Comedian Julie Kim gets real: She is unapologetically here to take up space
The Korean Canadian comic on touring with Ronny Chieng, telling authentic stories and what it took to make comedy a full-time career
Julie Kim has gone on tour with comedians such as Ronny Chieng and written for hit series like "Kim’s Convenience."
Calyssa Lorraine
Words by Samantha Lui
When Julie Kim took her first stand-up comedy class 15 years ago in Toronto, she never expected it would become a full-time career.
At the time, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based comic was pursuing a doctorate degree in industrial engineering, on the path to working in a corporate environment. But inspired by the genius of comic legend Robin Williams, Kim gave comedy a try as a way to enhance her public speaking skills and check off a bucket list item.
Little did she know, taking a course at Second City—the iconic improv comedy enterprise with locations in Chicago, New York and Toronto—would one day lead her to tour with comedians such as Ronny Chieng, be in the writers room for a hit series like Kim’s Convenience and produce for actor Simu Liu, the star of Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. “I have been supported by a lot of wonderful people along the way,” Kim tells JoySauce.
Julie Kim originally tried comedy to improve her public speaking skills and check off an item from her bucket list.
Calyssa Lorraine
The Korean Canadian comic takes extra pride in being loud and unapologetic in her comedy. And if you’ve ever watched her perform, you’d know how radical her jokes can be. She tackles everything from interracial relationships and motherhood, to the struggle of being an eldest daughter in an immigrant family. There’s a down-to-earth, relatable quality to her delivery, similar to listening to life advice from an older sister or a cool cousin. And she’s not afraid to get savage with the crowd.
In one segment, Kim shares her story about getting a C-section to give birth to her daughter. Mid-speech, a man in the crowd heckles her from the crowd, and mansplains the importance of giving birth naturally. “You read scientific studies just for fun, wow.” Kim asks with a deadpan face. “You here alone, sir?”
In September and October, Kim will go on a cross-Canada tour with Canadian comedian Rick Mercer, and will perform a handful of shows across the border in New York and Philadelphia in December.
Kim recently spoke to JoySauce about her early beginnings as an aspiring comedian, touring with Chieng and the changing landscape in comedy for Asian comics like her.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Samantha Lui: Take me back to your early beginnings. Why did you want to get into comedy in the first place?
Julie Kim: I took a stand-up comedy course at Second City 15 years ago. I can’t say the class gave me skills, but they taught me very basic things like how to hold a microphone, what the light is and very basic joke structure. But when I was doing it, I was working professionally and started a graduate degree, so I would be the one voted least likely to succeed! I was doing a PhD at the time in industrial engineering.
I thought stand-up comedy was a very difficult thing to do. I remember hearing in passing that Robin Williams was a genius. I remember seeing him on TV and he was so fast with his words and his performance, just making people laugh so hard. I associated being a genius with being a really good comic. And a lot of people have a fear of public speaking. I didn’t want to have that fear so I wanted to do this really hard thing. I never thought it would be something I would be good at, but I wanted to try it one time.
SL: Why was being a good public speaker so important to you?
JK: I was working corporate jobs as a young woman of color, and I had been noticing that nobody was listening to anything that I would say. I had times in meetings where I would say things that made sense or were good ideas and people would completely ignore me. I mean, part of the problem could be that I didn’t articulate them properly, but it was most certainly bias, gender bias or race bias. So my takeaway from that was, well if I can’t make myself into an old man that looks the same as every other CEO, at the least I’m going to become somebody who speaks well.
SL: What was the landscape like for Asian women in comedy back then?
JK: There were no other Asian women in comedy. When I first started in Toronto, there were like two other Asian males, and there weren't many people of color. Definitely more males and very few females. That’s what the landscape was like.
A lot of people talk about how comedy now is more diverse, a lot more women, Asians, people of color. That also brings in a much wider demographic in terms of audience members. To me, that means more people can enjoy comedy and laugh and have all the benefits of comedy.
SL: What did you have to do to truly make comedy work for you as a career?
