Robert Young Lee Jr. (born September 17, 1971)^[1][2] is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. Lee co-hosts the podcastsBad Friends withAndrew Santino andTigerBelly with Khalyla Kuhn.

Bobby Lee
Lee in 2023
Birth name	Robert Young Lee Jr.
Born	(1971-09-17)September 17, 1971 (age 53) San Diego, California, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up film television podcast
Years active	1994–present
Genres	Observational comedy,black comedy,blue comedy
Subject(s)	Human behavior,human sexuality,American politics,gender differences

From 2001 to 2009, Lee was a cast member onMADtv, and he co-starred in theABC single-camerasitcom seriesSplitting Up Together alongsideJenna Fischer andOliver Hudson between 2018 and 2019. Lee has also appeared in the filmsHarold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004),Pineapple Express (2008), andThe Dictator (2012). He had a guest appearance as the cynical, burned-out Dr. Kang onFX on Hulu's TV comedy seriesReservation Dogs.

Lee was born on September 17, 1971 inSan Diego^[3][4] toKorean immigrant parents Jeanie and Robert Lee.^[5][6] He and his younger brother Steve grew up inPoway, California.^[7] His parents owned clothing stores in bothEscondido andEncinitas, California.^[6][8] He attended Painted Rock Elementary School,Twin Peaks Middle School, andPoway High School.^[6] In high school, he was part of abreakdancing team.^[9] After graduation, he attendedPalomar College before dropping out.^[6]

Lee worked at cafes and restaurants before pursuing a career in comedy.^[10] In 1994, the coffee shop where he was working abruptly closed.^[10][11] Lee stated, "I just went next door to get a job, which was The Comedy Store in San Diego."^[10] After a few months of working odd jobs at the club, he tried stand-up during one of their amateur nights.^[10] Within a year of doing regular comedy sets, he received offers to open for bothPauly Shore andCarlos Mencia.^[6][10] He then began working regularly atThe Comedy Store inLos Angeles, a comedy club owned by Pauly Shore's motherMitzi.^[6]

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.^[6][10][8] During apodcast interview conducted by fellow actor and comedianJoe 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 onThe 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.^[12] Lee has included his family in some of his work; his brother has appeared in several non-speaking roles onMADtv, 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.^[8]

In 2012, Lee was hired to rebootMaker Studios' YouTube comedy channel, The Station.^[13] Lee hosted the 9thMusiCares MAP Fund Benefit Concert in 2013.^[14] From 2019 to 2023, Lee made several appearances as recurring character Jin Jeong in theMagnum P.I. television series. In 2020, Lee began co-hosting theBad Friends podcast withAndrew Santino.^[15]

In 2001, Lee joined the cast ofMADtv,^[8] 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.^[10] Lee remained with the cast until the series' cancellation in 2009^[10] and returned briefly whenMADtv was revived in 2016 onThe CW.^[16]

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^[17] and producer George Kimmel.^[18] The show's intro song "Shadow Gook" was written and produced by Lee and performed by Lee and Kuhn.^[19] The hosts discuss events from their lives and news topics from popular culture, often revolving around Asian American issues related to theentertainment industry,adolescence, sexuality,ethnicity, racism, and politics.^{[citation needed]}

Prior to the creation ofTigerBelly, Lee andErik Griffin pitched a podcast toAll Things Comedy but never developed the show.^[20] 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.^[21][22] He then decided to focus on a podcast with Kuhn instead of with Griffin.^[21]

Lee began takingmethamphetamine andmarijuana around age 12, as well asheroin by age 15, and went through three drug-rehabilitation attempts before becoming sober when he was 17.^[7][23][24] Lee relapsed onVicodin and ended 12 years of sobriety after receiving negative feedback from a producer.^[25][7] He got sober afterMADtv 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 seriesThis Is Not Happening.^[26] OnTigerBelly episode 224, Lee admitted to guestTheo Von that he had relapsed after his father's death in August 2019 from Parkinson's disease.^[27] He subsequently went to rehab and became sober again.^[28] Lee has stated that he is a recovering alcoholic.^[21]

Lee is a long-timeArsenal Football Club supporter. Lee is an avid fan of video games, includingFIFA,Stardew Valley,The Elder Scrolls,Red Dead Redemption 2, andThe Witcher series. Lee's younger brother, Steve Lee, is a musician, podcaster, and comedian.^[29]

He was in a ten year relationship with Khalyla Kuhn, an influencer and content creator. The relationship ended in 2022.^[30][31]

• Bobby Lee atIMDb
• Official Mad TV Website