Joe Coy Performing his first stand-up set at a talent show his mother assembled in the Hall of the Knights of Columbus, he sought to create a sense of community among Filipino-Americans in his hometown of Tacoma, Washington. She’s like her,’ he recalled.
One of Coy’s first big breaks came in 1996 when he was asked to open at a tour stop for Deaf Comedy Jam. The lights dimmed before the show started. “Don’t say ‘Welcome to Def Jam’ or ‘Enjoy Def Jam,'” he recalls. “Basically, if I didn’t like it, they didn’t want me involved in Def Jam.”
Over the years, the comic has gone from appearing in a ‘Star Search’ imitation in Las Vegas (“it was called ‘Starmania,'” he said, ‘and I’m so bad at it.’ bombed”), making headlines for some of the country’s most prestigious venues and sports arenas. “We finally got to play Madison Square Garden,” he said. “During the NBA playoffs, I did his two Chase Centers. The Golden State Warriors played one night and I played another night.”
Carp will appear this month “Easter Sunday” As Joe Valencia, as a Filipino-American comedian trying to get his own sitcom — as long as he lives up to the director’s demands to have a “half-Filipino accent,” because it’s funnier that way. is. (“You are half Filipino, aren’t you?” she says.)
Over lunch at the London West Hollywood Hotel on a recent afternoon, Koi, 51, said he had grown up madly (“When I look at my yearbook, it’s always class clown, class clown, class clown”), comedy inspiration, and his recent split from Chelsea Handler (“We’ll Always Be Friends”). These are edited excerpts from our conversation.
What made you want to become a manga?
I fell in love with standup at a young age. Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams. I was 10 years old when I knew I wanted to be a stand-up comic. [Murphy’s] “delirium” When I appeared on HBO, my sister’s friend recorded it and gave me the tape. Because she didn’t have HBO. I’ve seen that a million times.
what was your growth like?
Being half white and half Filipino, I was already dealing with racism in my own family. On my father’s side there was a family that looked at us funny and made us feel small. Watching the little kid on board turn his eyes back to my mom and she just had thick skin and had to deal with it. , [expletive]I was about eleven years old.?
You mentioned Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. What do you like about their work?
I love storytellers. I instantly fell in love with the art of storytelling. And I embraced black comedy. Oh are you poor? It was poor! all right. Eh, is your mother like that? my So is your mother! She disciplines me in the same way. I don’t understand the timeout. My mother screamed in public!
When I started doing standup, I was doing a Black Comic opening. I went on something called the Black College Comedy Tour. It was legit: The Black College Comedy Tour. It opened for Cedric the Entertainer, Mike Epps. I also did BET’s “ComicView,” Def Jam, and “Showtime at the Apollo.”Me won “Showtime at the Apollo“
I always laugh when I see videos of someone walking down the street and falling into a hole. What is always interesting to you?
I see all of that too, man. I don’t like people getting hurt…
I hear a “but” coming.
There is a “but”.I have to laugh when I know you’re so stupid and hurt. tortilla challenge just now. I can’t stop laughing when I see the tortilla being hit hard.
You joke that all Filipinos are nurses.
Yo, not all of us are nurses. But we are all nurses. I can’t go to the hospital anymore. The moment I go, I take a million photos. But have you seen a Filipino nurse on the big screen? My son was born in Cedars-Sinai. All Hollywood executives attend Cedars-Sinai. But you’re making a TV show or a movie and you don’t have a single Filipino nurse?
You recently broke up with Chelsea Handler. Are you two still friends?
we will always be friends. We are closer than a couple. But her future is beautiful. It’s amazing what she’s trying to do.
Do you have any tips for an amicable goodbye?
Yes Yes. My ex-wife is my best friend. I just bought a house and she lives right next door to me. She has all my car keys and she has my house keys too. “We are divorced. I hate this person for the rest of my life.”and it is [expletive] I have grown up.
How did “Easter Sunday” come about?
when i see “Friday,” I couldn’t get enough of it. I was touched because I felt it was my family as well. I got the humor, I saw the reference. It looked like my home. I saw their struggles with my mother and family.
When I was thinking about the movie, I was like, how can I talk about my culture and shine a light on my ethnicity, yet tell the story of my family and show all the crazy characters that every family has, how can I be the same? I was wondering if it was possible. do you have? And I was like Easter Sunday. It’s the day when everyone in my family gets together, there’s fights, there’s crying.
In the film, your character is pressured to use a “half-Filipino” accent. Accents have been part of the act for a while, especially moms. How would you react if a non-Filipino spoke back with a Filipino accent?
I love it. I love it when I hear “Josep” [the way his mother pronounces his name] I got yelled at at a baseball game. Because I am doing exactly what they said. They said it was too specific for the audience to understand. She has an accent on her, but she’s still a mother. So whenever I see a non-Filipino person yelling “Josep” across the terminal or from a car, I love it.
Your film has a lot of shoutouts to Filipino culture. manny pacquiao. halo haloIs there anything else you feel the film needs?
yes, balikbayan boxIt was very important to me. My mother was poor, but twice a year she would fill up boxes of balikbayan and send them to her family back home. And she filled the box with what I wanted! My mom remembers Nestle Lunch Bars she gave me a box of 12 bottles. Not even Nestle Crunch! And she said, yeah, but you live here. they don’t have anything And are you crying about chocolate? do you want chocolate take chocolate. take it!
I hope you didn’t take it.
[Laughing] no i don’t! Keep it in the box.
