-You know our first guest tonight from his work
in such films as "The Hangover" and "Crazy Rich Asians."
He stars in the new special "Ken Jeong Cracks Christmas,"
which debuts on Buzzfeed's YouTube channel December 12th.
Let's take a look.
-Can I sit on your left knee? -Sure.
-I won't lie to you, I haven't worked out in a while.
I don't want to hurt your knee.
-No, you'll be all right. You'll be all right.
-I can plant my feet. -You're all right, there.
You're all right. -Maybe just to --
-So, you've been pretty good, huh?
-Not really. -Yeah, I know.
This is the happiest I've been since "Crazy Rich Asians"
hit the top of the charts.
-Please welcome back to the show, Ken Jeong, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Welcome back. -Thank you.
-It's wonderful to have you here.
-Wonderful to be back. -So, this -- you were --
Was that a Santa School you were at?
-Yeah. That was a Santa School in Midland, Michigan.
And it's 500 Santa Students learning, like,
in-depth character analysis about being Santa Claus.
No joke. It's almost like --
It is kind of like watching Ed Norton
dissect a character in a play or something.
-And this is, I'm assuming, to then be a Santa at a mall?
-Santa -- Yes.
Yeah, these are at level 1, mall-level Santas.
[ Laughter ] Yeah.
-I mean, I will say I'm happy to hear
that level 1 mall Santas take it that seriously.
-Oh, yeah, it's like Meisner for Santas.
-Gotcha. Was there anything you learned there
that wouldn't be sort of what you would expect to learn there?
-Yeah. They would go, "Okay, I'm from the North Pole,"
and the principal is like "Where in the North Pole?"
You know, like, "I don't know. A cul-de-sac or something?"
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
You know, and then, "Oh, you know, my wife..."
"How long you been married to Mrs. Claus?"
I mean, all these little things that none of these kids
would ever give a crap about. -Yeah.
It seems that they think that they're gonna be cross-examined
when I feel like most kids want to talk about themselves
more than they want to find out where Santa is from.
-They're like, "Can you just give me the Xbox?"
-Yeah. -You know, that kind of...
-They're like, "Hey, Santa, I didn't come here
for your back story." -Yeah, right.
"I'm not tiny Stanislavski."
-But this entire special is you going around
and talking to different people about holiday traditions.
-Yeah. It's been great.
I've never done anything like that before,
just kind of going across the country.
What I loved about the Santa School,
some of the backstories are really incredible.
Like, you meet retired people who maybe quit their job
because of a health scare, or maybe a heart attack,
and they have another calling.
And I'm like, "So, when did you choose to be Santa?"
And they take it that seriously.
And I mean this in a non-ironic way.
It's like, "No, Santa chose me."
They have that kind of -- It's so cute!
-That's nice to hear. -It's really nice to hear that.
Yeah, it was really -- -I mean, it's certainly nicer
than like, "I'm just in it for the cash, man."
-Yeah. -Yeah.
"Two words -- booze and chicks, you know?"
[ Laughter ]
-What percentage of them have the real beard,
and how many are fake beards? Do you see a lot of real ones?
-100%. -100% were real?
-Real beards, yeah.
-This is the Harvard of Santa Schools.
-Yes, Harvard, yeah, yeah. -That's great.
-It's pretty amazing.
-You mentioned in the clip, as well,
and I want to congratulate you, "Crazy Rich Asians."
[ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you.
-I can only imagine how --
It must have been so exciting to film,
and then the reaction to it and the success of it
must just be an incredible post-script.
-It's the only movie I've ever been a part of --
Usually when you do Hollywood studio movies, like,
"What's in it for me? How do I get next level?"
And this is the only movie I've ever done
where I'm happier for my cast and my friends on the movie
and also for the Asian-American community, in general,
because I have so many friends --
Asian-American friends way more talented than me
who are filmmakers, writers, directors.
They're getting their projects green-lit in Hollywood
that have predominately Asian-American casts,
and now they're seeing that it's financially feasible to do this.
I've never seen anything like this in my career.
And now that I have two daughters, you know,
11-year-old daughters and they have these amazing role models
like Awkwafina and Gemma Chan and Constance Wu
and Michelle Yeoh, to me,
it's been such a game-changer for our community
just because it actually transcended our community.
-Well, congrats. It really was something,
and it was great to watch. -Thank you so much.
-And it was -- the film itself, nominated for a Golden Globe,
and then Constance Wu nominated for a Golden Globe,
which is really exciting.
-Yeah, never in a million years we thought this would be
up for Golden Globes or Critics' Choice awards.
So we're really in the middle of it.
I just texted Jon Chu,
the director of "Crazy Rich Asians,"
and he literally said, "Insane."
Like, that's all he was saying. It's really nice.
-Another awards show right now,
the Oscars, they do not have a host.
I don't know if you've heard this.
There have been some articles written that suggest
one of the names that have come up
is a very funny person who would maybe be a good fit...
-Hmm. -is you, Ken.
-Mm. Now, Ken...
[ Cheers and applause ]
...tell us. Tell us.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Oh.
Looks ready.
-He looks very ready.
-I was always taught that when you set goals,
make sure you keep them very high.
-Yeah. -If I do not become
the host of the Oscars, I will consider not only my career
but my life a failure. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
Any goal that's out of your control...
-Yeah, that's what you need to marry yourself to.
-...that doesn't really make sense whether you do it or not.
-Yeah. -I want it so bad.
[ Laughter ]
-Do you think?
[ Cheers and applause ]
There's always that risk. -There's always that risk.
-When you want something that bad, you might come out --
if you do it, you might come out and look a little desperate,
and then the audience will get nervous.
-Seth, my whole career is desperate.
[ Laughter ] Seth, that is my brand.
I came out of the womb, it was like, "Hello!"
[ Laughter ]