Bobby Lee

Lee was in a ten-year relationship with Khalyla Kuhn, and the relationship ended in 2022. He continues to co-host TigerBelly with Kuhn, whom he has identified as his former partner.

Lee began using methamphetamine and marijuana at about 12 and heroin at 15. After three rehabilitation attempts, he became sober at 17, later relapsed on Vicodin after 12 years of sobriety, and subsequently returned to sobriety after receiving support from MADtv producer Lauren Dombrowski. He also discussed relapsing after his father's death in 2019 and later going to rehabilitation again.

Before pursuing comedy, Lee worked in cafes and restaurants. In 1994, the coffee shop where he worked closed, and he took a job at The Comedy Store in San Diego. After working there for several months, he performed during an amateur night and began doing regular stand-up.

Within a year, Lee received offers to open for Pauly Shore and Carlos Mencia. He later worked regularly at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles and toured with Mencia, also appearing on Mencia's television series Mind of Mencia. Lee made his screen acting debut in the 1999 film The Underground Comedy Movie.

Lee joined the cast of MADtv, becoming the show's first and only Asian cast member. He remained with the series through its cancellation in 2009 and returned briefly when it was revived on The CW in 2016.

His MADtv work included original characters such as Johnny Gan, Bae Sung, and the Blind Kung-Fu Master, as well as portrayals of figures including Connie Chung and Kim Jong-il. His younger brother, Steve Lee, appeared in several non-speaking roles on the show, and the Lee family appeared together in a sketch.

Lee and Khalyla Kuhn started the video podcast TigerBelly in 2015. The program discusses personal experiences and popular-culture topics, including Asian American issues in entertainment, adolescence, sexuality, ethnicity, racism, and politics. Its intro song, "Shadow Gook," was written and produced by Lee and performed by Lee and Kuhn.

The podcast also features engineer Gilbert Galon and producer George Kimmel. Lee met Galon at a Manny Pacquiao fight viewing and met Kimmel while working on Maker Studios' comedy channel The Station. In 2020, Lee began co-hosting Bad Friends with Andrew Santino.

Lee appeared in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle as Kenneth Park, played Bobby in Pineapple Express, and appeared as Mr. Lao in The Dictator. He also had a starring role as Dr. Yamamoto in the television series Animal Practice.

From 2018 to 2019, Lee co-starred in the ABC sitcom Splitting Up Together with Jenna Fischer and Oliver Hudson. He played recurring character Jin Jeong in Magnum P.I. and appeared as Dr. Kang in Reservation Dogs. His later screen credits include The Wrong Missy, Inside Job, And Just Like That..., Borderlands, and Happy Gilmore 2.