Comedian Yoon Seong-ho shared the story of the birth of New Jeans.

The broadcast of KBS1's 'Morning Yard' aired on the 25th, featuring New Jeans (comedian Yoon Seong-ho) grants as part of the 'Tuesday Special Guests' corner.

New Jeans, who transformed 'Morning Yard' into a club early in the morning, said, "There are sayings that after Wonhyo, it's New Jeans. I did not say this," and added, "Overseas, they see me as an artist. So my schedule is completely full until November. Japan, Cambodia, Indonesia have been newly added. I received contact from other countries, but I couldn't go due to my domestic schedule." Particularly, New Jeans humorously mentioned, "People say I resemble comedian Yoon Seong-ho, but they probably think I'm a comedian. I am his twin brother. I plan to come later."

New Jeans said, "I started through a stage called the Lantern Festival two years ago," introducing pop culture planner Bad Boss, who helped him become who he is today. Bad Boss remarked, "I had a friendship with him even before the Lantern Festival, and when I participated in a concert contest, I was glad it gained influence while planning the stage," and continued, "I expected a certain level of popularity. It was groundbreaking to showcase the chant from the contest remixed as EDM. At that time, I couldn't wear the monastic robe since I didn't know how the monks would perceive it. But it became a huge success, and I was very proud of it."

With New Jeans having to leave for an urgent matter, Yoon Seong-ho stepped in. The two had previously appeared on 'Morning Yard,' where they showcased the 'Buddha Handsome' stage. New Jeans stated, "At that time, the review was not passed, but the 'Morning Yard' PD received a review at 6 a.m. He has a discerning eye," Yoon Seong-ho, who appeared after New Jeans left, said, "When I appeared two years ago, I didn’t know that New Jeans would become successful again. I didn't expect to receive this overwhelming love."

Yoon Seong-ho first gained fame as a hamburger advertisement model. He said, "I shaved my head for theater work, and that left a strong image. Before becoming a comedian, I started as a fashion model. At that time, I worked with a hamburger franchise where Yang Mi-ra was the exclusive model. I was a sub-model, but I did so well that they treated me on par with Yang Mi-ra."

Yoon Seong-ho continued, "Originally, I wanted to transition from modeling to acting in movies, but then I got an offer for a sitcom, and after finishing the shooting, I was recommended to join a comedy club. Everyone in the club was taking the comedian audition, and initially, I started to help them, but ended up passing on my first try. However, a year later, the program disappeared from SBS, and I moved to KBS but was treated as an outsider without even receiving a rank as a comedian. I lived for about 2-3 years feeling sad, but later I became a part of the family. After overcoming the persecution and pain as a comedian from another broadcasting company, a paradise-like world arrived."

In the midst of this, Yoon Seong-ho said, "At 50, I thought I wanted to become a cool man speaking three languages, so I studied abroad in China. When I returned, I had some gaps and was out of work. I thought about starting again, but then COVID-19 hit. At that time, I invested all my assets and created a personal channel with the concept 'Get Up,' and received help from Cho Sae-ho and others, which led to advertisements and good feedback. But it was hacked overnight and disappeared. During COVID, I thought it was tough for everyone, so I endured it, but when this happened to me, I couldn't handle it. I even had some bad thoughts."

Despite the difficult circumstances, Yoon Seong-ho succeeded in making a comeback as New Jeans. He stated, "In 'Gag Concert,' I also took on the role of a monk when necessary, but in other broadcasting companies' comedy programs, I took on the monk role regularly. At that time, since it was comedic, I changed my legal name every week. Before New Jeans, I was active as Iljin Monk. When I was active as Iljin Monk, 'The Glory' was trending, and I felt it was very relevant to the story of school bullying. It means 'to advance every day,' but I could see it being misunderstood, so I changed 'Il' to 'New.'"

Yoon Seong-ho noted, "At first, the Buddhist community felt uncomfortable, but as the number of Buddhist believers declined, a sentiment of needing to do something was formed. They said we need to become younger, and when they found that it matched perfectly with New Jeans, the number of young Buddhist believers increased significantly. As the results became visually apparent, even those who were initially uncomfortable began to view it positively and embraced us."

[OSEN]