The day I heard that Kim Shin-young had been selected as the next host for KBS’s ‘National Singing Contest’, I looked up the characters he had shown in various variety programs on YouTube once more. With a tray on his head, he entered the waiting room and said, “At 6:30 at the busiest time, one beef, one bulbaek, jjamppong, and egg rolls? The legendary restaurant owner who roars, saying, “You can only order one, one!” The old lady at the bathroom, a gentleman at the bathroom, who firmly blocks the cut-throat, saying, “I can’t do it first, unless my sister does a seaweed massage even if I give her a tumbler.” A grandmother who calls her granddaughter’s account number in a quick and accurate tone while telling her that she is not greedy because she is alive enough, a housewife singing class instructor who keeps adding unidentified Chuimsae… . Kim Shin-young usually observes people and stores them in her head, and when she plays situational plays, she takes them out one by one and prints them out as super-high-resolution images. Unknown aunts and uncles that I have seen anywhere, borrow Kim Shin-young’s body and vividly express their voices.
Where his gaze rests on ‘ordinary people’
It won’t just be good for observation. In order to play these characters, who are often rude and often ludicrous, you must first understand how he got to be so ugliness and absurd. The boss of a restaurant, who is constantly angry at unifying the menu with one menu, has the inner situation, “My uncle is sick and lying down, so I have to work alone.” A housewife singing class instructor has a professional characteristic that requires exaggerated Chuimsae in order to quickly draw the students’ attention. Understanding and acting all of this is different from acting without understanding. The former is a reproduction with a pathos, but the latter is likely to be a dry ridicule. And carefully observing the behavior of an unfamiliar partner and trying to understand the insides and circumstances behind them is very similar to love. If you don’t have affection, how can you understand the deep feelings of someone else? What is interesting is that the places where Kim Shin-young’s affection touches are somewhere. Among these gem-like characters that Kim Shin-young has played with her whole body, it is difficult to find people who hold such wealth, fame, and power. A ‘Petit’ aunt from Russia I met while working part-time, ‘Petit’, the president of a water leisure company who floats a barge in Gapyeong and receives banana boat guests, and sighs, saying that she is driving a surrogate following work because she has to send her fourth child to an English kindergarten. A man in Jeolla-do who is resting well… . The people that Shin-Young Kim has carefully looked at and tried to understand and have stored in her head are people who have neither money, fame, power, or even special specialties—these are common long-distance directors that you will likely meet if you step out the door right now. Kim Shin-young captures cute and funny moments in the words and actions of such common people and spreads them to the world in the form of a situation play. Look, our ordinary neighbours are so lovely. So, she is Kim Shin-young, even before she became the host of 〈National Singing Proud〉, she was already willing to join us. In fact, even before Song Hae passed away, the question of who would be the next host of the National Singing Contest was a matter of great interest. Heo Cham, which Song Hae had filmed himself, died before Song Hae did, and Lee Sang Byeok, whom many people thought was a red line, was already over 70 years old. Still, that didn’t change the fact that some of the biggest competitors were aiming for the position. Lee Su-geun and Kang Ho-dong secretly revealed that they wanted to inherit the position whenever they had the opportunity, and Nam Hee-seok said in public that he wanted to be his successor. Raw meat beat the candidates and when Kim Shin-young’s name was called, some people were surprised, saying it was “an unexpected appointment.” However, those who have seen Kim Shin-young’s comedy for a long time were not surprised. From the beginning of her debut, to a veteran who has accumulated experience in all kinds of events while traveling around the country, her attachment to breaking down the boundaries of others, her passion for dancing and singing, and above all, her affectionate gaze towards people. Kim Shin-young is a person who is ready to inherit the core of her spirit that Song Hae has kept for more than 30 years while hosting 〈National Song Proud〉. She said, “After going through a lot of people, she may actually be exhausted physically, but with her love and heart, I think she was the longest-lived MC. I want to learn a little more regarding her love.” In an interview with ‘KBS News’, Kim Shin-young picked her ‘love for people’ as a virtue she wanted to learn from her predecessor, Song Hae. For more than 30 years, she has met so many people, hugged, ate food put in her mouth, laughed and cried and played together. . Well, if that were the case, she wouldn’t be as good as Kim Shin-young. Treating her ordinary neighbor with affection was already something he had always done. Song Hae’s routine of visiting the local area a day before the recording, looking for a public bath, and meeting local people at the market would not be too difficult for Kim Shin Young. All the places where he has met the owner of the restaurant and the lady of the three gentlemen until now must have been streets and public baths.
What Shin-Young Kim has been doing all along
People are looking forward to how much younger Kim Shin-young’s progress will make . Young viewers will come in, and the useful life of the program will be very long. I am looking forward to how deep Kim Shin-young’s comedy can go while holding ‘National Singing Contest’ in my heart. Obviously, he will open up a space for the participants he met through 〈National Singing Contest〉 to stand out on stage, and he will discover, observe, and store extraordinary moments in them. Then once more, lovingly return them to the world in the form of a situation play. Bringing out lovely moments from the three long-standing directors all over Korea is what ‘National Singing Contest’ has been doing all these years, and what Shin-Young Kim has been doing throughout her career.
TV columnist. When I came to my senses, I was a common writer in the neighborhood who made a living watching TV.
