Dialing Up the Crazy

His approach to comedy is simple: insult the audience and tell them what he would never be able to say to them on the streets.

Michael Young Cho starts off all of his sets this way, leading with a little bit of what he dubbed “verbal tickling,” where he improvises and interacts with the audience.

For example, he mentioned a black woman at his show who had loudly yelled that it was another woman’s birthday.

“And I say, ‘I know it’s her birthday because you have such big mouth, and everybody can hear what you saying,’” Young Cho said with a thick Korean accent. “I talk about this woman looking like a freakin’ Tina Turner and what’s love got to do with her piece of s--- wig.”

Young Cho, who performs this weekend at Scotty’s, said he likes to start the show off fresh, forcing the crowd to think, “This guy is crazy.”

“This is the only job where I can come and talk bad about everybody and then afterwards get paid,” he said.

From there, he makes his way into jokes about various topics, such as being Korean and living in America.

Because most of his act is spur-of-the-moment and comes as he thinks of it, he said his delivery is tailored for a club setting.

“I would like to do colleges, but I don’t like censorship,” he said. “Censorship is like dog collar that’s restricting.”

Young Cho got his start in comedy after questioning a former co-worker as to why he only worked part-time and came in at noon every day.

“He said, ‘I am stand-up comedian,’” Young Cho said. “I said, ‘You are stand-up comedian? I do not think you are so successful because you are not funny at all.’”

After befriending his co-worker, he realized that stand-up was a career he could attempt that wouldn’t require time at college and, therefore, “I don’t have to give somebody my money.”

The first time he tried stand-up, he said he was met with complete silence after rattling off all of his jokes in the first two minutes of his five minutes of allotted time.

Convinced that chapter of his life was written and done, he was surprised when the owner asked him to come back the next night.

Later, when Young Cho asked the owner why he had asked him to come back, the latter said that he could tell the young comedian would never try again if he didn’t.

“He said, ‘That is the reason why I told you to come back the next day even though you sucked so badly that night,’” he said.

In honor of his first night of stand-up, Young Cho said he now ends his sets in the same way he began.

“In complete silence,” Young Cho said.

Michael Young Cho will perform at 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Comedy Cove at Scotty's Steak House. He will be co-headlining with . Their sets will be preceded by comedian Joanne Filan. Tickets are $12. Visit the club's website for more information.