Oh, that wacky Ken Jeong. You’ve seen him in almost every kind of comedy imaginable over the past decade, but rarely in a meaty leading role. That will all possibly be changing soon, as Jeong has been given his own MTV pilot, suitably titled Ken Jeong Made Me Do It. (Understandably, this wouldn’t be the title if he weren’t involved.) Can Jeong do “coming of age” comedy, or is he only good at delivering borderline offensive material with all or part of his ass sticking out?
The only comedy pilot currently being developed at MTV, Ken Jeong Made Me Do It will center on an emotionally fraught 22-year-old named Andy who sees his girlfriend in an act of infidelity and soon gets into an accidental fender bender with Jeong, who will play himself. (“He play himself long time,” is the kind of sentence I would expect him to say.) Jeong sympathizes with Andy’s situation and makes it his goal to turn Andy into a better man. It would be refreshing to see Jeong play a confident advisor version of himself, though I’m sure the over-the-top accents and gaudy costumes won’t be far behind.
The pilot was written by actor Andy St. Clair (Arrested Development) and Paul O’Toole (Sirens), and existed at MTV without a star, its existence depending on who they could get to play the mentor. And since Jeong is a comic actor capable of turning offbeat into mainstream, it’s a solid grab for MTV, a network known for turning people into stars rather than attracting preexisting ones.
And MTV is apparently willing to bend to Jeong’s schedule to make this happen, as THR reports the pilot's filming will be fitted around Jeong’s schedule and won’t affect the production of Community’s Season 6. Honestly, I have to think a Jeong MTV show would earn bigger ratings than a Yahoo! Screen season of Community, but I’ll just have to wait and see if Ken Jeong Made Me Do It gets picked up to series before rolling the six-sided dice on that one.
Jeong is everywhere now, zipping from Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain to Todd Phillips’ The Hangover Part III with voice roles in Bob’s Burgers and Turbo sprinkled in. He recently joined the cast of the currently-filming Ride Along 2 and will appear in Ari Sandel’s high schooler comedy The DUFF next year.
It’s not clear when the Ken Jeong Made Me Do It pilot will get made, but you can bet it will be good enough for MTV to pick it up. Now all they need to do is find a good-looking twentysomething to play the role of Andy. However will they find one of those in Hollywood?
