'Ken Jeong: You Complete Me, Ho' Is a Mediocre Standup Comedy Special Debut

Not only is You Complete Me, Ho Ken Jeong’s first Netflix standup comedy special, it’s his very first standup comedy special, period.  And it shows.  He slightly wobbles, and his material is kinda bland.

Much of his bits involve him talking about his career.  He reflects on how he transitioned from being a general practitioner (to those few out there who aren’t aware: yes, Dr. Ken was a real-life doctor) into becoming a full-time actor/comedian; shares behind-the-scenes anecdotes on TV shows and films he’s worked on, especially The Hangover and Crazy Rich Asians (in my review for this movie, I mentioned that Jeong was obviously given free rein to ad lib his scenes; he confirms this in this special); and namedrops a couple of his celebrity friends.  From time to time, he jokes about Asian stereotypes.

It’s a clichéd set.

There are a few jokes that I thought he executed with perfect comedic timing, resulting to a legitimate laugh out loud moment for me.  But a large amount of his mostly crude bits lack cleverness.  Much of the comedy is derived from his over-the-top physical delivery rather than the bits themselves.  Without his animated presentation, things could have easily become boring – or worse, obnoxious.

At a technical standpoint, like every Neflix standup comedy special I’ve seen, it’s incredibly well-shot.  But there are also some editing hiccups, with minor but noticeable awkward cuts here and there.

Lastly, the “Ho” in the special’s title refers to his wife of Vietnamese decent, Tran Ho, a doctor like him and a breast cancer survivor.  “Ho” is a recurring bit in this special, especially since some of his audience are coincidentally named “Ho” as well.  But, yeah, this gets state real quick.  On the other hand, he also pays tribute to his wife from time to time during his set, and it’s sweet and all, but it never really adds anything of lasting substance.

So, yeah, Ken Jeong: You Complete Me, Ho is a disappointment.  It’s far from being Amy Schumer-level of garbage (to be fair, it’s the bottom of the barrel of standup comedy).  It’s fairly funny.  But it’s an underwhelming fare as a whole nonetheless.  Ken Jeong, at his best, can be utterly hilarious, as shown by his portrayal of Leslie Chow in The Hangover movies and his surgical annihilation of Shaq in their rap battle last year.   It’s not out of reach for him to do better next time.  But as far as his debut comedy standup special is concerned, it’s unfortunately just mediocre at best.