Ken Jeong Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters | GQ

thought I would forever be a doctor I thought that was my path I always like to say I was kind of Korean Din to stayin premed [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 judge 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 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 Rogen it was Adam Scott it was Jonah Hill Jason Segel Craig Robinson it's I mean that movie knocked up had everybody I call it The Avengers of comedy you know it literally anybody who's anybody in today's comedy was was in that movie so it was really like the the 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 a few doctors I didn't particularly care for and I worked with in the past in a doctor-patient relationship to be healthy one should not ask the doctor too many questions got that bad you're not the star who was a star of this show among the three of us the patient I actually I think I wrote some of those doctors names on the script 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 kind of getting into the skin of that character is still one of my favorite performances to this day Judd Apatow he I mean he's one of most amazing directors I've ever worked with he spoils you he spoils the actors because he really does let the talent play judge notice that on uncertain takes he would just see me like go out a comedy go out of take really hard and then gel would be like okay that's a little too strong but and then he actually he said to himself like you know wow he he's bringing 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 uh he said Ken you know we got 10 minutes left to tape of a film just do whatever you want and that became its own DVD feature and you see me just going unhinged it's called Cooney gone wild it's like Lily five minutes and 46 seconds of just just like Cooney yelling at Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl and Adam Scott who played my nurse and to serve and protect non malfeasance we're gonna have a good time okay like a u2 concert okay all right I'm gonna take a big fat nap now because he called me it was still one of the highlights of my career and even getting applause by the set at the end it's just yeah the more I yeah Wow that I hadn't thought about that a while 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 that was a big fan of the BBC office big fan of Ricky Gervais zhe's version of the you know 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 begat it became a hit very slowly and and I was one of the few people that really got the tone of that show just from the get-go so when I auditioned I heard every line and I would look directly to camera just kind of steal a glance I remember stealing a couple of subtle glances and I remember Paul Feig laughing so hard at the softest things Michael what did you tell him nothing 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 he's he's a huge influence on me whether I mean known Steve now for a few years he part doesn't want to hear that from a Perry so modesty I know actually no he doesn't want to hear stuff like I mean he'll probably watch that me saying that right now me like oh come on Ken come on Mandy epic so he's that like modest about it but he it really was in basketball terms oh it was it's like working with LeBron man you're just working with just one of the all-time greats and to improvise during an improv class what they were doing was next-level stuff some of Steve's friends from second city that you know of his class at Second City there were also guest stars on the show and they had this rapport in this chemistry he's very angry midgets boom please Michaels goon FBI you know you did 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 it would 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 role-playing or any of those things so I went to a few events in Malibu and just studied it take some pride and dying in horrible death but I killed you can't kill me after I already killed you davit bling cracking yes my liege this he slay me he does not slay the King got to a point I knew so much about live-action roleplay I was started improvising in LARP speak and because I played the king of this whole village or of this whole country of Casa Dona to be wounded shall I take him out sire nay this one is mine I kind of stole a little bit of mr. Chow mousse from the King because I did those movies like like like right after one another yeah the hangover trilogy the movie that made me a made man hanging over it 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 it just changed everything I've knocked up open the door for me in the business The Hangover just burst it wide open and I went from you know as a pretty anonymous character actor to a guy of us just for the rest of my life I'll be forever known as mr. Chau no matter what I do I'll be forever known and I don't mind because still I don't think I'll ever play a light just kind of just gut-busting hilarious character I don't think I'll ever I don't think I ever play a character just balls-out funnier literally balls-out funnier character than mr. Chau yeah it 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 and I remember thinking to myself well hey I'm not gonna get the part so but when the audition 99% of auditioning of acting is getting rejected and that's just the name of the game but you want at least do a good performance and maybe Tom Phyllis will think of me for another role in the future so that I went in with that mindset you know we'll just see what happens and and just I just remembered Todd 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 that time I remember telling my wife like I think I just film the funniest movie ever I asked him told my way I don't know if you'll like it I think this might be like a guys comedy I don't know and then and I remember we watched an early screening with friends and family and Trey and my wife the moment where Bradley Cooper says Tracy we 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 I did about at least 35 to 40 takes I mean 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 and it said he had slacks on that's 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 said like I I think you know I want to do this naked so I actually ran it by her before I ran it by Todd Phillips and then and 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 what so when I pitched it to tide to be naked in the movie he was like and he's got a very deep voice you know what the Toby toys that was his actual words and he made me sign a 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 midpoint in the movie after they had already seen Mike Tyson there I saw the tiger what could be worse it was like Oh what what the hell is this going on Chow is John the sky is 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 is it's there is just a lifelong bond I think that will that that will that will last forever on celluloid you know it's yeah it's oh it was a magical time and it just it just it just changed my life forever I mean the moment the hangover came out I was starting to get instantly recognized money - big rock in Mojave Desert at dawn I was at an ATM withdrawing some cash and this guy's looking at me from a sedan with the window half half cracked open not a paparazzi just staring at me withdraw some cash I'm uncomfortable staring at withdraw some cash staring at me the light turns green and he goes to the little 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 