Jo Koy Sets Another Trailblazing Moment at The Globes, Filipinos React to his Performance
by Edwin Quinabo
January is the start of the cinematic and TV awards season with the Golden Globes, the Emmy’s and People’s Choice Awards which ceremonies to honor the best in entertainment of the previous year will cap off with the annual Oscars-Academy award in March.
All these shows draw in millions of viewers not just in the U.S. but globally and their hosts traditionally have been A-lister comedians or actors like Joan Collins, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Billy Crystal, Johnny Carson, Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Kimmel, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Ellen DeGeneres, Alec Baldwin, Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Robin Williams, Glenn Close, Michael Douglas, to name a few.
Award shows hosts are almost always household names so when comedian-actor Jo Koy was selected by the Hollywood elite to host the 81st Golden Globe awards on January 7, the global Filipino community buzzed in anticipation who saw this moment as their fellow Filipino’s crowning moment of personal success. But many say it also was a potentially watershed moment that Hollywood (widely criticized for being exclusively white) is more receptive to diversity, especially among minorities grossly underrepresented in Hollywood — Asians and Latinos.
No Latinos have been invited to host The Globes and Jo Koy was the first (Sandra Oh was previously a co-host) solo host of Asian American descent. In the current era of wokeism and representation-matters, the talented and wildly popular Jo Koy, who has been selling out arenas and grabbing mainstream America’s attention was to be that celebrity to quiet such criticisms.
It’s not just about entertainment, but representation
In pre-Globe show interviews, Koy spoke of the importance of representation. Koy told Entertainment Tonight growing up watching award shows he never saw someone like him take up the mantle of a big Hollywood ceremony like The Globes. He said representation is all about seeing oneself in the media, and perhaps someone will see him hosting who identifies with him in some way and will feel more inspired and seen.
He said being a role model, especially to the youth who look like him, “Now they get to see me in the best seat in the house. And I know that they’re watching, they’re gonna be like, ‘All right, well, maybe I can do this [too].’ And that’s what I want. I want more of us [Filipinos and those underrepresented] in Hollywood.”
Not everyone gets a fair shake
Like many celebrities from minority backgrounds who describe the difficulties of making it in Hollywood and the entertainment business, Koy also often talks about this challenge.
Asio Romelito, said on his social media page, “I’m not just a Jo Koy fan, but also a Jo Koy believer. Let me explain this. In one of his Netflix specials Jo Koy: Live from the LA Forum, there was a part in it, a teary eyed Koy said, ‘Not everyone gets a fair shake.’ He was talking about the mistreatment and judgement he got because he’s an Asian American dreaming of becoming a famous stand-up comedian. This is before he became Jo Koy – the Filipino American who is now filling up arenas jam-packed with audiences enjoying his stand-up gifts.
“And now, he’s getting that not-so-fair shake again and receiving unfair reviews even from fellow Filipinos just because na offend ang idol nilang si Taylor Swift. Sad, diba? I could feel the sharp stares of these Hollywood celebrities at the Golden Globe Awards, staring at Jo Koy as if saying, ‘Who is this Filipino comedian on stage roasting us?”
Joel Montiel Cabrera was also moved by Koy’s Los Angeles stand-up special. On his social media account, he said, “Koy tells the story of how Netflix rejected him several times and how he had to deal with racism and how some Filipinos are discriminated against because of their accents. Koy then started to break into tears and said, ‘Not everybody gets the same shake.’”
Finding an audience, finding his Filipino-ness and loyal crowd
Koy said because he didn’t have role models who looked like him in comedy coming up in the entertainment scene, content for his stand-up in the beginning was difficult in trying to be relatable. Some say his earlier work resounded to a broader, universal crowd, and was met with marginal success and tepid enthusiasm.
Koy is of mixed race. His mother is Filipino and his father white American. His father left his family when Koy was 10-years old and Koy says he was raised in the Filipino culture. It is when Koy brought his personal stories and upbringing as a Filipino to his stand-up acts that his career took off and he found his niche, loyal audience among Filipinos who found him relatable.
In 2022, Koy would take that same theme – growing up in a Filipino household – to the big screen in the movie Easter Sunday, which had modest to moderate box office success. It was the first big budget Hollywood-produced and Hollywood-released movie that starred a Filipino American and had a Filipino theme.
