Joel McHale and Ken Jeong Discuss Their Quirky Community!

Reported by Kristen - 10:35 PM 2009.11.13

It's a shame that the ENI readers couldn't all be there to listen to the hilarious discussion between Joel McHale and Ken Jeong, the two stars of the NBC series Community riffing on each other. While the quotes used in this article are amazing, nothing beats the banter between them that couldn't be used. If anything these two sold me on their series Community, airing Thursdays on NBC, because they're comedy gold and I'm more than hooked on hearing more. Read on for their thoughts on their characters and the series as a whole, the real-life camaraderie between the cast members, how it differs from other sitcoms out there, and how the two actors juggle other jobs.

Community follows a group of community college students at Greendale Community College. Led by the witty Jeff (McHale), a lawyer whose recently lost his degree, he forms a study group filled with a ragtag bunch of students who constantly get into various hijinks. McHale's character, the main focus of the series, could be seen as an unlikeable wise-ass and probably is by a few followers of the series, and the concept is not lost on the actor. McHale commented on Jeff's likeability factor, saying, “ In theory he would not be unlikeable in person” but his charm is what allows him to lead this study group and gain a following. The idea of him leading this study group allows the others to “unravel” who he is and gain more about him as a person. The actor quickly adds in that Jeff has come to a few realizations about himself as the series has progressed saying, “ He came in pretty selfish... Hopefully he's a man in conflict and slowly he'll be working on things.” While the tide may be turning on who Jeff is, don't expect the man to grow too much of a conscience quickly! McHale admits that if he were to become a good person quickly there would be no series, “It would make no sense, it wouldn't be near the truth of where human beings [are in real life].” Series co-star Ken Jeong defends the character surprisingly saying, “To me I find him very real and very human because if I had gotten disbarred and started over again, who wouldn't have baggage or a chip on their shoulder?” For Jeong he says one should not look at the characters are unlikeable, but they're meeting at points in their lives where they're not happy and it causes them to behave in different ways.”

Speaking of Ken Jeong, one shouldn't forget about his character: the Asian Spanish teacher Senor Chang, a fan favorite amongst followers of the series. Jeong describes him character as having “an arrested maturity.” He furthers the point by commenting that, “ Something in his life has definitely happened to him on his journey. There's a deep insecurity...and identity crisis in him. The future of Senor Chang might actually involve a love interest at some point in the future. Jeong goes on to reveal that, “You really get to see why Senor Chang has the chip on his shoulder that he does and some of that involves love and some of that involves friendship. Joel's character sees it [and understands it].” Look for next week's episode to answer some questions about the surly Spanish teacher, McHale seconds that by cryptically saying, “Chang has very good reason to be who he is in the next episode.”

In speaking to the two comic stars it stands out that they truly love working on Community, as there were several references to the strong scripts and fantastic creative team consisting of Dan Harmon and writers Joe and Anthony Russo. McHale started off the discussion on the scripts, proclaiming them as “being the strongest scripts in television!” Both actors also agreed that they get the best of both worlds as they have strong scripts on top of being allowed copious amounts of improvisation. McHale says they're allowed to improvise as much as they want, yet they don't particularly need to because of the already strong dialogue. Jeong furthers the point, saying, “Everything is really right off the page and you see how tight the scripts are right from the table read. Sometimes I'm just crying laughing every single time. When you have the luxury of improvising [on top of great scripts]. It's great we have great, tight script and the flexibility for them to let us go.” An additional aspect the actors are allowed to play with is character development. McHale says that while the character is written out by the writers in a particular fashion, he “does have discussions on where [his] character is going.” Jeong actually attributes a lot of his comedic timing to Joel McHale, stating “Joel McHale gives me pages of notes. A lot of good notes he does give me, how to move my body around.” Don't expect Community to be all fun and games. McHale did tell viewers that eventually Jeff will have to enter the workforce but he hasn't received the scripts yet and can't tell anything definitive. He did make mention of how long a person can attend community college, commenting, “If the show is a hit he might be in community college for nine years!”

