Joel McHale Says Ken Jeong Is Perfect Podcast Partner in a Pandemic

Joel McHale says his ex-costar, Ken Jeong, has proven to be just the right man for the job -- when that job is a podcast about what the hell's really going on with a pandemic.

JMH told us all about "The Darkest Timeline" ... the podcast he and Ken launched back when quarantine started. He clued in Harvey and Charles, on Wednesday's "TMZ Live," about the podcast title ... an homage to an episode of Ken an Joel's old show, "Community."

If ya know, ya know.

Anyway, the podcast is more about COVID-19 than "Community" ... and Joel says Ken's past as an M.D. came in real handy mid-pandemic.

Jokes aside, he says Ken's insights have helped him make sense of the virus -- as info from politicians and experts changes daily.

On another note ... Joel dishes about his new thriller flick, "Becky," in which he takes on a more serious role as the dad of a bloodthirsty teen who defends her fam against Neo-Nazis.

Yep, definitely a different kinda role than what Joel's normally used to doing -- and he says ditto for his costar.