"No money?" He lashes out unabashedly at national MC Yu Jae-seok. Following Heo Kyunghwan, who shouted "I'm going to do this!", Heo Kyunghwan's younger brother Yang Sang-guk also delivered big laughs with the comedians' back-and-forth on Hangout With Yoo, fully capturing the flavor of variety entertainment.
On the evening of the 28th, the day before, the MBC entertainment program Hangout With Yoo (abbreviated Hangout) was staged as "war on crime—the heyday of country bumpkins." Modeled after the film War on Crime: The Age of Bad Guys, with the concept of youths who moved to Seoul from Busan in the '70s and '80s, Yu Jae-seok, Haha, Joo Woo-jae and Heo Kyunghwan decided to show Yang Sang-guk around Seoul.
Meeting at a tea room in Jongno, Seoul, the Hangout members immediately launched into a skit while speaking in the Gyeongsang dialect. Native Seoul-born Yu Jae-seok showed particular awkwardness in dialect acting. Heo Kyunghwan, who went to high school in Changwon and university in Busan, teased him especially, drawing laughs. Joo Woo-jae said, "It's a dialect I don't even want to answer," and Heo Kyunghwan said, "It was over from when he said 'Are you here'?" making even Yu Jae-seok burst out laughing.
Among them, their guest Yang Sang-guk appeared. Yang Sang-guk, from Gimhae, displayed a hearty accent from the moment he appeared, saying, "My, Seoul is big!" Heo Kyunghwan, who is the same KBS class 22 recruited comedian as him, looked after him, calling him "my younger brother who came up from Gimhae." Yang Sang-guk, mentioning a "Busan vacation," shot out a coarse dialect at Haha, who tried to emphasize his Busan ties, saying, "What are you?" which sent the surroundings into peals of laughter. When even Haha made a sour face and said, "I can't understand him," Heo Kyunghwan added, "This guy isn't on my side. He's on my father's side," increasing the laughter.
Although Yang Sang-guk seemed to assert himself from the opening talk with dialect, he was inwardly very nervous about his first appearance on Hangout With Yoo. He complained roughly to Haha, saying, "Let me live too!" and, when Yu Jae-seok offered his hand for a shake, he repeatedly held on and clung, saying, "Hold it for me a bit." When Yu Jae-seok laughed and said, "Why are your hands so moist?", Yang Sang-guk candidly confessed his nerves, saying, "I didn't know I sweat this much. I learned it for the first time in 44 years," which continued to draw laughter.
At one point, even when ordering a cup of tea in the tea room, he blurted out, "Three sugars, five cream," and Heo Kyunghwan worried, "You're going to get diabetes." Yang Sang-guk finally admitted his nerves, saying, "It's hard because I'm trying to pour out 44 years at once."
But Hangout With Yoo was not one to let nerves slide. From the first bill, Yu Jae-seok insisted on splitting the check. Furious Yang Sang-guk, who snapped, "Isn't that right? No money?", was shocked by Hangout's sharp hospitality, saying, "When people from the provinces come, they are fully treated." In the end, Yu Jae-seok paid the first bill with his personal card, but from the next round it naturally became a pattern to make one person pay.
For lunch, Yang Sang-guk, who lost the thumb-up game, paid for Seoul-style ox-blood soup. Coming as a guest to see Seoul, he unexpectedly paid 168,000 won and, angry, said, "You called your younger brother and have no manners!" He then became desperate to recoup his money during subsequent shopping. At a small accessories shop for MZ, he alone bought 160,000 won worth of items, which led to Haha, who lost the second billing game, paying 289,200 won.
On the famous Han River cruise in Seoul that followed, the Hangout members competed even more earnestly. In the shoe-throwing game, the youngest, Joo Woo-jae, who had never been up for a bill, performed well, prompting complaints such as "Sorry, but it's really not fun," and "It's because of Running Man," as they changed the rules to put him at a disadvantage. Joo Woo-jae protested, "Am I only good at this?" and even flew a kick at Haha, going berserk, and after a rematch he ultimately won, resulting in the defeated Heo Kyunghwan paying 149,300 won even for cruise snacks in a comic turn of events.
Haha, who paid the most, insisted on eating dinner. The group chose an apparent Seoul Gangnam beef specialty restaurant whose exterior alone looked flashy. With ox tongue, ribs, stews and noodles, the bill for dinner came to a staggering 500,500 won. The younger members bowed to Yu Jae-seok, saying, "Thank you for the meal, brother," to steer the bill toward him, but Yu Jae-seok hurriedly bowed in return to avoid paying. Yang Sang-guk bluntly said, "Yu Jae-seok is light-headed; he's bowing his head in front of Yang Sang-guk to avoid paying," which even made Yu Jae-seok laugh and say, "Now that it's dinner, the guy's gone crazy."
Even so, Yu Jae-seok avoided the final bill. The result of the phone alarm bomb game picked Heo Kyunghwan, who had been repeating catchphrases and had fallen into the trend. Saying, "Wow, I'm going crazy, I really don't feel good," Heo Kyunghwan paid the bill and unexpectedly spent 654,300 won in a single day of filming, creating laughter with a bill larger than the main event.
From opening talk with dialect back-and-forth to being saddled with the final bill. The chemistry of the comedians, from Heo Kyunghwan to Yang Sang-guk, around Yu Jae-seok, Haha and Joo Woo-jae, shone particularly brightly on Hangout With Yoo. In an entertainment scene where variety shows composed only of professional entertainers are hard to find, Hangout's episode stood out for eliciting laughs purely through the comedians' physicality. The notably polished state of Hangout is welcome.
[Photo] OSEN DB, MBC provided.
[OSEN]