(continuing from interview ④) Comedians Lee Su-ji and Jeong I-rang of "Sisters tea room" shared their concerns about the level of their distinctive "19-plus" gags and guest reactions to ad-libbing.
Comedians Lee Su-ji and Jeong I-rang held a joint interview on the morning of the 9th at a café in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. At this meeting they spoke with domestic reporters about the Coupang Play variety show "Sisters tea room."
"Sisters tea room" is a teahouse talk show in which sisters Su-ji and I-rang add a spoonful of chatter and two spoonfuls of romance to enjoy time with top star guests. Jeong I-rang and Lee Su-ji, who earned praise for successive appearances on "SNL Korea" and "Office Workers," are drawing laughs with this newly presented variety show.
In particular, on "Sisters tea room," Lee Su-ji and Jeong I-rang have been demonstrating perfect execution of a kind of "19-plus" gag code they showcased on "SNL Korea" and "Office Workers," based on their individual secondary characters. However, they also had concerns about how to "control the level" of sexual-code humor that could quickly become sensitive.
There was also a sort of "meeting point" they agreed on. Lee Su-ji first explained about script-based performance, saying, "Actually, before recording we do about an hour to an hour and a half of script reading. There's a lot of script, but because we don't know the guests' answers, the lines that follow the answers are almost ad-lib. The gist or topic is based on the script."
Jeong I-rang followed, saying, "There is definitely a script, but while hosting I asked guests a lot of personal questions. I was personally curious about whether they'd drink and had many private questions, and when we just throw things out there there are a lot of ad-libs. About 60% is script and the remaining 40% is ad-lib."
Lee Su-ji also explained, "Actually, even the scripted parts change because we add flesh to them or ad-lib, so it's different at every recording," and Jeong I-rang said, "We also add on to questions and because the writers can't easily predict the reactions to answers, we often react based on our own thoughts."
So far, the ad-libs that attracted the most attention were the "gua sha ad-libs" that actor Kim Eui-sung and Jeong I-rang performed when the team from the SBS Friday-Saturday drama Taxi Driver appeared. Regarding gua sha, Jeong I-rang said, "They probably didn't give us gua sha intending to make it a prop. But whether they gave us an unfamiliar picture or wanted guests to be able to feel refreshed here was ambiguous. So I did tell them in advance that it might get a little mischievous. Instead, when guests came they gratefully opened their hearts and came prepared. Because we don't approach them warmly they sometimes find it bland and are disappointed we couldn't be more mischievous. What we're thankful for every episode is that they open their hearts. They come ready to tell honest stories and even risqué stories. We're very grateful," expressing thanks to Kim Eui-sung for taking it so well.
She added, "Using gua sha as an example, when a mood to do something is created, we look at the guest's eyes, and if it seems they don't want it we move on to another topic. You can tell from their energy and eyes. If not, we move on to another topic," emphasizing that they watch guests' reactions and adjust.
(continued in interview ⑥)
[Photo] Provided by Coupang Play.
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