It shouldn’t be a surprise in post-Margaret Cho America that an Asian-American comedienne can be as frank and explicit as her male counterparts. Hawaii gets it, but elsewhere in the country comedienne Esther Ku has been surprising people for years.
Ku, the American-born daughter of Korean immigrants, has caught heat for some of the same observations on sex and anatomy that male comics of all races get away with, and she shocks some people who think that all Asians view their parents as semi-divine figures.
Hawaii gets its first look at Ku live and in person on Friday, when she plays a two-show one-nighter at the Blue Note Hawaii.
“It’ll be fascinating to see Hawaii,” Ku said on the phone from her home outside Chicago. “Here on the mainland people have often asked me if I am Hawaiian — which is always really flattering to me because Hawaii to me is an exotic place full of free-spirited people — and I secretly love that they think that. And I’m Korean-American, so going to Hawaii is kind of the midway point between America and Korea.”
Ku has no relatives here, Korean or otherwise, but she has another tie to the islands — an ukulele.
“When I was living in New York I had a guitar that I carried with me everywhere. Then one day I was at a sidewalk cafe on the Lower East Side and I saw a woman go up on stage with an ukulele and I was, like, ‘It looks like a toy but it sounds like a real instrument.’ I ditched my guitar, I bought an ukulele and I’ve never turned back. I’m an amateur but I’m bringing it with me.”
KU GREW up outside Chicago, the oldest of four children in a family where her parents made her responsible for the daily care of her younger siblings.
In the eighth grade, she discovered she enjoyed making people laugh — and the experience stuck with her. She got a degree in marketing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but decided after she graduated that she’d rather be doing stand-up comedy.
Ku broke into the business doing open mic nights in Boston. She made a name for herself, was selected for the 2006 NBC StandUp for Diversity showcase in New York City and became a favorite at East Coast comedy festivals. In 2008 she auditioned for the sixth season of NBC’s competitive reality show, “Last Comic Standing.”
She wasn’t cast — Ku was one of the first two cut from the field of 12 — but says she learned a lot.
She continued to do stand-up. She was a finalist on Howard Stern’s “Hottest Funniest Chick Contest” and a regular cast member for the first three seasons of “Girl Code” on MTV. She played the receptionist in the short-lived sitcom, “The Jack and Triumph Show” and was the voice of a Japanese vending machine that sold women’s panties on an episode of “Family Guy.”
In January, she co-hosted the 2019 Adult Video News Awards with porn stars Romi Rain and Bailey Rayne and Grammy Award-winner Cardi B.
In short, Ku, now 39, has paid her dues.
Along the way she’s seen opportunities expanding for Asian entertainers.
“I think we’re finally coming to be able to be ourselves without having to fit into stereotypes,” she said. “There are a lot of Asians on television now, and ‘Crazy Rich Asians,’ and Ken Jeong and Awkwafina are making headway into the entertainment world.”
“There’s a huge shift in Hollywood right now. I used to get a lot of auditions for just ‘Asian-specific,’ but now it’s ‘open ethnicity’ and, ‘We want to see everybody for this role.’ I’ve had white actors complaining that they’re not getting any auditions because there’s such a huge focus on diversity right now.”
THERE ARE still people who are surprised that Ku speaks fluent English — and without the expected Asian accent — but Ku said she doesn’t encounter them often.
Discussing the topic of racial stereotypes, Ku said she’s never used the “no speekee ingrish” gambit when a man she’s not interested in tries to strike up a conversation, she wouldn’t say no to doing a show in North Korea if she felt safe, and that no Asian-American man has ever flashed her in an attempt to prove her wrong about another ethnic stereotype.
“They talk s—- about me online,” she said. “But when (Korean-American artist) David Choe went on Anthony Bourdain’s show and said, ‘You wouldn’t want to date a Korean woman, they’re bitches, they’re high maintenance,” you didn’t hear Korean women complaining about him — because we don’t want him!”
These days Ku finds other subjects more interesting.
“Gender roles are fascinating,” she said. “I grew up very much a tomboy because I have three brothers and I grew up playing with boys. I roughhoused as a kid, and got roughhoused — and just going on stage and telling jokes is kind of aggressive behavior — so I find it fascinating that you’re either one gender or the other. I’ll never know what it’s really like to be a guy and guys will never know what it’s like to be a girl. I find that to be pretty fascinating.”
“There’s a lot of miscommunication between the sexes, but if you do understand the opposite sex because you’ve been around them like I have, I do feel it’s a little easier to navigate the other side of things.”
Looking ahead, Ku plans to record her first full-length comedy DVD. In the meantime fans can keep up with her through her podcast, “Ku and the Gang.” Yes, the title is a riff on the name of 1970s hit-makers Kool & The Gang. No, she has never met the band’s founder and leader, Robert “Kool” Bell.
“I saw them at the Hollywood Bowl a couple of years ago and would love to do a video or something with him,” she said. “I don’t know if he knows who I am — but we do have the same lawyer!”
ESTHER KU
>> Where: Blue Note Hawaii
>> When: 6:30 and 9 p.m. Friday
>> Cost: $25-$35
>> Info: 777-4890, bluenotehawaii.com
