Ken Jeong Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters

I thought I would forever be a doctor.

I thought that was my path.

I always like to say

I was kind of Korean into staying pre-med.

[upbeat music]

Knocked up.

I remember I put myself on tape

and Judd Apatow, the writer/director was looking

for an actor with medical experience

so I remember putting myself on tape for Knocked Up

and I didn't hear for three months

so I figured I didn't get the role and then I got a call

three months later from one of Judd's producers

saying that you're in the running, you're in the mix,

but we're actually about to start production right now

and while we're making a decision on your character,

we're inviting you to do a table read.

And it was a table read with the full cast,

like Seth Rogan, Adam Scott.

It was Jonah Hill, Jason Segal, Craig Robinson.

I mean that movie, Knocked Up had everybody.

I call it the Avengers of comedy, you know?

It literally, anybody who is anybody in today's comedy

was in that movie so it was really like

maybe the most pressure-filled audition of my life.

Like maybe five days later, I got the part.

I actually prepared pretty extensively for that role.

I mean I modeled it after a few doctors

I didn't particularly care for

that I worked with in the past to be honest.

In a doctor/patient relationship, to be healthy,

one should not ask the doctor too many questions.

Okay. You got that then?

You're not the star of the show.

I know, I'm sorry, keep going.

Who is the star of this show among the three of us?

The patient.

I actually, I think I wrote some of those doctor's names

on the script if I can recall

and it just kind of locked me in

and it was a bit of medical authenticity

plus my first real experience into actor prep, you know,

and really kind of getting into the skin of that character.

It's still one of my favorite performances to this day.

Yeah.

Judd Apatow, he, I mean he's one of

the most amazing directors I've ever worked with.

He spoils you, he spoils the actors

because he really does let the talent play.

Judd noticed that on certain takes,

he would just see me like go at a comedy,

go at a take really hard and Judd will be like

okay that's a little too strong,

but then he actually said to himself like you know what,

he's bringing it.

I didn't know he could do that sort of comedy.

I wasn't looking for him to do that kind of comedy

in this movie and after a while, he just, he said Ken,

you know, we got 10 minutes left of tape, of film.

Just do whatever you want

and that became its own DVD feature

and you see me just going unhinged.

It's called Kuni Gone Wild.

It's like literally five minutes and 46 minutes

of just, just like Kuni yelling at

Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl

and Adam Scott who played my nurse.

I'm here for you because I took the motherfucking oath

to serve and protect.

Non-Malfeasance, bitch.

We're gonna have a good time, okay?

Like a U2 concert, okay?

Alright I'm gonna take a big fat nap now

because you called me.

It was still one of the highlights of my career

and even getting applause by the set at the end,

yeah the more, yeah, yeah.

I hadn't thought about that in a while, but.

The Office.

It was, his name was Bill and he was in

Michael Scott's improv group and the director was Paul Feig,

but I remember I was a big fan of the BBC Office,

big fan of Ricky Jervais's version,

the original version of The Office

and that time when I auditioned for the American Office,

it was not necessarily a hit at that time

and it kind of, people kind of forget that it became a hit

very slowly and I was one of the few people

that really got the tone of the show just from the get go

so when I auditioned, I whispered every line

and I would look directly at the camera,

just kind of steal a glance.

I remember stealing a couple of subtle glances

and Paul Feig laughing so hard at the softest things.

Michael, what did you tell him?

Nothing.

[Instructor] Then why are his hands up?

Bill?

He told me he couldn't show it to me, but he has a gun.

Steve Carell, he's one of my favorite actors of all time.

He's a huge influence on me whether,

I mean I've known Steve now for a few years.

He probably doesn't wanna hear that from a peer.

He's so modest, I actually know

he doesn't hear stuff like that.

I mean hopefully he'll watch that,

me saying that right now

and be like come on Ken, come on, man

so he's that modest about it, but it really was,

in basketball terms, it was like working with LeBron, man.

You're just working with one of the all-time greats.

And to improvise during an improv class,

what we were doing were next level stuff.

Some of Steve's friends from Second City,

of his class of Second City.

They were also guess stars of the show

and they had this rapport and this chemistry.

I'm supposed to meet my doctor here.

Have you seen him?

He's a very angry midget.

Boom, freeze.

Michael Scoon, FBI.

You know what you did.

Boom, boom, boom.

They were putting on a master class

of improv comedy acting and to this day

I don't think I've ever seen anything like that.

It was kind of masters at work

and I just had like the best seat in the house.

Role Models.

Role Models is maybe my favorite movie

that enough people don't mention, you know?

I did that movie soon after Knocked Up

and I did a lot of research for that role.

I don't know anything about larping

or live action roleplaying or any of those things

so I went to a few events in Malibu and just studied it.

And take some pride in dying an honorable death.

[Augie] No, but I killed you.

You can't kill me after I already killed you.

Davith of Glencracken. Yes, my liege.

Didst he slay me?

He doth not slay the king.

It got to a point I knew so much

about live action roleplay

I would start improvising in larp speak

because I played the king of this whole village

or of this whole country of Casadoni.

[Danny] King!

That guy from the Burger Hole.

Aw, he seems to be wounded.

Shall I take him out, sire?

Nay, this one is mine.

I kind of stole a little bit of Mr. Chow moves from the King

'cause I did those movies like right after one another.

The Hangover trilogy, the movie that made me a made man.

Hangover, it changed, you know.

It's, it's my Sergeant Pepper, you know?

It changed my life from black and white to Technicolor.

It just changed everything.

Knocked Up opened the door for me in the business.

The Hangover just burst it wide open

and I went from you know, a pretty anonymous character actor

to a guy that's just for the rest of my life,

I'll be forever known as Mr. Chow.

No matter what I do, I'll be forever known and I don't mind

because it's still, I don't think I'll ever play a, like,

just kind of gut-busting hilarious character.

I don't think I'll ever play a character

just balls out funnier, literally,

balls out character than Mr. Chow.

Yeah, it was kind of lightning in a bottle.

It was actually, people don't know this.

It was actually written for a 60-year-old man

and I remember thinking to myself, well A,

I'm not gonna get the part so, but when you audition,

99% of acting is getting rejected

and that's just the name of the game,

but you want to at least do a good performance

and maybe Tod Phillips will think of me

for another role in the future.

So I went in with that mindset.

You know, we'll just see what happens

and I just remember Tod Phillips couldn't stop laughing

and I think literally the next day or two, I got the part

and again, keep in mind, we did not know

The Hangover would be The Hangover at the time.

I remember telling my wife like

I think I just filmed the funniest movie ever.

I asked and told my wife, I don't know if you'll like it.

I think this might be like a guy's comedy.

I don't know and then I remember we were watching

an early screening with friends and family,

and Tran, my wife, the moment where Bradley Cooper

says Tracy, we fucked up, like boom, Tran laughed.

She just could not stop laughing.

She got it, she got what it was all about

and it was off to the races.

[Stu and Phil exclaiming]

[Phil] Oh God!

I did about at least 35-40 takes

of me jumping out naked from different angles

and different things and that was my idea

to be naked in the movie.

It was just, I just felt like

when he jumps out of the trunk,

it said he had slacks on.

I was like well if he just jumps out like fully naked,

it'd just be shocking and I do remember,

I even said, I actually talked it over with my wife.

I was like I think I wanna do this naked

so I actually ran it by her before I ran it by Todd Phillips

and then she said, and I quote,

it'll be the feel-good movie of the summer

because every guy will go home

feeling good about themselves.

And that's my wife, the mother of my two kids.

So when I pitched it to Todd to be naked in the movie,

he was like, and he's got a very deep voice.

He was like you don't have to tell me twice.

That was his actual words and he made me sign an agreement

to be naked in the movie that this was my idea

and I'm doing this voluntarily,

but also that I couldn't change my mind.

So he just knew it would be the perfect moment,

mid point in the movie after

they had already seen Mike Tyson,

they already saw the tiger, what could be worse?

It was like oh, what the hell is this going on?

Chow is in the sky, just jumped out naked

and just beat up three people with a crowbar.

It's like, it just added to what was

already a suspenseful movie.

To me, it's, there is just a lifelong bond, I think,

that will last forever on celluloid, you know?

Yeah it was a magical time and it just,

it just changed my life forever.

