(slow piano music)
- Hi, I'm Danny.
I am a Korean American.
I'm a standup comedian, a writer,
a creator of random things,
and currently I live in South Korea,
and I've been here for about four years now.
Born and raised in Los Angeles,
went to college there, went to school there.
I was born and raised in a wonderful town
called East LA or Boyle Heights to be exact.
At the time, very dangerous, gang-heavy neighborhood.
So they gave me a gang name and I'm not even in a gang.
They call me Sleepy because of the eyes.
I was like, yo, that's fucked up.
But you know, that's kind of how I grew up.
My family was, at the time,
the only Asian family living there.
So it was a wild times.
My parents didn't want me to go to high school
there in that area.
So we got a permit to go to South Pasadena High School.
Had a great time, although I needed some time to adjust,
because given that I was born and raised
in like a predominantly Mexican neighborhood,
my accent at the time was very of the area.
And so I remember in freshman year it was like,
we're reading "Romeo and Juliet".
And the teacher was like,
"Mr. Cho, so what are your thoughts on this?"
And I was like, "Oh, let them fucking love, teacher."
And all the kids were like, why is he talking like that?
And so it took me some time to kind of get adjusted
to South Pasadena, which was a more diverse school.
And then from there I went to UCLA.
I started doing stand-up in the summer
between high school and college.
It was a dare actually.
My friends were like, oh, you're funny,
but I bet you can't do standup.
And then when you're a 18 year old, that's kind of cocky,
You're like, man, you find a spot I'll do it.
So my friends found an open mic night
in the middle of the hood.
In the hood, and I went in.
I knew it was a bad sign because when you park your car
to go do a gig and you hear just big-ass dogs barking,
oh this is not good, right?
So I get there and I knew it was the hood,
but whatever, I'm familiar with bad areas.
So I wasn't really worried.
And I was like, in my mind, just thinking about material.
When the MC brought up my name, there was this woman
that goes, "Oh he Chinese, you know he ain't funny."
And so people start snickering.
So I looked at her and I proceeded
to make fun of her for the whole set.
The crowd at first was shocked because they didn't expect
an Asian dude to talk like that to somebody.
But then afterwards they were like, oh, this is dope.
And then the reaction, the immediate like
just audience reaction and energy
was a feeling that I was like, oh, I love this.
After college I got a job as a consultant.
I was a suit and tie guy.
I was clean shaved, but also I would still do stand up
at the Laugh Factory.
So basically I would get off work,
go to the comedy club in my work clothes and tell jokes,
looking, I'm not the cleanest comic,
but then I'm dressed like a consultant.
And I did that for three years.
I would just go back and forth.
And one day another Korean American comedian,
a guy named Bobby Lee, he calls me and he goes,
"Danny, we need someone fat and weird looking on set."
He was on Mad TV right and I wasn't even mad.
I was just like, "Alright, what time do you need me there?"
And so he put me on a sketch for Mad TV,
and then on a break, he goes
"There's two types of people that make it on TV,
really good looking people and mutants."
And he goes, "You, my friend, are goddamn mutant.
You're a gold mine, my friend."
I was like, "Okay."
And so he was one of the people that convinced me
to quit my consulting gig
to try out stand up comedy and entertainment business
as a whole.
Another Korean American that convinced me
was a guy by the name of PK, Paul Kim.
He was a founder of a talent show
many years ago called Kollaboration.
It still exists.
And he was also the host of a show
at the Laugh Factory, a weekly show.
And so he actually got me in the door.
He's like, "You should do this full time, you're good."
And so those two people were actually the main people
that tried to convince me to quit my stable job.
And the other part was, I didn't want to regret
just keeping this as a hobby.
I don't want to be in my forties with my kids going,
"Daddy, isn't he fun?"
And I'm like, "I messed that fool up."
I didn't want that.
And so it led me to travel all around the world
to do standup comedy,
and four years ago it dropped me off here.
The first time I came to Korea was about 10 years ago.
So not when I was growing up.
I have a friend named Bobby Choy,
who was a singer-songwriter, Big Phony.
And he moved and I was like, "Wait a minute,
that dude don't speak any Korean."
Right, and I speak better than him.
And so I was, I won't say worried, but I was like,
"You know what, I'll go visit Bobby, see how he's doing."
And within two weeks of him moving,
I came to visit for the first time.
And on top of that like, there was
like a English-speaking comedy scene here, right.
Not big, but the people that started it,
I contacted them and I was like,
"Hey, I do stand up, blah, blah, blah."
And they actually set up a small tour around Korea.
So I was in Busan.
I was in Daegu, Daejeon,
just telling jokes and just seeing the country.
Although I would say that I didn't see it properly, right.
It's unfortunate.
I don't want to say unfortunate,
but like it's my first time in Korea
going to these cities, right.
But but white people are my guide, right.
So it's like they know stuff,
but they don't really know stuff about that area.
I remember people looking at me like,
why is that white guy giving him a tour
when I'm the one that looks Korean?
Like, "Hey, so Danny, this is called dweji gookbap
Have you ever had this?"
I was like, "No man, it's my first time."
Yeah, so you need to put some of this saewoo jut in here.
Right, so this, this dude is teaching me.
The workers are like, what the fuck is going on?
Right and so I was very,
I had a great time seeing the country
and a lot of fun times.
And then what happened was not only Korea,
but all other parts, a lot of places in Asia,
they do English stand-up,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam.
And so I would make it so that I would come here to,
to play, party, do maybe a show or two,
and then go fly out to one of them countries,
do a gig and come back.
I did that for seven years, right.
