Lee worked at cafes and restaurants before pursuing a career in comedy.[8] In 1994, the coffee shop where he was working abruptly closed.[8][9] Lee stated, "I just went next door to get a job, which was The Comedy Store in San Diego."[8] After a few months of working odd jobs at the club, he tried stand-up during one of their amateur nights.[8] Within a year of doing regular comedy sets, he received offers to open for both Pauly Shore and Carlos Mencia.[4][8] He then began working regularly at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, a comedy club owned by Pauly Shore's mother Mitzi.[4]
Lee has said that his parents had hoped he would continue on with the family business and were less than supportive of his comedic pursuits at first.[4][8][6] 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 Tonight Show with Jay Leno his father called him, asked how much he had to pay to be on the show, and then apologized for not supporting his comedy career.[10]
Lee has included his family in some of his work; his brother has appeared in several non-speaking roles on MADtv, and his entire immediate family has appeared in a sketch on the show. In 2007, he pitched a sitcom to Comedy Central about a Korean family, which was to star his own family.[6]
In 2012, Lee was hired to reboot Maker Studios' YouTube comedy channel, The Station.[11]
From 2019 to 2023, Lee made several appearances as recurring character Jin Jeong in the Magnum P.I. television series.
In 2020, Lee began co-hosting the Bad Friends podcast with Andrew Santino.[13]
MADtv
In 2001, Lee joined the cast of MADtv,[6] making him the show's first and only Asian cast member. He has stated that he dreaded playing the characters Bae Sung and Connie Chung, as well as the "Average Asian" skits.[8] Lee remained with the cast until the series' cancellation in 2009[8] and returned briefly when MADtv was revived in 2016 on The CW.[citation needed] Some of Lee's recurring characters included:
Started in 2015, TigerBelly is a video podcast hosted by Bobby Lee and his ex-partner, Khalyla Kuhn. It also features appearances by technical engineer Gilbert Galon[14] and producer George Kimmel.[15] The show's intro song "Shadow Gook" was written and produced by Lee and performed by Lee and Kuhn.[16] The hosts discuss events from their lives and news topics from popular culture, often revolving around Asian American issues related to the entertainment industry, adolescence, sexuality, ethnicity, racism, and politics.[citation needed]
Prior to the creation of TigerBelly, Lee and Erik Griffin pitched a podcast to All Things Comedy but never developed the show.[17] While Kuhn was recovering from heart surgery, she developed a podcast as a way to occupy herself. Lee assisted her with its creation and eventually appeared on her show.[18][19] He then decided to focus on a podcast with Kuhn instead of with Griffin.[18]
Personal life
Lee began taking methamphetamine and marijuana around age 12, as well as heroin by age 15, and went through three drug-rehabilitation attempts before becoming sober when he was 17.[5][20][21] Lee relapsed on Vicodin and ended 12 years of sobriety after receiving negative feedback from a producer.[22][5] He got sober after MADtv producer Lauren Dombrowski fought for him after he was fired from the show a second time, a story which Lee discusses in his appearance on the pilot episode of Comedy Central's TV series This Is Not Happening.[23] On TigerBelly episode 224, Lee admitted to guest Theo Von that he had relapsed after his father's death in August 2019 from Parkinson's disease.[24] He subsequently went to rehab and became sober again.[25] Lee has stated that he is a recovering alcoholic.[18]
Lee's younger brother, Steve Lee, is a musician[26] and comedian. He hosts The Steebee Weebee podcast and co-hosts the Scissor Bros podcast with comedian Jeremiah Watkins. He has also made guest appearances alongside Lee on MADtv, especially in sketches featuring Lee's recurring characters of Kim Jong-il and Tank.
^Woo, Michelle (April 2, 2007). "Kickin' It With Bobby Lee". Character Media. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
^Lee, Bobby; Kuhn, Khalyla; Galon, Gilbert (November 26, 2015). "The Korean Kite 한국 연". Tigerbelly (Podcast). Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
^ abcBaldwin, Greg; Kalloniatis, Ant (November 19, 2017). "Bobby Lee is a Provoked Panda". Second Chances Podcast (Podcast). Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
