Jeong Hyeong-don

Jeong Hyeong-don
Born	(1978-02-07) February 7, 1978 Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea
Medium	Stand-up, television
Nationality	South Korean
Years active	2002-present
Genres	Comedy, Entertainment
Influences	Yoo Jae-suk, Park Myeong-su
Influenced	Noh Hong-chul, Gil Seong-joon, Jeong Ga-eun
Spouse	Han Yu-ra, television writer
Notable works and roles	Member of Infinite Challenge and Gag Concert

Jeong Hyeong-don (born February 7, 1978^[1]) is a South Korean comedian and entertainer under FNC Entertainment.

Biography

After graduating Busan Electronic Technical (senior) High School in 1996, he worked for Samsung Electronics in Suwon as an engineer. Before entering the Korean entertainment industry, he was a member of a comedy team with his colleagues at Samsung.^[2]

He made his television debut on KBS Gag Concert in 2002 with a segment called "Doremi Trio" (도레미 트리오). In this segment, he sang excerpts of K-pop songs with comedic punches at the end. He then joined various segments of MBC's Sunday Sunday Night and Exclamation! and KBS2's Imagination Plus and a host and performer. In 2005, he became a regular host on MBC's Infinite Challenge.

In 2008, he joined the cast of the marriage simulation show We Got Married. He was initially paired with television personality Saori until her departure from the show, after which he assumed a hosting role alongside Crown J and Seo In Young. After their departure in January 2009, Jung was grouped into a husband-and-wife pair with Taeyeon of Girls' Generation per her request. The match caused a major uproar among netizens due to the couple's 11-year age difference and the large fanbase surrounding Taeyeon and Girls' Generation. The relationship ended after a format change in the show and Hyungdon's pre-existing romantic relationship at the time of filming.

He and rapper Defconn became co-hosts for the MBC Every1 program Weekly Idol in July 2011. In June 2015, Jung was officially signed to FNC Entertainment.

Anxiety disorder

On November 12, 2015, FNC Entertainment announced that Hyeong-don would halt all activities due to a worsening of his anxiety disorder, making it difficult for him to continue appearing on television.^[3][4] At the time Hyeong-don was involved in several TV shows, including Infinite Challenge, Please Take Care of My Refrigerator, Weekly Idol, and more. The following day, Hyeong-don was hospitalized for his anxiety disorder.^[5][6]

Hyeong-don's sudden departure left the producers of his shows in a difficult situation. Whereas Infinite Challenge went on relying on the remaining cast members without a direct replacement, and Weekly Idol invited idols who were friends of Hyeong-don to be special hosts of the show in his absence, producers of Please Take Care of My Refrigerator found it difficult to find hosts to fill in, and Hyeong-don officially withdrew from the show permanently on January 6, 2016.^[7]

Originally scheduled to return to Infinite Challenge in July 2016, the burden of returning to the high-profile show was too much for Hyeong-don,^[8] and on July 29, 2016 it was announced that Hyeong-don would permanently leave the show.^[9]

On September 13, 2016, shortly after making a brief cameo on Infinite Challenge's Infinite Company special, it was announced that Hyeong-don would return to his hosting role on Weekly Idol for their October 5th episode, ending his 11-month break from television activities.^[10]

Infinite Challenge

Characters

He is a founding member of MBC's flagship real-variety comedy program Infinite Challenge. During early episodes, he presents his ability for anything, except making people laugh. That makes his character as an "Awkward Piggy" (어색한 뚱보). He has the least amount of nicknames among the members of Infinite Challenge. This was pointed out on the 100th Episode (101st on TV) during the 100 minute debate. He is often seen as amusement because he can do anything well besides entertaining. In the 100th Episode (101st on TV), he was doing archery and was to get exactly 100 points, he often hit high points and got up to 100 points pretty quickly for a first-timer. But he went over 100 and was scolded by members because none of them so far succeeded in any of the 100th Episode competitions.

On January 1, 2011, during its 230th episode broadcast, he awarded MuDo Member of the year 2010, with almost half of the netizens on iMBC.com voting for him. (49 percent; 8,940 votes). He received twice as many votes as the highly recognized and host-in-chief of the program, Yoo Jae-suk(4,393 votes; 24%). During his acceptance speech, he said "It took a 5 and a half years from 'Awkward Piggy' to 'Mijon Gaeoh'.(an abbreviation of 'Michin Jonjaegam Gaehwadong Orangejok, see below). My victory presents to everyone that even an ordinary person (like me) can reach the top".^[11]

However, as time progressed, he was slowly able to become funny on his own. He and fellow co-host, Jeong Jun-ha, dubbed as "Jung Brothers", due to their similar family name, and "Fatty Brothers". Unlike Jun-ha's timid personality, Hyeong-don is more aggressive, more witty and highly active despite his stature. He usually makes fun of himself through body gags and any slapstick activities, gaining him the nickname "Crazy Presence" (미친 존재감 Michin Jonjaegam). His other famous nickname is "Gaehwadong Orange Gang" (개화동 오렌지 Gaehwadong Orangejok) due to his fashion style that was teased by other members as "20 years late" (Orange Gang being an old term used for decadent youth fashion during the 1980s and Gaehwadong being the name of suburb where he formerly lived at that time). He also considered Big Bang's leader, G-Dragon, who is notable for being a fashion icon, as his greatest rival. Every time the latter made guest appearances on the show, he always threatened to change G-Dragon's fashion.

Hyungdon and Daejun

In June 2012, he formed a hip-hop duo with rapper Defconn. Their collaborations have been released under the moniker Hyungdon and Daejun.^[12]

In 2015, he rapped on Lizzy's (Orange Caramel, After School) first digital single "Not An Easy Girl."

Personal life

On September 13, 2009, he married his girlfriend, television comedy scriptwriter Han Yu-ra.^[13] The couple welcomed their first children, twin daughters, on December 11, 2012.^[14] He graduated at University of Induck.

Television appearances

Former programs

• MBC's Infinite Challenge (무한도전) Co-host (2005-2016)
• MBC Every1's Weekly Idol (주간 아이돌) Co-host with Yoo Dae-joon (Since 2011)
• KBS2's Our Neighborhood Arts and Physical Education (2014-2015)
• KBS2's Gag Concert (개그 콘서트, 2002)
• MBC's Sunday Sunday Night (단비 Danbi, Helping for Developing Countries) Co-host since 2010
• KBS2's Explore TV-Cool Guys (TV탐험 멋진친구들) Co-Host
• KBS2's Imagination Plus (상상플러스, 2005~2007) Co-Host
• SBS's Mystery Commandos(미스터리 특공대,2008)
• tvN's Rollercoaster (재밌는TV 롤러코스터, 2009~) Leading actor with Jeong Ga-eun
• SBS's GO Show (고쇼, 2012) Co-Host
• KBS2's "Ba-ra-dun Bada"-Pilot (바라던 바다, 2013) Co-Host
• QTV's "Uh-rap Show!" (어랍쇼, 2013) Co-Host
• tvN's "Noon-Ssul-Mi" (눈썰미, 2013) Co-Host
• MBC Every1's Hitmaker (2014~2015) Co-host with Yoo Dae-joon
• JTBC's Please Take Care of My Refrigerator (냉장고를 부탁해, 2014-2015) Co-host with Kim Sung-joo^[15]

Awards

References

External links

• Jung Hyung Don at FNC Entertainment (Korean)