Interview: Henry Cho

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1:00Hope you guys are doing okay. Yeah, we're doing okay. We're all right. Liz, this is football countries. Now it's football season. We're okay. Oh, yeah, you got a football team. What are you doing about Josh Jacobs? I mean, you're far from it. You're going to do it? We don't know yet. Or should I better do it? But you better do it. I picked him up in my fantasy team. I'm starting him. I hope. I really hope. Amongst everything that that works out in your favor. Yeah. Oh, Martian Lord better do it. I mean, surely come on. This is good. It's first real season. He's finally healthy. That's what I'm saying. I didn't know you were such a packer of fun. Yeah. Well, I came. Aficionado. Aficionado, yes. Well, you know, it's. I just, I'm an NFL fan and I play fantasy football. Me and my sons have been in the league since they're little boys. That's cool. And it's just great fun. It's a great conversation while they're in college.

2:00My wife never spoke to him and I spoke to him every day during football season. Well, we actually just had our draft here at the radio station recently for our team. And there's fun names like I'm taking on Flemmi Glockenspiel this week in my fantasy league. Do you have a fun team name, Henry? Showtime. Okay, that works. That's like a classic. My son's is Cho Dell. Nice. Oh, that's great. That's good. You want to tell what yours is Laura? You guys have a draft within your. And you guys are all Packers fans. Did people just draft Packers players that? When they should? Well, Henry Jordan. I will tell you it's radio and a lot of us are from different parts. The complete NFC North is covered here at the radio station. Cutter here, you're talking to is a Packers fan. I was actually born in Minnesota, so I'm a Vikings fan, but we also have a Lions fan and a Bears fan in our company as well.

3:04So it's well covered here. Okay, that's that's good. I just didn't want Jordan love going in the second round. I think it was the third round. What? I did take Tucker Craft though. I did you serve Tucker craft from Cutter. I do apologize. I know what round were we in? Six or seven? Yeah. I was going for him, but somebody snuck him right before me. Yeah, I'm looking for a company. But I'm looking for a coming Green Bay. I've never performed in Green Bay. Really? 40 years of doing stand up. You know, there used to be a comedy club in Apple 10 and then there was one in Green Bay. But by that time I was already in LA doing other things and now I'm back out toward a hundred percent because all my kids are out of the house. It is called the empty nest tour. And yeah, it's football season. Well, you know, taking a chance. I'm trying not to never, I tried not to work on Thursdays in an NFL town in case they're on TV and definitely try to avoid Sundays.

4:09Will you be going to Lambo for a tour? Possibly. I'm staying right next to it. I did that on purpose. My daughter was in robotics in middle school and they actually did tournaments there in Green Bay. Of course, it was in February, so I didn't go. But she's been to the stadium three times. It looks phenomenal. That's interesting. My daughter too did robotics in middle school and at that school, that's a Schwabnon high school where they do it. And it's right. Yeah, and that's four blocks away from Lambo. Great. Yeah, robotics is crazy. I mean, you know, my daughter got into it. She's a Renaissance girl, you know, she sings in the high school rock band plays electric bass cheerleads. And then she's this brainiac that Google wants. So that's awesome. Talk about proud Papa. Yeah, she's awesome. You know, you know, the entertainment part comes from my side and the brains come from my dad.

5:10So she is half Asian. So there's got to be some engineering in there. Hey, you said it, not me. But no, that's fantastic. So the empty nest tour, obviously, back on the was it was it harder or weird for you to get up on stage again after a while of not doing it? No, you know, I still toured. I just didn't do it like I do now where, you know, I'm going to West Coast for two weekends and stay out there in between. I'm not taking red eyes, get back for a soccer game and the horse shows and robotics tournaments and football games. And so my, I can sketch, I can tour coast to coast. I stayed really regional. I turned down movies and TV for gosh, 15, 20 years. Cause, you know, I had kids to be a dad, not to be a comedian. What is it a dad? That's just how it was. Yeah. So what? Well, I said, you're such a dedicated dad, but you're on this empty nest tour now. Like you said, you can maybe stay a little bit longer and do what you need to. You've been a pretty clean comedian as well.

