Kim Seok-hoon, ‘What do you do when you hang out’’s customized entertainment cheat key?

ize Choi Young-gyun (columnist)

The future of MBC’s ‘What Do You Do When You Play?”looked bleak.

In the second half of last year, viewership ratings (hereinafter referred to as Nielsen Korea) fell to the 3% range and were becoming stagnant with no signs of rebound. I pulled out my trump card, music entertainment, but even this was no longer effective. The boy group One Top, which added Kim Jong-min and Young K, and the female duo Juju Secret, Park Jin-joo and Mi-joo, released music and began activities, but there was no response.

Viewership ratings remained low, and new songs were difficult to find on the charts. The predecessor of the program, ‘Infinite Challenge’ The cheat music entertainment show, which had soared viewership ratings, dominated the charts, and exerted a strong influence on the music market for a long time, has finally come to an end.

‘What do you do when you play’ is ‘founder’ After PD Kim Tae-ho left, the decline continued for a long time. Even in a situation where the white pill for a turnaround was ineffective due to the absence of PD Kim, the music entertainment show did its best. Until MSG/WSG Wannabe, the influence of music entertainment was still alive. But in the end, even music entertainment lost its power, and there seemed to be no breakthrough in ‘What do you do when you play?’

In this situation, ‘What do you do when you play’ met Kim Seok-hoon. He was recently known as the host of a liberal arts program, and was an actor whose YouTube channel “My Garbage Man” was gradually gaining popularity. Kim Seok-hoon was pursuing a life of frugal and rational consumption while protecting the environment by picking up trash and actively using recycled products through his YouTube channel.

When we met Kim Seok-hoon of ‘What Do You Do When You Hang Out’, the viewership ratings that had been hovering at the bottom soared. In its first appearance on the 16th of last month, the viewership rating, which had fluctuated between the late 3% and early 4% range, soared to 5.5%. Then, in its second appearance on the 13th, it rose further to 5.8% and experienced the joy of regaining first place in the same time slot, which it had long lost to the rival program KBS2’s “Immortal Songs.”

The reason Kim Seok-hoon is able to create such a strong response as an entertainment character is because he is likeable and quirky. What is attractive is the value of environmental protection, which many people sympathize with, in a ‘common sense’ This is because it evokes a unique sense of sincerity and friendliness during execution. Kim Seok-hoon appeared on ‘What Do You Do When You Hang Out’ without makeup and wearing the same clothes as the neighborhood guys?

Spend about 1 million won per month frugally, use public transportation or walk, and look for places that offer cheap meals, such as the library. ‘What do you do when you play’ A person who has the heavenly appearance of a celebrity and is called Chow Yun-Fat on TV, lives a life like ordinary people instead of living a flashy and luxurious life. He comes across as powerful because he is new, and because he is friendly, he increases likeability.

That easy-going life does not feel staged, but feels genuine and amplifies likability. Here, Kim Seok-hoon’s eccentricity adds great fun, which is essential to entertainment. When the bicycle he needed came out at a used goods auction house, he actively bought it even though it was quite expensive for a used auction, something that was different from his usual frugal and frugal attitude, which made him laugh out loud.

On the 13th, in the process of obtaining Yoo Jae-seok’s phone number, who became his friend, Kim Seok-hoon’s erratic behavior was repeated in each broadcast, such as hiding the phone screen where he entered the number, saying that it should not be revealed, even from the production crew (who usually cleans it up even if it is visible). Because the absurdity surrounding normal things is a powerful mechanism for inducing laughter, the absurdity shown by Kim Seok-hoon, who is handsome enough to be called Chow Yun-Fat, is explosive in terms of entertainment.

However, Kim Seok-hoon is a customized cheat key for ‘What do you do when you hang out?’ Kim Seok-hoon’s entertainment charm is maximized in ‘What do you do when you hang out’? ‘What do you do when you hang out’ is an entertainment show without a set format, and it often goes out to spaces where people live normally and unfolds plans at that time. This space for the common people is the place that Kim Seok-hoon is most familiar with, has a lot to show, and is the stage where he is most comfortable performing as an entertainer.

Even in the fact that the MC is Yoo Jae-seok, the chemistry between Kim Seok-hoon and ‘What Do You Do When You Play’ is strong. There seems to be no better MC than Yoo Jae-seok who can make Kim Seok-hoon, who is neither specialized in entertainment nor desperate for success in entertainment, entertaining. This is because Yoo Jae-seok is excellent at capturing the strengths of the performers’ natural state and making use of it, rather than leading the flow according to his own set framework.

Kim Seok-hoon seems to be well aware of this fact. In his second appearance on the 13th, Kim Seok-hoon said, ‘What do you do when you play?’ After his first appearance, he received a lot of invitations to appear on entertainment shows, but he said that he had no intention of working as an entertainer. However, he expressed his desire to go to Hive’s cafeteria together, leaving open a relationship with entertainment with & # 39; What do you do when you hang out?

‘What do you do when you play?’ met Kim Seok-hoon in a desperate situation and took a breather. Since Kim Seok-hoon is not a fixed member, the search for a way to overcome the fundamental impasse still needs to continue. However, thanks to Kim Seok-hoon, the possibility of a reversal was confirmed, so finding a new breakthrough became more hopeful than before. I hope that ‘What Do You Do When You Play’ takes off again by finding a new character or any entertainment device or format.