Ken Jeong and Co-Stars on the Set of ABC Comedy "Dr. Ken"

Hey Young Hollywood, I'm Krista Marie Yu. I play Molly on the show Dr. Ken. Molly's growing up, we gotta give her some freedom.

They don't need freedom, they need I was the opposite of freedom. Duct tape. They need to be taped down.

Oh my God. You sound like your father.

No, I don't. My father sounds like this. Which means, tape it down child, can not run.

So, I'm here with Ken Jeong, he's my TV dad, and he's truly amazing. But this show is actually based on your life loosely, right?

Yes, it's based, uh, it's uh, loosely based on my life as, uh, a physician. Uh, I, I worked, uh, in an HMO in the Valley for seven years and, um, so also loosely based on my family. I have a wife and two kids and Krista plays my daughter Molly on the show. And now I have my TV brother, the very famous Albert Tsai.

Hi.

On the show, you love to mime. Can you show me how to mime?

Sure. I've got this one routine I like to do.

What?

Baking a cake.

Really?

Yes.

Okay, let's see it.

All right. So first, Oh, you got some flour. Stirring.

I love that you're not speaking right now, that's a true mime.

Oven. Close the oven.

Good, good call.

Timer. Temperature. Wait for the cake. Eat it. And see.

Thank you. Should we tour the set?

Sure, let's go.

You wanna mime out? All right. Take it away.

Oh, in a car. Oh, a seatbelt. Beep. Honk.

Here we are in the The living room set. This is where most of the Park family hangs out. Yeah. The couch. It's so comfortable. Suzy, me, who else has fallen asleep there? Like everyone who's been on it. You'll probably find someone sleeping there eventually today.

Tell us what it's like to play Ken's husband. Ken's wife, Ken's wife, Ken's wife.

I'm Ken's wife. Well, uh, I love it. His character's such a wild card, you know, kind of at home and, and in the office that I love to play sort of this calming influence. I think she at least tries to center him or calm him. But they also have fun together like there we have a couple scenes where we just laugh as husband and wife and I I love that relationship that they have.

These are the stairs. Our entrances and exits. Do you wanna give them an example? I'll be the announcer. And playing Dave Park. Woo! Albert Tsai. Something like that.

So I'm super excited because the Tisha Campbell Martin just sat down in the living room.

I play the receptionist at the HMO where Dr. Ken works, Ken Jeong. And it is so much fun because I actually get to rib everybody on and I get to instigate a lot because my character is kind of bored. And I've been doing the same job for a long time. So, you know, getting him all riled up is what I do best over there. And I'm actually the real boss of the HMO because I'm in charge of everybody's vacation time. So.

Well, and you sing too.

I do sing. Yes.

Tell us the most recent news.

Ah. I dropped a single on iTunes and Spotify. And I'm I'm I'm still here. here here, oh. I got into rapping. Yeah.

Rap, so this is This is the coffee and tea spot. We got a Keurig machine. A bunch of these little cup things. Straws, sugar. This is like our energy source throughout the day. We always have to come here. Albert drinks gallons of this.

No, I don't. He's a liar.

It's your favorite though, right?

Yes, it is.

Behind you right here is my favorite place in all of crafties. The ice cream cooler. Ice cream. What's your favorite kind of ice cream?

Um, everything.

Everything?

Yeah.

This is wardrobe. Yep. There are the clothes and the jewelry. There's ties here.

What's your favorite part about filming Dr. Ken?

Um, the rehearsals. I love rehearsing. The live audience. I I love to be able to um, do it like theater and have like direct feedback. I think that's really cool. I love to play around and have fun and, and on community, I could easily do that because you could do like a free take or do one take, you could just improvise with the other, both actors can improvise. The difference between multi-cam and single-cam is, you know, you're, you're putting this in front of a live audience, so you don't wanna improvise in front of that audience. So, I I found ways to have fun in like the run-throughs and the rehearsal times. I think those are I I live for those. That's what keeps me going.

Me too.

Do you think your doctor self would dodge your character Ken Park, Dr. Ken Park?

Yeah, yeah, 'cause in, in like in the show, Ken Park is a little bit abrupt and a little bit just kind of, um, socially awkward with patients and in real life, I I was actually very well behaved and I was very, um, if anything, I was I would err on being too serious because I didn't want I didn't want patients to know that I was doing stand-up comedy on the side or had like a, which was a hobby at that time and I just didn't wanna kind of violate their trust. So I I I looked at myself as a guy who was a straight-up doctor, but I had like a weird hobby, you know, I had like a weird like side life. But I always respected medicine where I did not wanna, you know, did not wanna to like have those worlds collide, you know. And so people when they found out I did stand-up comedy, they would They're actually, they're like patients were like, I'm so happy for you because you're you're so stressed out at work. It's great to know you have a hobby. So,

You really followed your dream.

