The new entertainment show “I Am a Man” will cut the tape next month. Meanwhile, people are waiting to see if Yoo Jae-seok’s first new show in four years since SBS “Running Man” will prove that it is worthy of the sensation it has already created. First of all, the pilot show that aired in April was promising. It signaled the birth of a new type of talk show that only Yoo Jae-seok can pull off with some 250 men talking back and forth at a ping-pong-game pace. According to Nielsen Korea, it received only 4.1% viewers’ rating, the lowest among the programs that aired at the same time, but it was only 0.8% behind the foremost runner MBC “Radio Star.”

“I Am a Man” is an audience-participation program like “Hello” and “Gag Concert.” As with every program in which the regular audience plays a crucial role, it comes with a big risk factor. As the main host of the show, Yoo Jae-seok faces a bigger challenge than in “Happy Together” or “Running Man.” However, in the pilot program, he was backed up by a variegated group of entertainers—Noh Hong-chul, Lim Won-hee, Jang Dong-min, Heo Gyeong-hwan, and Lim Si-wan—and together they led the talk show like a well-organized network that caught every humor code in the audience. 

Encouraged by the promising start, “I Am a Man” will enter the regular programming schedule and liven up KBS weekday entertainment. The production team is hard at work, not distracted by all the attention falling upon the new program hosted by the biggest name in show business. “I Am a Man” has long been a candidate for regular programming along with other entertainment shows. After the pilot program, it underwent numerous improvements to create a program of a higher quality. The pilot program was greedy to show as much as possible in the given time, but the regular program will maintain more order and give more entertainment. However, the program will not deviate from the original concept of having a large, all-male audience.

The first shoot is slated for the 27th with the first air date set for August. The program is currently looking for men who are surrounded by women in their daily environment, men who have lost more than 10kg, tone-deaf men who are scared of karaoke, and foreigners who are like Koreans. Yoo Jae-seok’s new talk show “I Am a Man” will soon prove whether it can keep the public’s interests going.