6:11Is that change now or is that stay the same? No, I've been clean since day one. I've never, never seen a reason why it's just who I am and how it works for me. So, you know, there's a big, uh, there's been swings throughout the 40 years, you know, clean comedy, dirty comedy, angst comedy that was like comedians with no jokes just out of two that lasted about a year. Thank God. And now the pendulum is kind of back to clean again. You know, but I've always been clean since day one. Yeah. I've never seen a need to split my crowd and I was very fortunate. And I worked with Jerry Seinfeld probably six months into my career and he, uh, mentored me and, you know, really told me to stick to the way I do things. So that was always a big, big, big, big shoe standing on my shoulder as I wrote it and went about my craft. How bad? How did you get so big in the country world? You know, it's born and raised in Knoxville and, you know, the crazy thing in being Asian, never was a factor.

7:13I was always just a guy. I was one of the guys growing up. Um, I was never treated as the Asian guy. I mean, we didn't even know it was weird. I had a Southern accent until I went on spring break and these girls from Michigan thought I was mucking away my buddies talk. That's funny. Yeah, they were like going, you do that pretty good. And I'm like, what? And they go, you sound like them and I go, what? My buddies going, what? He always sounds like that. And they're like, really? That's funny. So being part of the country is just kind of it. But being a, you know, asked to be a member and inducted into the Grand Old Opera as the first comedian in over 50 years was something that still surreal. I mean, I never expected it. I never dreamed about it because it was just not even in my wheelhouse and it just happened. I mean, I was a guest performer over a hundred times. And even then the crew and the staff and the other members are like, man, you got to be a member. And I'm like, what?

8:13You're crazy. And then it happened. And it's, I mean, out there last week, last Tuesday night, and you know, I, it still freaks me out every time I walk out there that I'm on the Grand Old Opera. And I got a, I got a mailbox. You got to be kidding me. Well, how does that, is it because you perform so frequently there? How does one become a member? Yeah, I mean, I have a lot to do with it. I think, you know, being consistent and because it's a really small family, there's only 60 or so active members. Wow. You know, the opera is over a hundred years old. And I assume they had thousands of members. And I'm number 229. Right. Yeah, that's very special. It doesn't happen often. And when it does, it's just one of those things. But yeah, you know, comedy joy has always been part of the, part of the opera. They just kind of went away for it for a long time. And then they started allowing me to stand up.

9:14And, you know, and I, I relate well with the audience. You know, I'm a country boy. I just happen to be Asian. So. Were you friends with Dolly Parton? Were you close to her? Were you just in, in passing? Or I saw the picture on your Instagram? I was really good friends with her. She, I'm still brokenhearted. She's still great. I mean, when she asked me to do something for a campaign ad for Dolly Wood. And I mean, she was just so sweet. You know, when the fire's happened in Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains, she did a big fundraiser. So she called and asked me if I'd just come and ask her phone. So I did that and just being around Dolly. Dolly was always Dolly, you know? Yeah. I'll tell you that there's one. So one time I was on a plane. This was gosh. 25, 30 years ago from LA to Nashville.

10:15And upfront Dolly was on the outsee. The cross the out was. And behind her was Garth Brooks. I was next to Garth Brooks across the out. And in front of me was Chuck Woolery. You remember Chuck Woolery from. Hey, we'll be back in two and two. Sure do. Yes. So I'm putting my bag in the overhead and I start laughing. Garth standing next to me and goes, what are you laughing at? I said, man, if this plane goes down, my name's going to be under Chuck Woolery. So he laughs. So we're laughing Dolly turn around and goes, what are you all laughing at? I'm just going to start those. Come back here. I'll tell Dolly to start laughing. And she goes and sits down and tells Chuck what I said. Oh rough. Come on. And Chuck goes, glares me and I'm like Dolly, you're not supposed to tell him. Oh, I'm so sorry. I just thought it was so funny. You should know. Yeah. Funny. Oh my God. Oh, that's great. That's good.

11:15That's good. She, oh, yeah, she did seem like that first. But that's part of the Southern culture too is like nobody. Everybody kind of seems they are who they are. Yeah, you know what? That's one thing about country music fans, you know, country music artists. They don't, they don't start shows an hour late. Everybody's on time. It's just a different, different genre and everybody's still nice. Yeah. That's the one good thing about country music. You don't have to like the music to appreciate that. We are a rock station after all. So I just felt like I had to say something. I love rocks. You look at my playlist. It opens up with AC DC and goes all the way to George Street. There you go. So Friday, September 18th, Green Bay, Myrth Theatre, you got the empty nest tour. What can people expect? We got all new material because when all the kids are out of the house? Yeah, I'm doing a Netflix special. So I got a new hour I'm working on.