Yeah, yeah, you're following exactly, you're following dreams. No, I'm following my own path.

This is the kitchen. Yep.

Would this be your favorite because we're always eating?

Yep. And this is my favorite picture of Albert. Can you still do that pose? Should we both do it? Okay, yeah, good one. Here are the stools where we sit and eat cookies here in the scene. The props that he ate of course. Yep.

What was the audition process like for you?

It was great. It was great because I knew Ken previously and I auditioned with him so it was sort of nice to not have to audition with a stranger especially when it's such an intimate relationship, you know, it's supposed to be husband and wife.

I had to, uh, audition at least nine times for the part of Dr. Ken. Um, a lot of people were up for the part of Dr. Ken, even though it was based on my life. And I told the network and the studio. I was like, well, it's based on my life. They're like, yeah, yeah, we get it. Um, is there any way around of part can do this? I mean, is there any way? And I'm like, it's Ken Jeong. I know, but this I know, but it's Ken Jeong. It's like, I know, but It'd be amazing if we get Randall, don't you agree? I was like, yeah, it'd be amazing, but. Okay, so can you call him for us? I was like, well, okay. So I call him. I was like, look, man, I know you're on the set of Fresh Off the Boat, but there's a The studio wants you, would love for you to be the lead of Dr. Ken. He goes, I can't do it, I don't have time. Okay, great, thanks, bye. And then I hung up and I said, guys, he's not available. Can I? Your second pick? My second pick. And they're like, oh, can we get, just give me the part.

What kinda advice would you give to young actors right now auditioning and starting out in their career?

I would say know for self what you wanna accomplish in an audition and a lot of times it's not even like to get the role. A lot of times it's to to do something different or to take chances or to you know, follow your instincts or, or, you know, try a different take because when you do that, and let's say you don't get the role, at least you've got something you got something out of it.

Believe in yourself, do what you love, and never give up.

I think knowing and doing it for the right reasons is a big thing, you know. You wanna be famous? That's probably the wrong reason. You're gonna come across more rejection than anything else. If you come, if you're doing it just for the money, yeah, the money will come but if you do it for the art form and cuz the art form is really a communication. It's a lot of rejection. I mean, quite frankly, even more if you're an Asian American actor. I mean, I think if you're a minority actor, it, I don't know if there's more rejection but there's less opportunity, so it feels like more rejection. If you're really, really passionate about what you do, if you truly love what you do and, and you feel like you have an aptitude for it and, and you're just truly passionate about it, then, you know, eventually good things happen.

What do you do for fun when you're not filming?

Um, well, I have two cats who, which I, I love very much.

Do they remind you of me and Albert at all?

It's a stretch but I guess the only common thing is that I have two kids on the show and I have two cats. And we have the same, uh, first letters in our names.

Oh, that's right. I love that.

I like to read, I like to swim, I've been horseback riding before. That was really cool. And I still like it. And, um, I've also been surfing once before.

Really?

Yeah.

What was that like?

It was cool. I picked up the technique pretty quick, but I'm not, it was quite a while ago.

I'm not sure if I still have the skills.

You could stay standing?

Uh, yeah, I could at one point.

Looks like you gotta go shoot a scene. Can you give us a little dance out?

Uh, staple dance, staple dance. Staple dance, staple dance, Young Hollywood. Uh, my arthritis is acting up, I gotta I might get out.

Good thing you're a doctor and you can heal.

Good thing I'm a young doctor, huh? Oh God.

So, Ken did a little dance out for me. Albert mimes. Is there any special piece out you wanna give us?

I can do a weird thing with my lips.

She really can and it makes love every time. I don't have a name for it. What should we call it? It kinda reminds me of a rabbit.

Rabbit kiss?

Rabbit kiss.

Sing one little piece of your song. Are you allowed to?

Yeah, totally, it's mine. Up and down like a roller coaster. I see them come and go. I've been rich and poor, man. Uh oh, uh oh, but I'm still resilient. I'm always gonna be here.

So, now it's time for lunch, so, and we're gonna go out mime style. Thanks for joining us.

Yeah, sure.

All right, bye, Young Hollywood. Take it away.

Seat belt. Oh, yes, of course. Buh Buh Buh Buh Buh. Beep!