Ken Jeong’s Debut on NBC’s Community

By John | Friday, October 2, 2009 | 5 Comments

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Last week, Ken Jeong made his debut in the second episode of the new NBCs show Community, a comedy which follows the lives of community college students of diverse backgrounds. In the show, Ken portrays the self-described Spanish teacher, Señor Chang. In his first class, Señor Chang gives a nice little speech about him being a Spanish teacher: “Every once in a while, a student will come up to me and ask ‘Why do you teach Spanish?’ ” This reminded me of when I first started work and someone asked me – “Where are you from?” – and when I reply I’m from Massachusetts, he asked me “No, where are you really from?”

Why can’t Ken Jeong be a Spanish teacher? Of course he can be and that is what I love about his speech… Señor Chang then goes a little crazy and I worry he’s going to be a Vince Vaughn like character, but then acts normally – which I hope Ken remains, since in a lot of his movie roles, who often goes overboard, which can get tiring quickly.

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bumfromkorea

I can totally see where he's going with the over-the-top, hyper-stereotypical Asian characters (often with chips on their shoulders). But I think he may be a few decades ahead of his time... Little early to satirize oversensitivity/defensiveness in regards to racism, I think.

And Community was not as impressive as I anticipated it to be... but then again, my expectations may have been overinflated by the presence of Chevy Chase, Ken Jeong, Joel McHale, and Donald Glover on the roster.

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bumfromkorea

I can totally see where he's going with the over-the-top, hyper-stereotypical Asian characters (often with chips on their shoulders)... but I think he may be a few decades ahead of his time...

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Philip

Here's a Q&A with him from Channel APA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiaTSaWsy74

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Eric

You're right he does play that little crazy over the top character in all his roles, but I'm loving Community. He was funny in his scene and that's all that matters. His line about mysterious, something and rubbing his imaginary beard was the best.

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