Joel McHale Says Ken Jeong Is the ‘Easiest’ to Roast Ahead of ‘New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2021’ (Exclusive)

When it comes to the insanity that was 2020, it’s clear laughter has been the best medicine for so many over the past year. In keeping with the practice of a hearty laugh-filled session, FOX is going all out with its live year-end primetime special by enlisting two of our generation’s funniest comedians, Joel McHale and Ken Jeong, for a night to remember with the New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2021. Promising an evening filled with fun, merriment, and of course, plenty of roasting, McHale tells PopCulture.com it’s the “easiest” to roast Jeong — for a major reason.

“It’s very easy to compliment him. That’s all I do, is compliment Ken,” McHale jokingly said in our series, PopCulture @ Home. “Ken and I have made fun of each other since the moment we met each other. I would say the roasting part is the easiest because he’s a very powerful human being and you have to go after the most powerful parts of things. I think he would say the same thing. He loves roasting me as opposed to toasting me — that doesn’t even sound like something we’d ever do.”

The two, who first met on the set of Community in 2009 after McHale “allowed him” to be a friend, reveals the night will be an “easy hang” thanks to their chemistry. “I think with us — me ridiculing him and him to me on The Masked Singer and I Can See Your Voice, and our podcast and stuff — I think that kind of established the language that we speak to each other — and that language is German,” he joked. “[But] yeah, so when we got the call to do it, I think Ken pitched [the FOX special] — so thank you, Ken — and it seemed really fun, and I think it’ll be a blast. It’ll be totally unprofessional, but it’ll be a blast.”

As the two pair up to commemorate the past year from coast-to-coast with a live, three-and-a-half-hour broadcast on FOX on Dec. 31 starting at 8 p.m. ET, McHale and Jeong will help ring in the New Year with a special dedicated to the highs and lows of 2020, particularly honoring those that made the world a better place this past year. The night will also include live music, including iHeartRadio performances from John Legend, LeAnn Rimes, Green Day, Instagram favorite Doctor Elvis, sneak peeks for Call Me Kat and Name That Tune, as well as celebrity guest appearances by Leslie Jordan, Morris Chestnut, Tom Payne and more.

While McHale admits he’s “excited to get to it” and “drag” Jeong, he reiterates how his co-host is nicer than him. “[Ken will] talk to anybody. Man, I’m a jerk,” McHale joked. “Yeah — no, Ken is like me in that he’s an extreme extrovert and we’re like golden retrievers, so we just want affirmation and people to love us all the time. That’s how it goes. So, you’ll have two extreme extroverts on New Year’s Eve on FOX.”

FOX’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2021, hosted by Joel McHale and Ken Jeong, airs live on Dec. 31 from 8 p.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET and continues the second part of its broadcast from 11 p.m. ET to 12:30 a.m. ET, check your local listings. For more with Joel, Ken and all things FOX, keep it locked to PopCulture.com!