South Koreans love comedy. But the American comedy that you may be used to is way different from Korean comedy. First off, we Americans call comedians, well, comedians but Korean comedians are actually called Gag Man/Woman.
In America, there are comedy shows such as Comedy Central and there are similar shows like these in Korea as well, the most noticeable one called 'Gag Concert (개그 콘서트)'. (What does "gag" mean here? I'm assuming it's Konglish for "comedy".) Unlike Comedy Central, gag men and -women get into groups and form corners for 'Gag Concert' which is minimum 5 minutes long and they perform on stage with a live audience and it is broadcast each week on television. These corners have created numerous catchphrases and trends for Koreans to use in everyday life (of course, once the "season" of that corner is over, than the usage of whatever catchphrases that corner generated also goes away) and gag men and -women have a star status almost as much as that of K-pop stars.
I'm a weekly viewer and a huge fan of 'Gag Concert', but it is actually a fact, and not an opinion, that 'Gag Concert' is the most popular gag show out there in South Korea. There has been times weekly charts of Korean television programs showed that 'Gag Concert' was the #1 most viewed program of the week, trampling over popular K-dramas and variety shows. So do you get that 'Gag Concert' is the most popular one out there? I've seen 'People Looking for Laughter (웃찾사)' and although some of their corners were humorous, even the most humorous ones didn't quite meet the humor level of the corners in 'Gag Concert'. Well, 'People Looking for Laughter' has altogether ended the show a couple of times due to the fact that they couldn't beat the popularity of 'Gag Concert'. And now it's back again! Which I'm happy about, even though I never really watch it anymore, just because I felt bad for them. So anyway, I personally prefer 'Gag Concert' to 'People Looking for Laughter'.
Another one of these comedy shows that I've seen once - and thank goodness just once - is called 'Comic Big League (코믹빅리그)'. Oh my goodness. It was horrible. It was just a rip off of 'Gag Concert'. Seriously, can't the gag -men/-women there come up with something of their own? Even if they did, they weren't that funny. Not only that, it was more... indecent. Like, there would be too much kissing and it's like, hello, I would've watched some romance movie if I wanted to see kissing. My opinion is that 'Gag Concert' is probably most popular because they (as in the comedians there and crew) know that stuff that makes you cringe ain't funny. If the director or boss or whoever is in charge of 'Gag Concert' did allow some scandalous new corner to be showcased (and it has before), then that risqué corner would be shot down immediately and would be never seen again. Very wise of them. But although I despise 'Comic Big League', it (for some reason) must still have considerable amount of viewers because last time I check, it still exists.
Now, let's get on Korean humor: Until last year, it never dawned on me that Koreans are kind of mean when it comes to looks. A notable amount of the jokes on gag shows (plus variety shows) are fat jokes. It's not that Koreans actually make fun of fat people every time during their everyday life, but it's prominent on T.V. And honestly, we human beings have a tendency to make fun of stuff like that, so it's not just that the Koreans are cruel. But my white friend last year told me that she and her friends were watching a Korean show and they were miffed about all the jokes on appearances of this one particular gag woman that was on the show. I grew up watching this so it never bothered me, I guess, but when I heard that, my eyes were opened. Ugh, that makes me sound like it's as if I've been brain-washed to be insulting to others or something, but that's not the case! Let's not twist Grace's words, shall we?
But it's not only fat jokes that are made on these gag shows, they (well, at least 'Gag Concert') also relate to the common people by sometimes poking fun on the government (which they still have to be careful about), silly trends that have taken place, how clingy girlfriends act to their boyfriends, and stuff like that.
Now, I've never really seen 'Comedy Central' or anything like that before, but when I watch the news in the mornings, sometimes they'll show little clips of them, right? So I get a gist about what they're like. One clear difference I've picked up between American comedy shows and Korean ones is that Koreans do not swear on their gag shows. Which I like. Plus Korean gag -men/-women do a good job of steering away from sexual innuendos, especially because there are so many young viewers, even more nowadays. I'm not 100% sure if American comedy shows make a bunch of sex jokes, but it's one thing about Korean comedy shows.
