Jo Koy at Chase Center in San Francisco on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2024, for his “Just Being Koy” tour.
Demian Becerra/Chase Center
The Jo Koy onstage at Chase Center looked different from the one his fans know from his four Netflix comedy specials.
Dressed in cargo pants, a denim jacket buttoned to the top and a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes, Koy stalked the stage with the gait of someone with zero effs to give. It was Koy’s fifth time in five years performing at the home of the Golden State Warriors and his umpteenth time in the Bay Area, where he has a loyal following among the region’s Filipino American community, so maybe he felt comfortable letting slip some personal business affecting him and his family.
“My mom doesn’t have a voice right now,” he said of his Filipino mother — whose accent he often lovingly imitates in his Netflix specials. “That’s the thing (the Koy family) is going through right now. So it makes me happy that I have all these specials out there, representing my mom.”
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Jo Koy at Chase Center in San Francisco on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2024, for his “Just Being Koy” tour.
Demian Becerra/Chase Center
That brief but huge reveal may explain why Koy was so on edge for most of his more than 90-minute set during the San Francisco stop of his “Just Being Koy” tour Saturday, Oct. 12. He vented to the crowd about living their lives free from the trivial B.S. that drives them crazy, pushing back against annoyances ranging from online comments to road rage. There was no mention of politics, Golden Globes hosting or his highly publicized breakup with fellow comedian Chelsea Handler — but together, the weight of all that’s happened the past two years may have subconsciously ratcheted up his performance.
He acknowledged his meandering state of mind a couple of times during the night. “If you have to go home, go home,” he repeated.
But Koy engaged with the crowd multiple times, as he often does, humorously sparring with them and consuming their drinks (his security detail replenished them and gave them free merch). He even stopped his routine to enforce a “no cameras/videotaping” rule, pointing his phone light toward an offender and calling out “the worst spy.”
To make his points and stay on track, Koy locked onto a 15-year-old attendee on the main floor named Josh who came with his family. Koy used them as a springboard for many comedic bits about sex, identity and parenthood.
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Jo Koy: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13. $57-$104. Adventist Health Arena, 248 W. Fremont St., Stockton. jokoy.com
“I’m gonna make fun of you, Josh. And I’m gonna make fun of myself, and that’s what life is about: recognizing our … insecurities and identifying with it and being happy about it,” he roared, adding select expletives to hammer his point. “It’s called ‘security’ and that … makes you a human.”
Koy’s humanity showed with glowing anecdotes about his relationships with those close to him: his mom, ex-wife, sister and son. He did an extended bit on his lola, his grandmother, about moving to Las Vegas in the ’80s to be with her as she was recovering from cancer treatment. He recalled how she’d swipe crab legs from the $4.99 buffet and play nickel slots. It was told in a loud but loving way a drunk Tito Boy at the barbecue would after too much Chivas Regal. The crowd seemed unsure about reacting too hard, a yin-yang that permeated many of the laugh-to-keep-from-crying routines that night.
Comedian and actor Jo Koy received a key to the city during a ceremony at City Hall in Daly City on July 22, 2022.
Stephen Lam/The Chronicle
These moments of clarity were mixed with Jo Koy R-rated standards: sex, getting older and ethnic jokes — though far less Filipino and Asian jokes than you’d expect from someone who was awarded his own day and key to the city from Daly City.
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Toward the end of his set, fully lubricated by five drinks, Koy let his reverence for Black music show in an impromptu karaoke-like session. He demonstrated lovemaking to hard rock versus R&B using a prop stool, and ran through his favorite baby-making jams with DJ Turbulence. He sang his favorite parts of songs by artists like SWV, Keyshia Cole, Bobby Brown, TLC, Guy and Brian McKnight. He even walked back his “no videotaping” policy and encouraged the crowd to record video and post it online.
Jo Koy at Chase Center in San Francisco on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2024, for his “Just Being Koy” tour.
Demian Becerra/Chase Center
“If you have to go home, go home,” Koy said, one last time, before sliding into another slow jam. “I’m living in the moment right now.”
Those expecting the tightly edited sets in his Netflix specials saw him in a different light Saturday. It was apparent that Jo Koy was processing pain, so his San Francisco performance was part therapy session, part comedy show.
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He dealt with it the best way he knew how: talking it out, drinking, dancing, singing and making people laugh.
Todd Inoue is a freelance writer.
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