East West - The Asian American Lifestyle Magazine

by Kathy A. McDonald

Finding the funny is comedian/actor Bobby Lee's job. Whether he's on a movie set or as a member of “Mad TV's” wickedly inappropriate ensemble, he skewers and delivers. When he first joined the TV comedy troupe, the show's producers were reluctant to put on Asian Americans. Lee worked through numerous political battles before the producers trusted his comedic instincts. “Not a lot of Asian Americans have done sketch comedy on TV,” Lee explains. “They'd say, 'You can't say Chinaman.'” But Lee argued, “But if black people and Mexican people and other races can make fun of themselves, why can't I?”

Now the 34-year-old comedian has free reign and moves effortlessly from the show's topical sketches to delivering spot-on impersonations of both sexes, spoofing notables from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il to Babel's Rinko Kikuchi to “American Idol's” most famous reject, William Hung. “People ask: 'How come you do Connie Chung? Kim Jong-Il?' You do what's out there,” Lee says.

This month, Kickin' it Old Skool, features Lee as Aki Terasaki, part of former junior high break dancing crew c. 1985. The multi-racial foursome, the Funky Fresh Boyz, reunites for a competition when the group's leader (Jamie Kennedy) awakens from a 20-year coma that was induced by a failed break dancing move. Training for the part under legendary dancer Shabba-Doo (Breakin') was a challenge. “Literally he would scream at me, and I would say: dude, my body doesn't move that way,” Lee says. Increasing Lee's chagrin: his body double was a girl.

Raised in San Diego's north county, Lee got his start in showbiz via stand-up comedy. A self-described “loser” who didn't go to college, Lee believes that “comedy was the only thing that saved me.” He hung out at San Diego's Comedy Store where he met Carlos Mencia; the comedians became friends and Lee learned how to do stand-up in front of his crowd. He says stand-up is not that hard. “It's a matter of repetition. There's horrors in doing any live show, being booed, people walking out; you have to go through all those things. I'm still full of fear but it's something I choose to do and I'm still doing it.”
 

Lee is doing it quite well. And setting some precedents: for the second year, he and three other Korean comics will soon hit clubs, colleges and theaters, like Los Angeles' Wiltern on May 12, with their tour “The Kims of Comedy.” “When I was growing up there was nothing like what we're doing now. There was no one to look up to. The first person that I ever saw that gave me hope was Margaret Cho,” Lee recalls. Mencia was also a mentor and inspiration. “Carlos looked like an immigrant. He didn't look like Seinfeld; he was very aggressive, confrontational and making fun of white people a lot. He was a guy fighting the man - that made me want to do it.”

Expect Lee in more movies. He recently began shooting writer/director Judd Apatow's latest, The Pineapple Express. Lee's debut film, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, has become a cult classic, a favorite of teenagers everywhere…and others. “I get a lot of prison fan mail from racists and murders,” Lee says. “They write: I love you, you really make me laugh.” That's because Lee knows where the funny is.

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