Henry Cho in Jacksonville

Comedy found Henry Cho almost by accident. While he was a student at the University of Tennessee, he entered an open mic at Knoxville's only comedy club, won, was hired that night, and left school within days. That was 1986, and he has worked clean from that first set on, skipping profanity for stories anyone can relate to. Some call him Mr. Clean.

Much of his act comes from growing up Korean American in Knoxville, Tennessee, and life as an Asian American in the South. TV came early, with spots on The Arsenio Hall Show and Designing Women, and in the 1990s he hosted NBC's late night music show Friday Night Videos. Film roles followed in McHale's Navy (1997), Say It Isn't So (2001) and Material Girls (2006).

His Comedy Central special What's That Clickin' Noise? (2006) opened with guest voices from Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy, and he co-created The Henry Cho Show for Great American Country.

Country music took him in, too. He toured during the holidays with Amy Grant and Vince Gill, played the Grand Ole Opry more than 100 times, and in 2023 was inducted as the Opry's first Asian American member, with Vince Gill doing the honors.