Ken Jeong has given up a lot for a career in entertainment.
Like a thriving medical practice, which he had as a general practitioner at a Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Southern California.
And his clothes, which he shed for his breakout scene in “The Hangover,” jumping out of the trunk of a car naked into the arms of Bradley Cooper, an act of acting audacity that Jeong himself suggested to director Todd Phillipps, who then made him sign an agreement that he would do it. His foul-mouthed character, a gangster known as Mr. Chow, would get his revenge for the humiliation with his famous farewell “toodle-loo muthaf——-,” which Jeong frequently hears these days from fans.
Jeong has parlayed those decisions into a ground-breaking career in comedy, with roles in hit TV series “The Office” and “Community” and the big-budget film “Crazy Rich Asians,” as well as producing, writing and starring in a semi-autobiographical sitcom, “Dr. Ken.”
Most recently, he regularly steals scenes on the hidden-talent reality singing show “The Masked Singer,” where his line, “I know EXACTLY who this is” has become as ubiquitous among the audience members as his “toodle-loo” line from “The Hangover.” (His track record on the show, however, is spotty: he stunned viewers, fellow judges and host Nick Cannon when he correctly picked pro basketball player Victor Oladipo on one show, but whiffed on fellow Asian-American comic icon Margaret Cho, who had appeared on “Dr. Ken,” and “Saturday Night Live” star Ana Gasteyer, whom he had heard singing before and even complimented for it.)
Jeong returns to his stand-up roots with two shows Saturday evening at Blaisdell Concert Hall.
JEONGS’S COMEDY is aggressive, vain, egotistical and ribald. His talk show appearances have been marked by funky dance moves, crotch grabs and an in-your-face attitude.
“I think in stand-up comedy, there is a bit of, kind of — there’s a bit of pro wrestling to it,” he told NPR.
With all of his film and TV work, it had been more than a decade since he did stand-up when he returned — “nervous as hell,” he told NPR, to comedy clubs early in 2018 to begin working up new material.
“I just wondered if I had anything to say,” he said. “It takes — really, if you get really perfectionistic about (it), which I am — it can take 10 years to really write 10 good minutes.”
It turned out he had a lot to say, much of it about those acting gigs, but also a far amount about his family and specifically his wife, Dr. Tran Ho. Jeong took the material he’d been working on to produce a Netflix special named for her — “You Complete Me, Ho.”
If you thought it took courage to jump out of a car naked, it pales in comparison to Tran Ho’s fight against an aggressive breast cancer, which was diagnosed shortly after the birth of their twin daughters. But Jeong told NPR, “I still remember how she just had a calmness about her. There was a calm strength that I don’t see in a lot of people.”
Ho, who now has been cancer-free for over 10 years, was the one who actually encouraged him to audition for “The Hangover,” telling him he was suffering from “caregiver burnout,” having to take care of her as well as looking after their kids. He repaid her in the movie by sprinkling phrases in Vietnamese — she is of Vietnamese descent, he is of Korean ancestry — throughout his lines.
She has figured prominently in his career. Jeong grew up in North Carolina, where he attended medical school. But the year he got his MD, he won a stand-up comedy contest and was encouraged to move to Los Angeles, where he met his future wife at a mixer for doctors. From all accounts, she encouraged him to follow his dreams.
KEN JEONG
>> Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall
>> When: 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday
>> Cost: $48.50-$63.50
>> Info: 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com
