype but two. The bit starts out with a comedic tour in Alabama taking place. Right off the bat, Jo Koy voices his feelings of hesitation and alienation of being in a state where Asians typically do not live in. This simple introduction already creates a near-perfect setup for things to come. The laughs really start rolling after his depiction of the locals around Alabama. He really illustrates the traditional stereotype of rednecks through demonstrating their less than sophisticated vocabulary and almost unnerving presences. Additionally he addresses the Asian stereotype through his personal experience of being called a “Ninja” by a redneck. This dual bit is a great first bit in this almost an hour long special. Jo Koy’s stereotype humor is spot on especially with his impression of rednecks. Even his understanding of how people see Asians. Jo Koy masterfully then transitions into a bit all about French people and the country as a whole. That seamless flow is great since the limited pause will guarantee more audience attention and focus. His choice of stereotype humor can be denounced as a bad topic since it’s used quite often in any comedic genre. Yet Jo Koy does in it in an interesting way since he pushes the bounds by comparing at least two races/nationalities in his bits consecutively.
Although Jo Koy used a variety of different stereotypes to show the differences among people, it can’t be said that this type of stereotype humor hasn’t been used before. Even his mentor, Carlos Mencia, is worldly known for his part in introducing the identity genre in comedy. Like Jo Koy, Carlo Menica’s stand-up specials included tons upon tons of stereotype skits mainly dealing with his racial identity, Mexican. Sticking to your own heritage is a gag that has been used for decades. Nor is he original for his Asian stereotype humor. Another comedian Margaret Cho depicts much more generalized characteristics of Asians in the point of view of other Americans. Jo Koy almost seemed to bypass the race issue in this stand-up special unlike his earlier work in “Chinese People”. Jo Koy’s choice of using redneck impersonations is less than original. Even teenagers mock rednecks by talking slowly or saying all rednecks have trucks. This is nothing new. The elapsed time of the whole bit is also a big negative factor about this stand-up special. The special was promoted as an hour-long comedic episode yet lasted less than 45 minutes. As an audience member, I would be a little ticked off for paying for a 60 minute show yet receiving only three quarters of it. Additionally you get in less comedic material if you subtract all the pauses he takes from the