'Dr. Ken': First Look at TV Siblings Ken Jeong and Margaret Cho
From left: Ken Jeong, Suzy Nakamura, Albert Tsai, Krista Marie Yu, and Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho is visiting Ken Jeong’s community this week to film an episode of the funnyman’s new fall comedy Dr. Ken, and Yahoo TV was on the set to get the first look.
As Yahoo TV first reported, Cho plays Jeong’s famous TV-doctor sister Wendi in an episode that will air later this fall. “She is a bit Oprah, a bit of Ellen, maybe a bit of Dr. Oz thrown in,” says Cho. “But she was also the black sheep of the family and Ken was always the good son who did everything right — and now she is threatening to take over as the golden child, now that her TV show is taking off.“ Dr. Ken is loosely based on Jeong’s own real-life pre-acting career as a doctor in Los Angeles. The former Community co-star plays Ken Park, a dedicated but flippant doc and family man prone to freak-outs and mishaps regarding his wife and kids.
Jeong actually met Cho 20 years ago while a med student (and part-time comedian) in North Carolina. “I had just started going to medical school and University of North Carolina and I went to college at Duke. The Duke Asian American Student Association had booked Margaret Cho as a headliner and they asked me to be the opening act,” he recalls. “I jumped at that opportunity.” Cho, meanwhile, is returning to ABC, home of her short-lived sitcom All American Girl. “Margaret is the pioneer,” says Jeong. "ABC is championing diversity in TV in such a major way and I have to thank the success of Fresh Off The Boat for Dr. Ken being given a chance. That and All American Girl and Sullivan & Son on TBS. They all paved the way for our show.”
For now, the guest stint is only for one episode but Cho, whose new comedy special psyCHO will air on Showtime Sept. 25, could return at any point over the course of the show. “I would love to come back, and we actually were just discussing that,” says Cho. “It seems like Ken already has a plan for how to get Wendi into other episodes.”
Dr. Ken premieres Oct. 2 at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.
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