FILIPINO American stand-up comedian Jo Koy now has a day in his honor in the city of Los Angeles, home to the largest Fil-Am population in California.
The Los Angeles City Council proclaimed Oct. 7 as “Jo Koy Day” during its meeting on Friday.“My goal was always to tell my story and represent my culture the best way that I could. Thank you to the beautiful city of Los Angeles for declaring October 7th Jo Koy Day,” Jo Koy wrote in an Instagram post. “I’m forever grateful and I will continue to wave my flag high. Mahal Kita!”
On Friday, the LA Filipino Association of City Employees (LAFACE) held its 40th year anniversary event at City Hall and honored Jo Koy’s accomplishments in entertainment.
The night before, City Hall was the site of LA’s annual Filipino American History Month celebration, where the “Easter Sunday” star received an honor and lit up the building in Philippine flag colors as he was joined by Mayor Eric Garcetti and Fil-Am community leaders.
In his speech at the council chambers, the comedian — best known for his jokes about Filipino culture — shared how he uses humor to show the relatability of the community in the United States.
“I want to do a thing where I could tell the story about my mom and just let you hear about what my mom does as a mom. And then you will relate to it and realize that a mom is just a mom no matter what her ethnicity is, what her religion is, what her accent is,” he said.
Jo Koy, who has catapulted to success for his stand-up comedy and Netflix specials, noted the lack of community representation on mainstream entertainment, especially in medical shows, given that Filipinos are largely in the medical field.
“I have so many Filipino nurses in my family. I have an aunt that has about seven nursing homes and just a ton of Filipino nurses out there. They work their butts off, they take care of people 14 hours a day. They have been doing it for over 30 years. And then they go home every day after a hard day’s work and they turn on the TV and they watch about any hospitals and they don’t see one nurse being played by Filipinos,” he said.
He lamented that it shouldn’t be “normalized” and that the lack of representation makes Filipinos feel “like they are invisible.”
Through his comedy, he said, he wants “to give that voice.”
“I will continue to do it. It’s important, representation is important,” Jo Koy added.
In 2020, the city of San Diego declared Oct. 16 as “Jo Koy Day.” On July 22 of this year, he received the key to Daly City, California and likewise had the day named after him, leading up to the release of “Easter Sunday,” the first major Hollywood studio film about Fil-Ams, which hit theaters in August. (AJPress)
