What is The Choe Show?

…and is it the best thing since sliced bread?

For the uninitiated into the world of wunderkind David Choe, Korean-American painter, artist, and dreamer, The Choe Show is the eponymously named, part-performance art piece, part-psychedelic interactive theatre that he debuted to selected audiences in the pre-COVID 19 world.

Image credit to David Choe’s official website.

Now audiences around the world who did not get an audience with the Graffiti King (of the hallowed halls of Facebook’s first office, at least) in the limited run of his semi-experiential theatre, semi-performance art show, will now, at last, be able to get the same treatment in the comfort of their home.

Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz and Sean Parker in a photograph in front of a mural by David Choe at one of Facebook’s early offices.

The television network FX is premiering The Choe Show, the capsule series on Friday, June 25 Beginning at 10pm ET/PT, with next day release on Hulu. Press releases are scant, with only the requisite articles on Deadline and TheWrap. So who is… David Choe (does the man even need an introduction)?

The Man… the Show… Choe Show. (Season 1 Trailer)

If his podcasts DVDASA and The Choe Show (podcast on Spotify) are anything to go by — he appears to the layperson to be an irreverent commentator of both the high-brow art world and the mundane world of everyday life, drawing inspiration from everything from marine animals, solfeggio frequencies, to Marvel and DC Superheroes (Choe is a big fan of Batman, a recurrent theme in his works).

A page from David Choe’s comic zine (yes, did I mention he does comic books and illustrations too?) named SLOW JAMS, a macabre and frenetic tale, which was published in the early 2000s. Legend has it that only 100 copies of this comic have been made.

His stream-of-conscious podcast style, especially in the similarly named series on Spotify, reflects his Technicolour-ed and Victorian worldview (“I must experience everything once.”); on one part, as a third culture kid, growing up in an immigrant family, and on the other part, a survivor of abuse, a recovering addict, and a life-long patient of therapy, self-help, and self-love.

One of his paintings with a not very PG-rated title for my PG-rated Medium account. Unfortunately, you will just have to take my word for it or do a Google reverse image search.

His show features snippets of interviews and, what can be described as, therapy sessions (or even acts of play and painting), with several celebrities such as Will Arnett, Kat Von D, and appearances from Steve Yeun and Steve Aoki.

David Choe’s sprawling mural at Wynwood Walls.

The notorious, shiny red suit-clad Devil’s Advocate is first a multimedia artist, specializing in graffiti, his chosen medium. Amidst his sprawling repertoire of work, including murals of his frenetic, manic, spray can-heavy style (nicknamed “Dirty Style”) of everything, from urban landscapes, to robots, to nude women, one can only glimpse the inner workings of this tortured soul. Part Van Gogh, part hustler, and dare I say — Marina Abramovich?

Me, on the other hand, is looking forward to the premiere of the show, and if FX’s other series is to compare (such as Lil Dicky’s show Dave), you can expect the unexpected in this roller-coaster of a series, and get the full Choe Show experience.

(Stay tuned for part 2 after I watch the series… Set your alarms and notifications guys!)

Edit 7 July 2021: Edited with links to various concepts and titles mentioned in the article. Also added more images and details on David Choe’s background.