Since Easter Sunday, he’s appeared in two movies Haunted Mansion and Leo, and will be in the Tiger’s Apprentice that’s currently in production. He has appeared on shows like The Late Late Show with James Cameron, Last Call with Carson Daly, and The Breakfast Club. His stand-up comedy album, Live from Seattle reached number one on the Billboard Charts.
Koy has six stand-up specials (two Comedy Central and four Netflix Originals). According to Forbes, the Filipino American comedian made around $12 million for his first Netflix specials which began with Jo Koy: Comin’ In Hot in 2017 and was followed up by Jo Koy: In His Elements in 2020. His last one, Live from the LA Forum (released in 2022), was filmed at his biggest venue yet that seats 17,000 people.
All his specials were hits and received critical acclaim. Comics say these specials are great for marketing and getting their name out, but the real money is earned during shows. And Jo Koy is unique in that most comics’ national tours are held in clubs and small venues, while Koy’s stand-up acts are usually held in arenas and large auditoriums. CBC reported that he broke the record at Winnipeg’s Club Regent Event Centre in 2018 with the Break the Mold tour for four sold-old shows.
While in Hawaii in 2017, Koy broke the record for the most tickets sold by a single artist, selling over 23,000 tickets and had 11 sold-out shows at The Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall in Honolulu. The previous record in Hawaii was set by Mariah Carey.
What Filipinos say about Jo Koy and his comedy
Rose Cruz Churma is one among the thousands who watched Jo Koy in Honolulu. “I enjoyed the concerts I attended—had a few belly laughs—but I felt uncomfortable with the sexual innuendos in some of his jokes. It certainly was not meant for the entire family. I like his book! [Koy released three books: Jo Koy Mixed Plate, Jo Koy Don’t Make Him Angry and Jo Koy Lights Out] The jokes I enjoyed the most were those that poked fun at his ‘Filipino-ness’ or his travails as the son of an immigrant single mom.
What he has done was to show the universality of the immigrant experience trying to fit in white America. In the concerts I’ve attended—the audience was a mixed bag of Hispanics, locals from Waianae, recently arrived Chinese, Koreans and hapa-haoles. All seem to laugh at the same jokes as us. My daughter watches his concerts in most cities whenever she can. Friends who worked for him (behind the scenes at his Hawaii concerts) talk of his kindness and down-to-earth nature despite his success as a performer. I’ve watched some of his Netflix shows but not his movie (which I thought was too predictable).”
Jim Bea, Manila, Philippines said she’s not really a fan of Koy but enjoy watching some of his materials. “I remember watching clips of his stand-up shows on YouTube with my family in Hawaii and it was hilarious. It’s because his jokes about his Filipino mother resonated with fellow Filipino Americans. Sometimes, his jokes would remind me of my own Filipino relatives who live in the US. But over time, Jo Koy’s jokes about his mother felt excessive and overused. So, in recent years, I haven’t really been tuning in to his content.”
Paul Martin, Ewa Beach, said “Although I’m not a fan of Jo Koy’s comedy, I do appreciate that he brings visibility to the Filipino American community. His jokes about his life with his Filipino family are relatable, and so it’s nice to see someone who relates to me on the big stage.
”Beth Jenkins was among tens of thousands chiming in on the Golden Globe fiasco on social media. She said on social media, “as a half-Filipino, half-white person living in southern California, I see many biracial people embracing their white side and half heartedly their ethnic side. My background is similar to Jo’s in that my father left when I was young so I was raised in a Filipino household with Filipino culture. What I like about Jo is he’s fully proud of his Filipino heritage and has decided to focus on his Filipino-ness as the bulk of his comedy, but in a way that’s funny and respectful. Compare that to fellow comedian Rob Schneider, who is also half-Filipino, but most people hardly know this because he had downplayed that for most of his career until recently when he’s seen what Jo Koy has done and received acclaim for it. Koy has a huge following also among immigrants of all backgrounds. Stories of immigrant parents awkwardly assimilating to the U.S. and the topic like being frugal with money, these are all part of the immigrant experience we can all laugh at and relate to.”
