'Gag Concert' Goes on Provincial Tour

Shim Hyung-rae in the feature "Expert"

The comedy program "Gag Concert" was filmed in Kwangju as a year-end special episode, and produced big laughter in 4,500 audience members.

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The gymnasium of Chosun University in Kwangji was filled with more than 4,500 audience members on December 22. Too many audience members came to the gymnasium and some of them even had to stand up behind the audience seating. The filming of the special episode of the KBS 2TV "Gag Concert" had begun with loud applause from the audience at 7:00pm. The program "Gag Concert" had been filmed in KBS hall in Yeouido up until now, and filming in the other location took place after a long interval, since it had last been filmed in Andong in July, 2006. The cast members, used to performing in front of around 1,000 audience members, seemed to be surprised by seeing the audience size almost quadruple the average. In the middle of filming, comedians constantly expressed their emotions while seeing many audience members completely packing the place, saying, "It is my first time standing before this many audience members". Baseball players who belong to the Kia Tigers, whose base camp is located in Kwangju, also attended as audience members. The filming had begun with a feature entitled "DJ Byeon's Night without Stars", and then around ten features had been filmed one after another while producing big laughter in the audiences. In the representative feature of the program entitled "Expert", Shim Hyung-rae appeared as a special guest and received enthusiastic applause. He came up onto the stage in a beige raincoat, and then transformed into the "Younggu" character after taking off his coat. He presented slapstick comedy as an "expert of slapstick" and did not hold himself back physically on the stage. Comedian Kim Byung-man, who has been popular as a hard-working comedian without holding himself back, was only a supporting actor on the stage together with Shim.

Feature of "Gag Concert" - "Balsam School"

Shim Hyung-rae said that he would present a funny comedy which could generate laughter only using water, and then he consequently sprinkled water on his face and fell down in a fit. Audience members laughed out loud and gave enthusiastic applause for his performance. He revealed his true appearance as a comedian even though he was a director as well. In the feature entitled "I Love You, Brother", Kim Jun-ho and Kim Dae-hee appeared and entertained the audience by reproducing the once-popular feature "Bitter Life". In the feature "Time Travel", which characteristically presents a certain situation repeatedly, actors had to repeat the performance again and again not because of its script, but because they made mistakes. Comedian Jeong Tae-ho had to eat watermelon during the performance, but as his microphone had been broken, he had to eat much more watermelon than expected while filming. At first, audience members thought that they had made up those situations, but later people found out that he made mistakes again and again, so they felt sorry for him and at the same time could not hold back their laughter. In the feature "New at 9", Lee Soo-geun appeared, and the place was completely filled with the sound of cheering. Lee, who had come to Kwangju to film another program "Two Days and One Night", introduced himself as an "honorary ambassador for Kwangju", and received loud applause from audience members. Filming from the first feature to the last feature entitled "Balsam School" finished after three hours. Many stars including Shim Hyung-rae, actors such as Song Joong-ki, Park Jun-gyu, and Lee Won-jong, and singing groups Secret and Tiara appeared as special guest members for this special episode of the "Gag Concert", and enlivened the place.

Not only many young university students, but also family members participated as audience members. An audience member named Shin Jeong Sook (female, 40), who had come with her five-year-old daughter, said, "I feel more friendly towards those comedians acting on the stage as I could see them in person. I hope that I could have more opportunity to enjoy this with family members".

Cast members of KBS "Gag Concert" in Kwangju

The performance in Kwangju had been planned as a part of an event for people in Kwangju after the special program for celebrating the tenth year of its broadcasting. The program "Gag Concert" had been filmed in the cities like Pusan, Chungju, and Andong, but it had never been filmed in the southwestern region, so the production team for the program had chosen the major city of the southwestern region, Kwangju. The production staff members had arrived in Kwangju one day before the filming for preparing for filming, and cast members also left Seoul as early as 5:30 am in the morning to arrive in Kwangju on time. Comedian Kim Jun-ho said, "The power of our program 'Gag Concert' is the unity of the senior and junior comedians, and I think that we could obtain this unity through today's performance. I also feel a sense of pride through this performance because I could see many people loving our performances. I am willing to give tour performances in all around Korea". Even though the production cost is high, the production team planned to regularly go on provincial tours in the future. The chief production director said, "After we celebrated the tenth year of broadcasting last year, we had agonized about the kind of event that we could do for viewers at least once a year. Even though our performances were originally made for a small theater performance, we will go on provincial tours at least once a year from next year".

The year-end special episode of the "Gag Concert" aired on December 26 at 9:00pm.