Child’s Play
Anyone who has visited South Korea in recent years has likely noticed that comedy variety shows are quite popular there. Instead of the one-on-one talk show format that is popular in the United States, these Korean productions typically feature a pack of mostly male performers standing before a camera in a public space, such as a parking lot, playground, city park, or large shopping mall. They talk, giggle, and lightly push one another in a juvenile manner before dispersing to change into tracksuit uniforms and play silly playground games, such as hide-and-seek, capture the flag, jump-rope, and rock-paper-scissors.
The losers of these games receive humiliating but ultimately harmless punishments; most often, they are denied a meal or a ride back to the studio. The more humiliating the punishment, the more cathartic the enjoyment viewers may feel.
One of these variety shows, , has been popular not only in South Korea but also in many other Asian countries. Since 2010, the show, which features middle-aged comedians competing with young K-pop singers, that has dominated the internet around the Pacific and beyond. Contemporary social media is filled with videos uploaded by ordinary people from all over Asia featuring copycat games inspired by .
