Henry Cho

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Craig Ferguson 12/6/11E Late Late Show Henry Cho XD Watch

Henry Cho - What's That Clickin' Noise? (Video) Watch

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Biography

From the start of his career, Henry Cho was determined to be more than just an Asian comic. “I wanted to be a comic—period,” he asserts. And to that end, he has developed routines that work as well at the dinner table as they do at comedy clubs.

In the process of perfecting his act, Cho has had some notable—and riotously funny—mentors, among them Steve Allen, Jerry Seinfeld and Gary Shandling. In essence, they all gave him this same bit of advice: “You’ve got the best comedy hook outside of Rodney Dangerfield. So don’t get too far away from it.”

“I’ll do some Asian jokes up front,” Cho explains, “just to get past the obvious. Then I move on—maybe throw in another one in the middle—and then I close with a story about my dad and me going to Korea, which, by the way, is true.”

Cho got into comedy on a whim. One Monday night in 1986, he signed up for an “open mic” competition that was being taped in Knoxville for a Showtime special. “I watched the first five guys go up,” he recalls, “and then I told my buddies, ‘I’m gonna go up, try not to embarrass myself, and then we’re out of here.’ But I just destroyed the crowd. I got a standing ovation.”

When Cho walked off the stage, the owner of the Funny Bone Comedy Clubs offered him a spot hosting the show for the rest of that week. By Friday, he had decided to drop out of college. A few months later, he was booked for his first nationwide tour, a six-week baptism by fire. “I’ve been doing it ever since,”... [MORE]
From the start of his career, Henry Cho was determined to be more than just an Asian comic. “I wanted to be a comic—period,” he asserts. And to that end, he has developed routines that work as well at the dinner table as they do at comedy clubs.

In the process of perfecting his act, Cho has had some notable—and riotously funny—mentors, among them Steve Allen, Jerry Seinfeld and Gary Shandling. In essence, they all gave him this same bit of advice: “You’ve got the best comedy hook outside of Rodney Dangerfield. So don’t get too far away from it.”

“I’ll do some Asian jokes up front,” Cho explains, “just to get past the obvious. Then I move on—maybe throw in another one in the middle—and then I close with a story about my dad and me going to Korea, which, by the way, is true.”

Cho got into comedy on a whim. One Monday night in 1986, he signed up for an “open mic” competition that was being taped in Knoxville for a Showtime special. “I watched the first five guys go up,” he recalls, “and then I told my buddies, ‘I’m gonna go up, try not to embarrass myself, and then we’re out of here.’ But I just destroyed the crowd. I got a standing ovation.”

When Cho walked off the stage, the owner of the Funny Bone Comedy Clubs offered him a spot hosting the show for the rest of that week. By Friday, he had decided to drop out of college. A few months later, he was booked for his first nationwide tour, a six-week baptism by fire. “I’ve been doing it ever since,” he says.

“My stand-up has always been a direct reflection of my life,” Cho explains. “When I was single, I talked about single stuff. I talked about dating. When I got married, there were only a handful of stories I could move over to where I wasn’t going to be disrespectful to my wife. So I developed a new routine.” It was a comic windfall that his wife’s family lives in Arab, Alabama. And now Cho and his wife have three kids to add stories to the mix.

For years, Cho’s friends and fans urged him to record a comedy album. But he was always apprehensive about doing it. “I want people to see my show,” he says, “not just listen to it.” However, when it became evident that his Comedy Central routine would be ideal for a CD and a DVD, he relented. Both these spinoffs will also be called Henry Cho: What’s That Clickin’ Noise? And, yes, there is a funny story behind the title.