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Here's Zach Galifianakis and Ken Jeong Doing Standup Together in 1998

By Nick Blake
May 17, 2013 / 4:00 PM

The internet's really cool sometimes, guys. This is one of those sometimes.

Above we have a lost video from the nether years of the late '90s — 1998, specifically, which is a full (uses Macbook calculator) 15 years ago — featuring the now uber-famous Zach Galifianakis and the now pretty damn-famous Ken Jeong (whose movie, "The Hangover Part III," comes out next weekend) doing some standup comedy together at a coffee house in Los Angeles. It's a fun watch, especially considering the rapport these two obviously already had a full decade before they would star together in "The Hangover."

It just goes to show you: If you put in the work, and you never quit, and you wait a decade, and you have the talent of either Zach Galifianakis or Ken Jeong, good things can happen to anyone.

Some bulletpoint observations:

  • We forget that Galifianakis was at one point, um, kind of a stud?

  • Jeong's comedic stylings are pretty much exactly the same now as they were 15 years ago.

  • The guy in the front row with the overwhelmingly terrible laugh needs to be stopped.

  • Galifianakis laughs at his own jokes less frequently now.

  • The place throwing the open mic looks like it serves delicious coffee.

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