Esther Ku

Esther Ku

Esther Ku in 2010
Medium Stand-up, television
Years active 2002 – present
Subject(s) Asian culture
Notable works and roles Girl Code

Esther Ku is a Korean-American stand-up comedian, television personality, and actress.[1] Ku is a cast member on the MTV show Girl Code and Wild 'N Out.[2] Ku was chosen as one of the ten best comedians for the 2006 NBC Stand-up for Diversity Showcase in New York City.[3] Ku has also been a featured regular performer in the Boston International Comedy Festival and the New York Underground Festival. She has been called "the Asian Sarah Silverman".[4]

Background

The daughter of Christian missionaries, Ku was born in Chicago in the 1980s. She worked as a traveling sales rep for Sharpie and was fired for laughing too much.[5] Recently in an interview she said that she was using this trainee position as a way for her to explore doing comedy while on the road. Eventually her bosses found out that she wasn't serious about her job, noting on her performance evaluation that she laughed at inappropriate times.[6]

Ku has claimed that comedians need to be prepared to deal with the failure of a joke; she says that she does so by poking fun at herself.[7] Ku was also interviewed by veteran comedian Richard Lewis on NPR in a feature about the difficulties of becoming a comedian.[8]

Typically Ku's material is controversial and racially tinged.[9]

Career

Peelander-Z with Esther Ku and an audience member playing the guitar and bass

Ku is a cast member on the MTV show Girl Code.[10] Ku has also become a cast member on the sixth season of Wild 'N Out on MTV2.


In 2008, Ku competed on the nationally televised show Last Comic Standing 6[11] where she finished in eleventh place. In 2008, Ku was a finalist on Howard Stern's Hottest Funniest Chick contest on Sirius Satellite Radio.[12] She was also selected for NBC's Stand-up for Diversity Showcase in 2006.[13]

In 2011, Ku MCed an Asian Heritage show in New York which also featured Jenny Choi and Peelander-Z.[14]

Ku has been reviewed favorably in many media outlets[15][16] in both English and Korean.[17]

Ku was featured as a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on July 29, 2015.[18][19]

References

  1. ↑ Esther Ku at the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ "Girl Code | Meet the Cast". MTV. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
  3. ↑ Esther Ku, Auburn Moon Agency
  4. ↑ Meet Esther Ku, the Asian Sarah Silverman | Racialicious – the intersection of race and pop culture. Racialicious (2008-06-02). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  5. ↑ Saucy Esther Ku dishes on sex and the Beach Boys. MyCentralJersey.com (2009-01-30). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  6. ↑ Esther Ku - Getting fired for "laughing too loud". Jobless Zombie Show - Youtube (2015-05-02). Retrieved on 2015-08-14.
  7. ↑ Trunk, Penelope. (2007-10-14) Making connections is key – The Boston Globe. Boston.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  8. ↑ It Ain't Easy Getting to the Top. NPR. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  9. ↑ Between the lines – The Boston Globe. Boston.com (2006-03-20). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  10. ↑ "Girl Code | Meet the Cast". MTV. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
  11. ↑ Exclusive Interview: Esther Ku of 'Last Comic Standing'. Buddytv.com (2008-07-13). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  12. ↑ The killer combo: hot and funny – The Howard Stern Show. Howardstern.com (2008-12-09). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  13. ↑ Interview with Esther Ku from Last Comic Standing : RealityWanted.com: Reality TV, Game Show, Talk Show, News – All Things Unscripted Social Network Casting Community. RealityWanted.com (2008-07-20). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  14. ↑ East meets West at LaGuardia. Queensexaminer.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  15. ↑ Roberts, Caroline. (2007-10-08) Boston Comedy Festival: Contest, Preliminary, Rounds 1 and 2. Bostonist. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  16. ↑ Funny Asian. Asianweek.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  17. ↑ https://web.archive.org/20110704115411/http://209.20.73.75/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/ku_korean_newspaper2.gif. Archived from the original on July 4, 2011. Retrieved May 21, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. ↑ Dumlao, Eric. (2015-07-30) {http://joeroganreviews.com/2015/07/30/676-esther-ku/}/ Retrieved on 2015-07-30.
  19. ↑ {http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/esther-ku}

External links

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