Comedian Jo Koy explained how he created a viral joke for his Netflix stand-up special, “Jo Koy: Blue in the Face,” which depicts him attending a Los Angeles Dodgers game with his late stepfather, Sgt. Fred Harrison.
According to Koy, who spoke with Variety for an episode of “Anatomy of a Joke: Spotlight,” the bit honors Harrison, a decorated Army veteran who was battling cancer. Koy recounted taking the devoted Dodgers fan to a game that stretched into extra innings, leading to the punchline: “He served two tours of Vietnam, and he’s going to die in a fucking Dodgers game!”
Koy told Variety that he did not simply recount the event but instead recreated Harrison’s mannerisms and the sounds of his oxygen tank. During the performance, Koy held the microphone’s cord up to his nose to mimic the oxygen mask Harrison wore. “I’m not going to just talk about Fred. I’m going to bring Fred to life, and you’re going to see exactly what I saw when I was a kid,” Koy told Variety. “You’re going to come into my world.”
The comedian stated that the moment was “literally verbatim what happened that day,” noting that it began with him telling the audience what occurred while inserting "tiny jokes." Koy explained that he prefers to let material unfold naturally rather than writing it down, as he feels writing makes a joke sound "structured" while performing makes it "more conversational."
Koy shared that he has long admired comedians who act out encounters and inhabit different characters. He said he fell in love with seeing different personalities come to life on stage early in his career and incorporated that style into his special, which debuted on Netflix in September.