The Golden Globe and ensuing fallout
Koy’s opening monologue of the Golden Globe was met with harsh criticisms from the Los Angeles Times to the New York Post. The Post’s headline read: “Jo Koy Bombs at the Golden Globe, blames writers: ‘You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up.’” Typical words used in reviews were “painful,” “cringeworthy,” and “unqualified.” Among the barbs that drew most criticisms were arguably sexist jokes involving the movie Barbie and Taylor Swift and the NFL.
Jenkins said the criticism was brutally overdone.
“I wonder how much of the reviews were really what critics thought originally and how much of it was just copying the sentiments of critics from the legacy papers that tend to set the trend. I also wonder if Jo Koy were white or black if critics would be as bold to be downright vicious. He was savaged by the press because many probably thought they could do it without much community pushback. ‘It’s the Filipino community. Who cares, right?’ They probably thought. Why not focus on the winners of the awards? Instead, all I saw as headlines were of how terrible Koy was. Swift is the current media darling. I think rousing controversy with Koy’s harmless jab at her was purposeful for grabbing readers attention, but at the expense of Jo, unfairly. He was fodder for the press. And we see on social media a backlash as thousands of Filipinos have been coming to his defense,” Jenkins said.
“Why does all this matter? Because as I said, the press figured Filipinos don’t care. It’s unimportant. But you know why they can’t do that to say the Black community, because the Black community makes noise when they see unfairness,” Jenkins said. “I bet critics did not anticipate social media blowing up with anger from the Filipino community. We were underestimated and marginalized.”
Bea saw Koy’s opening monologue but not the entire show. “The press’ reaction to him is both fair and unfair. Fair because it was evident that Jo Koy’s monologue was awkward, and it did result in some awkward interactions in the Golden Globes room. The monologue part was pretty bad in the sense that it was so awkward in that room. However, the constant bombardment of columns sharing their endless stand on Jo Koy was getting out of hand. I follow this one online news/media organization that published and posted three or four columns regarding Jo Koy’s hosting gig. Four columns on the same subject within seven days. It felt excessive.
“The news and press around Jo Koy didn’t really affect me as a Filipino. I know that we Filipinos tend to take things to heart when the news mentions Filipinos. However, the people from the West criticizing Jo Koy didn’t really affect me. But fellow Filipinos throwing hate at Jo Koy, this one I kind of take personally. In my view, American audiences criticize Jo Koy as a comedian. Meanwhile, I feel like Filipinos criticize Jo Koy’s hosting gig because he is Filipino American. But he was our Filipino American representation in such a prestigious event. I am basing my opinion from the comments I’ve read and heard.”
Cabrera shared a similar view calling excessive criticism on Koy by Filipinos as a form of crabs in the bucket mentality. “The guy has one bad day and suddenly he goes from Pinoy Pride to Pinoy Shame. He drops the ball once, and suddenly Pinoys drop him just like that. Never mind that he has promoted Filipino life and culture in every single Netflix show he has had. Never mind that he has vocally dedicated his life’s work to helping other Pinoys make it as well in the U.S. entertainment arena. He has been fighting tooth and nail for years for any kind of Filipino representation. He even wore the Philippine flag in one of his first gigs at the Tonight show in 2005. Jo Koy is vilified in an event, mind you, wherein the hosts have historically roasted the celebrities in the audience. He’s done nothing out of the ordinary here. The real shame is every Filipino who has been bashing him for having a bad day. A bad day that was just 10 days in the making. It’s simply not enough time. Not enough time to even watch the movies to write about.”
Was short notice responsible for Koy’s performance quality?
Koy defended his performance, telling the Los Angeles Times that he gives himself “an A-plus just based on the courage” to host the ceremony given the tight turnaround. He told the Times that with 10 days to prepare, the writing team wasn’t selected until eight days before the show, and they didn’t get into a writer’s room until two days prior. We were still writing up until they said we’re live.
Koy said he and the writers did “cold reads, never got a chance to work out anything. And this is not an excuse, I am just trying to paint the picture because I don’t think people understand, in any situation, how is that geared towards winning? If you were to write that situation down on a piece of paper and go, ‘Do you want to do this?’ I guarantee everyone would be like, ‘No.’ I am happy I did it because I did accept that challenge.”
Martin said, “10 days to come up with jokes for a wide audience seems daunting. He did what he could and I’m proud of him. I think some celebrities that reacted harshly to his performance don’t understand how hard it is to prepare for hosting an award show in 10 days. I’d like to see them try.”
