Kokomo Joe

Kokomo Joe (Joe Engelbrekt) was a Ron & Fez intern from May to December 2012, who moved from St. Paul, MN. His first appearance on the show was 5/29/12, during which Ron gave him the name "Kokomo Joe" because it rhymed. Ron was impressed immediately with his confidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMvpvDfFobY

Kokomo's next appearance was during an Interrobang quiz about Jay Mohr (6/4/12); Ron challenged him to come up with a jingle for it, which he did by the end of the episode. He also mentioned a music intern out in the hallway he had a crush on named Dana, who was invited in to the studio that day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG8CBhzXIs8. Kokomo later showed his talent for production pieces with his song for the "Either Or Neither" game (6/8/12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pgx9kdfizM)  Later that day he also showed off his stand-up comedy style that consists primarily of one-liners.

Throughout the summer Kokomo continued to debut new songs, including some duets with Dana (6/20/12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG8CBhzXIs8 & 6/27/12) and a song about the Interrobang’s “Three O’Clock Snack” segment (7/10/12). After being outsmarted on the phones by Radio Shark, he wrote a negative song about him as well, which Fez was offended by due to perceived anti-gay overtones (7/17/12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjrqKs_mwuY)  A few weeks later Kokomo was enlisted to have an insult battle with Fez, with some help from Mark Zito in his earpiece (7/31/12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwfS36VL6gM).

Throughout his internship Kokomo continued to be included in show conversations (8/7/12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0-d6n7B4Zc), (8/14/12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwfS36VL6gM), wrote a second Radio Shark song (8/22/12) and had a joke-off with Fez (8/23/12). He was able to get a second semester as intern, pairing him with his former crush Dana; since they only overlapped for one day a week, Ron arranged for them to have competitions, including SongPop (9/12/12). “Quote Quote Movie Quote” (9/26/12), and “Search Search” (10/3/12). He also helped Dana write an attack song during her beef with listener Queen Elisabeth (10/5/12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWG8xKb8IKY).

Kokomo’s competition with Dana on 10/17/12 featured guest judge Black Earl, and also featured some of his newer comedy bits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4jv_WxJ178; a week later he relayed his story of running into Chris Stanley at a bar (10/24/12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c0nYSx5dKI). The final battle between Kokomo and Dana involved each one reenacting the opening to “Louie” (12/5/12); although his internship ended soon after, he continued to call in after returning to Minnesota for Christmas (12/20/12, 12/21/12).

In early 2013 Kokomo got a job on the Catholic Channel, as an associate producer on “Busted Halo” with Father Dave Dwyer; Ron renamed him “Catholic Joe”. He continues to make appearances on Ron & Fez, including a team-up with newer intern Molly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHfeL4W7Auw). He’s also made appearances on former producer Pips’ podcast, Nick Basile Radio (3/19/13:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhTSFFdQPj8, 2/25/14), and Chris Stanley’s High Society Radio podcast (1/30/15). In 2014 Joe and his friend from Minnesota, Charlie Moos, created “Tiger Scout Radio”, a music/talk show on internet station Newtown Radio (http://www.newtownradio.com/shows/tiger-scout/); the show is on hiatus as of January 2015. Joe is also continuing his stand-up career in NYC.