'The Hangover' turns 10: Ken Jeong on how Leslie Chow upended Asian stereotypes
A Star is Born has got nothing on the celebrity origin story of Ken Jeong. As a young doctor in Los Angeles, the Korean-American actor did stand-up on his nights off, dreaming of a career in entertainment. He got a lucky break with Knocked Up, answering director Judd Apatow’s call for “an actor with medical experience,” and quit his day job. Then Jeong’s wife Tran Ho, also a doctor, was diagnosed with breast cancer. While Tran was undergoing treatment, Jeong channeled all of his fear and frustration into a tiny role in an independent comedy — a role that was written for a man three times his age, a role so small that the character didn’t initially have a first name. That comedy, which opened ten years ago this week, was Todd Phillips’s The Hangover.
By the third Hangover film, Jeong’s character Mr. Chow, a foul-mouthed, thrill-seeking gangster with a propensity for full-frontal nudity, was the central character. Meanwhile, Jeong has become a ubiquitous presence on TV and film, from his cameo in Avengers: Endgame to judging the reality competition The Masked Singer. As opportunities for Asian actors in Hollywood have grown, Jeong has proudly contributed by creating an autobiographical network sitcom (Dr. Ken, which ran for two seasons) and taking a role in Jon Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians. Among Jeong’s 2019 endeavors are his first Netflix stand-up special, You Complete Me, Ho, and an ad campaign for the beverage V8+ Hydrate that plays on both his medical background and Hangover fame. Jeong spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about creating the character of Leslie Chow, why he insisted on doing his first Hangover scene naked, and whether he gets tired of hearing people yell “Toodle-oo, motherf***ers!” at him.
Yahoo Entertainment: The Hangover opened in theaters 10 years ago. Todd Phillips described your audition for Mr. Chow as, “Ken just lost his mind.” What do you remember?
Ken Jeong: I remember improvising the whole thing. The role of Mr. Chow was written for a 60-year-old man, and the bodyguards in the movie were his sons. So Mr. Chow was envisioned to be a completely different character than the way I made it. And it was fairly indistinct. Actually, I recall being a bit reluctant to do it, because I didn’t think I’d get the part and I didn't think that the part was necessarily right for me, on a lot of levels.
So when I went in, I kind of had a nothing-to-lose attitude. And I couldn't really read the script where it said, “Oh, these are my sons, forgive me.” It just felt odd coming out of my mouth. So I basically called an audible and I just decided to improvise the whole audition, thinking that I probably won't get the part. But then Todd Phillips could not stop laughing throughout the audition. I think The Hangover Trilogy Blu-ray has some of my audition. I remember watching it years ago, and you could just hear people laughing behind the camera because I was just going off, completely unhinged.
I think I was crazy enough to get the part, basically. And because I was almost making fun of the stereotype, if you will. Looking back, I think that Todd understood that I was doing it in a very ironic way. Little did we know, though, that it would lead to giving me a career. None of us had expected any of the success. That’s what made it even sweeter.
You’re Korean, and Leslie Chow is a Chinese character who speaks Vietnamese. In your Netflix special, you talk about “Asian haters” who were offended by your performance. Were you intending to make his Asian identity all over the place from the beginning, and were you anticipating a backlash?
To me, from jump, it was always about being a meta joke on the stereotype and making fun of it. And even in the second movie, there was a line — they cut it from the final edit, but in The Hangover Part 2 we’re in Bangkok and I go [Mr. Chow voice], “I got a lot of heat on my ass. I have Interpol, CIA, MSNBC, angry Asian bloggers.” [Laughs] You know, making fun of the whole experience of it.
But no, when I went to undergrad at Duke I was heavily involved in the Asian Student Association, and very sensitive to the politic dynamics even when I was a kid. I actually would go on local news and talk about certain social events. So I was very thoughtful in my approach to it and doing it in an ironic way that, quite frankly, I don’t think any other Asian-American comedic actor was doing, with that kind of subversive intent. In many ways it was, at that time, inspired by Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat.
In your first scene, you pop out of a car trunk, naked, in the middle of the desert and fight Bradley Cooper. What was it like to shoot that on location in Las Vegas?
I remember it taking three or four hours to do, with different angles. Didn't have a stunt double. And as I’ve said in my act, it was my idea to be naked in the trunk — because I was inspired by Old School and Will Ferrell, running down the street naked in that movie. So really it was an homage to Old School, which was also a Todd Phillips movie.
So when I asked Todd, you know, “What do you think about me doing this nude?,” he was like, “You don't have to tell me twice.” Then he actually made me sign a waiver that I would not change my mind, because we knew that that was the right tone. After Mike Tyson, after the tiger, how can you top that? How can you go crazier than that? So I felt like that was the right moment at the right time. Little did I know it would basically define my career — in a good way, and which I'm proud of. That whole movie was, in many ways, a series of happy accidents that happened, because we were all game to experiment and improvise and follow our instincts comedically.
What were some other examples of happy accidents that made the final cut of The Hangover?
For me personally, coming up with the name Leslie Chow. It wasn't my idea. I think Ed Helms had asked [my character], “Did we ever get your first name?” And you get to do multiple takes, so I remember myself improvising, “Oh, you can call me Steve, Steve Chow. Or Ashley, Ashley Chow.” We're all pitching in and collaborating, and I think it was either Bradley Cooper or Todd who was like, “No, it should be Leslie.” And that just made me laugh. So we did the next take, “Leslie, Leslie Chow.” And we just kind of knew. [Laughs]
What’s the best and worst part of being recognized for The Hangover, ten years later?
To me, there is no worst part of The Hangover. And I can honestly say that, because if The Hangover didn't happen, I wouldn't have this kind of career. To me, it’s not how you get famous, it’s what you do with your fame. Someone once told me that, and I think in that window, The Hangover has allowed me to do my Netflix special to create and write and produce my own projects, like Dr. Ken, which I wrote and created for ABC. That’s why, I’ve even said this in my act, I don't mind people coming up to me and quoting Mr. Chow lines. They can do that every day, twice on Sunday and I'm not sick of it. And it's been ten years and I'm still not tired of it. I mean, it's the most hilarious, laugh-out-loud character I'll ever play in my career. If that's my legacy, I'm incredibly proud of it.
I know you've done medical PSAs, I'm sure other companies have approached you about being their spokesdoctor. What was it about this V8+ Hydrate campaign that made you say, “I’ll put my face on this.”?
What I like about this campaign is that it combined the elements that I'm most proud of, notably The Hangover and Dr. Ken. To me, you have kind of the edginess of my Hangover character, plus the fact that I'm a real doctor playing a fake doctor and not taking myself too seriously… To me, if my career ended right now, this would be ten times what I ever expected my life to be. Because I had quit my day job twelve years ago, not knowing if I would have to go back to medicine, and I was prepared to do that. But the fact that I'm able to do what I love to do, which is to entertain, and also use my admittedly unique background to entertain? Everything has turned out even better than I ever expected.
By the way, my eleven-year-old son is super excited that I'm talking to you because we watched The Masked Singer together. He had no idea what anyone was, and he loved it.
Well that makes two of us, because I didn't know who anyone was either!
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