Jo Koy

 Jo Koy was born to a white American father who was part of the United States Air Force stationed in the Philippines at the time he was married to Koy's Filipina mother. [4] His family moved from Spanaway, Washington, to Tacoma, Washington, and later, to Las Vegas soon after he graduated from the high school level in Tacoma. He first attended Spanaway Lake High School and later moved to Foss High School in Tacoma. The family moved to Las Vegas to be near his grandmother who was ill. Jo Koy enrolled in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas but opted to leave to pursue stand-up comedy.Jo Koy's stage name derives from a nickname that his family gave him growing up. [5] His stand-up performance in Phoenix, Arizona on September 22nd, 2019 revealed that he was discussing a stage name with his cousin back in 1989, when his aunt came to him and shouted "Jo Ko!" (Ko means "my" in Tagalog, so Jo Ko means "my Jo"). He misunderstood it and thought she meant "Koy" and has been using it ever since.