After nailing hilarious supporting roles in The Hangover franchise and on NBC’s Community, Ken Jeong is finally getting his time to shine as the lead actor in upcoming comedy International Incident, which Steve Carell is currently in negotiations to produce through his Carousel Productions banner.
Expect some political satire that really stings from this comedy, given that the script comes from David Javerbaum, who used to be the head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He now serves as the head writer on NBC’s The Maya Rudolph Show. The plot for this project is being kept mostly under wraps, but it revolves around “five delegates from the United Nations who embark on a road trip to find one of their lost loves.”
International Incident won’t be the first collaboration for either Carell and Javervaum or Carell and Jeong. Carell was a correspondent for The Daily Show before becoming a huge comedy star thanks to The 40-Year Old Virgin, and he also worked with Javerbaum on Comedy Central’s Steve Carell Salutes Steve Carell special. As for Carell and Jeong, they both voiced characters in animated smash hit Despicable Me 2.
It’s really exciting to see Jeong stepping up to the plate with his first starring role in a studio comedy. He excelled at playing the completely insane Mr. Chow in The Hangover trilogy, and the actor’s work on the late and loudly lamented NBC comedy Community (get on it, Hulu!) as the deluded, batty Ben Chang has been just as impressive. Hopefully, International Incident will give him the chance to stretch his comedic muscles – perhaps as the comedic straight man to a collection of nutty diplomats? Regardless of whether his role in International Incident is anything new for the actor, however, it will still be a thrill to see him finally embracing the spotlight.
