Bobby Lee
Bobby Lee | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 17, 1971 San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, comedian |
| Years active | 1999–present |
Bobby Lee (born September 17, 1971)[1] is an American actor and comedian best known as a cast member on Mad TV from 2001 to 2009 and for his roles in the films Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Pineapple Express and The Dictator.
Early career and family life
Lee was born Robert Lee, Jr. in San Diego, California, to Jeanie and Robert Lee.[2][3] The older of two sons, Lee attended Poway High School in Poway, California.[3] His Korean American parents owned clothing stores in both Escondido and Encinitas, California. He wrestled in high school.[4] He began taking meth and marijuana around 12, and went through three drug rehab attempts, ending his meth abuse around 17.[5][6][7] At 18, Lee moved out of his parents' home and took jobs in restaurants and coffee shops in the San Diego area,[8] while also attending Palomar College for a brief period.[3] In 1994 the coffee shop for which he was working closed. “I just went next door to get a job,” he said, “which was The Comedy Store in San Diego” (also known as the La Jolla Comedy Store).[8] After a few months of working odd jobs at the club he decided to try stand-up during one of their amateur nights.[8] Within a year of doing regular comedy sets he got offers to open for both Pauly Shore and Carlos Mencia.[3][8] Lee also went on to work regularly at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, a comedy club owned by Pauly Shore's mother Mitzi.[3]
Lee has admitted in several interviews that his parents had hoped he would continue on with the family business and were less-than supportive of his comedic pursuits at first.[3][8][9] 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 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno his father called him and apologized for not supporting his comedy career.[10]
Lee's parents currently live in Phoenix, Arizona.[3][9] Lee is known to have included his family in some of his work: His younger brother has appeared in several non-speaking roles on Mad TV and his entire family has appeared in a skit on the show.[9] Lee also pitched a sitcom to Comedy Central in 2007 about a Korean family which was to star his very own family.[9]
Mad TV
In 2001, Lee joined the cast of Mad TV,[8][9] making him the show's only cast member of Asian descent. Some of Lee's recurring characters included:
- Kim Jong-il as the host of the imaginary Kim Jong-il Show
- Journalist Connie Chung
- Bae Sung the hapless interpreter
- Tank, an Asian-American "Street Tuner" character in the style of the film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
- Xing Lao "Johnny" Gan, host of Many Shows! With Johnny Gan and Pongo
- "The Blind Kung-fu Master"
- Dr. Poon Ji-Sum, a character on the Korean soap opera parody Taedo-Attitudes and Feelings, Both Desirable and Sometimes Secretive
- Hideki "The Average Asian"
- John McCain
- Stewie Griffin, on a sketch showing a scene from the Family Guy episode "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci High" done in live-action.
- Yamanashi, one of Coach Hines' (Keegan-Michael Key) gym class students who always gets yelled at and harassed by Coach Hines (usually Yamanashi does something to deserve it).
Lee remained with the cast until the series' cancellation in 2009.[8]
Other projects and appearances
- The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Apr 26, 2002.[11][12]
- A delivery boy in the 2003 mockumentary Pauly Shore Is Dead.[13]
- As Kenneth Park in the 2004 film Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle[14] and in the 2011 film A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.[15]
- With fellow Korean American comics Steve Byrne, Ken Jeong and Kevin Shea in a stand-up comedy tour and accompanying film, Kims of Comedy, in 2005.[16]
- Mind of Mencia, as an Asian CSI agent, "Episode #1.6" aired Aug 10, 2005, and a gay pirate, "Stereotype Olympics" aired Jul 23, 2006.[17]
- Curb Your Enthusiasm, "The Korean Bookie", as a Korean bookie named Sung, aired Nov 27.[18]
- Pineapple Express, 2007, as an Asian drug-gangster named Bobby.[19]
- Kickin' It Old Skool (film), 2007, with Jamie Kennedy, Maria Menounos, Michael Rosenbaum, and Vivica A. Fox.
