''Saturday Night Live Korea'' (; abbreviated as ''SNL Korea'' () or simply as ''SNLK'') is a South Korean late-night

live television Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television where all viewers watch the same stream simultaneously, rather than watching vide ...

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

and

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

. It is adapted from the long-running American TV show ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, and the show's

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

s are

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian and American television writer and film producer. He created and produced ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and produced the ''Late Night (franchise) ...

and Jennifer Danielson from

SNL Studios SNL Studios (also known as "Saturday Night Live Studios") is an American production company founded in 1997 as a joint venture between ''Saturday Night Live'' creator and producer Lorne Michaels, NBC Studios, and Paramount Pictures. Paramount's ...

and

Broadway Video Broadway Video is an American multimedia entertainment studio founded by Lorne Michaels, creator of the sketch comedy TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' and producer of other television programs and movies. Broadway Video also held the rights to m ...

, which licenses the format. Originally broadcast by generalist cable network tvN, the weekly program ran from 3 December 2011 to 18 November 2017, and aired on Saturdays at 22:50 KST. In 2021, the format was revived by

Coupang Play Coupang Play () is a South Korean video on demand over-the-top streaming television service launched by Coupang in December 2020. It is based on the former Hooq's assets. After the 2022 '' Saturday Night Live Korea'' sketch lampooning Korean pre ...

, and the show premiered on the streaming platform on September 4, 2021, at 22:00 KST.

History

Season one

Written and directed by filmmaker and playwright

Jang Jin Jang Jin (born February 24, 1971) is a South Korean film director, theatre director, playwright, screenwriter, film producer, actor, and TV personality. Career Jang dreamed of becoming a musician in middle school, but his ambition changed when ...

, the show was officially announced on November 24, 2011, at a roundtable press conference in

Cheongdam-dong Cheongdam-dong () is a ward of Gangnam District, Seoul, South Korea. The area is best known in South Korea as an affluent neighborhood populated by a disproportionately high number of high-income individuals and for having some of the most expens ...

. The original cast was composed of 17 members:

Ahn Young-mi Ahn Young-mi (, born November 5, 1983), is a South Korean comedian. She made her debut in KBS' ''Gag Concert'' 19th class in 2004 and is best known for her provocative wit. In 2018, she joined the comedy-girl group Celeb Five. Young-mi is also k ...

Lee Han-wi Lee Han-wi (born June 17, 1961) is a South Korean actor. Since his acting debut in 1983, Lee has become a prolific supporting actor on Korean film and television. He is particularly known for his mastery of ad-libbing. Personal life Lee marr ...

Jung Woong-in Jung Woong-in (; born January 20, 1971) is a South Korean actor. He is known for his television series ''Ojakgyo Family'', '' I Can Hear Your Voice'' and Netflix film '' Seoul Vibe''. Early life Jung Woong-in was born on January 20, 1970, in ...

, Kim Bin-woo,

Jang Young-nam Jang Young-nam (; born November 25, 1973) is a South Korean actress. She began her career as an acclaimed actress in theater, then transitioned to supporting roles on television and film, notably in works by director Jang Jin. A member of Jang J ...

Kim Won-hae Kim Won-hae (; born April 6, 1969) is a South Korean actor. Since his debut in musical in 1991, Kim Won-hae worked on stage in plays and musicals before joining the non-verbal performance Nanta as an original member in 1997. He is best known a ...

, Lee Hae-young, Lee Chul-min, Lee Sang-hoon, Park Joon-seo, Kim Ji-young, Kim Ji-kyung, Min Seo-hyun, Han Seo-jin,

Go Kyung-pyo Go Kyung-pyo (; born June 11, 1990) is a South Korean actor. He gained recognition for his roles in the television series ''Reply 1988'' (2015–16), '' Don't Dare to Dream'' (2016), and '' Chicago Typewriter'' (2017). He has since transitioned ...

