We want to love it but...
He's funny, he's niche, he's lovable, but is Joel Kim Booster a comedian? We're just not sure. It's all so confusing. Let's unpack it.
For one thing, Booster does controversial stand-up the right way — by taking the piss out of the minority groups that he's actually a part of; the Asian community, the queer community, and the cat loving community. Then he flips the narrative that minorities usually face very effectively.
In one instance, he does this by saying dog people are weird, not cat people, by extension of having dog follow them around all day like a police officer in their own homes. Or by warning people against monogamists, preaching "they're hiding in plain sight these days".
He teases himself as a horny, good time guy, but his personal anecdote doesn't always completely work in the way we imagine that he wants it to. Yes, he overshares, but that's not the issue. The issue is that it's just that it's not that funny. Even the audience was mild in its giggles.
Booster is refreshing in his approach to comedy though — he deals with weighty topics like racism but keeps the humor light and airy. It's proof that comedians don't need to be derogatory and disgusting to make (some) people laugh and the rest of us grimace.
His topics? Great. His approach? Great. His delivery? Hm. His jokes? Need work. While it's an enjoyable watch that will certainly give you a few nose breath laughs, it's missing the jugular. Once the credits rolled, we felt crestfallen.
The hour and seven minutes flew by, but not because we were laughing our socks off the whole way through it, but because it felt like he had just been warming up.
Give us some more dialogue between the people at the cat café, take the piss out of the kinds of people at the cat café, rather than leave us topic rich and joke poor by way of rushing. Joel Kim Booster, if you're reading this, we want to give you a five star review. We really do. Please just help us out here.
Watch Joel Kim Booster: Psychosexual on Netflix.