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Comedy's
Southern Squire
PAGE 3 OF 6
GS: Are audiences able to relate to you as a standup comic instead of as an Asian standup comic with a southern accent? Do you feel that your audiences forget that you are Asian?
HC: Great question, some of my favorite responses after my shows are when people tell me that they forgot I was Korean until I mentioned it again at the end. I do that, just to remind people from time to time. One reporter said I weave the fact that I'm Asian throughout my 1 hour show without it being in your face or nonexistent, but very subliminal. I get emails and note from people all the time telling me their favorite jokes. About 99% of them are jokes, not Asian jokes, just jokes.
GS: What has been the most difficult aspect of building a career as a standup comic?
HC: I've been really blessed in my standup career. I got hired right off the bat and got to work with many big comedians early in my career who helped me out tremendously. Guys like Jerry Seinfeld, Tim Allen, Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall to name a few. The most difficult aspect is the life. A lot of people are funny and can write jokes and even tell them to a crowd, but not everyone can show up gig after gig and make it happen. In the early days I was on the road 45-50 weeks a year, driving from gig to gig 6-8 weeks in a row. Not everyone can do that. The show becomes the easy part. Tt's the life on the road that is the hardest... and you can't get any good at standup unless you do the road. I've done gigs under all different circumstances... As in bad circumstances.
You ever hear of chicken wire shows where the stage has chicken wire in front of the stage so people can't hit the performers with bottles and such? I've done a few chicken wire gigs. So I can handle anything nowadays.
GS: What has been the high point of your career to date?
HC: The highpoint of my career. Well, as a standup it would be my first Tonight Show appearance, performing at the Correspondents' Dinner in Washington (President Bush was to attend but had to cancel due to Mid-East talks this past June; VPCheney and the rest were in attendance). In comic circles, this is a pretty big deal. Short list of past performers: Leno, Bill Maher, Kevin Nealon, Ray Ramono, Drew Carey and yours truly... pretty cool. Lastly, with his recent passing, doing the Bob Hope's Young Comedian Special. I got to do a lot of press with Mr. Hope for that show. We did a talk show where the host introduced me as Henry Chow , and Mr. Hope interjected, "It's Cho". The host tried to apologize and I said, "As long as Mr. Hope knows my name, no one on this panel really matters do they?" I have a great tape of he and I doing promos where we're sitting beside each other and he says, "I love this kid." How cool is that. If someone would have told me back in college or before that I would have that on tape. No way man!
CONTINUED BELOW
GS: Where are you currently performing?
HC: My website is henrycho.tv or henrycho.org Unfortunately, .com was taken by the karate guy S. Henry, on everything else except his site. Told me he used my name to get more hits. He's right, but what do you do, call a
7th degree black belt out into the street? Sad thing is I've asked him a few
times to let me at least put an icon on his site, you know, Henry
Cho-Comedian. He's not let me up to this date.
Anyway, my site has my schedule as it gets booked. I'm headed to Kona and
Kauai, Hawaii for shows Aug 7-14, working 5 of the 7 nights I'm there. Then I'm
at the Atlanta Punchline Aug 22-24. The in Hilton Head, SC for a celebrity
golf Tournament. Private corporate shows in Sept, the Star Dome Comedy Theatre in Birmingham, AL Sept 18-20. Finally, and most importantly, I'm hosting the 2nd Annual Standup for a Cure Comedy Golf Classic benefitting the Nashville
chapter of MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Assoc) on Sept 14/15. A bunch of my friends show up and play golf and we do a big comedy show -- Vince Gill, Amy Grant,
Branford Marsalis, Lou Waters, Jimmy Hampton, Bruce Campbell, Vincent Irizarry, Gary Valentine, Bill Engvall, Kevin Nealon, and many more. This was never about
getting the biggest names in comedy/entertainment, it's about getting people I
know who are good people and enjoy golf and helping out children. And all I
have to do is ask and they'll show up for the charity.
GS: Do you still see acting as your ultimate career goal?
HC: I always wanted to do films and have been blessed enough to do a half
dozen. I've shot at home in LA and been on location so it's been cool. Now with a family, it's very hard to make that choice. My wife and boys are the most
important thing to me. I have a hard time leaving for a weekend to do comedy,
much harder when asked to leave the country for 3 months. I just can't do that
to my family. I'm around my boys 25 days a month on average. They're used to
daddy being around and I wouldn't have it any other way. I did the travel thing
while I was single, and I waited on the right woman and the right time to have
a family. I truly blessed with all of that so I wouldn't want to miss out
just to do a film. Don't get me wrong, it's not like Spielberg has called me
every day or anything. But I loved doing films, and maybe I'll be able to do more later, but right now I'm concentrating on TV so I can come home every night.
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| "I did the travel thing while I was single, and I waited on the right woman and the right time to have a family." |