Comedian Jo Koy Dives Deep Into His Life With New Book 'Mixed Plate' (Exclusive)

Comedian Jo Koy is a wildly successful stand-up comic with multiple Netflix specials to his name and an upcoming film in partnership with Steven Spielberg. However, his journey to this success was not short or simple. Now Koy addresses his childhood, dealing with racism, and his rise in the comedy scene with his newest book, Mixed Plate: Chronicles of an All-American Combo.

Speaking with PopCulture.com in an exclusive interview, Koy addressed the process of writing his book. He explained that he first came up with the idea nearly three years ago and finished the process when he was unable to tour due to COVID-19. Koy finished the final four chapters and gave readers the opportunity to learn about having a White father and a Filipino mother at a time when this family makeup was not "the norm."

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"It's one thing to tell everybody, 'Hey, everything is good right now. I did this; I did that. I'm getting ready to do this,'" Koy said about his career to PopCulture. "But I want people to know what it took and how I lived and what I had to deal with. Not everybody looks like me; not everybody talks like me. When I talk about my mom on stage, it's not because I'm ... Well, one, I am trying to be funny, but two, I want to give my identity. I want people to know who I am.

"I want my culture to be represented, especially in Hollywood and America," Koy continued. "There's so many people that are just like me or know people just like me but don't know about us because we're not represented. That was my whole goal with my stand-up. That was my whole goal with the book. That was my whole goal with everything I do."

There are multiple stories in Mixed Plate that provide a serious look at Koy's childhood. One specific example featured a young child making a racist gesture at Koy and his family before laughing at them. This moment occurred when the comedian was a young boy, and he could have left it out of the story, but he felt it was an important detail to include for multiple reasons.

"People make fun of us, okay, fun," Koy continued. "I didn't know what kind of trauma that had on me until I wrote this book and I was like 'holy s—, damn; I guess I did go through something. Why do I still remember this story?' You know what I mean? So yeah, that's what I wanted to do. It's therapeutic for myself as well."

When Koy set out to write this book, he had a seemingly unending supply of stories to tell. Achieving career goals and filming a Netflix special in the Phillippines, experiencing a tornado warning for the first time, making his fellow sixth-graders laugh with jokes about food odor, and many others. He chose some of these humorous moments from his life, but he also discussed having a brother diagnosed with schizophrenia.

"There were [stories] I didn't want to tell. Those were the ones that I was like I got to grin and bear it," Koy said. "Those are the ones that I told, like about my brother. That was the roughest thing I've ever had to do is finally tell the world that I had a brother, something I haven't told anybody my whole life. Even before I was a comic, even before I was a public figure, I used to just keep it to myself. In school, people were like, 'Oh, you got any siblings?' Yeah, my sister, but [I] never talked about my brother because I was embarrassed and I didn't know how to move forward when they go 'Oh, what does he do for a living?' I got to tell them he's in a hospital; I got to tell them he's dealing with mental issues. That was the time I lived in. That was the generation that we lived in where that was embarrassing.

"Now we live in a time where it's like 'hey man, I'm not the only one with people in my family with mental health issues,'" Koy continued. "I myself, I deal with mental health. It's fine; it's okay to admit that now. ... That's why that chapter was about my brother. Because I love my brother, I love him so much. He's so funny. When I get that window of my brother, when it's slightly open and I get Robert for just a couple of minutes, it's the best couple of minutes of my life. Unfortunately, I have to be ready for it to close right away and it goes into this other world. That's the tough part."

Koy explains in the book's description that the serious stories and jokes about his life form a "mixed plate" of content for readers. He proves this in many ways, especially by including recipes. These additions make the book unique, but they also serve a larger purpose. The recipes introduce people unfamiliar with Filipino culture to foods they may immediately love and add to their regular meals.

"My whole life, my whole identity was telling people about my food, always being the ambassador," Koy said. "'Oh, you got to try this. When you try it, you're going to love it.' It was just my indirect way to get people to like and know Filipinos. That was the reason for the recipes. It was kind of like my little indirect way of like, 'hey, here's something else that you might like about us. Try it, cook it at home, it's easy. You'll love it.'"

Mixed Plate: Chronicles of an All-American Combo is available in hardcover and digital forms. There is also an audio version for fans that want to hear the stories from Koy's life. Koy is currently in Vancouver preparing to film Easter Sunday, an upcoming film also based on his life and family.