We Got This Covered: What’s it like moving between a kind of comedic role in these films to working with people at other ends of the comedic spectrum like Judd Apatow on Knocked Up or Michael Bay on Pain and Gain?
Ken Jeong: Well, you just highlighted my proudest career moments right there. Knocked Up was the first film I had ever done, and Judd Apatow discovered me. I was still a doctor at the time and I was auditioning as a doctor. Seth Rogen had seen my audition tape and he was the one who told Judd about me, and then it was a three month or so auditioning process and search for someone to play that part. I was such a big Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared fan at the time and there were all these people from that at the table read. I still hadn’t gotten the part yet and this table read was my second audition. It was the most nerve wracking audition I had ever had because it was Judd, the studio, and all the actors were there.
There was Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Seth, Jonah (Hill), all these people who have now become superstars are all in this room. I just remember being star struck. It was beyond a dream come true to be a part of that cast. Knocked Up opened the doors for me and then Hangover just burst those doors open all the way.
By the time I did The Hangover it just changed my life from black and white to Technicolor. It was kind of like that story of Keith Richards listening to Chuck Berry for the first time. It was just this feeling and this explosion where things just changed and my view of everything just become so vibrant. Every bit of work I had done, including Community, is because I did The Hangover. It’s been amazing.
As for working with Michael Bay, we’ve become good friends, actually. He was a big fan of the Hangover movies, and he saw the first movie in Miami with his best friend and he told his buddy, “I gotta put this guy in my next Transformers movie.” A few months later I had a meeting with Michael and I went to meet him and I just couldn’t believe I was sitting in Michael Bay’s office. There’s like a giant Bumblebee from Transformers in his office. I just had so much fun working on Transformers. It was a career highlight for me simply because I never thought in a million years that I would ever be a part of a giant sci-fi franchise. I never thought I would work with a Decepticon. [laughs]
It also taught me how to work with something that wasn’t actually there. Michael and Shia (LaBeouf) really coached me on how to pretend there’s something invisible there. It’s harder than you think. It was so much fun. After that was when Michael wrote a part specifically for me in Pain and Gain. It’s just one of the most unexpected career bonuses to be buddies with Michael Bay. I love him. He comes to the Hangover premieres now, as a result. Todd actually at one point had recommended me to Michael for Transformers 3. There’s a lot of relationship between all three of them that have really gotten me where I am. I’m so very grateful to all three of them.
We Got This Covered: Chang from Community and Chow are different characters, but they’re both pretty equally unbalanced. What do you think it is about these types of characters that you find yourself drawn to?
Ken Jeong: I think Chang is a more pathetic version of Chow. Chow is a well dressed bad ass. Chang wears this Spanish Fly kind of stuff. They’re iconic for different reasons. People ask me all the time who would win in a fight between Chang and Chow. Chow would physically EAT Chang. That’s how dark Chow is. Chang wouldn’t even know what to do. That guy lives in the air vents! Chow lives large.
I find myself drawn to villains with a sense of humour. Chow is kind of like Joe Pesci’s character in Goodfellas, or something like that. To me, that makes me laugh. Any villain that can make me laugh is something that I’m just instinctively drawn to for some reason.
When it comes to Chang, it’s a bit more of a difficult question to answer because Chang’s been so many different characters. He’s been Kevin. He’s been a teacher. Sometimes I just wonder where these guys are going with this, but the reason I never complain about it is because to me Community has kind of been my own little Steppenwolf theatre. It’s been my acting studio. I’ve learned how to play all sorts of things, I’m glad I never played security guard Chang for four years. I’m glad I never played Spanish teacher Chang for four years. That would be boring. Every year I get to learn how to play someone new! It’s always a different incarnation of Chang, and it’s a real testament to the writers that they’re always able to come up with new things for Chang to do. It’s really hard, and one of the dangers of television is that you’re literally playing the same guy for ten years. No actor really wants to do that unless you’re really in love with the character.
Chow is really the only character that I could play life long and never get sick of. There’s just something about him that’s already wide ranging about him. You could have him work at a Kinkos or just do something in a totally different element and I would still be stimulated by the possibilities of it. That’s the exception, but on television with Chang, I just love that I never know what’s going on or what’s going to happen. That’s so much fun and so dangerous.
It made me a better actor and it’s only widened my range. Even Todd noticed it between Hangover movies. He said he could see me every year picking up new moves and he said I was a lot more seasoned than the previous movie, and I tell him, “Yeah, that’s Community, man.” When you’re hanging out with Joel McHale and Jim Rash and Danny Pudi and Gillian Jacobs and all these guys, you just can’t help but feel like you’re a part of the most talented cast on TV. Any one of those guys could handle their own sitcom.
It’s also amazing that you’re a part of a show that you’re ultimately a fan of. That timeline episode might be my favourite episode of the whole series. That’s such a genius episode.
That concludes our interview but we’d like to thank Ken for talking with us. Be sure to check out The Hangover Part III in theatres this Friday!
