'Appearance comedy' irks audiences

Comedian Oh Na-mi performs in this captured image of KBS' comedy sketch show Gag Concert. She usually takes roles of ugly women in many skits of the comedy show. In this skit, she portrays a woman who constantly fails to woo men because of her appearance, but blames the failures on her bad luck.
/ Captured from Gag Concert

By Baek Byung-yeul, Park Ji-won, Nam Hyun-woo

We all know that making others laugh, or at least smile, can sometimes be difficult.
Still, that is no excuse for professional gagsters who cross the line and go for laughs by making fun of people's appearance.

In Korean comedy shows, the practice has become quite common, disturbing some domestic fans and making foreigners raise the question: "Is it a cultural difference or insensitivity to ‘lookism?'"

A 22-year-old college student, surnamed Kim, is one of those feeling uncomfortable about the so-called "appearance comedy."

"I'm a huge fan of Gag Concert, but some skits seem to make fun of others' appearance," Kim said. Gag Concert is the longest-running sketch comedy show in the country airing on KBS.

For example, in a skit portraying a scene of anecdotes of a king and a number of his concubines in the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), one from China's Ming Dynasty ― played by comedian Oh Na-mi ― is always being bullied by the other concubines and the king just because of her "ugly" appearance.

In these captured images of KBS' sketch comedy show Gag Concert, comedian Kim Min-kyung performs in the roles of chubby and unwelcome women. She portrays a TV personality obsessed with eating food in the top photo. In the middle photo, she acts as a relentless middle-aged woman. Kim performs as an unwelcomed member of a high school cheerleading team in the bottom photo. / Korea Times file

"I have to say I laughed at the skit, but sometimes it is disturbing to see everybody justifying such unreasonable bullying with their laughs," Kim said. "Even though it's Oh's choice to become a subject of bullying to generate laughs, it has to hurt her."

Another funny woman starring in the show, Kim Min-kyung, indirectly showed her feelings about taking the role of a chubby woman, for which she was honored during December's KBS Awards.

During a talk-show appearance after winning a third-place award, she hesitated when asked how she feels about acting as a stout woman to entertain audiences.

"As I am too shy, I don't enjoy making the audience laugh using my body," the 33-year-old comedian said. "But I realized that it is more important to me to make people laugh through my performances. As long as I can entertain audiences with my body, I will gladly continue to do it," she added.

Since its launch in 1999, the show has tended to portray some groups of people- such as the socially disadvantaged, the disabled, migrant workers from the Third World countries or fat shapeless figures - as favorite targets of its humor.

Some media outlets and the TV-monitoring watchdogs have bashed the show for its "appearance comedy," but that has not changed anything and the show has become even more popular because it makes audiences laugh at the appearance of so-called "ugly" comedians, such as Oh and Kim.

Some say they don't watch the show because they don't want to tacitly promote the idea of making people who are fat, ugly, handicapped or of a different skin color, justifiable targets of discrimination and ridicule.

"That is the reason why I don't watch Gag Concert," said Jung, a 32-year-old who describes himself as fat, ugly and a low-earner.

Standing 166 centimeters tall and weighing about 85 kilograms, Jung said he is the perfect object of ridicule when applying the standard of the popular comedy show.

"After watching the show, I feel like I am an inferior kind in this society, and get more stressed. I think making fun of these kinds of disadvantaged people is simply unjust."
Many foreigners, especially from Western countries, say such "Korean-styled comedy" is not the least bit entertaining.

A Korean-American, 25, who just identified himself as Kim, said he is conflicted about whether these types of comedy shows - which is not funny at all to him - reflect cultural differences or Koreans' insensitivity to so-called "lookism."

"First, the format of Korean programs is different from that of the United States," he said.

"In popular U.S. shows like ‘Saturday Night Live,' content is usually about making jokes with obscene things or sarcasm on racial things, instead of making fun of people's looks. Korean shows make it a taboo to have sex talk, while they provide sketch shows which routinely make fun of people's appearance."

Some critics say that such a difference in comedy content is in line with cultural differences between each society.

A Japan-based magazine editor, named Sato, compared Korean comedy shows admiring beauty to that of Japan.

According to her, among the various types of Japanese comedies, what is notable is "jigyaku gag," self-mocking type of jokes in humorous situations.

She explained that the term is directly translated into a "masochistic gag," but it is more likely to come from Japanese's attitude to communicate well with others in an isolated island and group-oriented society like Japan by lowering their status and boost others up.

"There are many fashion models and TV personalities in Japan who are half-Japanese, half-Caucasian. It seems as though certain aspects of Western appearance are considered desirable, but still having some Japanese features is also preferred," she said.

"But this is a cultural issue that is not always based on racial superiority or inferiority. Koreans are also similar," Sato added.

Some expats said they feel Koreans and even Japanese prioritize one's appearance not only in such comedy programs but also in other aspects of daily life.

"In England we never add a photo to resume," said a Briton who asked anonymity. "We believe this leads to discriminatory behavior. There are exceptions to this though," he said.

He said this difference is rather acceptable given that Korea and Japan are considered homogeneous societies compared to England or Italy.

"Overall, the portrayal of white foreigners in the Japanese or Korean media is still much more favorable than, for example, people of African heritage," he added.