Jo Koy: Live from the Los Angeles Forum

Jo Koy is a very funny and endearing comic. His stand up stories about his life and family are self-effacing and funny. His jokes about Filipino family life and Asian culture are revealing and funny. Koy has had several specials of different natures since his first big one on Netflix in Seattle. This one is is his second best. He plays very well with the audience, and he manages to engage them in a personal way, even in a forum as big as the one in Los Angeles where this one was filmed. Boy takes some time ion this one to handle post-COVID life, his son-a usual target- and his relationship with Netflix over the years. Koy is a great comedian and this special is worth seeing.

This is the same set he had when I saw him in Tampa! When I tell you it was my favorite comedy show I've ever seen in person or TV! I'm rewatching it and still laughing. (Not as much but I love seeing that he is using the same jokes he practiced and perfected on this Netflix special) I've been waiting to see if he did the same thing and now I can't wait for my dad to see it. He was talking directly to him for half the show!

When I tell you, live!, I was in tears yo! JoKoy is my favorite comedian right now and top % of all times. I can't think of my top 5 right now but I will find a way to put him in it. Because dude is incredible. I hate COVID jokes but he had some good ones! He is just hilarious.

Watch it! If you don't laugh, you're loss. He is funny as hell!

I didn't even know that Jo Koy had a new comedy special out until I randomly stumbled upon it on Netflix. And I do find Jo Koy to be a funny comedian, so of course I opted to sit down and watch this 2022 comedy special.

And I was expecting a good show, because Jo Koy usually delivers when he steps up to the microphone.

Well, I will say that this new show sort of fell short of being all that entertaining and funny for me. The jokes he brought to the stage for this special just wasn't really bringing laughs to me. Sure there were a couple of good jokes throughout the 74 minutes that "Jo Koy: Live from the Los Angeles Forum" ran for, but the show as a whole just didn't really turn out all that funny.

Jo Koy still does have his usual great on-stage presence, without a doubt, and he does look and feel natural on the stage. Just a shame that the jokes were mostly a swing and a miss for entertaining me.

This 2022 comedy special is not among the best of his material, if you ask me. And this is not a show that I will be returning to watch a second time. It sort of felt like the air was seeping out of the Jo Koy balloon, so to speak.

My rating of "Jo Koy: Live from the Los Angeles Forum" lands on a four out of ten stars.

What would comedy be if it's not pushing boundaries? If it doesn't have a chance of offending someone? If it doesn't tell truth to it?

Jokoy looks back and tells a background story about his first show on Netflix, and turns it into comedy. At the time, it was probably the scariest moment in his career: trying to make it as a comedian, and risking all his livelihood in this one show. He compared his experience with a white counterpart, where an exec saw the asian accent as racist and the white accent was normal. He's pushing boundaries here. And he did offend many. But he told the truth via his experiences that many could relate. Truth be told, many Asians don't think that the bits he does with an accent is racist, but actually relate-able. His point is that systemic racism is brought up by not having representations of other cultures, and he lived through it to tell the tale.

Among the other themes are: empowering women, minorities, and deconstructing cliché topics.

How he uses comedy to bring light to the topics he brings up is just comedy at its peak.

I am a Filipino-American (or Fil-Am). I am fluent in English and Tagalog (the Filipino language). I partially grew up in the Philippines, and partially grew up in the States. I am a blend of both cultures.

I really hope Jo Koy will read my review. He needs to know certain things from a Fil-Am like himself.

I will use the Clint Eastwood version when I do my review...I will use the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good: "Jo Koy: Live from the Los Angeles Forum" is by far the funniest stand-up show that Joy Koy has ever done. He beats the other Joy Koy shows by a wide margin. My wife and I were in tears the entire time. There was no pause in the laughter in the first 50 minutes. When Jo Koy went from one joke to another, we just kept on laughing. We could not believe it!

Jo really emphasized the mask-wearing during the pandemic. We all related to his ordeal; and because we have been there, done that, everything he said was hilarious! Way to go, Jo Koy!

His facial expressions when he mimicked a guy with sleep apnea, while snoring, making noises, was worth the price of admission! Like I said, we were in tears.

The Bad: He kept on picking on that guy with the sleep apnea gig. For comedy to be the most effective, you can pick on a guy, but do not spend too much time on that one guy. The audience will feel for him, and empathize with him. Pick on other people too. Spread the wealth.

Beating up on Netflix can be perceived as a foul, even if Netflix gave Jo Koy permission to do that. Netflix must reject many proposals. Jo Koy should know this. I am betting there are hundreds of proposals that Netflix receives, PER DAY! Netflix cannot accept all of them. There are too many offerings, but not enough time slots and bandwidth. Yet Jo Koy took it personally. That is a pride issue.

It seems like Jo Koy's head is getting bigger. No, not literally. I meant figuratively. Because he is becoming more and more popular, he is coming across as slightly egotistical, when he kept saying, "I should be getting an Emmy" repeatedly. A person is admired the most if he is still humble, and/or came from humble beginnings. Other people should say that he should win an Emmy; he should not say it himself.

Telling Tommy Lee of Motley Crue that Filipinos sing better than him (Tommy)? Oh wow. That is not really a good representation from a Fil-Am. Those Filipinos would not be singing Motley Crue songs if Tommy Lee never existed. I know it is all jokes, but that makes Filipinos look bad when you criticize a popular icon at his expense.

The Ugly: He kept harping on his mom's bathroom habits and hygiene. It was funny at first, but it became gross after a while. Also, the audience will have a bad perception of a comedian making fun of his mother. Even though Jo Koy probably asked his mother's permission to use her for these jokes, and I am sure she was okay with it, that does not change the fact that people will perceive that differently. It is all about perception...perception is reality, even though it is not the truth.

Jo Koy brought up systemic racism, and that it is a foul here in America; yet he mentions that in Korea you will get lost, and no one will help you get to a Starbucks, while in the Philippines, you will not get lost, because Filipinos will help you. As a Fil-Am, I was ashamed that Jo Koy mentioned this. Why would he insult Koreans like that (even though he was only joking)? That is a racist thing to say. Korea happens to be in better standing than the Philippines. Philippines is third-world; South Korea is first-world. South Koreans are up there with the States, with their technology, their cleanliness, their entertainment (K-Dramas and K-Pops). When I was in Korea, all the Koreans I met helped me get to where I needed to be. We Filipinos can learn a lot from Koreans.

If you are going to make fun of Koreans, then do not bring up "systemic racism." It makes you look bad.

Overall, though, I really really enjoyed this Jo Koy feature. Again, this is the best one of them all; the funniest of them all. Hence, a 9 out of 10. If the "Bad" and the "Ugly" never happened, this would have been a solid 10 out of 10.

Keep up the good work Jo! Continue to make us Fil-Ams proud! Mabuhay!