Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) have just finished gorging themselves on savory White Castle hamburgers when they return to their apartment and hatch a plan for Harold to win the heart of his crush, Maria (Paula Garcés). Maria is going to Amsterdam, and if Harold can catch up with her overseas perhaps he can strike up a real love connection. After a close call with airport personnel and a chance encounter with Kumar’s exgirlfriend Vanessa (Danneel Harris) — who hadn’t yet told Kumar that she’s engaged to be married — the potloving pals finally board their flight for Amsterdam.

Unfortunately for Harold, Kumar isn’t able to endure the lengthy flight without an innocent puff or two from his smokeless bong. When the plane hits some turbulence and the bong is mistaken for a bomb, the flight is diverted to Guantanamo Bay and our spliff-smoking heroes are detained by overzealous Deputy Chief of Homeland Security Ron Fox (Rob Corddry). Now, if they can just escape from the world’s most notorious prison compound, perhaps this hapless duo can succeed in convincing the authorities that they aren’t enemy combatants, and that Kumar made the mistake of his life by letting Vanessa go. But before they can prove their innocence and get the girls, Harold and Kumar will have to outsmart the dreaded Ku Klux Klan, contend with a particularly precocious Cyclops baby, and successfully elude everyone’s favorite U.S. president George W. Bush.

John Cho first started catching people’s attention in the 1999 breakthrough hit comedy "American Pie" in which he popularized the slang term "MILF." Next, he achieved near-household name status starring as Harold Lee in the cult comedy "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle." As one of today’s most exciting actors, Cho continues to deliver compelling performances in comedy.

Here’s what he had to tell us about his new movie, "Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay."

Have you and Kal developed a shorthand playing these characters since the first movie? Is it easier to work together?

John: Easier, probably because we’re actually friends and, with the first one, we were concerned ‘Boy, we don’t know each other and we’re supposed to be best friends’ and we tried to cram in some good get to know you time with the first one when we got up to Toronto, where we shot, for rehearsal. But, yeah, it was easier this time, much easier and his drug problems seemed to be in check [laughter].

How big a deal has playing this character been for you?

John: I don’t know. It’s sort of my calling card now I guess. People on the street called me Harold all the time, which is funny because it’s based on a real guy Harold Lee that’s friends with the filmmakers and now, Harold and I are friends and we go out on occasion. We had dinner last week and so we go out and people say ‘Harold’ and both of us turn around [laughter] and it gets a little weird.

Were you guys actually in Amsterdam in those last scenes or was that fake?

John: We were in Amsterdam.

Were you partaking in any of the fun activities?

John: No, that wasn’t real. Yeah, that wasn’t real. That would be nice but weed is so debilitating. There’s no way we could work with that stuff. Snoop apparently does concerts high.

I can’t… how does he memorize, how does he remember? It’s unbelievable. He’s an Olympian.

Can you identify with Harold?

John: Kal is more like Harold than me and I’m more like Kumar probably. I guess, this is a little embarrassing, Harold is a bit of a romantic and I think, in my worst moments, I’m like that.

Had you met Harold when you did the first film and did you incorporate any of his mannerisms?

John: We met briefly during the first film. At some point, he came by but we didn’t really get to know each other very well. He was there for, literally, I think, a day. We spent an hour together hanging out but, in the time since, we’ve gotten to know each other and I think Kal will attest to this, it’s a closer, #2 is closer to him than #1. There are little things that no one would notice but me and him. [doing impression of Harold] ‘Did you notice? When I did that? That was you.’ Harold has this habit of saying ‘Oh, okay, I guess you’re the King of the World’ [waving his hands in the air]. ‘Oh, okay, yeah. I like your hoodie. You’re a hoodie guy. Oh, hoodie. Nice goin’ kid.’

Any interesting stories from the bottomless party?

John: Sadly, it’s a blur but, ironically, I said to Kal before the very first shot of the bottomless party, which was us knocking on the door waiting for the girl to open the door. I turned to Kal and said ‘You know, we should take some care in remembering what tonight is like because I think every man will ask us about it for the rest of our lives. Remember about two or three things.’ [laughter] Having said that, I don’t remember much. I just remember like being really embarrassed. It’s embarrassing to be surrounded by nude people. It’s weird.

Was there a scene where you couldn’t keep a straight face?

John: I don’t remember one where I was cracking up like crazy but I was there on set when Rob Corddry wiped his ass with the Bill of Rights and there was actual dung…no there wasn’t. But there were serious problems keeping a straight face during that scene. I don’t know how they spliced together a take where Eddie Kaye Thomas is not laughing because he broke on every single take.

When you made the first [Harold and Kumar] film, did you know it would get this rabid fan following?

John: I thought there would be an audience because I felt like we made a good movie. I thought there would be a core of people who dug it. I didn’t know that it would eventually get this wide, the circle would get this wide and I didn’t know it would get this intense. People who like the movie really like the movie. There aren’t that many casual… there aren’t many people who are like ‘Oh, it was okay.’ People really like it or they hate it.

Do you think there will be a third one?

John: I don’t know. There’s a couple of problems. It depends on whether it’s a box office success. We didn’t know we were making a sequel for some time, over two years we didn’t know. We were just waiting and there was some talk of it going straight to DVD which nobody wanted. So I kind of thought the project might die, the sequel was never going to happen. But it did and we’re in the same boat. If this does well then, maybe they’ll talk about a third one. The second problem it presents is whether we can come up with an idea that rivals the second one. I’m proud of this movie because I feel it’s a true sequel in that we top the first one in every category. The gross out jokes are grosser and there’s more nudity and the politics, we take it further and the racial stuff, we take it further so I don’t know what we can do for the third one. I’m really at a loss. Maybe we go backwards and make a cautionary, morality tale from the Middle Ages or something. I don’t know.

"Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay" opens in theaters on May 14th.