In talking to these two witty men there were several moments in between questions where the two actors bounced jokes and comments off each other, showing the camaraderie and friendship that must permeate the set. Jeong has a huge love for Joel McHale, in a platonic way obviously, although he requested it be stricken from the record how much he admires the star. He did let it slip that, “I live for those small moments. I just appreciate everything Joel does and I love bouncing off him at these moments. We did live together for three days in a flat and that was really fun and then we went back with our lives, we're happily married with kids.” McHale is a bit more extravagant in his praise for Jeong, loudly saying, “ He is touched by God!” Jeong is considered the series “secret weapon” making everyone step up and be funnier than normal. The other heavy-hitter of the series is Hollywood comedian Chevy Chase as Pierce. Both were asked their thoughts on working with the comedy legend, McHale considered him equal to baseball legend Nolan Ryan, stating, “He's older than everybody, he's got the best stories than us, he's worked longer than us but he still throws it hard. It's hard walking around with this icon...that you grew up with.” Jeong simply describes it as surreal to work with the star, furthering his point with, “It always strikes me as 'Wow, this is a really cool moment in my career.' He still hits it....with his timing. He has certain things he's perfected and finessed over the years that none of us has perfected.” What's fantastic is that Jeong describes the banter and friendship as something that is seen in all the cast members, “The cast just genuinely enjoys each others company and we make each other laugh” which is a bonus for a positive working relationship.

The series does differ from other sitcoms, not just on NBC but in general. McHale describes Community's film style as “a movie every week” as it's a single camera sitcom as a opposed to a typical three camera sitcom that is considered “the easiest...in Hollywood.” While this doesn't allow for slacking off or working less it is difficult. McHale furthers his point, saying, “We're putting in the hours of most one hour dramas. I'm happy to do it because I think the final product looks terrific. The end result is we look like nothing else on television.” The series may be making fun of the wacky antic in community college, but the stars defend the fact that the show does not make fun of the students that attend colleges like this, if anything it allows for students to identify more. McHale tells it perfectly saying, “It's about the characters, not about making fun of community colleges. I'll meet people on the street who go to community college who will say 'I had a teacher like Ken Jeong who was insane.'”

With the show shot like a film every week how is it possible for the stars to juggle anything else? Joel McHale films this while also hosting the popular E! Series The Soup and starring in a few films here and there, more recently the Matt Damon comedy The Informant. McHale gives viewers a brief description of his day, commenting, “The great thing is I live close to Paramount so if I can get 6 or 7 hours of sleep a night...all other things just fall away like cleaning the garage. All things become secondary to get to work, go to the Soup and feed the family.” Jeong praises McHale's ability to juggle saying, “How he switches gears is effortless. He never panics and takes things in stride and I think that's his strength, he makes it look so easy. I'm really just amazed how effortlessly he makes it.” While there are a lot of long hours the star doesn't complain, McHale considers the final product worth all the rush. Ken Jeong has become an overnight sensation it seems, first appearing in a memorable role in Knocked Up before making fans worldwide as the evil Leslie Chow in this summer's smash The Hangover. A bit of trivia is that Jeong used to be a doctor, something he considers a similar performance to being an actor. Going to med school and having a father who is an economics professor seems to inspire the former MD. Jeong speaks of his time in med school saying, “There's a lot of crazy pathological med school teachers, everyone's got their own point of view” but he can't remember anything specific in terms of wild antics. He also lets his father's teaching experience mold his character, explaining, “There's something to be said where you have students in a room hanging on every word...it's an ego rush. That's the only time in life where you have people hanging on your every word and learning from it. In another life I could have been, I would have loved to be a teacher without all the PhD baggage.”

Check out Joel McHale and Ken Jeong as the stars of NBC's comedy hit Community. The series airs Thursdays at 8pm on NBC.

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