Ken Jennings Hires Comedy Coach to ‘Focus on His Comedy Skills’ on ‘Jeopardy!’

Ken Jennings is dedicated to Danger! in the long run, but he’s been criticized left and right online for being awkward and unfunny. He’s currently working on fixing the problem by hiring his own comedy coach.

“Being really funny is one of the things that holds him back,” an insider tells exclusively Closer of his latest venture. “People on the show know it, Ken knows it deep down. He’s an awkward character and can’t make people laugh, unlike his contemporaries, Steve Harvey And Drew Careyand that bothers him. His speaking style and timing need to be improved if he wants to convince the audience.”

“He only has four days a month to film, so he has the downtime. He wants to hone his craft and be funny,” the source adds. “He needs to focus on his comedy skills right now, take some lessons and have people come in and help him, give him some pointers. He wants to make this thing a success and bosses are supporting him.”

Ken, 50, was the first to take the Danger! hosting role after Alex Trebek passed away in November 2020 from pancreatic cancer. Until spring 2023, Ken shared hosting duties with Mayim BialikAfter she left the show, he became the official sole host of Danger! in season 40.

While Ken has faced criticism online over his presentation skills in recent months, a source previously told Closer that Ken is “desperate to make it work and has no intention of leaving on his own accord” and is attempting to turn things around.

It was recently announced that Colin Jost would host Danger to pop culture!

“Colin’s sharp wit and intelligence are the epitome of Danger to pop culture!, Suzanne Prete“He’s smart and quick, just like our contestants, and we know he can keep up with them as he makes this new series his own. We couldn’t be more excited to have him join us on this new journey.”

As for how the announcement will impact Ken, the second source told Us earlier this month that “Ken is well aware of the noise and the gossip, and in private he would acknowledge that these are difficult times – especially with Colin Jost coming on to host the show. Danger to pop culture! and fans calling him awkward, which is hard to swallow.”

Ken has expressed in the past how much pressure he felt to follow in Alex’s footsteps after his death.

“To be honest, nobody wants me there,” the former software engineer said in an interview with E! News. “I don’t want to put myself there. We all want to see Alex in a perfect world for 100 years and, you know, I just wanted to do my best not to disappoint him and the viewers of Jeopardy! , so I felt a lot of pressure.”

Ken said he had called Alex the weekend before his death.

“I actually called him the weekend he passed away,” he recalled. “We had talked about me hosting him and he was so sweet. He thanked me sincerely for helping him and I said something like, ‘Alex, you’ve given us 37 years. We should thank you. It’s the least I can do.'”