Ken Jeong spent 30 years in Hollywood — now he’s unexpectedly going viral in Korea over one hilarious clip
Mrs. Pae tells him that she doubts Dr. Ken is Korean because he can't speak a word of it.
Ken Jeong, a Korean-American stand-up comedian and actor, has been in the entertainment business for over thirty years, but Koreans have only started noticing him now. "The Hangover" actor had featured in a 2015 American sitcom called "Dr. Ken," which ran two successful seasons until 2017. Jeong played a young physician who tries to balance his personal life and hectic career, along with his therapist wife and two kids. In one of the episodes, "Ken Learns Korean," Dr. Ken meets a lady, a patient, who refuses to believe that he is Korean because he can't speak her language. Before we get into what makes the scene so special, let's understand what it's actually about.
Mrs. Pae, an elderly patient, starts speaking in Korean because she assumed Dr. Ken knew the language since he looked Korean. She complains about stomach pain and that she hasn't been able to eat anything for the past two days. "I have been drinking only water, but my stomach still hurts," Mrs. Pae informs the doctor, who just looks at her with confusion because he clearly couldn't understand anything. Soon, a human translator (played by Joshua Reese) is called in, who surprises the audience with his impeccable Korean speaking skills. Mrs. Pae tells him that she doubts Dr. Ken is Korean because he can't speak a word of it. Troy, the translator, conveys the same to Dr. Ken, who tries his best to explain that he is Korean but just can't speak the language. But the lady refuses to believe. "I think he's got a few screws loose," she says in Korean. The scene ends with Mrs. Pae leaving the clinic after saying goodbye to Dr. Ken.
Now, what's so special about the scene? First things first, the Korean audience was blown away by Reese's Korean-speaking ability. The actor was so realistic in his role that people had a hard time believing that he wasn't Korean. In fact, Reese said he used to listen to Korean podcasts continuously for eight weeks in 2011 to learn the language. He also said in an interview with Talk To Me In Korean that his interest in learning the language began back in 2009, when he was learning taekwondo. Interestingly, Reese's character was supposed to be Korean American originally, but later, his manager reached out to the creators, and they agreed to have the actor on board. "Once they saw me, they knew that I could handle the scene," Reese recalled.
The scene's popularity has also got to do a lot with the similarities between Jeong and his character, Dr. Ken. Just like his character, the actor is a licensed physician who earned his medical degree from the University of North Carolina and practiced internal medicine at Kaiser Permanente in Woodland Hills while pursuing his career as a comedian and actor. One more similarity between the two is their inability to speak Korean. In many interviews, the "Crazy Rich Asians" actor has confessed to not knowing Korean well, except for a few words here and there. The viewers praised both Jeong and Reese, leaving comments about their language skills.
Meanwhile, reacting to the viral scene, @sonofroderick4255 shared, "I can understand Dr. Ken's awkwardness. I'm of Hispanic origin and have a very old Hispanic name but don't speak Spanish. I used to watch Dr. Ken, and I did see that episode, and I definitely related. I was a nurse, and I was in that predicament several times. I enjoyed the breakdown of the Korean lines of the show." Similarly, @iu2 wrote, "This is crazy. I was just looking at Joshua Elijah Reese's Wikipedia the other day because of that Dr. Ken clip. Interestingly, his English Wikipedia entry made no mention of his Korean ability or even his appearance on Dr. Ken. So, I wasn't sure if I had identified the correct actor."
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