Bobby Lee is a famous American comedian known for his great stand up and TV appearances since the early 1990’s, but more recently podcasting with (his now ex girlfriend) Khalyla Kuhn called Tigerbelly and another podcast with comedian Andrew Santino called “Bad Friends”. Bobby has a large social media presence on youtube, twitter and Tiktok with many hilarious viral clips about the antics which happen on this podcast. Bobby Lee’s podcast tend to have a unique blend of self-deprecating humor and raw honesty.
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Bobby Lee Family & Father
Bobby Lee was born on September 17, 1971, in California to Korean immigrant parents Jeanie and Robert Lee. He and his younger brother Steve grew up in Poway, California, where their parents owned clothing stores in Escondido and Encinitas. He speaks candidly about the difficulties he faced as a child of immigrant parents, particularly his father’s initial disapproval of his career choice. Lee’s father hoped that he would continue the family business, and when Lee chose comedy instead, it led to a period of estrangement between them. Bobby tells many stories about his father on the podcast, one most famous story is his dads bedtime stories. Bobby puts on a deep voice with a Korean accent and relays his fathers words:
“Japanese… They used to hang Korean by the ankles with rope but below is a big big pot of boiling water and they dunk Korean in”
“Ok Goodnight”
for his family life, it was a pivotal moment when Bobby appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, his father, seeing his son’s success, called to apologize for not supporting his career, a moment Lee still cherishes. The complexities of this relationship are often expressed with both humor and raw honesty, resonate deeply with many of his listeners.
TV Appearances and Film Work
In 1994, Lee found himself without a job when the coffee shop he was working at closed down. In a twist of fate, he applied for a job at the La Jolla Comedy Store, also known as The Comedy Store in San Diego. After a few months of working odd jobs at the club, Lee decided to try his hand at stand-up comedy during one of their amateur nights. Within a year, he was opening for famous comedians such as Pauly Shore and Carlos Mencia.
Bobby Lee’s big break came when he joined the cast of MAD tv in 2001. He was a cast member for eight years, until 2009, during which time he became known for his unique brand of humor and memorable characters. Lee’s younger brother appeared in several non-speaking roles on MADtv, and his entire family was featured in a sketch on the show. Lee also pitched a sitcom to Comedy Central in 2007 about a Korean family, which was to star his own family.
In addition to his work on MADtv, Lee has made appearances in various TV series, such as the ABC sitcom Splitting Up Together, which aired from 2018 to 2019. He starred alongside Jenna Fischer and Oliver Hudson in the single-camera series. Lee also guest-starred as the cynical, burned-out Dr. Kang on FX on Hulu’s TV comedy series Reservation Dogs.
Lee’s film work includes roles in popular movies like Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), Pineapple Express (2008), and The Dictator (2012). His performances in these films further established him as a talented and versatile actor in the comedy world.
Podcaster – TigerBelly and Bad Friends
TigerBelly is a video podcast where hosts Khalyla Kuhn and Bobby Lee perform skits or sit with guests to laugh and discuss current events. Khalyla Kuhn and Bobby Lee were in a relationship for 10 years together but recently ended that relationship in 2022, however the podcast is still running with both hosts participating. The podcast has gained a significant following, with fans tuning in for episodes filled with laughter.
Bobby Lee Gets Caught Being Fake Emotional | TigerBelly
Bad Friends with Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee is another hilarious podcast where both comedians are constantly barraging eachother with playful attacks in their comedic pursuits to antagonise and create laughs. The Bad Friends podcast has many hilarious moments including the infamous impersonations that Andrew Santino uses, their most popular being Bobby Lees mother.
Other appearances that Bobby has made was Lex Fridman Podcast, This Past Weekend (Theo Von), 2 Bears, 1 Cave and Joe Rogan Experience in February 2011 where he has not made an appearance since.
Net Worth
According to many sources, Bobby Lees network appears to be $1 million USD. The breakdown of this net worth isn’t extremely well researched so let me do my best to try and break it down
Bobby currently has two main podcasts, Tigerbelly and Bad Friends
Bad Friends
Social Blade the yearly earnings of these podcasts are between $39,000-$624,000:
This channel also has clips which ears between $26.600 – $425,000 a year:
Tigerbelly
Tigerbelly ranks much lower with $10,000 to $173,000 range over a year:
Their clips channel estimated at $5,000 to $79,400:
Net Worth Conclusion
On podcasting alone that puts the total maximum income for Bobby Lee’s podcasting at $1,301,400. As he podcasts with co-hosts on each podcast he immediately loses half ($650,700) of this amount each year and it doesn’t include expenses to pay staff or studio costs. These numbers do not include Apple Podcasts, Spotify plays and other media. Those channels would increase this revenue and potentially double the numbers.
In this estimation it would be more than likely Bobby Lee is being paid ongoing through royalties for his work at MADtv but not for his roles in movies. It would be impossible to estimate this amount. As Bobby’s comedy career continues the Bad Friends podcast his being performed in front of live audiences this June (2023) and continues to be casually in some episodes on TV and in movies. Due to this, the estimation of $1 Million dollars may be low considering his previous work and the Tigerbelly podcast starting in 2015.
If Bobby Lee has an average Salary of $400,000 from podcasting earnings and then TV and Movies, it would be estimated that Bobby Lees yearly earnings would be ~$750,000.
To conclude this investigation, it has been said on podcasts that Lee spent money on alcohol and drugs which wasted it early in his life meaning he doesn’t have a large net worth behind him. Bobby Lees net worth would be around $2 Million USD due to his consistent success in the last 3 years.
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