[Sportschosun reporter Jeong An-ji] Comedian Kwak Bum recalled the difficult period after Gag Concert was canceled, when he had to sell even his family's precious possessions to make ends meet.
On the 26th, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) released a preview for Omniscient Interfering View titled, "I Should Do More When They Call Me": Kwak Bum Handles Three or Four Engagements a Day While Thinking About His Difficult Days.
Kwak Bum is currently active across television and YouTube. He said, "It has been months since I took even a single day off." Even so, whenever new bookings came in, he arranged his schedule like a game of Tetris and handled three or four engagements in a single day.
Kwak Bum explained why he willingly takes on such a demanding schedule, saying, "Shouldn't I do it when they call me? This isn't the time to whine that I'm tired." He added, "I spent four years preparing to become a comedian, then debuted on Gag Concert in 2012 and worked there for eight years." However, after Gag Concert was canceled, uncertainty began to cloud his future. Kwak Bum confessed, "I was worried about how I would make a living the very next month," and added, "I even thought about retiring as a comedian, moving to a rural area, and starting a beef radish soup business."
Still, he did not give up and continued producing content, but even that was far from easy. Eventually, during a financially difficult period, he had to sell even his family's belongings to cover their living expenses.
Kwak Bum recalled the time when he had to dispose of precious possessions to support his family, saying, "My wife, who had been a nurse, sold the designer handbag she had splurged on before we got married. As our financial situation worsened, she said, 'We don't need it,' and sold it to cover our living expenses. We also sold the gold rings our two daughters had received as first-birthday gifts."
He said he encountered an unexpected turning point: "Just as I was seriously thinking, 'This is really the end. I guess it's time to wrap things up as a comedian,' phone calls gradually started coming in."
Kwak Bum explained why he has been working without a break, saying, "Comedians started reacting to my YouTube content, saying it was funny. The views began to explode. Since then, I've continued doing it to this day, so whenever someone calls me, I somehow carve out three hours to film, then create and shoot content while I'm on the road."
anjee85@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
