Rupert Jee (born July 16, 1956) is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

, former deli owner, and television personality who gained fame from his frequent appearances on ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

'', on which he sometimes used the alter ego Kenny. He first appeared on the ''Late Show'' during a "Meet the Neighbors" segment on September 20, 1993, and was a frequent accomplice of host

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...

during the show's many comedic segments. He appeared on the show over 400 times. Jee was born in the United States to parents who were from China. He holds a bachelor's degree in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

. He made an appearance on the January 7, 2016 episode of ''

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night news satire, news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Stephen Colbert, Spartin ...

'', marking his first and (as of 2024) only appearance on ''The Late Show'' following the retirement of David Letterman in 2015.

Hello Deli

With business partner May Chin, Jee co-owned the Hello Deli in New York City, which is located at 213 W 53rd St, adjacent to the

Ed Sullivan Theater The Ed Sullivan Theater (originally Hammerstein's Theatre; later the Manhattan Theatre, Billy Rose's Music Hall, CBS Radio Playhouse No. 3, and CBS Studio 50) is a theater at 1697–1699 Broadway, between 53rd and 54th streets, in the Theat ...

where the ''Late Show'' is taped. His deli is one of the neighborhood's last remaining small businesses. On the day Colbert's team moved into the theatre, he renamed one of the deli's sandwiches in Colbert's honor, but as of 2022 the sandwich returned to its former name. Hello Deli marked thirty years in business on January 31, 2022. On March 18, 2023, Jee and Chin announced their desire to retire and sell. The deli closed for over a year and has since reopened under new owners and management.

References

External links

Official Hello Deli website
* Businesspeople from New York City Television personalities from New York City American people of Chinese descent 1956 births Living people Baruch College alumni {{US-tv-bio-stub