Kim Gook-jin

Kim Gook-jin belongs to the first wave of Korean comedians who arrived through a broadcaster competition rather than through theatre. He took a prize at a university gag contest run by KBS in 1991 and joined the channel's comedian intake that year, in a class that also produced several of the biggest names in Korean variety.

His character was the slow, faintly baffled man who misses the point, and the catchphrases from it passed into everyday speech in the nineties, when he was one of the most visible comedians on Korean television. He won the main comedy prize at MBC in 1996. He later rebuilt himself as a host, and from 2009 he has anchored Radio Star, a talk show whose comedy depends on the host letting guests talk themselves into trouble.