Ken Jeong cracked up “ESPN College GameDay” hosts Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard with a cheeky joke about his wife that left the stunned guys briefly speechless, then erupting into laughter, “Did he say what I think he said?”
Jeong — known for his roles in “The Hangover” trilogy, “Community” and as a panelist on “The Masked Singer” — was brought on as a guest picker at Saturday’s UCLA-Utah football game in Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. He was “Go Bruins!” all the way.
“I’m going UCLA because my wife went to UCLA medical school.” Looking into the camera, he added enthusiastically, “Shout out, Tran. You complete me, Ho!”
Laughter could be heard off-camera, as a shot closed in on Jeong and Corso, whose mouth hung open as he a grin slowly spread across his face.
“That’s her last name,” Jeong clarified. “Relax, ESPN. How dare you.”
“Great pick, UCLA. Great pick,” Corso said trying to keep the show on track but unable to hold back the laughter. Turning to Herbstreit beside him, he added, “How do you top that?”
With the entire panel now in stiches and Howard doubled-over laughing, Herbstreit asked, “Did he say what I think he said?”
The gag drew an immediate rave review from writer Alek Arend in Sports Illustrated’s The Spun column.
“Ken Jeong might have been the best College GameDay guest picker college football fans have seen in years,” Arend crowed. “ESPN has been criticized for its selection of guest pickers so far this season. Most have been bland, either lacking in football expertise or just pure amusement. The show got back on track when it brought on Bill Walton for the Oregon-UCLA edition last Saturday. Jeong was even better this morning.”
Social media also had a (football) field day with Jeong’s joke. “Ken Jeong won GameDay this morning,” Barstools Sports tweeted.
A there were many others, with this being a sprinkling of just a few: