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| JTBC's variety show, "Knowing Bros," also known as "Men on a Mission," will celebrate its 300th episode Saturday. Courtesy of JTBC |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Since kicking off in 2015, the variety show, "Knowing Bros," also known as "Men on a Mission," has become JTBC's longest-running variety show.
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| Producer Choi Chang-soo / Courtesy of JTBC |
"The format of Knowing Bros is limitlessly expandable, taking into account the characters of the hosts. So I plan to do different experiments with the show. Taking the 300th episode as a starting point, there will be significant changes," the producer said in a written interview, Thursday.
Hosted by seven male celebrities, the show is based on the idea of a high school, in which the hosts act as students and welcome guest stars as transfer students. The show stars comedians Kang Ho-dong, Lee Soo-geun and Kim Young-chul, singers Kim Hee-chul, Min Kyung-hoon and Lee Sang-min, along with former basketball star Seo Jang-hoon.
Each week, the show features new guests, from K-pop idols to movie and sports stars, including Blackpink, Song Ji-hyo and Olympic fencers. The guests roleplay as new students seeking to enroll at "Knowing Bros" high school and engage in battles of witty humor and slapstick comedy with the hosts.
The producer, whose previous TV shows include travel reality show "Traveler" and variety show "Welcome Back to School," has led the show since its premiere. He noted that short clips of the show that went viral online helped lead the show to success.
"When we first launched the show in 2015, we could not find a single word mentioning Knowing Bros… but since we started on the high school concept, about 17 episodes into the show, short clips and memes began to appear online slowly," he said.
"Videos surfaced showing the main hosts' humor and sketches, with comments like 'how refreshing and funny,' which gave me hope (for the series). That's when I found the confidence that it could become a well-rooted show."
The 300th special episode will invite celebrities who have made guest appearances in the past, including K-pop boy band Super Junior's Donghae and Eunhyuk.
Choi explained that the celebration gave him mixed feelings. "I feel very happy and proud, but at the same time, I don't feel like I've gotten carried away (by the anniversary)," he said. "We did have a small celebration on the set while filming the 300th episode, but we came back to reality soon afterwards."
Expressing his affection for "Knowing Bros," he asked viewers to keep up their interest in the next steps of the show.
"I want Knowing Bros to be my forever bros. I'm going to put in everything I have, like I've been doing, to making it an entertaining program," he said.
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