Last Things First: Karen Chee

Episode #387

Karen Chee is a writer and performer for Late Night with Seth Meyers. She has previously written for the Golden Globes and the Amazon Prime Video special, Yearly Departed, has developed TV pilots for Netflix and Comedy Central, and has published humor pieces in The New Yorker and McSweeney’s. All before the age of 27. No wonder she made Variety’s “Power of Young Hollywood” list as well as Forbes “30 Under 30.” Chee sat down with me to talk about getting an early start on her comedy career, how Twitter did or didn’t help her get her dream gig, and how she has managed supporting her grandparents in Korea during the pandemic while still writing remotely for Late Night, and picking up a new gig writing for Pachinko on Apple TV+. Chee also is back in New York in May 2022 to perform at the Asian Comedy Fest.

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Oh, and since May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, here’s Chee on Late Night filling you in on some helpful DOs and DON’Ts…

Last Things First, how long have you been commuting from Korea?

Yeah, I commuted daily from the other side of the world (laughs). I actually moved to Korea in the summer of 2020, at the height of the first big wave of COVID, and thought I would only be there for a month or two and ended up — I'm still kind of living there. All my stuff is there. I'm just back in the U.S. for a few months and I'm headed back to Korea in June.