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‘Doogie Kamealoha, MD’: ‘The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng Joins ‘Doogie Howser’ Reboot

Peter White
·2 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Ronny Chieng, one of the correspondents on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, is going scripted.

The comedian has booked a recurring guest star role on the Disney+ reboot of Doogie Howser. This comes after he scored a spot in the ring on NBC’s Young Rock.

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In Doogie Kamealoha, MD, Chieng will play a heart surgeon putting young Doogie through the paces. He will feature alongside Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Jason Scott Lee, Mapuana Makia and Matthew Sato.

Written by Kourtney Kang and set in present-day Hawaii, Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. reimagines the Neil Patrick Harris-starring Doogie Howser M.D. as a half-hour medical dramedy with a female lead. It follows Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), a 16-year-old mixed-race girl who juggles a budding medical career and life as a teenager. Guiding Lahela — and also complicating things — is her family, including her spitfire Irish mother Dr. Clara Hannon (Perkins), who’s also Chief of Staff at the hospital and Lahela’s supervisor, and her Hawaiian “Local Boy” father (Jason Scott Lee) who struggles to accept that his daughter is no longer his little girl.

Dayna Bochco, widow of Doogue Howser co-creator Steven Bochco, and son, Jesse Bochco, serve as executive producers for the reboot, along with Kang, Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar. 20th Television, part of Disney TV Studios, is the studio.

In NBC’s Young Rock Chieng plays Greg Yao, a local wrestling promoter in the Hawaii territory, who previously worked with Dwayne Johnson’s grandmother Lia Maivia, played by Ana Tuisila, and becomes her most hated rival.

Chieng previously co-wrote and starred in Australian sitcom Ronny Chieng: International Student and appeared in Crazy Rich Asians. His stand-up special Asian Comedian Destroys America is on Netflix and he is making three more for the streamer and has also been cast in upcoming Marvel film Shang-Chi.

He is repped by Artists First and APA.

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