YRB Magazine

The Michigan native has also appeared on the small screen in The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm and MADtv, and has now landed a spot as a prime time regular. Mr. Chang, an overbearing Spanish teacher on NBC’s new hit Community, is Ken’s latest role, but in spite of his busy schedule Ken managed to find some time to sit down with YRB and answer some questions about his life in comedy.

YRB: What draws you to comedy? 

Ken: I think it’s just something that’s innate. I always just loved to laugh. I always just loved it as a kid. Some people are drawn to music, some people are drawn to art, some people are drawn to drama… You know? It’s just something that even as a kid, before I ever wanted to do this, ever wanted to do comedy, I loved to laugh. 

YRB: What makes you laugh now? 

Ken: Everything. It’s just like anything else in arts and music you can just draw upon – anything from my family, something my wife or my kid says. Lately, it’s really been drawn from there. In fact, and I’ve never said this in an interview, but I married my wife simply because she made me laugh. That was the most important thing. And I really did think this before I got married: “Looks will fade, but personality will always stay the same.” And if I fucking have a laugh every day for the rest of my life, that will be a pretty great thing. 

YRB: So do you act just to make yourself laugh? 

Ken: Yeah. At the end of the day, did I have fun doing it? Was I laughing while I was doing it? It’s pretty important for me [to be] having a good time doing it. Especially comedy. And it doesn’t have to be anything that’s an obvious joke that would be in final print. It’s maybe something behind the scenes that’s just really funny, something small that will make me laugh. 

YRB: And sometimes it does make the final print. I hear you put your own spin on the trunk scene in The Hangover.

Ken: It was my idea to do it naked. It was something that just kind of fit with the story, and I just politely asked Todd [Phillips], “Can I do it?” And he was like, ‘You don’t have to ask me twice.’ I was just in the zone and I was getting into the character and I was reading the script and was like, “God, it’d be really funny if it was naked.” 

YRB: Do you have limits?

Ken: No, I just think you do what fits with the story. As an actor, your mind should be as open as possible – an open book. And then you should make choices that make sense based on your character in the story. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to do it naked. I was actually thinking of  Ving Rhames’ character in Pulp Fiction, Marsellus Wallace. He was a gangster and The Gimp humiliated him. I was thinking like, what could be so painful to have him come back later in the film to really want to murder these guys? Oh ok, maybe by being naked in the trunk. 

YRB: You seem to appear in every new comedy that hits the screen. You have this sort of bizarre level of fame.

Ken: I love that! I have a bizarre level of fame. That’s very true. I’m just happy to be working. I’m never craving this kind of fame; I just want to keep working. I just want to keep enjoying what I do. If I can do this full time supporting my wife and kids? Come on, that’s a dream come true. 

YRB: So you do this to make yourself laugh and have fun. Which project was the most fun? 

Ken: I’m not lying, every single project I’ve done, they’ve all been great. I have to say the greatest moment was my first movie Knocked Up. If it weren’t for Judd Apatow I wouldn’t be working. He got me in the door. It was after Knocked Up [that] I started doing this full time. And I didn’t really expect to. I thought maybe I’d go back to my day job and be forever known as that guy from Knocked Up.  

YRB: And now, you’ve gone from the “King of Cameos” to landing a role on the new hit TV show Community with Chevy Chase. 

Ken: It’s really surreal to do a TV series with a guy who you grew up [watching]. I’ve stolen moves from Chevy. He’s honed deadpan to an amazing degree. Joel McHale says, ‘It’s like working with Nolan Ryan. Even now, at his age, he’s still got it. He can throw the ball harder than anyone else.’ It’s just great. 

YRB: It must be a huge switch to go from small film roles to a weekly TV show.

Ken: What’s been very surprising is how similar it is to how I’ve been working before. I really didn’t know what to expect, and I’m loving every second of it. The hours are long and can be demanding, but the same with film. Every great movie you’re working many hours, it’s the same thing – which I like, actually. I enjoy that, because that’s where you get the great stuff. Just when you think you ain’t got nothing left in the tank, all of a sudden, bam! You got the take that you needed. You kind of thrive on that adrenaline.

YRB: What is it like to work on Community?

Ken: Being part of an ensemble, part of a great cast – and I mean this – every single person in that cast is amazing. They all come to play. The cool thing about doing the TV show is that you see them on a regular basis. They start becoming my influences. I see certain things they do as actors, and I’m like, “That’s just so great.” And then that can influence, whether consciously or unconsciously, what I’ll do in the future. 

YRB: If you follow on your current path, you’ll be doing a lot of funny characters in the future. Where do these characters come from? 

Ken: I don’t know. I don’t objectify it much. I think there’s just a passion to do this. You either love doing this or you don’t, and I love doing this. I love the small parts where I have one line, and some of the cameos I do. You know, Step Brothers, I think I had one line in the movie, but I was working with John C. Reilly for a day. I was working with Adam McKay, who’s one of my heroes, in a Will Ferrell film – another one of my heroes. Those things are really important to me. I really love everything I do, whether big or small parts. You can only do that if you really love it. 

YRB: So the goal is really doing what you love.

Ken: Yep. That’s the only goal I have right now, to continue to do what I love. And continue to be happy in my daily life and my family life and to keep laughing.