(876)
In America, there are comedy shows such as Comedy Central and there are similar shows like these in Korea as well, the most noticeable one called 'Gag Concert (개그 콘서트)'. (What does "gag" mean here? I'm assuming it's Konglish for "comedy".) Unlike Comedy Central, gag men and -women get into groups and form corners for 'Gag Concert' which is minimum 5 minutes long and they perform on stage with a live audience and it is broadcast each week on television. These corners have created numerous catchphrases and trends for Koreans to use in everyday life (of course, once the "season" of that corner is over, than the usage of whatever catchphrases that corner generated also goes away) and gag men and -women have a star status almost as much as that of K-pop stars.
I'm a weekly viewer and a huge fan of 'Gag Concert', but it is actually a fact, and not an opinion, that 'Gag Concert' is the most popular gag show out there in South Korea. There has been times weekly charts of Korean television programs showed that 'Gag Concert' was the #1 most viewed program of the week, trampling over popular K-dramas and variety shows. So do you get that 'Gag Concert' is the most popular one out there? I've seen 'People Looking for Laughter (웃찾사)' and although some of their corners were humorous, even the most humorous ones didn't quite meet the humor level of the corners in 'Gag Concert'. Well, 'People Looking for Laughter' has altogether ended the show a couple of times due to the fact that they couldn't beat the popularity of 'Gag Concert'. And now it's back again! Which I'm happy about, even though I never really watch it anymore, just because I felt bad for them. So anyway, I personally prefer 'Gag Concert' to 'People Looking for Laughter'.
Another one of these comedy shows that I've seen once - and thank goodness just once - is called 'Comic Big League (코믹빅리그)'. Oh my goodness. It was horrible. It was just a rip off of 'Gag Concert'. Seriously, can't the gag -men/-women there come up with something of their own? Even if they did, they weren't that funny. Not only that, it was more... indecent. Like, there would be too much kissing and it's like, hello, I would've watched some romance movie if I wanted to see kissing. My opinion is that 'Gag Concert' is probably most popular because they (as in the comedians there and crew) know that stuff that makes you cringe ain't funny. If the director or boss or whoever is in charge of 'Gag Concert' did allow some scandalous new corner to be showcased (and it has before), then that risqué corner would be shot down immediately and would be never seen again. Very wise of them. But although I despise 'Comic Big League', it (for some reason) must still have considerable amount of viewers because last time I check, it still exists.
Now, let's get on Korean humor: Until last year, it never dawned on me that Koreans are kind of mean when it comes to looks. A notable amount of the jokes on gag shows (plus variety shows) are fat jokes. It's not that Koreans actually make fun of fat people every time during their everyday life, but it's prominent on T.V. And honestly, we human beings have a tendency to make fun of stuff like that, so it's not just that the Koreans are cruel. But my white friend last year told me that she and her friends were watching a Korean show and they were miffed about all the jokes on appearances of this one particular gag woman that was on the show. I grew up watching this so it never bothered me, I guess, but when I heard that, my eyes were opened. Ugh, that makes me sound like it's as if I've been brain-washed to be insulting to others or something, but that's not the case! Let's not twist Grace's words, shall we?
But it's not only fat jokes that are made on these gag shows, they (well, at least 'Gag Concert') also relate to the common people by sometimes poking fun on the government (which they still have to be careful about), silly trends that have taken place, how clingy girlfriends act to their boyfriends, and stuff like that.
Now, I've never really seen 'Comedy Central' or anything like that before, but when I watch the news in the mornings, sometimes they'll show little clips of them, right? So I get a gist about what they're like. One clear difference I've picked up between American comedy shows and Korean ones is that Koreans do not swear on their gag shows. Which I like. Plus Korean gag -men/-women do a good job of steering away from sexual innuendos, especially because there are so many young viewers, even more nowadays. I'm not 100% sure if American comedy shows make a bunch of sex jokes, but it's one thing about Korean comedy shows.
(876)
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