INTERVIEW 'SNL Korea' reboot's political satire rides popularity in election season

“Saturday Night Live Korea” producer Kang Na-rae, left, and chief producer Oh Won-taek pose after an interview with The Korea Times at the office of the show's production company, AStory, Feb. 16. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Lee Gyu-lee

• Published Feb 22, 2022 4:49 PM KST
• Updated Feb 24, 2022 3:15 PM KST

By Lee Gyu-lee

Satire has been a big part of the identity of the long-running NBC comedy show, “Saturday Night Live.” And it's no different in the show's Korean adaptation, “Saturday Night Live Korea” (SNL Korea), which earned a reboot last September on the local streaming platform, Coupang Play, four years after ending nine seasons with the local network, tvN.

The political satire of the revived show's cold open to its “Weekend Update” segment has become the talk of the town just in time for the election season.

The interview segment with real politicians, including the presidential candidates, with the callow, plain-speaking intern reporter ― played by cast member Joo Hyun-young ― has generated huge buzz for taking a chance with its unusual approach to the serious and complicated world of politics.

“Joo's reporter character reflects the traits of the current generation: naive but confident and ebullient. And we thought that there are questions that only such a character could pose to real politicians,” Oh Won-taek, the show's chief producer, said in an interview with The Korea Times, at the office of its production company, AStory, in western Seoul, Feb. 16. “There was chemistry to look forward to for when she would come face to face with the politicians.”

Oh has been with the show since its launch in 2011 and throughout the reboot's ongoing seasons.

The interview features humorous, but strangely odd questions, like asking the candidates to choose between becoming an iconic comedian for the rest of their lives and becoming president for five years, or giving a word to the presidential candidate of the opposing party. Yet, underneath the bizarre questions, Joo pulls off a nonchalant satirical performance, making references to the controversies and specific remarks of politicians.

The segment's producer, Kang Na-rae, who joined the show as a producer from season 7, noted that questions that may sometimes be perceived as rude and out of bounds are only possible with Joo's unique character.

“They really see Joo as a young college girl, so it makes it hard for them to get mad. She's asking (those questions) in such a harmless manner,” Kang said. “And so when they are asked sharp questions, they tend to seem taken aback.”

The segment's questions are selected through a careful process and go through several run-throughs before being posed to the interviewees.

“The key factor here is to include questions that the public has about this politician and questions that don't beat around the bush, like ones that were never asked in normal interviews, but within an acceptable line,” Oh said, adding that he tries to manage a balance between political aspects and other issues in the questions. “Before shooting the interview, Joo rehearses with Kang and makes adjustments on the spot. We try to watch out for even the tiny details of the tone and choices of words that can affect the nuance.”

The ongoing season has revived the cold open format with a sketch featuring four cast members as the leading two presidential candidates ― Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) ― and their wives. It pokes fun at the two candidates with references to the controversies and accusations surrounding them and their wives.

However, the show's political satire focusing on the two candidates' mudslinging campaign against one another's private lives might come off as superficial, circumventing the crucial matters of their policy pledges.

Oh and Kang expressed that such an approach is merely a mirror of the public's interest.

“We are not a political or investigative show, nor a news program. This is an entertainment show and the nature of an entertainment show is to pick up things that the majority of the public take interest in and can agree on,” Oh said, adding that highlighting the core of candidates' political vision is not their intention nor purpose.

“We shouldn't and are not planning to assert some sort of propaganda or convince people to have a certain perspective. So one thing we should refrain from is pointing fingers and trying to convince people about specific issues that they might be familiar with.”

Such reflection of the public interest in fact conveys the public's misguided take on the current presidential election campaigns, he said.

“When you think about it, during this election campaign season, people are more interested in issues like the candidates' wives, when the focus should be on (the core matters) like their policies. It's a reflection of the public,” Oh noted.

When asked if they are worried about losing viewers' interest after the election season is over, Kang answered, “No.”

“There are a lot of ideas and topics for satire, so I'm not necessarily worried. But I will need to prepare myself to look around the world with a broader scope,” she said.

Along with political satire, SNL Korea has been emerging as a ground for celebrities to let themselves loose for hilarious sketches that often go viral online after each episode, like “Squid Game” star Heo Sung-tae's meme dance and actor Jo Jung-suk's AI humanoid skits.

The producers expressed they are grasping the show's popularity out on the street and from the hosts.

“I come across people imitating lines from SNL Korea and get a lot of messages from my friends, so it feels pretty surreal, like l turned into an overnight star,” Kang said. “And when inviting celebrities to host the show, a lot of them say that it's an honor. When that happens, it really hits me that the reputation of our show has been elevated.”

As the show is released on the streaming platform, the episodes are pre-taped rather than broadcast live. It goes through two full rounds of taping, featuring the host's on-stage performance and pre-filmed sketches.

“We observe the audience's responses from the first round, like if they are actually laughing at the parts we intended, and whether they are giving big or small laughs,” Kang said. “If there's any other part they respond to, we bring it out more. And after applying this feedback for editing, we present the second round of performances.”

This method of presenting the show to two different groups of audiences for real-time feedback before streaming has a great upside in vetting not only the quality of the comedy, but also the controversial elements.

“It's technically a screening system before we stream it out. We test out the comedy that the show presents on two groups of audiences, so we have better chances of highlighting the parts that would come out funny,” Oh said. “It also acts as a safety pin to balancing the boundaries (in comedy) … if the audience reacts to parts they feel uncomfortable, it would be perceived as the same way to the viewers as well.”

Citing over 10 years of legacy the show has, the chief producer noted that he hopes SNL Korea could continue to help people channel their frustrations toward society.

“Especially in this society where it gets tougher every day, there's a need for an outlet to resolve and dissipate such conflicts. And rather than pointing fingers and being angry at each other, comedy can act as a cushion to ease those matters,” Oh said.