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September 29, 2025 • 13 mins
A few minutes with the successful stand-up before he brings his "empty nest" to Lincoln on Oct. 9th.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
You know, we have a lot of musicians and comedians
on the program, and that's largely because when I was
a kid, I grew up watching MTV and half hour
comedy specials on any channel that showed me comedy, And
anytime this guy came up on stage, he was immediately funny,
full body of cream.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
But I was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, so
I do taught this way. Yeah, y'all Korean, you're from Noxville,
what's the deal? But I'm from Noxville, Tennessee. It's kind
of tough growing up there. I was only an Asian guy
in like four states, So yeah, it's kind of tough
growing up as a kid. Y'all remember playing Army when
you were a kid. Yeah, I pretty much hated that game.

(00:53):
All my buddies would go, okay, and it's the neighborhood against.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Henry.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Choe is coming to Lincoln for a show at the
Rococo Theater next Thursday night, October ninth, and joins us
now on eleven to ten kfab Henry, Good morning.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Hey Scott, how you doing, Buddy wonderful?

Speaker 2 (01:11):
I'd be a kid, I'd literally be out playing Army
or as you go into Cowboys and Indians and then
I come in and watch that special and just fell
and fell in love with you. And I want to
talk about the genesis of that joke and how real
it was. I know jokes are jokes, but a lot
of it does come from a place of reality. So, honestly,

(01:32):
what was life like growing up for you being the
as you said, the only Asian kid in four states
growing up in Knoxville.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
Well, I'll tell you it was. That is a joke
because my buddies were the greatest and I I I
commend my buddy's parents because we were not the Korean family.
We were just the chose.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
I was the only Asian kid my entire life growing up.
And so it's funny because I wrote that joke years
and years and decades ago, and my buddy got interviewed
after that and they went, what do you That's just
a joke, you know, because they were being asked, you
know what that hell? It was like, they go, No,
we didn't treat him like that. He wasn't hop sing.
He was little Joe. That's what he played, Little Joe

(02:16):
when we played Bonanza. Have you never seen him walk?

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah? You definitely got that.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
He's got a swagger man. He ain't hop same.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, you definitely mosey out on stage. So when when
did you start doing comedy? Because that stretch there, like
mid to layed eighties, that golden era comedy where there
was so many fantastic comedians coming up and doing clubs
like whether it's the Funny Bone here in Omaha or

(02:46):
as You're coming to the Rococo Theater and Lincoln next week.
When did you start doing comedy?

Speaker 4 (02:52):
I started in nineteen eighty six and I went up
on stage and a Monday night at a competition. I'd
never done comedy, never tried it, and I won, and they,
matter of fact, the Funnybone. The guy who started and
owned all the Funny Bones back then was a guy
named Jerry Kubac. He was there from Saint Louis. Because
I didn't know this, it was a big choke time

(03:14):
deal looking for the funniest person in Tennessee kind of deal.
And I won Monday night and they he hired me
and I started working on Wednesday as the MC of
the nock for Funnybone, and I dropped out of college
on Friday, and I've been doing it ever since.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
When did you realize?

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Because I had a kind of a similar path in
the radio, and I thought, Wow, what a great opportunity,
and I'm right in here, and when did you realize, like, oh,
they're just hurting for bodies and they would literally take
anyone to do this.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
Well, you know, because my first joke worked in my
first five minute set completely destroyed. I mean, I got
to stand in ovation the first time ever won on stage,
and I was scared to debt walking up there. I
was scared to debt to tell my first joke. But
when it worked, I went, oh, wow, okay, and then
about halfway through, I went, Okay, I found it. This

(04:10):
is what I'm gonna do. Yeah, and I did. I
dropped out of college five days later.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
I can't imagine having to try to do comedy in
those days, because you would be whether the opening or
the feature act for whoever the headliner was, well, the
headliner would gone to be one of the most famous
comedians of all time, no matter where you were, right.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
Oh yeah, I was so lucky. So I do clean comedy,
so I always have. So I was I was had
the opportunity for open to open for Jerry Seinfeld six
months into my career, and Jerry was so helpful and
he's still a friend and a mentor and and he
was like, well, where are you going next week? And

(04:49):
I go outn't really have much, you know, so I
mean he took me out and then all of a sudden,
my phone was ringing and Gary Sandling was calling Jay Leno,
Bill Wing, Bold and Foxworthy, all these the biggest headliners
in the game were calling me to come and open
for him. And it just I learned from the best,

(05:09):
and that's what helped propel my career to be the
headliner so fast.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
And you've definitely worked with our friend Larry the Cable Guy,
one of the blue collar comedy tour guys. You know,
he's from around these parts.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
Oh yeah. So Dan and I go way back and
me and Foxworthy. Dan was actually opening for me. He
was my feature act at the Punchline in Atlanta when
he was still doing Larry the Cable Guy to close
his show. And that's when fox Worthy and I told him, Man,
you know, Larry's way funnier than Dan, and that he

(05:42):
made the swift and just destroyed and he's like, Dan's dead.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, yeah, We've encouraged some people over the year as
much too. I'm sure to his chagrin to look up
Dan Whitney comedy on YouTube. But see the comedian before
Larry completely swallowed him whole, and it's something to be hold.
Henry Choe with us for a few more minutes here
on eleven ten kfa B. You're bringing your comedy tour

(06:06):
to Lincoln, first of all, after a couple of nights
in your hometown, right.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
Uh, yeah, I'm at home this weekend, and then next
weekend I'm gonna be in Lincoln and go to Chicago.
It's a good tour. Lincoln, Kansas City, Chicago. That's next
week the following weeknd.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, the Rococo Theater next Thursday night. Tickets at Henry
Chocomedy dot com. The name of the tour is the
Empty Nest Tour.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Henry. You're an empty nester now I am.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
You know, my youngest started college last fall, so once
I hit the road last fall, it changed everything. I
get to do what I used to do and go
out and do multiple shows and stay on the West
coast or far away for multiple nights and weeks. Because
I was always a very hands on dad I didn't
want to miss out on my kids act, so I waited.

