Comedian and long-time "Kill Tony" regular Hans Kim has a theory about controversial stand-up: if a joke comes off as too controversial, that means it worked.
Some of Kim's controversies include a joke suggesting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should catch Black people to reduce crime, and jokes about "Friends" star Matthew Perry's death. But he's unapologetic and unbothered by the backlash.
"All my biggest cancellations have happened over sets that went well and that the comedy audience appreciated, and then it found an audience somewhere else that didn't appreciate it," Kim told The Desert Sun in a recent interview. "If I have a bad set, they wouldn't have seen that joke at all. So the fact that they saw it is just proof that it was
a good enough set to get spread around. I don't really mind that they're going to get mad, because that kind of helps."
Kim, a native of Seattle who now lives in Austin, explained that his filter for what makes the cut isn't about where the line is. Even though he admits he likes to test boundaries, if something is just offensive and not funny, it defeats the purpose.
"It's not like, 'oh, this is too offensive,'" Kim said. "Is it funny enough? Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. I like to play with it, because I don't really care if people find it offensive. I find a lot of what other people do offensive. I don't really mind being offensive because I don't respect the opinions of a lot of people."
On Sept. 19 at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Kim will perform with three other podcast regulars during the live show "Killers of Kill Tony": William Montgomery, David Lucas and Martin Phillips.
Kim first appeared on Tony Hinchcliffe's podcast in 2016, became a regular in 2021, and has appeared in over 150 episodes since. Kim described the show's evolution, which began in 2013 at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles before moving to Austin in 2020 and is now at Joe Rogan's Comedy Mothership, as "like a pep rally now."
"Sometimes the audience is just so hyped and they're just so happy to see you that it becomes like a rah-rah kind of thing, which is great because that gives a lot of energy for the show, and then it usually dies off. No one can just cheer for 20 minutes straight," he said. "I think the largeness of 'Kill Tony' has given a lot of energy to comedy and to the shows. It's great energy."
But there was a time recently when he needed that audience to continue cheering for him: when Hinchcliffe and the other regulars watched him battle an unknown comedian who challenged him for his spot on the show.
'It made it feel like a UFC fight'
When the name Ric Diez came up during the phone interview, Kim's relaxed and polite tone remained, but it took on an uncomfortable undertone while discussing the Spanish comedian. Diez appeared on "Kill Tony" in 2023 after his name was pulled out of the bucket for a one-minute comedy set and won a Golden Ticket to perform on the show anytime he wanted. During an interview segment, he said he could give Kim a "run for his money." Diez returned during subsequent episodes and challenged Kim to a comedy battle.
"I thought (Diez) was a funny guy. He's great for the show, he does a lot of quick things, but he's too desperate," Kim said. "He's selfish, he doesn't think or care about others, and he just sees others as tools to get ahead. In comedy, there's a lot of people like that, and usually they get shunned. But he's not really in the comedy community. He's playing to the audience at home, so there wasn't a natural pushback to that."
Kim won the first battle on New Year's Eve 2023 at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas, and the rematch at the Kia Forum in 2024. Looking back on the experience, where the audience was his boss and a comedian was battling him for his role on the show, he said, "I don't think it's healthy for anyone, including the audience."
"No great comedian got ahead by defeating another comedian in battle. Usually, you just do your own thing, and a lot of comedy is based on relationships. It made it feel like a UFC fight, and I thought, 'That's not really the right kind of energy if you want to do comedy or the arts,'" Kim said.
Kim added that the live audience wasn't toxic like many fans can be online, which makes him more "wary" of internet comedy viewers.
"It's a very sick society — I feel like a lot of desperate people and a lot of poor people need to hurt others because their life sucks," he said of how online commentary culture reflects our society. "That kind of put a bad taste in my mouth. But luckily, there's a lot of other stuff that's going on that made me feel better, so I didn't let that influence how I felt about people."
Hans Kim on putting in the work in stand-up world
When Kim was growing up, some of his favorite comedians were Brian Regan and Mitch Hedberg, but it was Joe Rogan — and what he described as a "meritocracy" — that Kim credits as his reason for starting a comedy career 10 years ago.
"(Rogan) said it was like a lifestyle thing. The more you work at it, the better you get, which I thought was ideal," Kim said.
If you ask Kim what his early challenges were when he first started doing comedy, he is honest about his struggles to communicate with and understand comedy audiences. He describes himself now as "quieter, and more powerful of a punch" versus a comedian who is shouting on stage.
"When I was first starting out, I was probably like a rabid dog trying to do as much as possible to express myself and get it all out there. Now it's not as frantic or desperate. I would say it's hopefully more calm, deliberate, confident, a little bit more palatable, and easier to handle," Kim said.
Looking to his future with "Kill Tony," Kim said he hasn't appeared on the show in a while due to his heavy touring schedule, but would "love to pop in and out every now and then." He also hopes to blend clubs and theaters into his tour schedule to cut back on the amount of travel.
"If I can become successful enough where I don't have to go out all the time that would be great, because it's just pain in my personal life and on my body," Kim said. "Touring the country and getting to perform for people has always been the dream, and I'm sort of there."
The next step? "Putting out a special and getting people to like it," he said.
If you go
What: Hans Kim will perform as part of the Killers of Kill Tony tour
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19
Where: Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, 84-245 Indio Springs Parkway, Indio
Cost: $52.50 to $102.50
More info: fantasyspringsresort.com/killers-of-kill-tony-live/
Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment for the Desert Sun. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: 'Kill Tony' comedian Hans Kim: 'I don't really mind being offensive'
