You Win When You Fail | Jo Koy
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How did Jo Koy’s early childhood and family shape his drive to become a comedian?
Everywhere I go, airports, events, walking down the street, people stop me and say, Lewis, this show got me through one of the hardest seasons of my life. And it's one of the coolest things when people come up to me. So if you see me, please come up and say hi and let me know how this show, The School of Greatness, has impacted you. It lights me up because our mission at Greatness Media is to impact 100 million lives every single week. So if today's conversation hits home for you, do me a favor and push the follow button right now. It means that the next conversation will be delivered to you and we'll find you exactly when you need it. Again, thank you so much for being here and listening to the School of Greatness.
Make sure to follow right now to stay up to date on the latest and greatest. You know what's crazy? I don't hope. I never say hope. When you say hope, you're asking for something else other than your own talent to get it. That's Joe Coy. And if you've ever caught yourself saying, I hope this works out, waiting on some outside force to hand you your shot, sit with that for a few seconds. Because what if the thing standing between you and the life you want isn't luck, it isn't timing or connections, it's just you finally deciding to bet on your own work. In this episode, Joe takes you behind the mic and behind the mustache drawn on with eyeliner nights when he bombed on stage over and over. You'll hear how he turned insecurity into his greatest material, how he financed and shot his own Netflix special after they passed on him,
and why he still hand delivers his own flyers to car windshields, even when the show's already sold out. Joe Coy is a stand-up comedian, actor, and producer with multiple sold-out Netflix specials, including his newest, Blue in the Face. He's shattered box office records at some of the biggest arenas in the world and built a career by simply refusing to wait for someone else's permission to start. This is Joe Coy, and welcome to the School of Greatness. as one of the best in the world at what you do. You transfer energy so well, whether it be in person, one-to-one, one-to-many in front of thousands of people, or hundreds of thousands of people in person, or to millions of people on a screen. You transfer energy, and it's very hard for anyone to do that well.
It's hard for comedians to do that well, effectively, consistently, and it's hard for just everyday human beings to transfer energy well. Did you always know how to transfer energy well when you were younger growing up? Or is this a skill that you had to learn through trial and error or through failure and defeat and... Trials that you experienced.
You know, what's crazy is when I was a kid, like when I was like five or six, I'm not even making this up. I already knew I was really funny.
Really?
Yeah, it was the weirdest thing because my mom would always be like, oh, Joe is so funny. And my dad always laughed at everything, you know. Yeah. And if they had parties, I'd be funny. I knew that there was a group of people laughing. It's something that I would do. And then I knew I had that skill set because my dad was in the military. So every three years, four years, we were bouncing. But I didn't care because in my head, I already knew I'm going to be the funny one in the school. Right away. Right away. I'm going to be the funny guy at the school. I'm going to be the funny guy at the school. So I was never sad that I was leaving a group of friends. I was happy because I knew I could get new friends. Does that make sense?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was the weirdest thing. And there was this one elementary school called Elk Plain Elementary. And I was moving from the Philippines to... And I remember we were so sad leaving because my dad got an extension in the Philippines for another year. We stayed for one more year because we were begging him, please don't leave. But that was it. That was as far as he could get it. And then we had to move to Tacoma, Washington. And I remember I was so sad, but then that sadness turned into excitement because I remember I was like, oh, I'm going to be so funny.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Jo Koy’s early childhood and family shape his drive to become a comedian?
0:02–16:02
2
What was the turning point when Jo Koy used a fake resume to get his first warm‑up gig?
16:02–28:27
3
How did Jo Koy break through on BET’s Comic View and what did he learn from that experience?
28:27–43:38
4
What happened when Jo Koy won the Apollo and how did it change his career?
43:38–56:44
5
Why did Jo Koy fund his own Netflix special after being turned down, and how did it finally get bought?
56:44–1:09:15
6
Why does Jo Koy still print and hand‑out 10,000 flyers for sold‑out shows?
1:09:15–1:16:37
7
What are the biggest life lessons Jo Koy learned from his stepdad and his mom?
1:16:37–1:21:02
8
How does Jo Koy define greatness and why does he say it’s about doing what you love for free?
1:21:02–1:21:51
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The School of Greatness
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Your Phone Is Stealing the Life You Actually Want | Cal Newport
Rebuild Your Identity in 3 Steps and Finally Make Habits Last | Dr. Kim Foster