In order to meet “No Other Choice” director Park Chan-wook, Ken Jeong posed as “Daily Show” host Ronny Chieng’s translator just to get near the filmmaker.
The shenanigans went down during the show’s Tuesday episode when Chan-wook, who was accompanied with by his own translator, joined Chieng as his guest.
“I didn’t know you were going to bring a translator,” Chieng admitted. “‘I actually brought my own translator. Is that OK?”
That’s when Chieng introduced Jeong, who shares South Korean roots with Chan-wook — and speaks Korean — as Chieng’s communicator for the segment. Once the audience’s cheers settled, Chieng asked Jeong to tell Chan-wook how much he loves and admires his work.
“Ronny loves and admires your work!” Jeong hollered instead of translating.
Watch the clip below.
Completely embarrassed, Chieng quickly tells Jeong to stop.
“He can hear, OK?” Chieng explains. “I meant in Korean, tell him in Korean.”
That’s when Jeong cuts his attention to Chan-wook’s translator and asks: “How do you say, ‘Ronny likes and admires your [work]?’ Don’t yell.”
“What the f—k? You’re embarrassing me in frony of the director,” Chieng exclaims.
Ultimately, Jeong dropped the facade and admitted that all of this was a ploy to get close to Chan-wook.
“I lied, OK? Guilty! I just had to meet director Park,” Jeong shared. “He is the Korean Scorsese. He is the GOAT. He is the best of all time! This man inspires me … I had to do what I had to do and take drastic measures to meet him. Much like the character in your movie, I had no other choice.”
Jeong’s “no other choice” joke was a nod to Chan-wook’s 2025 dark comedy titled “No Other Choice,” which is adapted from the American 1997 novel “The Ax.”
The filmmaker said it took him 15 years to make the film due to production roadblocks in the U.S., so he eventually opted to make the movie in Korea. When Chieng asked Chan-wook to name the studios and companies who made it “difficult” for him he kindly rejected the offer.
“As much as I want to say all the names, I do have to find my next job and my next investment,” Chan-wook said via his translator. “No Other Choice” had an early special IMAX screening in the U.S. on Dec. 8, 2025 before its limited theatrical release on Dec. 25.