I would do takes on community that was completely unhinged and improvisational contrary to popular belief I mean you actually don't him you don't improvise much and on television in general I didn't really know that I was like community was my first TV series I remember the first my first moment is Senor Chang where it's like why do you teach Spanish and that is all mostly improvised well I'll tell you why I teach Spanish it is none of your business okay now I don't want to have any conversations about what a mysterious inscrutable man I am I am a Spanish genius in espanol my nickname is El Tigre chino dan told me later he was just furious because those are his words carefully written words after I realized that's not how you do it in television and that's not how Dan wants it pretty soon thereafter I stopped improvising on that show and 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 there were there were small parts in these movies and I never had formal acting training ado cuz I dime you know turning down yeah Duke School of Acting so I always thought of community as my conservatory Baz burgers is the gift that keeps on giving player recurring on that show dr. Yap and Loren Bouchard he he wrote the part of dr. Yap from with me in mind and and I love doing I love doing animation I love doing voiceover is a patient in here earlier and I accidentally stuck a needle through his cheek just I hate mondays in some of the movies I've done like turbo Despicable Me 2 Penguins of Madagascar I'm usually by myself I'm I remember the first time I did Baz burgers it was with the entire cast and that was first time I've done animation like that which I love just feeding off of everybody's energy I really quite liked having everybody but you know they're you know and I try to you know would like to do more of that if possible because you really feed off that energy really envisioned the whole scene and but the thing about Bob's Burgers that I love is again much like Dan Harmon the writing is so crisp you know and I always do it no matter what I mean I it's been through every phase of my career like community hangover movies doctor Kent 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 on my life um he had you show that five Asian American series regulars on a broadcast show that was based on my life working as a father as a husband as as a doctor and I was in the writers room every day you know I remember dr. ken for anything but 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 break 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 showrunner went on BK 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 just you know for himself and just I just I just throw 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 you looking what I can do you know and I feel even more mature that's as an actor and that comes actually from writing crazy rich ages when dr. ken got cancelled I John Chu call me call me for gave me the part and and I'm a big fan of the books by by Kevin Kwan so within moments of that cancellation I'm on a flight to Singapore and Malaysia shooting that movie in the very first scene I think I was just I think I was processing what what had just happened on my own show and it was so therapeutic nice to meet you too chu cuckoo could you 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 and all Asian American cast made by a Hollywood studio and we're the first coincidentally or maybe not so coincidentally it was 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 a number-one movie three weeks in a row I knew who is a great I knew even while filming it I knew it would be a great movie because I I loved the source material and the cast led by Constance Wu Henry Goulding Michelle Yeoh and Aquafina I even more are filming I knew it I knew 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 I did not I did not know if we would cross over it did with with and then some friends of mine who are Asian American filmmakers and writers and directors they're getting their projects greenlit 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 is it's a very big deal you know and also you know I have two daughters Alexa and Zoey they're 11 years old and they have these wonderful role models to look up to I'm quoting Nikko 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 I whenever I think of crazy rich Asians I think of that masked singer the mass singer is the most popular like competition show in Korea and in Thailand it also happens to be my mom's favorite show coming from Korean background and when I got offered the show I was like well it's not really it was not my thing you know at all and and my mom was like she showed me she sent me links of the show is she's like it's it's my it's my favorite show you you got to do this and I was just kind of like okay this is not my thing and and I and I ended up just leap of faith like my mom was really was like adamant and we did this promo for for Fox Network you're like hi I'm so-and-so hi I'm Robin I'm Jenna and it comes to me I'd leave a look at the camera like I Alice you don't know what I'm doing here on the show I'm literally the dumbest guy live I don't know anything about anything and there could be these amazing singers in these amazing costumes and you the whole point is to guess who this is it's like a combo of a wreckin Otto what's my line concentration it's like all like for like 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 you know I'm like 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 tastes like completely I was just having fun just having a laugh and just being completely stupid and and also hearing some amazing voices and when you really get into like these are these are singers who are or maybe performers who aren't known for singers you don't you don't know who they are [Music] it's kind of addictive to get into guessing in the art like I had my wife and kids come to a taping and everyone is into it and like even my manager who like managers for little secret like when managers go there their client says you know they don't want to be there they just there to show moral support and like anybody you know like my manager went to every single taping he was like who do you like he'd be texting me like while the show is going is it is it so-and-so and so-and-so and like it's like dude I thought you already left my Netflix special it's it's one of my favorite things I've ever done again I knew it was all organic it was something that I didn't even know if I wanted to do stand-up full-time I just had a lot of daylight on my calendar after dr. ken ended and I was just Restless and I was like you know maybe I'll just try stand-up and see how that works I did a couple spot gigs and in clubs in LA and and I just fell in love it again with stand-up I'd done stand-up comedy for 17 years prior to the first hangover so it was a lot of full circle involved maybe it's the doctor pardon me I always compartmentalize a fit like oh community was my acting school maybe dr. Ken's my fellowship you know and maybe my Netflix special is my post-grad work I don't know it's like I do 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 know you you want you do this because you love it and you do it because it matters you know and it feeds here for lack of a better word if these are soul you know this is

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Id: ZSepCNhEWDA

Length: 21min 17sec (1277 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 13 2019