I mean the moment The Hangover came out,

I was starting to get instantly recognized.

Bring money to Big Rock in Mojave Desert at dawn.

What? Toodle-oo, motherfucker.

I was at an ATM withdrawing some cash

and this guy was looking at me from a Sedan

with the window half cracked open.

Not a paparazzi, just staring at me withdrawing some cash.

I'm uncomfortable, staring at him,

withdrawing some cash, staring at me.

The light turns green

and he goes toodle-oo motherfucker like that.

That, I get that all the time.

That's like everyday for me now, every day.

Community, six seasons and still waiting on that movie.

I remember, Dan actually had seen an outtake of Knocked Up

where Judd Apatow gave me a free take.

He wrote the part of Senor Chang with me in mind.

Kind of, he liked that place of authority

with a little bit of unhinged.

We do takes on Community

that was completely unhinged and improvisational.

Contrary to popular belief, I mean you actually don't,

you don't improvise much on television in general.

I didn't really know that.

Community was my first TV series.

I remember the first, my first moment of Senor Chang

where it's like why do you teach Spanish,

and that's all mostly improvised.

Well I'll tell you why I teach Spanish.

It is none of your business, okay?

And I don't want to have any conversations

about what mysterious, inscrutable man I man.

Oh hee, hee, hee, hee.

Oh hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo.

I am a Spanish genius.

In Espanol, my nickname is El Tigre Chino.

Dan told me later he was just furious

because those were his words, carefully written words.

After I realized that's not how you do it in television,

that's not how Dan wants it, pretty soon thereafter

I stopped improvising on that show.

It was at that point where I developed

just true confidence as an actor, I knew who I was.

And because even though I was doing movies,

they were small parts in these movies

and I never had formal acting training to do

because I remember turning down Duke's School of Acting.

So I always thought of Community as my conservatory.

Bob's Burgers is the gift that keeps on giving.

I played a recurring on that show, Dr. Yap,

and Loren Bouchard, he wrote the part of Dr. Yap

with me in mind and I love doing animation,

I love doing voiceovers.

I had a patient in here earlier

and I accidentally stuck a needle through his cheek.

Just, I hate Mondays. I, oh wait.

In some of the movies I've done,

like Turbo, Despicable Me 2, Penguins of Madagascar,

I'm usually by myself.

I remember the first time I did Bob's Burgers,

it was with the entire cast

and that was the first time

I had ever done animation like that which I loved,

just feeding off of everybody's energy.

I really quite liked having everybody there

and I tried, would like to do more of that if possible

because you really feed off that energy,

you really envision the whole scene,

but the thing about Bob's Burgers that I love is again,

much like Dan Harmon, the writing is so crisp

and I'll always do it no matter what.

It's been through every phase of my career.

Like Community, Hangover movies, Dr. Ken,

I just did an episode this past season.

I'll do it whenever they ask me no matter how busy I am.

Dr. Ken.

I'll be honest, that was my proudest accomplishment

because I created that show, it's based off my life.

It had, it was a show that had five

Asian Americans series regulars on a broadcast show

that was based on my life working as a father,

as a husband, as a doctor

and I was in the writer's room everyday.

I remember Dr. Ken for if anything else,

if Community made me a better actor,

Dr. Ken made me a better writer.

I would definitely help out with scripts

and help write story and help give notes on editing

and time cuts and time notes.

By the end of the series, I was doing not only the editing,

but I remember the show runner went on vacation

for a couple of weeks

and he trusted me enough to do the sound mixing.

I mean that's like real producer stuff.

What I like, it actually really helped me out as an actor

because my improv is just very much from self

and just, I just threw out the kitchen sink

and now when I improvise, I really pick and choose my spots.

I'm a little bit more precise.

I don't need to be gratuitous and just show everybody

hey look at what I can do, you know.

I feel even more mature as an actor

and that comes actually from writing.

Crazy Rich Asians.

When Dr. Ken got canceled,

Jon Chu called me, gave me the part

and I'm a big fan of the books by Kevin Kwan.

So within moments of that cancellation,

I'm on flight to Singapore and Malaysia

shooting that movie and the very first scene,

I think I was just, I was processing

like what had just happened on my own show

and it was so therapeutic.

Nice to meet you too, Chu, Coo-coo kachoo.