Bea said, “The timeline was just too tight. It definitely feels he was set up to fail. I sympathize with him for having too little time. If he had more time, he would have been able to connect better with the nominees, write better jokes and a better monologue.“But I disliked that he was blaming his writing team for the bad jokes he pulled during the show. He had a recent interview where he said that the bad jokes were because of his team. This was pretty low of him,” said Bea.
Gilbert Magat, a Filipino podcaster in the United Arab Emirates, said he is proud of Jo for being a professional and dedicated to his craft.
“He still took this daunting hosting task and prepared himself in only 10 days prior to the event while others are given months to prepare for this role. That takes a special kind of bravery. This alone should have silenced, or at least, softened, some of the hard blows from the press. Seriously, who is given that kind of notice and is expected to hit a homerun? That’s unheard of.”
Churma, who did not watch The Golden Globe said, “It is not the time frame for preparation. He simply did not understand his GG audience. The groups that laugh the loudest at Jo Koy’s concerts are the immigrants, working class folks who understand and can relate to his jokes. The GG audience is mostly white, upper middle class—people of privilege. How can they understand Jo Koy’s jokes? They are used to folks fawning over them.”
Fellow entertainers Kevin Hart, Steve Martin, Whoopi Goldberg and Howard Stern all came to Koy’s defense, saying it’s a tough crowd and that Koy was not given enough prep time. “Jimmy Kimmel who hosted the Academy Awards in 2017, 2018 and 2023 gets six months of prep for his hosting duties. 10 days? You’re doomed. Telling those jokes to a bunch of people who don’t wanna be laughed at is the biggest bummer in the world. Hollywood has no sense of humor about itself,” Stern said. “Comedians are supposed to be funny. And the only way to be funny is to be cynical. So why would you want to go to an event where you can’t be cynical?”
Hart said he will never host the Oscars, saying the days of comedians taking those gigs are over. “Those gigs aren’t good gigs for comics. Those just aren’t comedy-friendly environments anymore.”
Monique Seneres, a Filipino, said on social media, “Was Koy visibly nervous? For sure. Did he awkwardly navigate through jokes aimed at the wrong audience? Yup. Did he crack a few that didn’t land because the conversation has changed in these modern times? Absolutely. But, come on, he had a couple of gems. And, in spite of being a last-minute choice, he accepted the hosting gig, relentlessly pulled something together with a team that was assembled during the eleventh hour, faced that tough room, and he went for it.“
Future for Koy
An overwhelming majority of Filipinos on social media do not believe Koy’s career will be hurt by The Globes performance. Koy started his world tour in January 2023 and has 51 shows booked for 2024 to close that tour. According to Ticketmaster shows scheduled for January have not sold out, which could be a temporary reaction to The Globes. But his website shows that his February 17 show in Los Angeles at the Kia Forum has been sold out, with another show added due to demand.
Jenkins said she doesn’t believe Koy’s loyal fans will be swayed from supporting him. “My concern is the media. They’re unrelenting and I don’t think Jo should be doing any super high-profile gigs for a while until things cool down. It’s important during this time that Filipinos support him. I don’t think some fully grasp what’s at stake here. Koy has been a trailblazer with his movie Easter Sunday and this Globe awards. He is one among only a handful of highly visible stars in U.S. entertainment industry of Filipino ancestry. We cannot allow his legacy to be a flop at The Globes. His success is our success.”
Martin said, “I think any publicity is good publicity. He just added a pretty big honor to his resume. I think this will propel him forward not set him back. If people didn’t know him before watching the GG, then now they do. And that gives them the opportunity to get to know him better.”
Churma also agrees the GG gig will not affect his career, “but how he deals with it, could.” She said Koy “is a survivor—will bounce back to anything because he has grit, perseverance, endurance for the long haul—all ingredients for success and staying power. What, a frown from Taylor Swift (notably the most famous pop star now) will keep him down? I don’t think so. He’s had worse experiences than that.”
Comedian Steve Martin who congratulated Koy for taking on the “toughest gig in show business, said Koy “now has 20 minutes of new material for his stand-up.”Bea affirms Koy is one of the top comedians in Hollywood right now. “Even though this was definitely a bad experience for him, Jo Koy can learn from this and do better moving forward,” she said.
