Joel Kim Booster Is More Than Ready to Headline His Own Show

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One of the first things that struck me about the new Freeform series Chrissy & Dave Dine Out was the presence of Joel Kim Booster in yet another sidekick role. It's been plainly obvious for a while that Booster is a rising star in the comedy world: He's handsome, funny, smart, and personable, as adept in front of a stand-up microphone as he is on a sitcom. So why in the world doesn't he have his own TV show by now?

The Chrissy & Dave Dine Out premiere establishes the show's simple but appealing format straight away: David Chang, acclaimed chef, restaurateur, and media mogul, takes to the kitchen to help prepare food while Chrissy Teigen, TV personality and lifestyle-haver, chats up that week's celebrity guest in the dining room. With the titular hosts playing divide-and-conquer, the show brings in reinforcements for Chrissy's half of the show, which is where Booster comes in.

The comedian and screenwriter behind Hulu rom-com Fire Island is a great match for Teigen's talent for conversational schmoozing as they chat up guests Jimmy Kimmel and his wife, comedy writer Molly McNearney. He's insightful and open as he talks about his own relationship and how it relates to Jimmy and Molly's marriage. Booster's handy with a joke about burrata or why Chrissy would be a terrible beard for a closeted gay man. He’s the ideal talk-show host and guest, all in one.

Booster hasn’t lacked for opportunities, thanks to his versatility. In the 2019 NBC sitcom Sunnyside, Booster and The Afterparty's Poppy Liu played wealthy immigrant twins. The ensemble comedy, which only lasted 11 episodes, leaned on Booster and Liu for the show's most absurd jokes, most of which were predicated on how out of touch and pampered the two were. Booster's ironic narcissism and dry delivery made his character a standout. His Sunnyside role had a good deal in common with his ongoing role playing Maya Rudolph's assistant on Loot. The archetype of the gay assistant isn't exactly breaking new ground, but Booster consistently finds the humanity inside Nicholas' overt shallowness.

Outside of the sitcom realm, Booster has been a standout comedian for many years, both within the queer comedy scene and breaking out into the mainstream. In his Comedy Central Presents special, as well as his Netflix special Psychosexual, Booster speaks frankly about his sexuality, growing up a gay Asian kid raised by white Christian parents, and the kinds of specificities within the gay experience that some would call niche and others would call relatable.

Booster's also been an incredible game show guest and reality competition contestant, which sounds like faint praise in 2024, but if you look back at the 1970s, you'll understand just how well great comedians performed on game shows. He's been on Celebrity Jeopardy, holding it down for the queer community by nailing a Daily Double in the "Musical Theater" category. The spot where he's most thrived may well have been in The Great American Baking Show's holiday special in 2022. Booster's charisma was on display during the Paul Hollywood walkthrough, but most charming was the way he took to the actual task of baking with a competitive spirit.

In 2020, Booster co-hosted a revival of Singled Out with Keke Palmer on Quibi, a double-whammy of talent far exceeding the assignment. In every one of these gigs, he showcased his sharp comedy and affable personality. These are the kinds of gigs designed to keep a performer's face out there in the industry — the old-school idea of hustling one's way up the ladder in the Hollywood system.

But why has Booster been treated like a gig worker when he's clearly a star? Say what you will about the changing fortunes of the film industry, but Fire Island — the film Booster wrote and starred in, which debuted on Hulu last year — was unambiguously a breakthrough project for him. For once, he was at the center of an ensemble whose queer comedic energy was a maelstrom around him, and he held the movie together with his presence and charm. TV networks and streaming platforms should be falling all over themselves to offer Booster his own show.

There was a time when a sitcom was the light at the end of the tunnel for comedians. The era of the stand-up sitcom feels like a trope in retrospect, but it was a rock-solid career path for the likes of Bob Newhart, Garry Shandling, Roseanne Barr, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Tim Allen, Kevin James, George Lopez, Drew Carey, Steve Harvey, and Bernie Mac, and that's just the most successful tip of a vast iceberg.

TV doesn't offer that kind of pipeline anymore, and it might be too late to create some other path — for Booster, anyway. He's making movies now, and we may all be better for it. In the wake of Fire Island, Searchlight Pictures made a deal with Booster for his spec script Again, Again, Again, with an eye towards Booster once again writing and starring. TV's loss is Searchlight's gain.

Watch Chrissy & Dave Dine Out. It's a fun show, and the food looks incredible. Just try not to be too distracted by the fact that one of its stars ought to be headlining his own comedy series instead of hyping up an admittedly delicious-looking smoked-mozzarella-and-sausage pizza.

Chrissy & Dave Dine Out premieres on Wednesday, January 24th at 10:00 PM ET on Freeform. Episodes will be available to stream on Hulu. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.