Jo Koy Quotes

Author Image

Jo Koy

Profession : Comedian

Birth : June 2, 1971

I love storytellers. When I was growing up, my inspirations were watching Eddie Murphy, Dennis Wolfberg, and Louie Anderson. These guys were great at telling stories, and I made that my own style, talking about things that happened to me and trying to make them funny.

Jo Koy

I have so much history with Just For Laughs. My career took off there.

Jo Koy

New York is always claiming East, and Los Angeles is always claiming West. It's in everything: acting, hip-hop, sports. But I love it. That rivalry makes you work harder.

Jo Koy

HBO was a big thing for stand-up, and when you're a broke kid with absolutely nothing to do on the weekend, there was always video recording your HBO specials. I would just rewind those specials and watch them like they were new again.

Jo Koy

Las Vegas gave me my career.

Jo Koy

Whatever I talk about onstage is just my story. My fan base is broad... We all have the same mom; it's just that ours has an accent.

Jo Koy

The coolest thing for me is that I've been blessed with a nice following. The people that come to see me are fans, and that happens in Vegas, too.

Jo Koy

My son - oh man, I think, every year, I'm getting 25 to 30 minutes of material from talking about him. He just keeps growing.

Jo Koy

Comedy is not the first choice in Vegas for entertainment.

Jo Koy

I used to put flyers on cars in parking lots, anything to get people to come to my shows. I was always having to think outside the box, and even to this day, I still try and come up with creative ways to market my shows.

Jo Koy

Right around 11 or 12, when I saw Eddie Murphy's standup special 'Delirious,' and I taped it on a VHS tape - I think I watched it every single day. I lived and breathed Eddie Murphy for that whole year.

Jo Koy

I always told myself I'd never be like my mother if I had a kid, but here I am, the same thing. I don't know how this happened. The same type of disciplining, the same kind of forcing him to perform in front of people, not buying him things when I could afford whatever he wanted - it's crazy!

Jo Koy

There's a lot of open mics, a lot of comedy clubs. Whatever money I could make was OK with me. As long as I could pay the rent, eat food, and tell jokes, doing it was good enough for me.

Jo Koy

I was a kid, and I would watch standup comics do the 'Tonight Show,' and if Johnny Carson liked you, he'd wave you over to the desk; that pretty much meant you were about to be the most successful comedian in the country for the next few years.

Jo Koy

It's neat seeing people that aren't necessarily part of my demographic who really get the jokes. I love it.

Jo Koy

I always wanted to build something in Vegas, especially off The Strip. I know how it is for locals. They don't like going to The Strip for entertainment or even to eat.

Jo Koy

I started in 1989. I was the booker, the promoter, the headliner. I wore all the hats.

Jo Koy

I didn't realize how many people watched 'The Tonight Show.'

Jo Koy

With Comedy Central, they produced it and did everything - I just had to walk up there and tell the jokes - whereas with Netflix, I was heavily, creatively involved, from the logo to the lighting of the room to selecting the venue to selling the tickets and promoting it.

Jo Koy

Something about Floridians, man - they are good to me. I'm glad my comedy translates to them.

Jo Koy