12:15You know, I won't, this will be my second special in 40 years. So I do one every 20 years basically. Gotcha. Okay. It's good work if you can get it. So I have, I have like three or four classic jokes that I want in that special because I want them out there for the ever. So besides those three or four, the rest is all new material. And I work on that chunk and it's just been great. I've been doing this. I've been doing this FDNES tour all year. I haven't, I haven't a blast just going everywhere. And people are showing up. It's, it's low and behold. It's so great to see the different, different demographics of fans that show up. You know, I'll have, you know, over a thousand people there. And it's, you know, 25% brand new people. It's 50% people have been following me for decades. And then another 25% of people who just found me on their phone like a week ago.

13:17That's the world we live in. We're listening to this interview right now. Yes. Yes. Yes. We need like 25% of people listening to this. That's all I'm talking. If that, if that actually happens, every person that ever comes through green Bayes, like, how do we get on the air with Oralian Cutter? We got to do that now. Yeah. So that's the five star of you. I'll do that. Thanks. You can't zoom with you guys. You can do a phone interview. It's, I don't know. That might be a Henry problem because it's worked everywhere else. Oh, no. Don't say that. No, no. It's technology, man. It's, it's, it's, go ahead. No, I didn't do my hair. It should work out. That's right. Laura's in the middle of doing her hair right now. My hair is actually now up and roller since we abandoned the zoom video because we're going to get these headshots done here in a few. So all the sudden I'm doing this interview with grandma. Oh, the tourist been going great and it's all new stuff and I just have a blast.

14:17When do you record the actual. When do you record the actual special because if you're doing it, if you're doing it, if you're doing a tour all year, like when does the actual special get recorded? So we're protecting a couple of markets to shoot it. I'm so old school. I'm waiting on an air date. And you know, the network's like, we don't do that. And I said, well, you know, I don't want to shoot this and then an air next October. So let's figure this out. I mean, here's the deal. I've been one special in 40 years. I don't care. Right. And do it right. You do what you want. Yeah, you know, I mean, if I don't do another special, it's okay. Fine. I'll throw it up on my YouTube channel. I don't care. So, you know, other comedians who drink these specials out, these newer guys, they figured it out because I was always saying, yeah, we didn't do our specials every year. Like you guys do and they go, well, you did, but you just didn't do it at the hour.

15:19You did it in five minute increments on take talk shows because that's you on TV 20 times a year. Tonight show or send you all the letterman all those. And so you were doing, you know, a hundred minutes of brand new stuff every year. That's a great point. Yeah, I never thought about that way. Well, listen, we get to see it four an hour or more in person to my theater on September 18. Take it to available myrtheater.org. Can I just say this really quick? What a great week at my or theater because Kevin Smith is there on the 16th and you're there on the 18th. It's a pretty cool. That's a pretty good week for good good comedy. That's a good comedy and it's two different spectrums. That's great. Very different spectrums. But I think if you appreciate the art and appreciate laughing, you can go see both. Henry, chill comedy.com. Hey, trust me. I have my content is clean. If you don't humor, it's just clean. I got you. I got you.

16:19Look forward to it. Absolutely looking forward to it. Henry, chill comedy.com. Of course, the website if you want to learn more of myrtheater.org. Henry, congratulations on the grandaloppery thing. That was such a cool moment and it was cool to see. And we can't wait to see a live here in a few days. Appreciate it. You know, one real quick one last thing. Yeah. I'm also a member of Harvard's National Lamp. Oh, you are. Yeah. I'm the only guy in the planet, person in the planet that's a member of that and the opera. And probably will only ever make it. You see that goes. The more you know. That goes on the gravestone. Yes. That is on my head, though. Amazing. Very cool. Henry, thank you so much, man. We're truly appreciate you. Thanks. Enjoy your head shots. You all have a great day. Thanks, bye-bye. Kitchen and bathroom professionals know what goes behind the tile matters. That's why Trade Pro's trust Fiber cement party backerboard to keep tile firmly in place,

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