, and

Kim Seul-gi Kim Seul-gi (; born October 10, 1991) is a South Korean actress. She is known for starring in the television series ''Oh My Ghost (South Korean TV series), Oh My Ghost'' (2015) and ''Splash Splash Love, Splash Love'' (2015), as well as the fil ...

. The premiere episode on December 3, 2011, was hosted by actor

Kim Joo-hyuk Kim Joo-hyuk (3 October 1972 – 30 October 2017) was a South Korean actor. He was known for his leading roles in the films ''My Wife Got Married'' (2008), '' The Servant'' (2010), and '' Yourself and Yours'' (2016), his supporting roles in '' C ...

. Then-

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

and head writer

spoke about the difficulties in recruiting guests, saying "When you’re offering a film, you give them a script, ask them how it is and if they say no, say that's good and turn around, but to get people to appear in this show, I had to beg. I even asked them to appear on the show by giving them my next movie script." The first season ran from December 3, 2011, to January 21, 2012, for eight episodes.

Season two

The second season ran from May 26 to July 14, 2012, for eight episodes. The cast members were

, Kang Sung-jin,

, Jung Sung-ho,

Kim Min-kyo Kim Min-kyo (, born April 15, 1974) is a South Korean actor and director. He is well known as a cast member ('crew') on the tvN entertainment show ''Saturday Night Live Korea''. Career He has been performing as a stage actor on several Korea ...

, Lee Sang-hoon, Jung Myung-ok, Kang Yu-mi, Im Hye-young, Park Sang-woo,

, Kwon Hyeok-su,

, and

Season three

The third season ran from September 8 to November 15, 2012, for seventeen episodes. The cast members were

, Shin Dong-yup,

, Jung Sung-ho, Park Sang-woo,

, Jung Myung-ok, Lee Sang-hoon, Oh Cho-hee, Jang Yoon-seo, Son Bo-min,

Seo Yu-ri Seo Yu-ri (; born February 8, 1985) is a South Korean television and voice actress, cosplayer and video jockey. She is known as a cast member on television shows, including ''Saturday Night Live Korea'', a late-night live television sketch com ...

, Han Seo-jin, Kwon Hyeok-su,

, and

Season four

The fourth season ran from February 2 to November 23, 2013, for 38 episodes.

Jay Park Jay Park (born April 25, 1987), Korean name Park Jae-beom (), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer based in South Korea. He is a member of the Seattle-based breakdancing, b-boy crew Art of Movement (AOM), and founder and former ...

and Park Eun-ji joined as regular cast members (they had both previously hosted in season 3). Meanwhile,

, and Oh Cho-hee exited the program. The season 4 cast members were Shin Dong-yup,

, Lee Sang-hoon,

, Jung Sung-ho, Jung Myung-ok, Kwon Hyeok-su, Park Sang-woo,

, Lee Byung-jin, Jin Won,

, and Park Eun-ji. New cast additions later in the season were Choi Il-gu,

Yoo Se-yoon Yoo Se-yoon (; born September 12, 1980) is a South Korean comedian and television comedy show host. He hosts and co-hosts a variety of shows, in addition to being a part of musical/comedic duo, UV. Yoo has been a part of shows such as South Kor ...

, 2EYES, and

Clara Clara may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Clara'' (2018 film), a Canadian sci-fi drama * ''Clara'' (2019 film), a Ukrainian animated fantasy film * ''Clara'' (TV series), a German TV series * Clara the Cow, mascot of the Greek TV show '' P ...

. Jin Won exited the show on episode 18, and

did the same on episode 24. Directors Ahn Sang-hee, Baek Seung-ryong, Kim Min, and Yoo Sung-mo are described them as "SNL Korea's F4."

Season five

The fifth season ran on March 1, 2014, to November 29, 2014, for 35 episodes.

