Bobby_Lee

Bobby Lee

Bobby Lee

American comedian (born 1971)

For other people named Bobby Lee, see Bobby Lee (disambiguation).

Robert Lee Jr. (born September 17, 1971)[1][2] is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. From 2001 to 2009, Lee was a cast member on MADtv, and he co-starred in the ABC single-camera sitcom series Splitting Up Together alongside Jenna Fischer and Oliver Hudson between 2018 and 2019. Lee has also appeared in the films Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), Pineapple Express (2008), and The Dictator (2012). He had a guest appearance as the cynical, burned-out Dr. Kang on FX on Hulu's TV comedy series Reservation Dogs.

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Lee co-hosts the podcast Bad Friends with Andrew Santino. He also co-hosts the podcast TigerBelly with Khalyla Kuhn.

Early life and education

Lee was born on September 17, 1971, to Korean immigrant parents Jeanie and Robert Lee.[3][4] He and his younger brother Steve grew up in Poway, California.[5] His parents owned clothing stores in both Escondido and Encinitas, California.[4][6]

He attended Painted Rock Elementary School, Twin Peaks Middle School, and Poway High School.[4] In high school, he was part of a breakdancing team.[7] After graduation, he attended Palomar College before dropping out.[4]

Career

Lee worked at cafes and restaurants before pursuing a career in comedy.[8] In 1994, the coffee shop where he was working abruptly closed.[8][9] Lee stated, "I just went next door to get a job, which was The Comedy Store in San Diego."[8] After a few months of working odd jobs at the club, he tried stand-up during one of their amateur nights.[8] Within a year of doing regular comedy sets, he received offers to open for both Pauly Shore and Carlos Mencia.[4][8] He then began working regularly at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, a comedy club owned by Pauly Shore's mother Mitzi.[4]

Lee has said that his parents had hoped he would continue on with the family business and were less than supportive of his comedic pursuits at first.[4][8][6] During a podcast interview conducted by fellow actor and comedian Joe Rogan on February 1, 2011, Lee stated that during the first few years he did stand-up, his parents barely spoke to him. However, after his appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno his father called him, asked how much he had to pay to be on the show, and then apologized for not supporting his comedy career.[10]

Lee has included his family in some of his work; his brother has appeared in several non-speaking roles on MADtv, and his entire immediate family has appeared in a sketch on the show. In 2007, he pitched a sitcom to Comedy Central about a Korean family, which was to star his own family.[6]

In 2012, Lee was hired to reboot Maker Studios' YouTube comedy channel, The Station.[11]

Lee hosted the 9th MusiCares MAP Fund Benefit Concert in 2013.[12]

From 2019 to 2023, Lee made several appearances as recurring character Jin Jeong in the Magnum P.I. television series.

In 2020, Lee began co-hosting the Bad Friends podcast with Andrew Santino.[13]

MADtv

In 2001, Lee joined the cast of MADtv,[6] making him the show's first and only Asian cast member. He has stated that he dreaded playing the characters Bae Sung and Connie Chung, as well as the "Average Asian" skits.[8] Lee remained with the cast until the series' cancellation in 2009[8] and returned briefly when MADtv was revived in 2016 on The CW.[citation needed] Some of Lee's recurring characters included:

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TigerBelly podcast

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Started in 2015, TigerBelly is a video podcast hosted by Bobby Lee and his ex-partner, Khalyla Kuhn. It also features appearances by technical engineer Gilbert Galon[14] and producer George Kimmel.[15] The show's intro song "Shadow Gook" was written and produced by Lee and performed by Lee and Kuhn.[16] The hosts discuss events from their lives and news topics from popular culture, often revolving around Asian American issues related to the entertainment industry, adolescence, sexuality, ethnicity, racism, and politics.[citation needed]

Prior to the creation of TigerBelly, Lee and Erik Griffin pitched a podcast to All Things Comedy but never developed the show.[17] While Kuhn was recovering from heart surgery, she developed a podcast as a way to occupy herself. Lee assisted her with its creation and eventually appeared on her show.[18][19] He then decided to focus on a podcast with Kuhn instead of with Griffin.[18]

Personal life

Lee began taking methamphetamine and marijuana around age 12, as well as heroin by age 15, and went through three drug-rehabilitation attempts before becoming sober when he was 17.[5][20][21] Lee relapsed on Vicodin and ended 12 years of sobriety after receiving negative feedback from a producer.[22][5] He got sober after MADtv producer Lauren Dombrowski fought for him after he was fired from the show a second time, a story which Lee discusses in his appearance on the pilot episode of Comedy Central's TV series This Is Not Happening.[23] On TigerBelly episode 224, Lee admitted to guest Theo Von that he had relapsed after his father's death in August 2019 from Parkinson's disease.[24] He subsequently went to rehab and became sober again.[25] Lee has stated that he is a recovering alcoholic.[18]

Lee is a long-time Arsenal Football Club supporter.