You, poo poo?

Nah I'm just kidding.

I don't have an accent.

I'm just messing with you.

Crazy Rich Asians was another full circle moment

because it was always a dream of mine

to be a part of a movie like the Joy Luck Club,

an all Asian American cast made by a Hollywood studio

and we're the first, coincidentally,

or maybe not so coincidentally,

is the first all Asian American cast

in a major Hollywood studio film since the Joy Luck Club

25 years prior and it becomes

like the biggest romantic comedy in a decade.

It becomes the number one movie three weeks in a row.

I knew it was a great, even while filming it,

I knew it'd be a great movie

'cause I love the source material and the cast

led by Constance Wu, Henry Golding,

Michelle Yeoh and Awkwafina,

even while filming, I knew it would be a good movie

so I had no doubt in my mind.

I was just hoping people who weren't Asian would see it.

I did not know if it would crossover

and it did and then some.

Friends of mine who are Asian American filmmakers

and writers and directors, they're getting their projects

green lit by major studios, by broadcast networks.

It actually has made an impact.

It has moved the needle in the business

and just to be a part of it, a small part of it,

it's a very big deal, you know, and also,

I have two daughters, Alexa and Zooey, they're 11 years old

and they have these wonderful role models to look up for.

I'm quoting Nico Santos who's in the movie of Superstore

and he says this kind of movie, rising tides lifts all boats

and that's, you know, whenever I think of Crazy Rich Asians,

I think of that.

The Masked Singer.

The Masked Singer is the most popular

like competition show in Korea and in Thailand.

It also happens to be my mom's favorite show

coming form a Korean background

and when I got offered the show, I was like well

it's not really, it's not my thing, you know, at all

and my mom was like, she showed me,

she sent me links of the show.

She's like it's my favorite show.

You've gotta do this and I was just kind of like

okay, this is not my thing and I ended up just leap of faith

like my mom was really, my mom was like adamant.

We did this promo for Fox Network.

You're like hi I'm so and so,

hi I'm Robin, hi I'm Jen and it comes to me.

I literally look at the camera.

I honestly don't know what I'm doing here.

On the show, I'm literally the dumbest guy alive.

I don't know anything about anything

and there could be these amazing singers

in these amazing costumes

and the whole point is to guess who this is.

It's like a combo of American Idol,

What's My Line, Concentration.

It's like all four different genres

and I'm literally just getting paid to guess stupidly.

I'm so freaking confused right now.

I don't know who I am.

I'm like, I literally would do takes like this.

You know, I think I know who this is.

Senator Chuck Schumer, welcome to the Masked Singer.

So like all my takes were like completely,

I was just having fun just having a laugh

and just being completely stupid

and then also hearing some amazing voices

and when you really get into, like these are singers

or maybe performers who aren't known for singers.

You don't know who they are.

Wow.

♪ I feel alive ♪

It's kind of addictive to guess who they are.

Like I had my wife and kids come to a taping

and everyone is into it and even my manager

who like managers for, a little secret,

when managers go to their client's sets,

they don't wanna be there.

They're just there to show moral support and like hey buddy.

My manager went to every single taping.

He was like, he'd be texting me while the show's going.

Is it so and so and so and so?

It's like dude, I thought you already left.

My Netflix special,

it's one of my favorite things I've ever done.

Again, it was all organic, it was something that

I didn't even know if I wanted to do standup full-time.

I just had a lot of daylight in my calendar

after Dr. Ken ended and I was just restless.

I was like you know, maybe I'll just try standup

and see how that works.

I did a couple spot gigs and clubs in LA

and I just fell in love with it again with standup.

I'd done standup comedy for 17 years prior

to the first Hangover

so it was a lot of full circle involved.

Maybe it's the doctor part in me.

I always compartmentalize.

Oh Community's my acting school.

Maybe Dr. Ken is my fellowship, you know?

And maybe my Netflix special is my post grad work.

I don't know, I do find myself

like academically compartmentalizing a lot of my work.

It's my own way of finding a deeper meaning to what I do

than just you know, just fame and fortune.

You want, you do this because you love it

and you do it because it matters and it feeds your,

for lack of a better word, it feeds your soul.

This is what I love.