Narsha Park Hyo-jin (; born December 28, 1981), better known by her stage name Narsha, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known as a member of the South Korean girl group Brown Eyed Girls. Her stage name, Narsha, is derived from the te ...

and Seo Eun-kwang (

BtoB B2B, B to B, or B-to-B may refer to: Sports * B2B, a controversial and short lived class in the 1979 Sidecar World Championship * Bay to Breakers, an annual footrace in San Francisco, California on the third Sunday of May * Budapest-Bamako, now t ...

) joined as regular cast members, while

exited the program. ''

Weekend Update ''Weekend Update'' is a ''Saturday Night Live'' sketch and satirical news program that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest-running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast and been featu ...

'' was discontinued, and replaced by a mini-talk show hosted by

You Hee-yeol You Hee-yeol (; born April 19, 1971) is a South Korean singer-songwriter, radio disk jockey, and the host of ''You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook''. He is the founder of the record label Antenna Music and the sole member of the project band Toy. Biogr ...

Season six

The sixth season started on February 14, 2015, and stopped on June 20, 2015, for a temporary hiatus for the airing of The Genius: Grand Final. It resumed on September 19, 2015, and ran until December 19, 2015.

2021 revival

On February 17, 2021, NBCUniversal Formats and Broadway Video Enterprise announced that SNL Korea will have a new season, produced this time by

AStory AStory () is a South Korean drama production and marketing company based in Seoul. It was established in 2004 by Lee Sang-baek together with his friends, drama writer Choi Wan-kyu and director You Chul-yong. List of works As production comp ...

. The series will air on

later in the same year.

Cast members

Current member

Musical theme of the opening and closing, and between segments, are performed by the band (커먼그라운드).

Former members

Format and segments

The Korean version follows a similar format as the American version, with a host, cast members and several skits for each episode. *

: News sketch that reviews the week's social, economic, and cultural issues. Anchored by

in Seasons 1–3. ** Wise Search for Life (슬기로운 탐구생활): This pre-recorded sub-segment of Weekend Update satirizes each week's most talked-about headlines and events. Voice narration by

. ** Dispatch SNL (출동 SNL): This live-skit is also a sub-segment of WU, and includes interviews by its correspondent . ** SNL Invitation (SNL 초대석): This live-skit, also a sub-segment of WU, involves a person (usually the episode's host, or sometimes a cast member) in a fake or actual situation related to the week's best-known events. *

SNL Digital Short An ''SNL'' Digital Short is one in a series of comedic and often musical video shorts created for NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. The origin of the Digital Short brand is credited to staff writer Adam McKay, who created content for the show in ...

: Comedic and musical pre-recorded "video shorts" which are performed by SNLK cast members and hosts each week (usually one or two per episode). Their most popular shorts are their ''

Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is an action-adventure video game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is prima ...

'' parodies, ranging from the Joseon period to modern military. * Lee Oung-don PD's Eatable X-File: Since the latter episodes of season 3, each week Shin Dong-yup (in the role of Production Director Lee Oung-don ��엉돈 PD takes 3 or 4 kinds of food from the hands of other cast members for fun, to judge whether it's suitable to eat or not, then runs away quickly. It is a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of Channel A's

infotainment Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of inform ...

program '. * Sa-gwa Shilup (사과실업): This is an occasional skit that adopts a business presentation style, for advertising peculiar products. Moderated by Shin Dong-yup, while wearing clothes and make-up similar to

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

co-founder

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...

Ratings

The season finale of season two, broadcast on July 14, 2012, was hosted by

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

Super Junior Super Junior (; stylized in all caps), also known as SJ or SuJu, is a South Korean boy band. The group is composed of Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Siwon, Donghae, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun. Han Geng, Kibum, and ...

, which was the first non-music program they appeared in as part of the promotion for their sixth studio album ''

Sexy, Free & Single ''Sexy, Free & Single'' (reissue name ''Spy'') is the sixth Korean studio album of South Korean boy band Super Junior. It was released on July 4, 2012, by SM Entertainment, distributed by KMP Holdings and available from online music portal site ...