Lee is an avid fan of video games, including FIFA, Stardew Valley, The Elder Scrolls, Red Dead Redemption 2, and The Witcher series.

Lee's younger brother, Steve Lee, is a musician[26] and comedian. He hosts The Steebee Weebee podcast and co-hosts the Scissor Bros podcast with comedian Jeremiah Watkins. He has also made guest appearances alongside Lee on MADtv, especially in sketches featuring Lee's recurring characters of Kim Jong-il and Tank.

Filmography

Film

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Television

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Music videos

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Documentary

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References

  1. [1]
    https://nationaltoday.com/birthday/bobby-lee/
  2. [2]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imhn-g8AjGo
  3. [3]
    "MILESTONES: September 17 birthdays for Patrick Mahomes, John Franco, Bobby Lee". Brooklyn Eagle. September 17, 2020. Archived from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  4. [4]
    Grant, Lee (September 17, 2004). "'Mad' man". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  5. [5]
    Archer, Greg (September 18, 2013). "Bobby Lee On Comedy, Survival And Being 'A Big, Sweaty Ball Of Flesh'". HuffPost. Archived from the original on December 17, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  6. [6]
    Yang, Jeff (April 10, 2007). "ASIAN POP / Mad Man". SFGate. Archived from the original on March 5, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  7. [7]
    Woo, Michelle (April 2, 2007). "Kickin' It With Bobby Lee". Character Media. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  8. [8]
    Nguyen, Joe (May 5, 2009). "Face2Face with Bobby Lee". www.asiaxpress.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  9. [9]
    "Bobby Lee at Levity Live". Visit Oxnard. Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  10. [10]
    Rogan, Lee & Redban 2013
  11. [11]
    Baldwin, Drew (January 30, 2012). "Maker Studios Reboots The Station With Bobby Lee". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  12. [12]
    The Grammys (December 2, 2014). "Set List Bonus: Ninth Annual MusiCares MAP Fund Benefit At Club Nokia". GRAMMY.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  13. [13]
    Laddin, Stephen (March 3, 2020). "Andrew Santino Is A People Person". High Times. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  14. [14]
    Lee 2017, p. 12:00
  15. [15]
    Lee 2017, p. 2:03
  16. [16]
    Lee, Bobby; Kuhn, Khalyla; Galon, Gilbert (November 26, 2015). "The Korean Kite 한국 연". Tigerbelly (Podcast). Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  17. [17]
    Lee & Griffin 2016, p. 1:17:00
  18. [18]
    Baldwin, Greg; Kalloniatis, Ant (November 19, 2017). "Bobby Lee is a Provoked Panda". Second Chances Podcast (Podcast). Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  19. [19]
    Lee 2017, p. 10:45
  20. [20]
    Schonberger, Chris (October 27, 2016). "Watch Bobby Lee Take on the Hot Ones Challenge". First We Feast. Archived from the original on March 2, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  21. [21]
    Kozlowski, Carl (May 26, 2016). "Why Bobby Lee Is Done with 'MADtv'". Hollywood in Toto. Archived from the original on March 5, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  22. [22]
    Lee, Diaz & Syatt 2014, p. 9:30
  23. [23]
    Variety Staff (October 28, 2008). "'Madtv's' Lauren Dombrowski dies". Variety. Archived from the original on March 29, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  24. [24]
    "Comedian Bobby Lee's father has passed away". August 19, 2019.
  25. [25]
    Lee, Bobby (December 12, 2019). "Theo Von & The Guillotine | TigerBelly 224". YouTube. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  26. [26]
    "David Choe x Money Mark x Steve Lee starts a band". Upper Playground. August 19, 2014. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  27. [27]
    "Bobby Lee". IMDb. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  28. [28]
    Adriane (May 24, 2010). "The Wonder Girls: New Music Video, Exclusive Pics, Videos Here at MTV Iggy!"MTV K. Archived from the original on June 04 2011. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  29. [29]
    "Jencarlos Releases New Single "Dure Dure" with Don Omar". www.peermusic.com. July 28, 2017. Archived from the original on March 14, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2021.

Sources

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