10 Must Know Korean TV Personalities – Seoulistic

By now, most of you have seen at least one Korean show in a talk show format or one of their popular variety shows that typically involves people being thrown into pools and having mud fights. Yes, they do that out here. Not quite as rowdy or gut bustlingly hilarious as their Japanese counterparts, but there are a few celebrities in the TV world that are worthy of mention.

Yoo Jae Suk

Mc Yoo, Grasshopper, Nation’s MC, and Yooruce Willis are just a few of the nicknames that this nationally beloved personality has been adored with. Yoo Jae Suk boasts an accomplished resumes with a trophy case that rivals Michael Jordan’s. Think a Korean version of Conan O’ Brien minus the goofy hair. The host of some of the most popular shows in South Korea such as Infinite Challenge and Running Man also debuted worldwide in Psy’s Gangnam Style and Gentleman videos. Yup, that was him in the yellow suit doing the herky jerky dance.  MC Yoo also previously had an infatuation with adult videos but as he is married now to a beautiful announcer that perfectly normal hobby has probably been brought to a halt. If you’re curious about his style, flip on the tube at any time and there is bound to be at least one of his shows on air.

Park Myeong Soo

Boasting a potent comedy repertoire with an extremely unique face that makes him easy to pick out in a crowd, Park Myeong Soo is well known for his hotong gag. His character involves berating and yelling at the other hosts which unfortunately made many question his personality. Supposedly, he is a nice guy in real life though. Park also released a few albums, as he has a surprisingly decent voice that one wouldn’t expect out of him. One of his more common nicknames is Worthless Brother after a co-host called him a worthless person with a worthless body, as well as The Devil’s Son due to his somewhat scathing humor. The Worthless Brother is also quite well rounded, having previously run one of the incredibly delicious Kyochon chicken franchises as well as currently being the manager of a pizza restaurant.

Kang Ho Dong

The larger than life personality rose to fame as Korea’s top wrestler back in the day. No, not the wrestling with the fake scripts and steroid bound superstars smashing chairs on each other. After a brief hiatus in 2011, Kang stormed back onto the scene. One of his first smash hit shows was with Yoo Jae Suk called X Man, which was a variety show that involved playing a series of games with celebrities of which one of was the “Xman.” The Xman’s mission was to discretely sabotage his team so they would lose. Kang is probably most known for his show 2 Days 1 Night (1박2일) where he and the other members travel around Korea playing games and also allowing people to get a look at many different parts of Korea. In case you haven’t guessed, Koreans LOVE playing games of all kinds. Just head to any bar or park and you’ll understand.

Noh Hong Cheol

Noh is extremely popular in Korea for his bizarre antics, unique fashion, and the ability to speak a mile a minute. He gained international recognition as his popular dirty dance was featured in Gangnam Style, where he plays the Elevator Guy. Let’s not kid ourselves, we’ve all done the elevator dance somewhere in Korea as some bewildered spectators watch in horror. One of the more notable incidents involving Noh was when he was attacked by a mental patient at his house. Though he suffered broken ribs, pictures of him putting his arm around the attacker and telling him that he was ok earned him a lot of brownie points with fans. As part of the Infinite Challenge team, he shaved his head after losing a challenge where he had to get a six pack. For those of you scoffing, keep in mind that shaving a head is a pretty big deal out here as many Korean guys prefer to have a long and full flow of hair ala Fabio.

Haha

Ha Dong Hoon aka HaHa is a well-known comedian. The diminutive 168 cm former rapper follows Yoo Jae Suk like a shadow on the shows Infinite Challenge and Running Man, where the German born Korean entertains the audience with his typical dance and comic routines. Although he released a number of songs, his music career didn’t really gain any serious steam. Haha became a household name after becoming a regular on the show Xman, and eventually a member of Infinite Challenge. He also married a popular singer named Byul recently, showing us all that a sense of humor does indeed help with the ladies. Oh and that you don’t have to be 180cm to score a quality girl.

DanielKang
DanielKang
Daniel Kang is a Korean-American from Los Angeles, California and currently enjoys living in Seoul. He is a diehard Laker fan and loves playing basketball, poker, and hanging out at the beach. Daniel is a passionate writer and has compiled pieces for Groove Korea and 10 Magazine. Check out his Lakers blog at lakerlinanalysis

9 Comments

  1. Lhex says:

    Seems like almost the whole of Infinity Challenge Crew’s up in this top 10 list! And they are definitely one of my favourite comedians. One of the series i’ll watch once my Korean language is good enough to watch programmes without subtitles~

  2. Aurora says:

    Yoo Jae Suk is my most favorite Korean MC of all time, that I would even consider him as my ideal type if he wasn’t TOO over infatuated with adult videos…haha… ;P Sometimes I think Hyeong Don is cute and funny, but most of the times, he is just plain obnoxious…Anyway, thanks for this piece of information. Now I know HaHa was born in Germany and Gary is good in boxing (big surprise for me). Oh! By the way, I love Korean variety shows! 🙂

  3. Melody says:

    That was a great article!! There is a lot to know^^ Thanks so much. Could you do also like a top ten actors or top ten tv shows?? ^^

  4. Peangelia Jones says:

    I have a MAD celebrity crush on a few of these guys. Yoo Jae Suk being my ideal type <3

  5. sahar says:

    I like Kang Ho Dong

  6. DavidXian says:

    Not to mention that Jeong Hyeongdon was Teayeon’s “husband” :p
    5/7 Infinite Challenge crews. Minus Leessang’s Gil and Shinhwa’s Jeonjin.
    4/7 Running Man crews. Minus Song Jihyo ♥, Ji Seokjin, and the Girrafe lol

  7. SKjoe says:

    missed kim gura kkk

  8. Mira says:

    Kim hee chul is definitely among the top too

  9. Tunnel Rush says:

    It sounds a bit bizarre but I admire these actors very much. Their acting is extremely funny.

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