At RootsTech 2024, comedian Henry Cho took to the stage as the day 1 keynote speaker. As a Korean-American born and raised in Knoxville, TN, Cho has a story unlike any other. “I’m an Asian with a Southern accent,” he says. “To a lot of people, that right there is funny.”
Cho’s comedy routines draw on his unique family heritage as an American born in the South with Korean parents. He also pulls content from his family life with his wife and three kids. His family-centered humor and the unique touch of his personal story endear him to audiences across the country, and this year, to RootsTech audiences tuning in from around the world.
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The Story Behind Henry Cho’s Comedy Career
Henry Cho’s comedic career is marked with significant accomplishments, which shine a light on his unique brand of humor. But comedy wasn’t always the plan for Henry. He attended the University of Tennessee for 6 years before entering a stand-up competition. As an amateur, he won the competition, which quickly launched a successful career.
As Cho tells it, “So I won that Monday. The guy who owned the whole Funny Bone comedy club chain… he hired me, I started working on Wednesday, and I dropped out of college on Friday. True story. And that was going on 38 years ago, and here I am now.”
When he told his parents that he’d dropped out to do comedy, Cho remembers his dad saying, “Well you waste your time.” But, 18 months later, his career had taken off. Cho visited home while on tour, and his dad simply told him, “Stick with it.”
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And it’s a good thing he did! Earlier this year, Cho was inducted as the 229th member of the Grand Ole Opry, and the first Asian-American inductee, an honor that hasn’t been extended to a comedian since 1973.
Cho’s TV credits are many, including appearances on NBC’s The Tonight Show, CBS’s The Late, Late, Show, and NBC’s Young Comedians Special. Cho was the host of NBC’s Friday Night Videos for 2 years. You can watch Cho in his 1-hour Comedy Central Special, What’s That Clickin’ Noise? on Amazon. His Radio features include Sirius XM, Blue Collar Radio, and Pandora.
Henry Cho’s Family Life
Henry Cho is a family man through and through. Cho has been married to his lovely and beautiful wife Amy for almost 25 years now. Together, they live a life dedicated to raising their three children in Tennessee, staying close to Cho’s Southern roots.
On stage at RootsTech, Cho’s emphasis on family was clear, with references to his family throughout his performance. He remarks, “My three kids are awesome, they are. They are just great kids, I’m very fortunate.” Henry jokes that his two boys don’t understand the whole “daddy-daughter thing.” He says, “I had to learn how to listen, pay attention, care…” and claims that he would buy her a pony if she asked for one.
According to Cho, the whole family is funny. “You’ve got to have some thick skin to come to our house for dinner,” he says. “We’re brutal. You show any sign of weakness, we’re all gonna get you.” As he views it, the stories he pulls from his family are “contributing to the family cars.”
A Unique Family History
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With his unique cultural heritage as a southern Asian, Henry Cho sees the humor in his upbringing. He’s even working on a sitcom based on his life. He described growing up in the South. “We were the only Asian people there when I was growing up—only ones—so I had no idea I was ‘supposed’ to be smart.” Later in life, people mistook his Southern drawl for making fun of Southern accents. As one of his buddies put it, “He’s Korean, but he ain’t.”
Despite having parents who emigrated from Korea, Cho didn’t grow up speaking Korean. “My dad immigrated here 70 years ago…70 years ago they didn’t speak English. Lo and behold they thought it was important to learn English. So I don’t speak Korean because they didn’t offer it in my high school.”
But his kids have taken a greater interest in rediscovering their roots. “My daughter, who has really embraced her Korean side, she went to Korea 2 summers ago. 16 years old, didn’t know anybody, and [she] went on a 6-week language immersion. And she’s really embraced it.”
Before his performance, the team at RootsTech shared what they could find about Henry’s ancestry. “I was shocked,” he said. “They found national immigration papers of my parents and their parents. My parents came over here. They were single, and they came over here . . . individually. And they got married in Asheville, North Carolina. . .the witness on these papers is a guy named Dr. Henry Jensen, and that’s who I was named after. . . I got to find all these different generations going back, and there’s actually a picture of the ship my dad came here on.”
A Legacy of Laughter
When asked about the legacy he wants to leave with his children, Henry immediately turns back to comedy. “What I want to be remembered by my children . . . is always go for the joke. And if they don’t laugh, to heck with them.”
“My daughter is a senior in high school this year, and she has to have a senior quote. . . She texted me and said, ‘Hey I have to do a senior quote, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do.’ I said, ‘You’re always great at this, just whatever you think.’” When she decided on a joking reference to her dad’s stand-up routines, he thought it was the perfect choice.
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