[Exclusive]"Second heyday" Kim Younghee "False malicious comments, I was scared and anxious" [Interview 1]

*This content was translated by AI.

• New Year's plan for the 2026 丙午 Year ★ Interview

Comedian Kim Young-hee (42) has opened up her second heyday.

In fact, Kim Young-hee is one of the strong players who passed the difficult public recruitment exam three times. After the 1st OBS open recruitment in 2008 and the 18th MBC open recruitment in 2009, he began his career as a comedian for the 25th open recruitment of KBS in 2010.

Since then, KBS 2TV's "Gag Concert" has hit the "Last Love" section, resulting in a big buzzword called "angdaeyeo (no)." In the end, Kim Young-hee won the KBS Entertainment Awards in 2014, four years after winning the Rookie of the Year award. In addition, at the 50th Baeksang Arts Awards that year, he won the TV category 'Entertainment Award' alongside national comedian Shin Dong-yup.

A decade later, Kim Young-hee finally succeeded in making a comeback with laughter, although she once experienced a crisis to the point where her life in the entertainment industry was completely shaken. In 2018, he was embroiled in a controversy over unfair debt due to his insulated father. Since then, Kim Young-hee's mother and daughter have taken moral responsibility and paid back more than the principal amount.

After overcoming the past hour, Kim Young-hee made an all-time achievement last year, being named the first "grand prize candidate" after her debut. At the "2025 KBS Entertainment Awards," he competed for the Grand Prize with prominent candidates such as broadcasters Jeon Hyun-moo, Boom, comedian Kim Sook, actors Park Bo-gum, Koyote Kim Jong-min, and singer Lee Chan-won.

Unfortunately, he only won the "Entertainer of the Year" award, but it is a meaningful achievement because he was the only candidate to win the trophy with the authentic comedy show "Gag Concert." In addition, Kim Young-hee's new sub-character (Lictor) and "Malja Grandmother" were also recognized as meaningful moments. He made the corner "Malja Grandmother" in the "Gag Concert" popular, eventually expanding it to a variety show "Malja Show" and winning regular programming. Starting with the broadcast at 9:30 p.m. on the 19th, the "Malja Show" will visit viewers every Monday afternoon.

As a result, Kim Young-hee, who is drawing attention as the "second heyday," was running steadily in the new year without getting excited. Currently, Kim Young-hee is working without an agency. Kim Young-hee, who recently visited Star News' headquarters in Gwanghwamun, Jongno-gu, Seoul, driving alone in the makeup of "Grandma Malja."

"I thought (the news of the grand prize candidate) was a lie," he said. When I first heard about it, I was very puzzled and worried more. I was burdened with bad words because I thought I couldn't be a black cat. But I was surprised that many good articles came out," he said, showing humility.

Kim Young-hee said, "In the past, Park Joon-hyung won the grand prize only with 'Gag Concert'. Now that such historical events are over, my colleagues were so happy, and this meaningful honor came to me, so I feel proud as a comedian. "The prize is real when you ride it down, but the feeling of being recognized was actually very good," he said.

He said, "A lot of people say 'the second heyday' these days, but actually, I didn't come like this all the time." -It had dropped to 100. It was also hard to make it zero again. I thought I had only reached zero, but everyone around me told me that I had passed zero," he said.

Even though the suspicion of "debt-too" has been cleaned up, reckless rumors still follow and the wound is bound to deepen. Kim Young-hee said, "Even now, I'm scared and so anxious to read the comments. Being nominated for the grand prize should be more enjoyable and happy as it goes well, but it is not. As a "grandmother to speak to," I said, "Think about tomorrow, look far away and go crazy," but I couldn't live according to the advice. Because of false information, I also tried to quit the 'Gag Concert'. In the first episode, I turned on the comment box at the Yunhyeong-bin theater and watched a group show in real time, but I was scared and didn't go. In fact, the response was not good, so I quit because I thought it would be helpful if I didn't do a gag concert."

He then said, "My juniors caught me, who were going to give up at the time. I received a long text message from my juniors, who didn't usually get along well, and said, 'Oh, this is real.' "Thanks to this, I was able to capture all my heart," he said, expressing his affection for the "Gag Concert" team.

Soon after, Kim Young-hee said, "Vicious comments are being handed over to the lawyer. It's so hard for things that aren't true to come up, so I don't watch it. Instead, the lawyer searched for it and said, "I'm watching everything."

Kim Young-hee said, "I can't wake up if it collapses again," and I actually thought this until the last few days, but I changed my mind. Bum-kyun listened to me and said that. It's not a person who can't stand up when you collapse, but a person who's "woke" even though you've collapsed like that. I changed my mind when I said, "I want you to change your mind like that," he said, exuding positive energy.

Of course, this driving force was 'comedy'. Kim Young-hee said, "I really love comedy. I'm the most like that when I'm doing comedy," he said, giving me a glimpse of his sincerity more than anyone else.

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*This content was translated by AI.