Jo Koy, Edwin San Juan and the 4th of July

My wife and I watched Jo Koy after work on a Monday at the Irvine Improv. He does these “pop up” events where tickets are sold the day of, and this one was sold out in thirty minutes. Somehow, my wife got tickets. There also is no VIP tickets, so those who came early can get front row seats. We got there right after work, and got near the front of the line. Jo Koy actually came to the line and said “hi” to us. When we were seated, we got seats near the front, and my wife likes to get called on by the comedians. There were two comedians opening for Jo Koy, who I remember being okay. Once Jo Koy came out, it was great. He talked about these pop ups being something of gaining material, so his whole set was improvised. He started with crowd work, and he picked on two guys in the front row named Josh and Cameron. Josh ordered a beer called ‘Space Dust,’ and Jo Koy would always take it. By the end of the event, Jo Koy drank three of those. He also picked on the two black women in front of me, and also my wife, who he was calling by name. Incredibly, Jo Koy went two hours. After the first hour, he told the audience that he had nowhere to go and just kept going. He told a lot of personal stories, and his family was there, as he also told stories involving his family, who was there in the audience. Somewhere after the one-hour mark, it felt more like us, the audience, just hanging out with Jo Koy with him continuing the crowd work and telling stories. Thankfully, there were pretty much no political jokes, which was refreshing. At the beginning of the set, he called and Facetimed for all to see someone that I did not recognize, but who was clearly famous. At the end of the night, he told a story of him and Tiffany Haddish coming up in standup comedian involving them buying bacon-wrapped hot dogs, and how Haddish lived in her car and had to eat one hot dog and saved the other. He then told us that they had a hot dog song, which he sang, and I think most believed him but was still skeptical about. He then called and Facetimed her for all to see, putting his phone on top of the mic. They chatted a bit, and he asked about the hot dog song, which she then sang. When the show was done, he stayed on stage to take selfies with anyone who wanted one, and we got one. He then gave out merchandise for free from his previous tour.

On Wednesday night, we went to see Filipino standup comedian, Edwin San Juan, at the Irvine Improv. We got free tickets to this event and had this one planned out a month ahead of time, which is why we went to two standup comedy shows during the weekdays, which we don’t usually do. It was a Filipino night, so there were four comedians who opened the show for Edwin San Juan. Each comedian who came out was better than the last. Edwin San Juan’s set was fun. He did a surprising amount of puns, which I get a kick out of. At one point of his set, he was making a joke talking about doing the splits, and one obviously drunk woman from the audience came towards the stage and said that she could do them. He invited her on stage, and she did the splits as he made sound effects, and this was clearly not scripted as she was just wasted. Like with Jo Koy, there were thankfully no political jokes. After the show, we bought one of his shirts and took a picture with him.

On the 4th of July, we spent it with family and had a party at my parent’s house. It was nice seeing the family along with my nephews and nieces. We brought our dog, Luna, as well, but she did get frightened by the fireworks. The food was great, and like most Filipino parents, had us bring whatever was leftover home with us. Overall, it was a fun time.