''. According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, the episodes achieved a nationwide rating of 1.334%. Episode 13 of season 3, broadcast on December 1, 2012, and hosted by

, achieved a nationwide rating of 1.54%, with a peak of 1.85%. It recorded 1.04% ratings in the 20 to 49 age group, as well as 1.96% with a peak of 2.49% for women in their 40s, making it the most-watched program in its time slot for both age groups.

Season 8 controversies

Nearing the conclusion of Season 8 in 2016, an episode that featured the boy band

B1A4 B1A4 () is a South Korean boy band formed by WM Entertainment. The group debuted on April 23, 2011, with the single "O.K" from the EP '' Let's Fly'', after being introduced to the public through a webtoon. They have released nine studio albums ...

, SNL Korea released a behind-the-scenes video on their

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. The video features an introduction of the band and discussion of their upcoming appearance. As soon as the members are formally introduced, a group of female staff members

grope Groping is a form of sexual harassment involving the intentional inappropriate touching of another person commonly without their consent. The term generally has a negative connotation in many societies. Touching a consenting person's body d ...

the band members' genitals and run off. The video was taken off of the show's Facebook shortly after along with an apology to the members of B1A4. However, shortly after the incident, boy bands

INFINITE Infinite may refer to: Mathematics *Infinite set, a set that is not a finite set *Infinity, an abstract concept describing something without any limit Music Performers *Infinite (group), a South Korean boy band *Infinite (rapper), Canadian ra ...

and

Block B Block B () is a South Korean boy band managed by KQ Entertainment, and consists of seven members: Taeil, B-Bomb, Jaehyo, U-Kwon, Park Kyung, Zico, and P.O. Block B has received several accolades, including nominations for seven Golden Disc ...

released videos on their twitters under the hashtag "SNL_성추행" ('SNL

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...

') stating that this behavior was common on the show. A

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

case was filed by petition agency, E-People, against comedian

Lee Se-young Lee Se-young (; born December 20, 1992) is a South Korean actress. She debuted as a child actress in 1997 and was best known for her roles in '' Dae Jang Geum'' (2003), '' When I Turned Nine'' (2004), ''Lovely Rivals'' (2004), and ''The Wonder ...

but the charges were eventually dropped. SNL Korea was met with heavy criticism after airing a sketch that featured a joke about actress

Um Aing-ran Um Aing-ran (; born March 20, 1936) is a South Korean actress. She has starred in about 190 films, and gained a popularity with the image of "a cheerful female college student" in the 1960s. Her marriage with Shin Seong-il, a colleague actor and ...

's chest. Um had been diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

earlier in the year and underwent surgery. Jung Yi-rang, the actress who portrayed Um in the sketch, was unaware of the severity of the condition and issued an apology to Um. Season 8 of the SNL Korea ended on December 24, 2016, with singer

Hwang Chi-yeul Hwang Chiyeul (; born 3 December 1982) is a South Korean singer. Outside his career as a solo artist, he has also hosted '' Immortal Songs 2'' and competed in the Chinese version of singing competition show '' I Am a Singer''. He made his offic ...

as the last host. tvN issued a statement saying that the show will return for another season but "with a new image".

List of episodes and guests

Awards and nominations

References

External links

''SNL Korea'' official tvN website
* * * {{TVN (South Korea) Variety Programs TvN (South Korean TV channel) original programming South Korean variety television shows 2011 South Korean television series debuts 2010s satirical television series 2020s satirical television series 2010s television sketch shows 2020s television sketch shows Korean-language television shows

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

South Korean television series based on American television series Coupang Play original programming

History

Season one

Season two

Season three

Season four

Season five

Season six

2021 revival

Cast members

Current member

Former members

Format and segments

Ratings

Season 8 controversies

List of episodes and guests

Awards and nominations

See also

References

External links