- Music video for Eminem's single "We Made You", 2009, portraying Sulu from Star Trek, and an Inuit.[20][21]
- The League, 2009, episodes "The Usual Bet", and "Epi Sexy" as Lee Wei Lee.[22]
- Hard Breakers (film), 2010, as Travis the stoner.
- Chelsea Lately,[23] 2010.
- Music video for "2 Different Tears", a single by South Korean girl group, the Wonder Girls, 2010.[24]
- Taio Cruz' music video for "Hangover", 2010.
- The Dictator, May 2012, as Mr. Lao, a vulgar diplomat.[11][25][26]
- Animal Practice, 2012 (cancelled after 6 episodes).[27]
- Hulu series The Awesomes, voice of Tim and Sumo.
- DVDASA, 12 episodes, 2013-2014.
- TigerBelly podcast, 2015-2016.[28]
- Love, on Netflix, with Gillian Jacobs, February 2016.
- Laid in America, a British comedy film released direct-to-digital on 26 September 2016.[29]
References
- ^ On this podcast episode, Bobby Lee confirms to his girlfriend that he was born in 1971
- ^ Bobby Lee's bio on Mad TV's official website. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Grant, Lee. "Mad man", San Diego Union-Tribune, Sep 17, 2004. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011.
- ^ "Watch Bobby Lee Take on the Hot Ones Challenge". First We Feast. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
- ^ "Watch Bobby Lee Take on the Hot Ones Challenge". First We Feast. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
- ^ Archer, Greg (2013-09-18). "Bobby Lee On Comedy, Survival And Being 'A Big, Sweaty Ball Of Flesh'". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
- ^ Kozlowski, Carl (2016-05-26). "Why Bobby Lee Is Done with 'MADtv'". Hollywood in Toto. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
- ^ a b c d e f g Nguyen, Joe. "Face2Face with Bobby Lee", AsiaXpress, May 5, 2009. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Yang, Jeff. "Mad Man", San Francisco Chronicle, Apr 10, 2007. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011.
- ^ Podcast #76 of The Joe Rogan Experience, 00:32:44, originally broadcast Feb 1, 2011. Archived April 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved Apr 24, 2011.
- ^ a b Bobby Lee at IMDb
- ^ Bobby Lee: Credits at tvguide.com Retrieved Apr 24, 2011.
- ^ Pauly Shore Is Dead on IMDB. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011
- ^ Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle on IMDB. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1268799/
- ^ Kims of Comedy on IMDB. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011
- ^ Mind of Mencia, "Episode #1.6" on IMDB. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011
- ^ Curb Your Enthusiasm, "The Korean Bookie" on IMDB. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011
- ^ Pineapple Express on IMDB. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011
- ^ Podcast #76 of The Joe Rogan Experience, 00:55:10, originally broadcast Feb 1, 2011. Archived April 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved Apr 24, 2011.
- ^ Official video for Eminem's "We Made You". Retrieved Apr 24, 2011.
- ^ The Usual Bet on IMDB. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011
- ^ Chelsea Lately on IMDB. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011
- ^ Adriane. "The Wonder Girls: New Music Video, Exclusive Pics, Videos here at MTV IGGY!", MTV IGGY, May 24, 2010. Retrieved Apr 24, 2011
- ^ Persall, Steve (May 18, 2012). "Sacha Baron Cohen struggles with the script in 'The Dictator'". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved May 18, 2012.
- ^ McCarthy, Todd (May 15, 2012). "'Dictator' will delight fans of Sacha Baron Cohen". MSNBC. Retrieved May 18, 2012.
- ^ "'Animal Practice' cancelled". New York Post. October 19, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
- ^ "Official TigerBelly Website". TigerBelly. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
- ^ Spangler, Todd (25 July 2016). "Raunchy Comedy 'Laid in America' With YouTube Stars KSI, Caspar Lee Gets Release Dates". Variety. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
