Comedian Park Jun-hyung shared his popularity from his prime.

The episode aired on KBS2 on the 16th featured Park Myung-soo, who served as a judge for the KBS 34th comedian audition.

That day, Park Myung-soo met with Park Jun-hyung, a KBS 13th recruit, three hours before the judging. Park Myung-soo explained, "Since I’m from MBC, but this is KBS, and the one who made 'Gag Concert' a huge hit was Park Jun-hyung, I thought it would help a lot if Jun-hyung gave us some good advice."

Park Jun-hyung shot back, "I don’t know why you called me, Myung-soo, when you’re an MBC person. What do you know about KBS comedy?" This garnered laughter. Sure enough, when Park Myung-soo was asked about his judging criteria, he said, "I focus a lot on quick wit. I won’t have you memorize lines, I'll have you do a two-line or three-line poem on the spot. The standards are completely different," which earned jeers from the audience.

In response, Park Jun-hyung asked, "I’m curious, aren’t you the MBC 4th recruit? How did you pass? What did you use to pass?" Park Myung-soo replied, "I don’t know. I remember watching KBS in 1991 or 1992. I did pantomime, but I wasn’t selected. I went to MBC where I imitated Senior Seo Se-won and Lee Seung-chul."

Park Jun-hyung remarked, "I went for the MBC 5th recruitment but got cut before the final round. At that moment, I realized that MBC would tread on the dark future of comedy. How could they not recognize me?" Park Myung-soo joked, "Do you know why you got cut? It’s because I was there. They wouldn’t select someone from the same department again."

Then, Park Jun-hyung narrated, "I failed 8 times. It was hard to give up because nearly 1,000 people came back in our time. They only select 10 out of that, so it’s a 100 to 1 chance. From those, you go on to the final 50. I made it to all 8 auditions. However, I couldn't get into the top 10 among those 50 during the camera test." He continued, "(In the KBS 13th audition) the last assigned act was 'RoboCop.' Everyone would do 'wing chicken.' I felt I couldn’t do better than others if I did that. So, I borrowed a gas station near KBS. I bought lacquer at a hardware store and painted my body silver. While others were doing 'wing chicken,' I went in and said, 'My name is Juyucop.' It cracked everyone up. I felt then that comedy requires heart."

Park Myung-soo asked, "Did you ever directly select juniors when you were doing well?" Park Jun-hyung replied, "From 2002 to 2007, I was in the judging seat. I wondered if I had let one comedian in during that time. I went in, and the biggest shock was when O Ji-hun entered. I thought, 'It’s over. I can’t believe someone so amazing is here.'" He listed comedians like Kim Young-chul, Ok Dong-ja (Jung Jong-chul), and Park Hwi-soon among the 'visual comedians.'

Kim Sook agreed, saying, "Those kinds of people pass immediately with their visuals," and Park Jun-hyung responded, "The first round is supposed to involve scripts. But when Jung Jong-chul wrote 'poop poop doodledoo' in his script—his own comedy—the judges were bewildered, asking, 'What is this?' Later, I found out it was a Tetris imitation. The funny part was that when O Ji-hun came in, Ok Dong-ja disliked it so much they didn’t get along well. I empathized with them, saying, 'If you’re both 5-ton bombs, you can create a 25-ton explosion together.' That’s why they worked together. I always dreamed of a kingdom of comedy with those friends."

He continued, "There are friends who act well, like Kang Yoo-mi and Ahn Young-mi, and the hottest one is Lee Su-ji," and Park Myung-soo noted, "I see that friends who act well tend to last longer. People like me don’t last long. I can’t act, and my visuals are mediocre."

Park Myung-soo remarked, "Isn’t 'Gag Concert' continuing the tradition lately? Jun-hyung has played the role of a filial son there," mentioning segments like Gar Ga Ri, Three Siblings in Raincoats, Youth White Paper, Mabpag-i, Family of Love, and Everyday Dialect. He wondered, "Why did you grind radishes?" Park Jun-hyung explained, "When my mom was making kimchi, it went through the grinder. It was funny, and I thought I could use that. That’s why I prepared it."

In particular, he drew astonishment when he revealed his income, stating, "I earned 300 million won a month." Park Jun-hyung recounted, "There were times I flew to Ulsan, Gwangju, and Jeju in a single day. I left on May 1 and returned on the 8th. That was during my peak. At the time when 'Gag Concert' became a hit on KBS, 'Gag Ya' did well on MBC, and 'Wit and Humor' was also successful on SBS, all three major broadcasters had ratings above 20%."

[Photo] OSEN DB, KBS2

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