HENRY CHO
The SHECKYmagazine.com Interview

HENRY CHO was born in Knoxville, TN, and started standup comedy in 1986. He moved to Southern California in 1989 fully intending to return to his Tennessee roots. In 1994, after moving to a farm outside Nashville area, Cho began hosting NBC’s Friday Night Videos, commuting between LA and Nashville for two years. Cho divides his time between his family, comedy club, corporate and charity gigs, acting in feature and independent film roles and golf.

Do you remember how you felt the first time you were onstage?

The first time on stage was a crazy dream. I was on the waiting list for a competition in Knoxville for Showtime. I didn't know anything about it, I just happened to hear about it and called to see if I could go on stage. I figured, if I was going to try it, there may as well be a prize at the end and not just a crowd on a typical open mic. Somebody cancelled, so I got the last spot... lucky 13. I remember hearing my heart pounding as I walked to the stage, but my first joke got a huge laugh so it was really cool from there. I got a standing ovation... been downhill since then.

What had you planned to do with your life before you discovered standup?

I wanted to play baseball. I had all the tools, injury changed that dream. So my other dream was to be an actor and back then Billy Crystal and Steve Martin had made the switch from standup. So I decided before I starve in NYC, I'd try standup. I figured it would take me about a year or so before I could earn money on the road, but I was wrong. I got hired that first night I went up... it was on a Monday, starting working on Wednesday, been doing it ever since.

In the beginning, how much of your material was about being a Korean from the south versus how much you deal with the subject now?

I used to have 20-25 minutes of Korean/Southern material. I never wanted to be just that guy, I wanted to be a comic. I wanted people to walk away saying he was funny, not he was funny but all he did was that Korean/Southern stuff. But it was great material. Steve Allen saw me in Vegas in 1990 or '91. He approached me and said, "You know the expression, 'There's no such thing as a new joke?' Well, you have about 20 new jokes. No one has ever come from your angle, best hook since Rodney (Dangerfield)." Mr. Allen was a big supporter of mine from that point. Now some shows I just do one joke about being Korean and from the south, but when I do the old jokes for fun or by request, they always get huge laughs... should probably take Mr. Allen's advice and keep doing it-- No one else can.

Have you ever done a set where you didn't mention your background at all?

I've done many shows without mentioning my background, but when I take questions, it is always the first thing asked. Believe me, I've lived this way my entire life, being Asian and having a southern accent isn't considered normal to many people. I still get looks from people every day.

Do you remember the first joke you told onstage?

The first joke I told was a story (much like my act today, mostly stories). This total white bread girl in college approached me in very loud, broken English (so I would understand her better) about being in the International section of the student annual... and after the big, long, broken English speech, I replied, "I reckon not."

What headliners were good to you early on?

I received help from many headliners when I started. I had been doing comedy about four months, and I got to open for Bill Engvall. I remember all the people at the club talking about this guy, I'd never heard of him, he'd never done any television up to this point and I had been in the business a whopping four months. Bill was, and still is, the funniest comic I have ever seen. He and I became close friends, he took me under his wing and helped me a lot. His son is my Godson. Others helped me along the way also, Jeff Foxworthy, Tim Allen, Jerry Seinfeld and others. Seinfeld helped me get a lot of work in the beginning. He liked my humor and that I was clean (still haven't cussed on stage yet) so he took me to open for him a lot. Tim Allen and I share the same "worst place to work" experience together.. hands down worse gig ever. So whenever we run into each other, we both are like combat veterans. We know we survived the big one. Foxworthy has been a good friend since the beginning. We used to go up to NYC and sleep on my buddy's floor and try to get spots at Catch and Dangerfield's. That was really fun. He and I would always try to work Florida together during spring training, we're both big baseball fans.

What type of acts do you like to follow?

I like to follow clean comics... I'm not a prude, I don't expect anyone to be as clean as I am, if they were, then I wouldn't stick out so much. I would rather have an opener kill than to tank. There's a comic, Micheal Jr., who's very strong. Some guys ask him not to do his big closing bit because they don't want to follow it (never heard of such in the old days). After Micheal did this bit for the first time before me I told him what a great close he had and he told me what some others had requested. My advice to him was to do it anyway, and my point to him was I cannot take the audience up to the roof unless he gets them almost there. If an opener leaves the crowd at the bottom, even if I kill I can only get them halfway to the roof. Stronger the better. That's what I used to get told by the guys I opened for. I used to get standing ovations in the middle and see guys follow that no problem. The guys who had a problem and would complain are no longer doing comedy and the guys who just did their job and make the audience forget I was even up there are the biggest names in comedy.

During your set, you let the audience ask you questions. What prompted you to do this?

I started taking questions in my act for a couple reasons. First, I get to adlib which is my favorite thing to do, secondly I noticed that I was burning good material during checks, so I incorporated the Q & A portion to coincide with the dropping of checks.

What question do the crowd members ask most often?

I think the most asked question is my age, or requests for specific bits.

Do you change your set depending on where you're working or does a core chunk remain the same no matter what?