And then when I decided to move here,
I was kind of burnt out.
And I knew that it wasn't healthy for me to just be like,
angry about, you know, like frustrations of why, you know,
I'm not, it's not about like, why am I not famous?
I'm it's not that it was just more like,
I know I'm busting my ass,
I've done a decent amount of things,
but wow, this is just really tough.
And so the original plan was to come to Korea
for like two years,
just to kind of refresh my brain,
get like new perspective on things.
And also like on the weekends or whatever do tours.
Cause they, you know, they get, make money,
like go to Guam, Saipan and it's the life
to go Guam and Saipan and make a, make a few bucks,
tell some jokes.
And so that was the original plan.
And then I met a guy that goes, hey, you know,
there's a group of kids.
Or they, they started a underground Korean stand-up scene.
I was like, what?
That exists?
So I went to check out a show and they were awful, you know?
And I realized it's because their model of what standup is,
it's what they see on YouTube or Netflix or whatever.
But it's just through subtitles, right.
So there's a lot of things lost in translation, right.
And they, they, they don't know the techniques of it all.
I remember introducing myself as like, hey, I'm Danny,
I've done stand-up, you know,
for X amount of years and you're not doing this right.
Like one, like each, every one of them,
I was like that setups too long.
Punchline was weak.
You know, as polite Korean people, their mouth said, oh,
thank you so much.
But their eyes say, who the fuck is this?
You know what I mean like they had that look,
I saw that look and I said, can I perform next week?
And so they were like, okay.
Yeah, absolutely.
Please come.
But it felt kind of like a setup.
And so they're all in Korea.
There there's a thing called gongchae gagman,
right.
So every KBS, SBS, they, you audition and you have to,
it's almost like you're, you're,
you're officially a comedian.
And so they're all gongchae gagman that just
weren't on TV.
And so when I get there, the next week,
it's filled with gongchae gagmen, right?
And they're all like this in the beginning.
And then did the thing was, they all said,
standup's not going to work in Korea
because culturally that's not what they're into, right.
And on top of that, they've seen their,
their hoobaes(juniors) do these shows
and not be funny.
So they were like, well,
let's see what this American guy
what this gyopo got.
And I lit that room up, you know?
And, and afterwards, even the gongchae gagmen,
they were like, oh, okay,
this might work actually.
And after that night, my plan changed.
It wasn't that two year experience,
new shit and get the hell out of here.
It was like, you know what?
I want to see if I can help establish this scene in Korea
where people, there's a legit way for people
to make a living doing just standup comedy.
That was my goal to just grow the scene.
And that's what I've been doing since then.
And because of COVID, I can't even travel anyway.
So I've been focusing more on the Korean side of things.
What's rewarding really is to, to see these, you know,
comedians get better.
And on top of that, like I said, it's,
it's that chasing the high, right.
And it's still, it's still there.
For me personally, me telling a joke in Korean
where it's not my first language,
sometimes it hits, sometimes it misses, you know?
And on top of that,
what's rewarding is that there's a lot of people that say,
oh, culturally, they don't, you know, it, it,
it shouldn't work, right?
Like, you know, Korean culture is this way.
And I'm like,
when people use Korean culture as a barrier for why things
would work or what doesn't,
I go, you don't know what the fuck you talking about,
because my parents,
they immigrated to the US in 1978.
Until the last 10 years they've never came back, right?
So their Korean culture is 1978 Korean culture, right?
And that's what they taught me.
And when I came 10 years ago, for the first time I thought,
oh, I got it.
I thought Korea was going to be just like, K-Town back home.
But the whole country is going to be like that, right?
I got here, I was like, my parents,
that's some old school shit.
Like they, their culture is frozen in time, right.
And so to see that, that means that culture
is always going to evolve, right?
You know, so when people will just say, hey, be culturally,
this is not going to work. I'm like, that's just,
that's just a loser talk.
That's just defeatist talk.
I tell even the comedians here,
I'm like, stop saying that culture shit.
I know it exists.
But if you use that as a crux,
then you're not going to grow as a comedian, right?
You know, my goal isn't to be a celebrity here,
you know what I mean?
Like Korean celebrities have so much random stress
for relatively the little amount of money they make, right?
And so I was like, yo, man, I'm not gonna,
I don't need that.
But, as long as the scene is where there's, you know,
there's a bunch of shows every week, you know,
and not just in Seoul,
but the goal is to, there's a show in Busan
and Daegu or whatever, but all right,
you four go, go there and do a tour right?
Next week you four go like, like I want to have like a,
a rotation of comics that can do well, not just in Seoul,
but you know, if we can build there and everywhere else,
I think my job is done.
So I can go back and, you know,
go back to the US and be like, hey, Dan Cho's back,
you know.
I say that for the last 20 years,
that's what I'm, it's kinda like a drug, you know,
you're, you're, you're chasing that high, you know?
And so with that being said, like,
as you get older and you see a bunch of comics throughout
your career, and I've, I've,
I've got to open for a lot of big ass people, right.
If I just go oh of those are the masters.
Those are the Mount Rushmore of people.
And I go, I'm so far from being there.
So now my idea is not to catch them per se,
but to be great for myself.
Like, I, I obviously, as an artist, you,
if you go on, man, that was,
that was a dope joke that I wrote.
You're kind of an asshole, right?
Like, you know,
you kind of always have to be like humble to be like, okay,
I could have done better, right.
What drives me is to continue to say things that I feel,
but hopefully the audience finds the humor in it.
My name is Danny Cho, and this is my Korean American story.
(slow piano music)