Ken Jeong
High-decibel chaos from a guy who knows you saw the movie.
1 special · 2019
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He paces the stage like he drank too much coffee in the green room, shouting setups into the microphone and windmilling his free arm. He does not build quiet, structural premises. The goal is to sustain a level of absolute panic for an hour. He will scream a passing observation, pause, stare wide-eyed at the front row, and then giggle at his own volume.
Specials
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An energetic, highly personal career retrospective on an intimate stage.
Netflix
On stage
He occupies a tier of live entertainment where the standup is mostly an excuse to spend an evening with a famous television personality. People buy tickets because they watched The Hangover or Community. He understands the arrangement. He gives them the catchphrases, he acts out the scenes, and he constructs bits around how recognizable he is.
The jokes themselves are loose, operating mainly as a bridge between physical act-outs. He will start a story, get distracted by his own tangent, and abandon the narrative entirely to yell at someone in the second row or do a callback to a movie he was in. The crowds do not care if the joke resolves. They are paying for the chaotic energy of his screen characters, and he provides it.
Beneath the manic pacing is an actual biography that he uses to ground the room when he needs a breather. He spent years as a licensed internal medicine physician in California before walking away for Hollywood. When he talks about his medical career or his marriage to another doctor, he occasionally drops the cartoon persona and speaks like a normal, tired adult, which ends up being the most surprising move he has.
Turning points
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Full-Time Leap from Internal Medicine to Entertainment
After years of practicing internal medicine by day and gigging at clubs by night, Jeong stepped away from his medical practice after his feature film debut in Knocked Up.
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Breakout Performance as Leslie Chow in The Hangover
Encouraged by his wife during her fight with Stage 3 breast cancer, Jeong took the role of Mr. Chow, which propelled him to mainstream international comedy stardom.
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Return to Standup for Netflix Special
After a ten-year hiatus from performing stand-up, Jeong returned to the craft at The Ice House to record his debut Netflix comedy special, You Complete Me, Ho, dedicated to his wife.
At a glance
- Born
- , Detroit, Michigan
- On stage
- since 1995
- Style
- observational, improvisational, sketch
- Breakout
- You Complete Me, Ho
- Topics
- Elsewhere
- Website, Wikipedia
Podcasts
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The Darkest Timeline with Ken Jeong & Joel McHale · co-host
Ken Jeong and Joel McHale connect via FaceTime to answer listener questions concerning Community, Coronavirus, and life during quarantine.
Also on screen
- 2009–2015
- Community
- 2009–2013
- The Hangover
- Maron
- 2015–2017
- Dr. Ken
- 2022–2023
- The Afterparty
A clip to start with
How Ken Jeong Saved an Audience Member's Life | Netflix Is A Joke