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Koy adds 10th Blaisdell show, after selling out nine

John Berger
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COURTESY JO KOY

Comedian Jo Koy has added a 10th concert, scheduled for Nov. 19, adding to a string of sold-out concerts between Nov. 20 and Nov. 27 at Blaisdell Concert Hall.

After virtually selling out an unprecedented nine comedy concerts at the Blaisdell Concert Hall, Jo Koy has added a 10th on Sunday, Nov. 19, adding to a string of sold-out concerts already scheduled between Nov. 20 and Nov. 27 at Blaisdell Concert Hall.

Tickets for the Nov. 19 performance went on sale at noon today at ticketmaster.com, by phone at 800-745-3000 and at Ticketmaster outlets, including the Blaisdell box office, and priced from $35 to $45.

Yesterday, Koy announced a show scheduled for 8 p.m. Nov. 27. That event sold out in less than 24 hours. After his Nov. 27 appearance, Koy has scheduled performances in the Philippines.

Koy has been posting messages to his Hawaii fans at facebook.com/jokoy. “I don’t know what’s going on right now, but Hawaii, this is love,” Koy said, in a video posted on Facebook Saturday. “I was only supposed to do one show at the Blaisdell. Let’s add show two. Sold out. Show three — sold out. Four, five, six — sold out. …

“Just for fun, I said, let’s add show seven, on a Monday. Guess what? That sold out in less than 30 minutes. Aloha! … I’m adding show eight.

“Let’s keep going. I’ll live there. Let’s go!”

With nine sold-out shows thus far Koy has made Hawaii show business history. Road show touring companies aside, no comedian or group has sold out that many shows in the concert hall.

“No one has ever done this at the concert hall. This is huge for Jo Koy,” concert scene veteran Barb Saito said today. Saito, who worked with concert promoter “Uncle Tom” Moffatt for 35 years, noted in comparison that Wayne Newton sold out seven shows at a similarly sized venue at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in 1985.

Journey sold out several nights in the Blaisdell Arena in the mid-1980s, and Michael Jackson sold more tickets total when he played Aloha Stadium in 1997, Saito noted, but no stand-up comic has done this kind of business.

Koy’s six shows between Nov. 24 and Nov. 26 each sold out within hours. On Friday, he announced the addition of a seventh show, at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20. That show sold out within two hours, and over the weekend, an eighth show was added for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21.

Tickets for a seventh and eighth concert were offered directly to the public, and announced by Koy on Facebook and other social media accounts. Tickets for the seventh show went on sale Saturday morning at 10 a.m. and tickets for an eighth show were offered at 5 p.m. that day. Both shows were sold out by Monday, according to Koy’s publicist.

Paul Meloche, vice president of sales for Icon Concerts, which is presenting the shows, said Koy decided to add additional shows with tickets easily available to the public after tickets for the first six concerts sold out largely during a presale period, when only registered fans of the comedian had early access.

With nine sold-out shows on the books, more than 18,000 tickets will have been sold for Koy’s 2017 concerts. According to Meloche, 6,000 tickets sold would be the approximate equivalent of a sold-out Blaisdell Arena performance, in the configuration typically used for comedy concerts — and a ninth sell-out would equate to three sold-out shows in the Arena.

A key factor in Koy’s exploding popularity among Hawaii audiences has been his Netflix special, “Jo Koy: Live from Seattle,” released March 28. Koy self-funded the special, which includes stories of his life as the son of a Filipina mother and white Air Force veteran father, and as the father of a teenage son.

Honolulu audiences have responded to his Asian-American stories, Meloche said, but since the release of the Netflix special, Koy’s ticket sales have ballooned across the U.S.

Koy is also widely recognized for a televised Toyota commercial he filmed. A presale code for his first concerts was “TOYOTA.”

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