Jo Koy has emerged as a polarizing figure after his disastrous monologue at the Golden Globes earlier this month. It’s so disappointing that he lost the confidence of the crowd and much of the online audience so quickly.
As a Filipino American, I enjoyed Jo Koy’s previous presence in the media. I have been a fan of his work since his breakout Netflix special in 2016 “Jo Koy: Live from Seattle.” Seeing a comedian on mainstream American media with experiences I could relate to was refreshing. Jo Koy is the son of a Filipina, and most of his comedy relies on his experiences as a second-generation American.
The stories Koy used in his Netflix stand-up specials are bound to have been experienced by many Filipino American children. Both of us spent lunchtime afraid to trade the lunches that our moms had packed the last night. It was evident no one at the lunch table would trade their Lunchables for the delicious Filipino food packed in a repurposed box of Cool Whip. I felt secondhand embarrassment just watching him describe the astonished faces of his lunchmates contemplating whether to trade their “normal lunches” for the “mystery box,” as Koy put it in his special “Coming in Hot.”
While I admire Koy for finally allowing Filipino American culture a seat on the table, his performance at the Golden Globes shows that the main appeal of his comedy is his overreliance on stereotypes and accents. I always found Koy’s reliance on these two to be the main weaknesses of his comedy.
Hosting the Golden Globes placed him in unfamiliar territory, and it showed.
I found two key jokes in his monologue to be the best indicator of how his night went.
Firstly, he made a weird joke about Barbie and plastic dolls, and secondly, the most controversial joke he made that night was about “white people” stealing the plot of “Killers of the Flower Moon.” And later on in the night, he made a joke about Taylor Swift getting more airtime for a Chiefs game than the Golden Globes.
The Barbie joke fell flat quickly, owing to his attempt at school-boy humor. Koy said, “And Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies. I watched Barbie. I loved it. I really did love it. I don’t want you guys to think that I’m a creep, but it was kind of weird being attracted to a plastic doll. It’s just something about your eyes, Ryan [Gosling].” This sorry attempt at comedy was met with a cold response. I think a more sophisticated joke would have carried weight with the crowd.
Koy added fuel to the fire by going after white people in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” saying, “The one thing I learned about that movie is that white people stole everything. You guys stole everything. Not like 97%, you guys 100% of everything. You took the land. You took the oil. You took the premise of the movie.” Considering the makeup of Hollywood, Koy made an unwise decision to make a racially-charged joke against the mostly white spectators.
His jab at Taylor Swift didn’t help his standing with the already exhausted crowd. Once the camera showed Swift’s sour reaction, anyone could have expected the entirety of social media and Hollywood stars to heap endless criticism on him. Swift outranks Koy, by far, on the totem pole of American celebrities, and this impromptu joke towards Swift was promptly trashed.
Despite the universal agreement that Koy bombed his role as the host of the Golden Globes, he has the talent to redeem himself. And as a fellow Filipino American, I look forward to seeing Koy’s redemption arc. He has a unique experience as one of the few Asian American stars in mainstream comedy, and I believe he fills a key niche here.
However, Koy must go through self-reflection and refine his comedy to evolve into a universally acclaimed comedian.
Nathaniel Dela Peña is a 21-year-old political science and history senior from Alexandria.
