Ken Jeong Celebrates Short King Week With Espolòn Tequila: 'Masculinity Comes From Within'

Ken Jeong has spent most of his career proving that presence has nothing to do with height. Whether he’s stealing scenes in The Hangover, anchoring The Masked Singer, or going viral for an unscripted moment on The Daily Show, Jeong has built a persona defined by self‑awareness, not self‑importance. So when Espolòn Tequila tapped him for its Short King Week campaign, the fit was almost too neat.

“They had me at ‘short king,’” he says, laughing. “When they said ‘short,’ I was like, stop. I’m in.” The campaign’s premise—quality and confidence matter more than size—mirrors the philosophy Jeong has been refining for decades. “I don’t take myself seriously, but I take my work seriously,” he says. “When you have the attitude where you don’t have anything to prove except just be authentic, that’s where confidence comes from.”

Short King Week grew out of the internet’s long-running “short king” discourse, which took off in 2018 and became a full-blown cultural meme by 2019. While the exact start of the “week” is fuzzy, it has evolved into an annual, internet-driven celebration of confident men who are under 6 feet tall.

According to Espolòn’s press materials, the brand calls its own bottle a “short king”—compact, unfussy, and defined by what’s inside. Jeong immediately recognized the overlap. “It just clicked instantly,” he says. “It’s fun, it’s self‑aware, but it’s all about quality. That’s what I respond to.”

The brand is also rolling out a limited ‘Nine Days of Short Kings’ cocktail kit ($75)—an Advent‑style box stocked with mini bottles and margarita essentials.

Jeong has never treated his height as a defining trait. “I’ve been short all my life,” he says. “Even in high school, middle school, I always just had a good sense of humor about life in general.” For him, masculinity isn’t about how you look; it’s about how you carry yourself. “Masculinity comes from within…how you genuinely feel about yourself. How you feel about yourself will extend outward to how you feel about life.”

That sincerity is part of why his chaotic, unscripted moments land so well. Earlier this year, Jeong crashedThe Daily Show to meet director Park Chan‑wook, and the clip immediately went viral. But for Jeong, the moment wasn’t just a bit—it was reverence. “I was just honored to meet him,” he says. He still smiles thinking about it. “I was trying, in my best broken Korean, to establish how much I loved him.”

That other side of Jeong’s public persona—the earnest one—shows up most clearly on The Masked Singer, where the cast regularly hosts Make‑A‑Wish visits. “It gets quite emotional,” he says. “You realize the impact the collective work of that show has on kids. It gives you pause. It gives you reflection. You realize certain projects are bigger than you.” That perspective, he says, keeps him grounded. “It’s a reminder to have fun with what you do, and to not take yourself too seriously, because you’re part of something bigger.”

All of it adds up to a version of confidence that isn’t loud or compensatory. Jeong’s approach is relaxed, earned, and rooted in joy. When asked for a toast to kick off Short King Week, he doesn’t go for a joke. He goes for a philosophy. “A bold personality, a humble spirit” he says. “Making everything as joyous as you can while we are on this earth with a wink and a smile.”