Jo Koy: ‘Easter Sunday’ got a key boost from Hollywood legend

Normally getting a Hollywood project greenlit requires perseverance, an iron stomach and a willingness to undergo rounds of rewrites.

But the process was an atypical breeze for stand-up comedian Jo Koy and Daly City-born screenwriter Ken Cheng when it came to their dramedy “Easter Sunday,” which comes out this Friday.

The mostly Daly City-set film stars Koy as a flustered Los Angeles father/comedian who takes his less-than-enthused teen son on a road trip to visit their eccentric but lovable Daly City Filipino American relatives. Secrets, grudges and tasty food lead to comedic contrivances boosted by show-stopping cameos, including one from Tiffany Haddish (a scream).

Koy can’t believe that a film based in part on his life actually happened, and that making “Easter Sunday” was such a smooth experience, except when COVID-19 emerged.

“It wasn’t even a real process,” he said during an interview with Cheng at a Daly City movie theater. “It legit was like: Get it. Got it. Boom!”

It’s the day after the Jay Chandrasekahr-directed film’s world premiere in Daly City, where the community, including city officials, flocked to see the film, snap selfies with the affable Koy and nosh on a variety of mouthwatering lumpia served afterwards.

And Koy and Cheng are still surfing that high.

So how did a PG-13 comedy with mostly a Filipino American cast get OK’ed while other projects with bigger names remain in limbo?

It was mainly the support of one cinematic icon: Steven Spielberg.

The influential filmmaker took an immediate shine to Koy’s style after watching his 2019 Neftlix comedy show “Joy Koy: Comin’ in Hot,” shot in Seattle. He realized he was witnessing someone special, a comedian who created laughs out of personal stories instead of easy put-downs, and directed his Amblin studio team to set up a meeting with the comedic actor. Koy says he’s still pinching himself.

“First of all, I’ve never gotten an Amblin call before,” he says. He showed up with his manager expecting a short initial meet-up.

“So here I am walking into Amblin and legit every single person that’s inside Amblin is walking up to me and saying ‘Steven loves you. Oh my God, Steven can’t stop talking about you.’ Every other person is saying this, to the point where me and my manager looked at each other like, “Is he talking about Steven in accounting?”

Koy says he was asked if he had any movie ideas, “And I pitched ‘Easter Sunday’ … And right at the end of the pitch they said we’ll take it.”

“Easter Sunday” is the latest venture in Koy’s surging career, which has been built on countless appearances in comedy specials and on late-night TV along with  sold-out comedy tours, podcasts and more. His fourth Netflix comedy show is due Sept. 13.

He launched his career in Las Vegas and was soon making the stand-up circuit. His star rose after appearing on BET’s “ComicView” and then even more so when he became a regular guest on Chelsea Handler’s popular “Chelsea Lately” show. (The two dated for a year and recently broke off their relationship).

The 51-year-old Koy still fuels his comedy off his familial ties, particularly his tight bond with his mother, Josie Harrison who was born in the Philippines. His 19-year-old son Joseph Herbert Jr. inspired the role of the son in “Easter Sunday.”

Koy speaks with animated passion about Filipino American representation and giving his mom an opportunity to watch a more accurate reflection of their community than what Hollywood presented before. That was the main motivator in making “Easter Sunday,” he said.

“The whole goal of this is the blueprint,” he said. “One: You’re not only going to see that we’re specific, we’re also very relatable. … We’re not making fun of. We’re having fun with. We’re not laughing at. We’re laughing with . … Even if you’re not Filipino, you’re going to walk into (the movie) and going to relate – ‘Oh my mom acts like that mom’ or ‘Oh my God, she reminds me of my co-worker and I love her.’”

Koy and Cheng hope to shake up Hollywood old-school ways that historically turned ethnicities into caricatures.

While filming “Easter Sunday” — shot in Daly City and in Southern California — the two learned a lot about how Hollywood wasn’t always welcoming to the Filipino American community, from Tia Carrere, who plays the eccentric aunt and who starred in “Wayne’s World,” and Lou Diamond Phillips, who plays himself in the film and who got raves and also criticism for playing singer Richie Valens in 1987’s “La Bamba.”

On set, Koy and Cheng said Diamond Phillips shared the Catch-22 that fed the backlash to his being cast in “La Bamba.”

“It’s kind of like indirect racism,” Ko said. “The character of Richie Valens is being portrayed by a Filipino and greatly portrayed by a Filipino. But unfortunately the story he told us: I wasn’t being received by the Latino community and rightfully so. And then my Filipino side wasn’t happy with me because I was playing Latino, and they were upset. The two groups that I wanted to celebrate me were upset.”

Carrere’s reaction to her part — she plays an aunt who’s feuding with her sister – had an impact on Koy.

He recalls her saying that “Easter Sunday” was the first movie she was involved with that specified a character was Filipino American.

“‘Back when I was in Hollywood,” Ko recalls Carrere telling him, “some of the characters I would go for were described as ‘Asian woman, thick accent but can sing.’ Even the description is offensive. We just want to lump all Asians in and do just any kind of Asian accent? That’s just like — What?”

Hearing stories such as that spurs Koy and Cheng on.

“Man the door’s open and we’re not closing it,” Koy said. “It doesn’t stop. It won’t stop. I’m going to put my foot there. Ken’s going to put his foot there. We’re going to keep holding that door open and we want the support of our community to help keep it open.”

Contact Randy Myers at soitsgrand@gmail.com.