Kim Byeong-man discontinues hit comedy 'Expert'

After some four years of making the nation laugh by mimicking all kinds of gurus in the KBS "Gag Concert" program, Comedian Kim Byeong-man, will close his "Expert" sketch.

"I don't think I'm quitting 'Expert', but I think it is time to come up with something new", Kim said before the final recording of the show, Wednesday. "I've been thinking about this for a while, but support from the viewers made me continue the show beyond expectations".

"Expert" started in December 2007 and presents a sarcastic mockery of a 'professional' who appears on the television show for his professed 16 year of expertise, but fails to present anything worthwhile.

Kim played some 250 characters that were "masters" ― from handstand and tightrope expert to a person who lived 16 years holding the same posture or someone who cannot taste any flavor.

Two comedians Ryoo Dam and Noh Woo-jin accompanied Kim, playing the TV show host and the best pupil of the expert, respectively.
The last episode of "Expert", which will be aired Sunday, will feature Kim as an expert of the unicycle. The sketch show lasted for three years and 11 months, becoming the longest-running feature of the comedy program.

In August, he published an autobiographic essay "Kim Byeong-man's Expert Mind: A Turtle With a Dream Never Tires", which sold over 110,000 copies in three months.

Currently, he is hosting the SBS survival reality show "Kim Byeong-man's Law of the Jungle" and will appear in the SBS year-end special two-episode drama "Christmas Present" (working title).

Though Kim denies leaving "Gag Concert", industry sources say Kim will star in a comedy program of jTBC, a new broadcaster operated by JoongAng Ilbo and scheduled to open Dec. 1.

By Kwon Mee-yoo