Entertainment
Comedians almost always draw from their own real life experiences to come up with jokes and on Jo Koy’s new Netflix stand-up special, Jo Koy: Comin’ in Hot, it’s no different. He takes inspiration from his life experiences growing up with a Filipino mother and now, his own experiences as a parent himself. And these Jo Koy jokes about his son from his Netflix special show how important fatherhood is to him. As a parent, you take the good with the bad, and sometimes you even take the truly awful with the good.
If you can't find a little humor through it all, you will drive yourself bananas. As a comedian and a father, Koy has that down to a science and his jokes about his son are ones that most parents can relate to.
At one point in the stand-up special, Koy brings up his son’s privilege at a private school versus his own childhood, growing up in different kind of household. Another time, he says how disciplining a teenager these days is a lot easier than it was when he was a kid because all you need to do to get your point across is take their cell phone away. Honestly, a truer joke has never been said. But this isn't the first time Koy’s life as a dad spilled into his comedy routine.
During his 2017 Netflix special, Jo Koy: Live From Seattle, Koy joked about what it was like raising a 13-year-old boy. Besides totally throwing his pubescent son under the bus, Koy doesn't seem like a regular dad. He’s a cool dad. And the jokes on his latest Netflix special continue to prove that.
On Millennials
At the beginning of Koy’s tirade about millennials, he declares that all 15-year-olds are too sensitive and that they all suck. Since his own son was 15 when the special as filmed, it's clear to see where he got that idea. "They complain, you can't yell at them. They’ll say something, you’ll get in trouble," he points out.
On Embarrassing Your Kids
As fans have heard from most of Koy’s stand-up specials, his mom wasn't the most understanding or soft person with him growing up. In this stand-up, he mentions being embarrassed to bring his mom’s version of Tupperware to school, which came in the form of old Cool Whip or butter containers. In his son’s case, Koy says, he "would be proud" to bring actual Tupperware to school and not have to go through the embarrassment that Koy himself went through as a kid.
On His Son’s Privilege
While Koy grew up in a household that was more middle class than privileged, his son "doesn't know what a lunchbox is." He admits that his son has a debit card instead and that unlike other teenagers who had it worse, Koy’s son doesn't have any actual problems to deal with just yet.
On Disciplining His Son
He also jokes about how disciplining kids is a lot easier now than it was when he was a kid. These days, all parents have to do to discipline their teenagers is take away their cell phone.
"You don't have to verbally abuse him. You don't have to physically touch him. Just take the f-cking phone away," Koy says. He also jokes that his son "physically breaks down" and doesn't know what to do with himself when he takes the phone away. And honestly, that’s accurate for a lot of us.
On Leveling With Teenage Boys
Koy explains that as a dad, he tries his best to talk to his son like an equal and really level with him when he wants to talk to him about important issues. One example he makes is masturbating and jokes that he tried to tell his son that he knew why he was in the shower for 30 minutes and came out with dry hair.
On Hereditary Baldness
At one point in the special, Koy mentions his son’s full head of hair that is a huge contrast to Koy’s own bald head. He says that his son went to him and asked if he, too, will be bald someday. When Koy assured him that he gets his hair from his mom’s side and that he probably won't go bald, his son was relieved while Koy’s feelings were hurt. So, Koy jokes, he takes any chance he can to knock his kid down a few pegs.
On Whether Or Not Size Matters
Koy jokes about his son coming to him with concerns about the size of his penis. He says that his son even asked him specifically not to joke about it, but Koy makes light of the situation and told the audience, "So what? He has a small d-ck. It’ll work."
Around the time of Koy’s 2017 Netflix special was released, he spoke to Fatherly about the special and about including his son in his jokes. And while he did bring up a lot of aspects of his life as a dad and his relationship with his son, at the time, he told Fatherly that he tried not to make too many jokes at his son’s expense. "When I wrote the jokes, especially the personal ones about him, I made sure I wasn’t just bagging on him," he said of the other Netflix special. "I wanted to make sure he knew we all do this, dad does it, so it’s all good. His head is held up high when all his friends are laughing and they love it."
Regardless of the jokes Koy makes about his son, it’s clear that parenting means a lot to him and if you can't find the humor in parenting as a whole, you probably aren't doing it right.
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