Bobby Lee

Bobby Lee (born September 17, 1972) is a Korean American comedian notable for his membership in the recurring cast of comedians on the live comedy series MADtv, where he is the first Asian cast member, and plays most of the Asian roles, both male and female, on the show, including Kim Jong-il and Connie Chung, and is the focus of quite a few 'Asian Powers' sketches.

Biography

Early life

Lee was born in San Diego, California, to immigrant parents from South Korea. As a young man, he was expected to run his family's clothing store. However, after stints in a local rock band and at the local community college, he was spotted by Frank Burns, the legendary manager of La Jolla's Comedy Store. His hobbies include golf and hanging out with his co-workers of MADtv.

MADtv

Lee officially joined the cast of MADtv in 2001 as a feature performer for the seventh season. He was promoted to a repertory performer status the following season, and has stayed there since. Lee created memorable characters on the show, including Bae Sung (who speaks the "Dumbass language"), Hideki the "Average Asian" (an Asian American who is constantly being pestered by others who stereotype him based on his ethnicity), Tank (an overachieving import tuner street racer who uses his "ricer" Daewoo to pick up girls), and the Blind Kung-Fu Master (a blind martial arts master who usually screws up on his missions due to his blindness, and brings aboard what he thinks is a weapon, but what it is actually a Swiffer duster, flashlight, etc.) Lee is frequently called to perform female characters, which has become a huge running gag on the show. In recent seasons, one of his most frequent sketches is the one inspired by the TV show 24, in which Lee details what he does over the course of a day, usually starting with two or three hours of sleeping , then showing him at home engaged in some sort of bizarre activity or simply nothing at all for hours. He also impersonated celebrities such as Connie Chung, Jackie Chan, Kim Jong-il, SuChin Pak, and William Hung. Along with Michael McDonald, he has the highest popularity among the Mad TV cast, and has confirmed on his official MySpace page that this is his last season on the show, having worked for MADtv for 7 consecutive seasons.

Other work

In 1995, Pauly Shore spotted Lee on stage and asked the young comedian to open for him in Las Vegas. It was at that point that Lee met Shore's mother, the celebrated owner of the Comedy Store, Mitzi Shore. Lee became a regular at the club, and also went on the road with the comic Carlos Mencia. Lee has appeared in over 20 national commercials, and has performed stand-up on Late Friday, Premium Blend and The Tonight Show. In summer 2004, he appeared in the big screen comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. During the 2005 U.S. Open, Lee was in a commercial for IBM's Helpdesk. He is well-received by university audiences and has become known for his extreme generosity, notably for inviting everyone in the university audience to a restaurant of the audience’s choosing and covering entire dinner tabs that run well into the thousands of dollars. Lee is also a smoker. He can be seen as "Dr. Oreo-toto" in the online comedy short "The Educational Learning Hour". Lee is among the actors, producers and directors interviewed in the documentary The Slanted Screen (2006), directed by Jeff Adachi, about the representation of Asian and Asian American men in Hollywood.

Characters

• Bae Sung
• Billy (Sesame Street)
• Blind Kung Fu Master
• Chang
• Cookie Nakamura (Sorority Row)
• Dr. Poon Ji Sum (Attitudes and Feelings, Both Desirable and Sometimes Secretive)
• Joe Hoon
• Joseph Yamanashi (Coach Hines)
• Hideki (Average Asian)
• Kim Chee (The B.S.)
• Phil (Knobs)
• Tank
• Tyler Matsumoto (Hello, Hollywood/Iraq, Hello)
• Xing Lao "Johnny" Gan (Many Shows! with Johnny Gan and Pongo)

Impersonations

• Ang Lee
• apl.de.ap
• A.J. McLean
• Bobby Trendy
• Connie Chung
• George Takei
• Harajuku Girl
• Jackie Chan
• Jai Rodriguez
• Junichiro Koizumi
• Michelle Kwan
• Keiko Agena
• Keone Young
• Kim Jong-il
• Lucy Liu
• Masi Oka
• Pat Morita
• Rinko Kikuchi
• Sandra Oh
• Soon Yi
• SuChin Pak
• Takako Fuji
• Tom Cruise
• Vern Yip
• Vili Fualaau
• William Hung
• Yao Ming
• Yunjin Kim
• Yuya Ozeki
• Ziyi Zhang
• In Seth MacFarlane's "real-life" Family Guy sketch, plays Stewie Griffin.

Catch phrases

• "It is I, The Blind Kung Fu Master" - Blind Kung Fu Master
• "Why couldn't you tell me that was there" - Blind Kung Fu Master
• "It's like a..." - Bae Sung
• "Uh oh, hot dog" - Bae Sung
• "Yes" - Bae Sung
• "Daiwooooooo!" - Tank
• "Huh"-Dr. Poon Ji Sim.
• "If I was in a movie with the Jessica Simpsons, I would do her hard and sloppy. The Johnny Gan way"-Xing Lao "Johnny" Gan

Television appearances

• Curb Your Enthusiasm (2005) as Sung
• Mind of Mencia (2006) as Chinese CSI Agent,a stereotypical Asian clerk as well as a "Butt Pirate"
• Minding the Store (2005) as Comic
• IBM commercial
• Mad TV (2001- 2008) as Various Characters
• 2007 Guy's Choice Awards- opening sketch.

Filmography

• Comedy Zen (2007) as Himself
• Killer Pad (2007) Winnie
• Kickin' It Old Skool (2007) Aki Terasaki
• The Slanted Screen (documentary, 2006)
• Undoing (2006) as Kenny
• Accidentally on Purpose (2005) as Bobby
• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) as Kenneth Park
• Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003) as Delivery Boy
• American Misfits (2003) as Korean General
• The Underground Comedy Movie (1999) as Chinese Man

References

External links

• Bobby Lee at the Internet Movie Database
• Bobby Lee at Planet MADtv
• Official MADtv Website
• Bobby Lee Official MySpace Page
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