Korean comedy movies

A Korean comedy troupe the Ongals can’t speak a word of English. But about five years ago, the quartet bravely set off overseas and has been generating big laughs ever since.

The group’s name comes from the Korean word for the babbling of a baby. As the name implies, the Ongals only babble on stage - each member wearing bright polka-dot pajamas and bibs - while amusing audiences with impressive slapstick, miming, beatboxing and juggling in an always-comical way. It may seem the Ongals were on a roll in Korea so they decided to take the act abroad, but in fact, it was the opposite. 

Four comedians teamed up and formed the Ongals for a skit on KBS’s sketch-comedy show “Gag Concert” in 2007. At first, the four bulky men doing a circus-like performance, each wearing tight long johns and bibs with a white smear of paint underneath their noses to make them look like drooling adult babies, was a refreshing source of laughs for Korean audiences. But the skit only lasted six months. When this happens, it’s natural for comedians to form a new team and a new skit. But the Ongals took a different tack by leaving behind the local silver screen and going abroad. 

For the past five years, the troupe has been touring internationally, visiting various comedy festivals including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Montreux Comedy Festival in Switzerland, the International Buskers Festival in New Zealand and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in Australia. In 2014, the Ongals became the first Asian group to receive the Special Commendation Directors’ Choice Award at the Melbourne event.

Finally noticing their contribution in popularizing Korean comedy abroad, the Korean government awarded them a commendation signed by the minister of culture, sports and tourism last year, and they became the first comedians to perform at the Seoul Arts Center.

But leaving their glory behind, the Ongals once again headed overseas, and last Monday, they performed at the Sydney Opera House for the 12th Sydney Comedy Festival Gala. 

The group’s overseas publicist, the Korean Artist Development Agency (KADA), said Wednesday that all 2,000 seats at the opera house were full and that the team was surrounded by local media after the show. After the gala, the group had seven more performances scheduled in Sydney through today. 
Xem tại: korean movies