(07:01):
And you know, it's crazy. I was older when I
got married. I waited a long time. And my buddies
all their kids left years ago. So I asked him,
you know, what's it like when the kids leave? They said, well,
you know, it's like when before you had kids. And
I got to tell you, it's nothing like it. It's
it's horrible because everybody's tired. Now it doesn't matter right.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
You know, before you'd be like, hey, it's a quarter
to ten on a Thursday night, what are we doing tonight?
And now it's it's quarter to ten and on a
Thursday night, good night exactly.

Speaker 4 (07:32):
My wife's asleep by nine o'clock. Sometimes it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Uh, how's it? How did it go for your wife?

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Because in my family dynamic Henry, our oldest is now
a freshman in college just a few hours from here,
but far enough. And then we've got another one in
high school and my wife is already determined, well it's
all over. He's already out of the house. They don't
need us anymore, and she's struggling with it. How'd your
wife do with it?

Speaker 4 (07:56):
Uh? Yeah, my wife struggled and she still does, you know,
just because they're out of college. My oldest, two oldest
are out of college, they have jobs. He still struggles
with that. And you know, I got buddies of mine
that struggled, you know, because I was an older dad.
But you know, we have kids the same age and

(08:16):
they'll sit there and just go, Man, doesn't it upset you?
And I go, are you kidding? No? They needed to go.
And that was my boys. Now my daughter's a little
different story. You know, Do I miss her more? Probably
I am. And that's just the way it is.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yes, Yes, I completely agree.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah, it's it's a tough dynamic because on one hand,
you don't want them to go, but on the other,
they have to go, don't they They have to go.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
And and you know I told my wife, I said, look,
we did the best we could. We raised them the
way we thought we should raise them. And now they're
on their own. And if I didn't think they were prepared,
I might be a little more worried, but I'm not.
We prepared them very well. So they're going to be
able to take rejection. People are going to be able

(09:04):
to tell them no, and they're not gonna melt down.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Are any of your kids interested in comedy?

Speaker 4 (09:12):
You know, all three of my kids are so funny.
They're so innately funny. Jay Leno actually thinks it's hereditary.
Like a major league baseball player's kids seven times greater
chance of playing pro ball. I think it might be.
I think a lot of it has to do with
osmosis when your dad has never said anything serious in
his life. In their lives, everything's a joke and they

(09:33):
have great timing and they know what's funny, and you know, yeah,
if you came to our house for dinner, you're show
any weakness, I guarantee you they're going to exploit it
because they're brutal.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Well, your career has been so impressive, everything from the
comedy specials to movies I mentioned earlier. I love music
and comedy. You were the host of Friday Night videos
for a couple of years in my formative years. So
to see you up up there saying hey, here's the
way to stuff from Phil Collins or whatever the heck

(10:03):
was super fun. So it'll be great, be great having
you here in the Omaha Lincoln area next week.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
Oh, I can't wait to come to Lincoln. I love
that area. Love My good pals are from there in Omaha,
and so I've been up there a few times, play
a little golf and hang out with them and the
host and fried out videos. Was the greatest, most fun
thing in the world. And I you know that clips
you played, my accent was really thick because that's how
I talked. And the first video I introduced was air

(10:33):
Smith with Steven Tyler and they go, we can't understand
a word you're saying.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, so Aero Smith.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
Air Smith. Yeah eight. So now I have the accent
I have now, which my kids are very thankful because
they sound like me and not like my wife from Alabama,
so they and nut State also, but they do have
a Southern accent. All let me get more things, gott Yeah.

(11:02):
Last week, so I'm a member of the Grand Old Opry.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yes, congratulations, you knew that.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. I'm the first comedian in fifty
years to be inducted into Grand Old Opry. Last week
I became a member of Harvard's National Lampoon. Uh and
as a comedian that is such an iconic institution. I
guarantee I'm the only person on the planet that can

(11:31):
say they're a member of National Lampoon and the Grand
Old Opry.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
I don't think Conan O'Brien's in the Grand Old Opry.
So yeah, you're you're in a rarefied air there, my friend, Henry.
We ask all of our favorite guests on this program
to say a line for us that we feel is
the best thing to hear first thing in the morning,
and the line is, if you would be so kind
good morning, honey, I made you pancakes for breakfast. Would

(11:58):
you be so nice as to say that for please?

Speaker 4 (12:01):
Of course, Hey, good morning, honey, I made you pancakes
for breakfast.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Excellent without as much of the Tennessee accent, which then
begs the question. As you spent you know, more time,
you know, growing up and being around people and traversing
the country, you found yourself probably losing that accent a
little bit and you thought, oh no, this is going
to be bad for my career.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
Yeah, yeah, no, I'm telling you fridened that videos. It's
taught me how to annunciate. That's what that was my
that was my radio uh DJ boy.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
Instead of saying, hey, honey, good morning, I made you breakfast. Yeah,
you know. That's how I normally say.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Right.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
Oh yeah, Well the radio voice is a lot more
puky everybody like someone else we're being here today, Henry Show. Yeah,
that's that's the radio voice. But hey, thank you for
making me laugh my entire life. We'll look forward to
having you here in Lincoln next week.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
Thanks Scott, pret much comments.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Scott Voies mornings nine to eleven, Our News Radio eleven
ten KFAB
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