Yang Sang-guk

Yang Sang-guk is a South Korean comedian born 1 October 1983 in Jinyeong-eup, Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province. He originally hoped to become a Buddhist monk but chose comedy instead, and after completing his mandatory military service he appeared on the audition programme 'Gag Hunting'. He passed KBS's 22nd class of recruited comedians and joined the network's flagship sketch show 'Gag Concert', where he built his reputation on an exaggerated 'countrified' persona built around Gyeongsang Province dialect and rural manners. His profile rose sharply with the 2011 revival of the 'Seoulmate' sketch, in which he played a rural migrant adjusting to life in Seoul alongside fellow cast members Ryu Jeong-nam and Heo Kyung-hwan, mining dialect-based humor from the culture clash. In 2014 he also began competing as an amateur race car driver, a pursuit he has continued alongside his entertainment career. After 'Gag Concert' ended in 2020, Yang found renewed prominence on the MBC variety programme 'What Do You Do When You're Bored?', part of what has been described as a second peak in his career.