JK: There are no specific moments, because this whole thing has been a grind. Sometimes, it still feels like a grind. In the beginning, you have to ask, beg and quite frankly, grovel for spots to do comedy or for people to book you. You can’t just say, “Oh, I’m not going to care what other people think.” You have to, otherwise you don’t have access to stage time, which means you can’t do your art and you can’t get better.
A lot of it has to do with pretending to be nice to (people), pretending to like a lot of people you know are pieces of sh*t to be able to get good. But there’s also great people along the way. Being able to tour with Ronny Chieng across 40 different theater shows in North America is a very significant co-signing and a very unique opportunity that really increased my game and my self esteem in the industry. Or booking Just for Laughs, or gigs at A-list clubs.
The work started feeling more meaningful. I feel the tides have kind of started to change in the last few years for me, and honestly it’s only been like two years that I’ve been able to let go of other professional and academic work and start to cross this bridge to the side where I get to be my real, authentic self and really truly start to dream of all the things I want to do in entertainment.
SL: How did touring with Ronny Chieng come about?
JK: I opened for him when the Just for Laughs Festival came to Vancouver, and he chose me and another comedian to open for him. That was when he was doing smaller theater shows, and we had just kept in touch. He was kind of new at The Daily Show at the time, around 2016.
He is just someone who supports other comedians. When he came back to town, I opened for him again and heard he was going on tour. I expressed interest and said, “I’d love to open for you.” At the time, it was not yet a big tour like he has done more recently. But they didn’t have a budget for travel or accommodations. So I said, “I will find a way.” I looked into various Canadian grants, got one and it allowed me to support myself on his tour and level up.
Ronny supports so many other comedians, especially other Asians in Canada and the U.S.
SL: You’re also a Canadian in this competitive landscape. But you’ve also used your perspective to write jokes for actor Simu Liu when he hosted the JUNO Awards—AKA the Canadian GRAMMY Awards. His “I Am Canadian” speech went viral. What was that like?
JK: I’m really proud of that monologue because it went quite viral and got a standing ovation. We asked to have Simu’s name with Chinese characters on screen too. I also made sure it was very feminist. I was very proud to fight to have the line about a woman having the right to choose in Canada. Producers were not sure if we should put that in, but it’s completely accurate!
I am overwhelmingly proud to be a Canadian, to be born and raised here. So it was neat to write and help produce that thing which so many people took pride in regardless of their background and their citizenship status here. It's a very special thing to be Canadian. I love this country.
SL: How important is it for Asian comedians to advocate for one another?
JK: I've had the pleasure of working with a lot of other comics along the way that have been amazing, like Atsuko Okatsuka, who's just selling out everywhere she goes around the globe. Her connection with the audience is just next level. Her ability to story tell, her vulnerability, and her uniqueness is so inspiring.
I've also worked a bunch with JR De Guzman, who's a guitar-playing, singing, extremely talented comedian. I've toured a bunch of cities with him as well.
I've also been very conscious of paying it forward also. I make sure to try to highlight the wonderful talents of so many amazing female comedians that we've got in North America.
Since that first comedy class 15 years ago, Julie Kim has skyrocketed in the industry.
Calyssa Lorraine
SL: We’re seeing a lot of female comics these days—especially Asian women—just embracing unfiltered thoughts and sharing raw stories on stage. What would you say is inspiring your material lately?
JK: I would say that one thing that really inspires me now is not staying quiet, pushing back, clapping back, and fighting back against the very real discrimination, bias, and challenges faced by whoever the hell you are. In my case, it's as a woman, a mother and a person of color. Or being a yelly parent!
Whatever raw, unfiltered emotions that I'm feeling, I'm just loving that I'm seeing that it resonates with a lot of people. I think a lot of people, including women, have rage that is quite justified, and so I think it helps us all by talking about it and not pretending to be perfect, especially on social media. It's very damaging, but it also doesn't allow us to connect and truly be real with each other and then really get past any shame that we have.
SL: What does taking up space in comedy look like for you?
JK: I’m really not good at giving a general outlook. I want to be able to feel grateful and tell my authentic stories on stage, through my podcast or future TV and film projects. Just by telling stories of being Asian and Canadian. I want to exercise my basic right to express myself.
The good news about being creative and being a writer is you only get better over time.
Published on August 13, 2025