My act changes geographically and mainly by the age of the audience. Sometimes I just do my act, other times I riff 90 per cent and do three jokes. But the weekend, big money, paying shows I do what people paid to see-- my show.

What are the positive and negative aspects of doing standup in a non- comedy club setting?

The pluses of doing a show outside a club is definitely the money. At a club, people made some type of effort to go and see comedy. Other gigs, being the entertainment isn't always known to the captive audience there for a business seminar. Opening for music acts is the same way, most of the time no one there is there to see you, you're just wasting their time. But once again, for that kind of money, you can't pass it up.

What are your standup strengths and weaknesses?

I think my one of my strengths in standup is my ability to adlib. I do all my best writing on stage. I can sit down and write jokes, but I'd rather go on stage with a premise or an idea and let the jokes come that way. My creative juices are never flowing any better than when I'm onstage. Offstage I live a pretty laid back normal life, so it's hard to get creative on a daily basis with all the responsibilities I have at home. Just answering these questions is a feat with two little ones running around. Not sure what my weakness would be, I'm sure there are many... probably not having the time to work on my act daily as in the old days. My work is like a college final, I tend to cram when I need new material for specific things instead of the old days when I would jot down notes all day and take it on stage a few nights later.

When you audition for acting roles, does in help or hurt that you're a standup comic? How do most casting agents react?

If the role is a comedic role, being a comic can help due to natural timing. But so many comics are such horrible actors, it's a stigma you have to deal with unless you've proven yourself. If the role is a dramatic one, all bets are off. I remember I was deep into the casting process for a role opposite Al Pacino, I had to grab him and scream, basically scare him to death. I had no problem with the role, but on the final audition I walked in and ten people said, " Hey, you were great on the Tonight Show last night". Right then and there I knew I wouldn't get the part because they could only picture me on stage telling jokes. So I actually stopped doing comedy on television for a few years to get my acting chops in order.

Do you ever write with other people?

I write with other comics, Jim Hope and Don McMillan on specific projects. They are both great standups and writers. The main thing is we're close friends and they know my voice. We don't write for my act, we don't have time and I don't really do it that way.

Career-wise, are you doing everything that you hoped you would do?

Career-wise I'm very satisfied. I've done television and movies, worked everywhere I wanted. Played all the best golf courses-- for free!! In June I perform for the President, I've hit balls with Bob Hope in his back yard... and I'm just a boy from Knoxville, TN. Who would have thunk?! I didn't get into this business to be famous, I just wanted to be successful. The only reason I would want to be more well known is to help charity events. I play in many celebrity golf tournaments, I host one in Nashville for Muscular Dystrophy called "Standup for a Cure." I know if I had a higher profile, I could raise more money, but that is really the only reason. I have some friends who are very famous, and don't want that life. If I don't get to do a television show my only regret is that I couldn't convince the networks to do it my way. I could have done a show their way many times, but I didn't and couldn't do it their way. If I can do it my way, then the quality will be what I want, and my children can be proud of the project. If it was just about money I'd be retired by now with a short list of bad sitcoms under my belt. I'd be way more famous and way less happy. To me it's not about the brass ring, which is why I have to be shoehorned into Hollywood. I just hope I get the opportunity to do a quality show, that is funny and help employ many good people for many years. In the future I hope to produce projects and not star in them.

Are there any performance circumstances that still make you nervous?

I think Johnny Carson nailed it when he said, if I still didn't get a little nervous everytime I walked out on this stage, then something would be terribly wrong. I agree, I think doing a set on network television is the most trying. It's all you, no help from the host, you've worked a long time to get to this point, no matter what you've done in the past, the cruel thing about standup is you're only as good as your last joke. So a brilliant career can go up is smoke with one bad spot on Leno or Letterman... yeah, that still makes me nervous.

What, if anything, do you miss about performing and traveling in the 1980's?

Comedy in the 1980's was a great time. I think guys nowadays are pretty spoiled. I have openers who've never driven eight hours to do a show for ten people at a fish house for 25 bucks and dinner. Stage time was highly coveted back then, now some guys who are just starting would rather not work than do road work, that's not how it was in the old days. Work was work and work made you better, not to mention paid a few bills. It's funny, I remember hearing the veterans back when I started that there are so many comics nowadays, how they used to know everyone. That's how I feel now, I used to know everyone, and now with no cable comedy show, new comics don't get on televison like we did. I did a TV show in Vegas the other day with a comedian who've I've know for a few years. It was her first television show-- ever. I couldn't believe it, but then I thought about it-- there is no Evening at the Improv or shows like that. We were taping a television show every other week in the 80's, so you'd see people on TV, so you at least knew them that way. I'm sure the new guys feel the same what we did back in the day, but I feel like the fraternity of my generation remains close. The last time I was at the Melrose Improv, Adam Sandler dropped in and we were sitting at the same table we used to occupy a long time ago. We reminisced about sitting there, young kids, hoping someone didn't show and maybe we'd get to do a set. We'd sit there and say, "Okay... Leno isn't here yet... Oh-- there he is. Okay... Seinfeld isn't here yet... Oh-- there he is." Night after night, we'd do this along with David Spade and Jordan Brady. That is what I'll miss about the old days-- the chase.