LOS ANGELES - How do you tell your Asian immigrant parents you want to be an actor and not a doctor? Ken Jeong was a practising physician when he gave it up to chase a career in show business, eventually going on to steal scenes in The Hangover comedies (2009 to 2019) and the sitcom Community (2009 to 2013). But Covid-19 has brought out his inner doctor, the 51-year-old tells The Straits Times in a telephone chat from his Los Angeles home.

A: I'm of Korean descent and my mum, although she lives in the States, watches a lot of Korean television and is a big fan of the original The Masked Singer. So when I was approached to be a panellist, I ran it by her and she sent me links to her favourite moments on the Korean version. That convinced me to do this.