'All I need to do is shut up and listen'
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Kim Je-dong , host of JTBC talk show “Talk to You” / Courtesy of JTBC
By Kim Jae-heun
Kim Je-dong, comedian and host of cable channel JTBC’s talk show “Talk To You,” said the secret behind the series which is celebrating its one year anniversary is for him to keep his mouth shut and let the audience do the talking.
“Two weeks ago, we had a single mom speaking about her feelings about people staring at her. If I tell her not to mind them, I am only being a fool,” said Kim during a press conference commemorating the program’s anniversary at the JTBC building in Mapo-gu, Seoul, Wedensday.
“But if someone from the audience with a similar experience shares his or her story, people can empathize with each other, without me interrupting the conversation.”
First aired on May 3, 2015, “Talk To You” travels around Seoul to meet people in various age groups and listens to their worries and troubles. Sometimes, viewers living abroad visit so they can take part in the show.
“We have many requests from the countryside and overseas asking us to visit them, but there are practical reasons that we can’t visit everybody. Our crew consists of 70 people and we have a lot of heavy equipment. But we do hope to visit as many people as we can,” said Lee Min-su, the program’s director.
Kim and Lee revealed that they were first worried about low viewership as their show does not invite A-list stars as guest to focus on. But they believed that listening to the stories of ordinary people was worthwhile and attracted viewers when the show was aired.
“I learned that people’s stories are great as I hosted many talk shows and lectures. Unlike other television shows, our stars come from our audience and our guest panels and the MCs are our viewers,” said Lee.
Fifty-four episodes have been aired so far, but the director is confident about endless topics they can continue to discuss. May is family month and Lee chose the father as the topic for the latest episode, which even made the director himself want to be a participant.
Although “Talk To You” doesn’t have top viewership compared to shows aired at the same time, Lee is happy that many people are talking about the show and want to take part in it.
“While surfing the Internet, I find many local governments or students posting online that they are running events similar to the style of Talk To You. One time we got a call from Seongnam City Government in Gyeonggi Province, asking if they could officially adopt our system to give out sketchbooks to the audience and have them write questions to talk about with the mayor at an event and we said yes.”
Kim said, “I am grateful that our show is helping people. We don’t expect any big changes with our series in the near future and all we hope is for is that people come and enjoy our show and return home safely.”