Skip to product information
The perfect joke called life
The perfect joke called life
Description
Book Introduction
A word from MD
The life story of entertainment guru Lee Kyung-kyu
The first essay by comedian Lee Kyung-kyu, who has been active for 45 years.
He has been continuously taking on new challenges since his debut, and he tells his honest story about life, work, and dreams.
This book, filled with the know-how accumulated through success and failure and the aspirations for the future, is like a perfect joke that makes you laugh with its unique wit but also touches the depths of your heart.
March 7, 2025. Essay PD Lee Ju-eun
★ Won the Grand Slam and Entertainment Awards from the three major broadcasting companies a total of 8 times
★ Highly recommended by broadcasters Yoo Jae-suk, Jeon Hyun-moo, Hong Jin-kyung, Chairman Son Joo-eun, and writer Kim Ho-yeon (《Inconvenient Convenience Store》)!

★ Includes a limited edition 'talisman photo card' by Lee Kyung-kyu, imbued with the energy to attract good luck.

The first essay by Lee Kyung-kyu, a comedian with 45 years of experience, who has been floating through comedy on the waves of life.

“Comedy is beautiful because it contains the joys and sorrows of life.
I love my life.
“That’s why I love comedy too.”

Lee Kyung-kyu, the first person in Korea to win the Grand Prize in Broadcasting and Entertainment in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, and who is still active as an entertainer in his 45th year, becoming a role model and inspiration to many juniors, has published his first essay, “The Perfect Joke Called Life.”
The author, who debuted as a first-generation MBC comedian in 1981 and has continued to explore and develop even as he has aged, has devoted his entire body and soul to learning and experiencing life, work, and dreams, armed with a love for life and a sense of responsibility, and has put all his dazzling stories into one book.

“It’s not about being good at something and lasting a long time, but about those who last a long time who become good at something.” The author has been able to maintain his position since his debut thanks to his horizontal attitude of learning from both seniors and juniors, his sense of duty to his work that allows him to endure and finish a recording he starts even if it means suffering a heart attack, and his courage to not hesitate in the face of new challenges.
Starting from a broadcasting station, he explored OTT and YouTube, and moved freely across the entertainment and film industries, shaking up the history of Korean popular culture. In the author's various episodes, we can encounter Lee Kyung-kyu's unique survival style, which refuses to stagnate, observes the changes in the world, and moves nimbly and flexibly, regardless of time or place.

“I am my own role model.” This book contains the honest life story of Lee Kyung-kyu, who believes that those who work hard can beat those who enjoy it, and proves this with his very existence.
In "Life's Perfect Joke," the author looks back on the time he spent breathlessly traveling across the country and the world without a single week of rest, and candidly shares his aspirations for a long and fulfilling life ahead.
When things get serious, it makes you chuckle, and a glass of Lee Kyung-kyu's signature joke that touches your heart with a strong alcoholic scent lingers is a bonus.
  • You can preview some of the book's contents.
    Preview

index
Recommendation
To begin with

Chapter 1: The Perfect Joke Called Life

I crossed the river of no return
The evolution of laughter
Panic brought by the stars
Between tension and loneliness
The last hunting left for humans
Silence in the waiting room
What a Chopstick-sized Blood Vessel Taught Us
1 million won cigarettes
Tightrope walking between hurt and joy
100-year rule
Recipe for sincerity

Chapter 2: Why do you leave when applause is given?

A world where people live by talent, not class
If I laugh and the production team laughs, the viewers will laugh.
The Birth of Public Interest Entertainment
Responsibilities that cannot be changed
Thirty-eight, late-blooming international student
On the End of Monopoly
One good name is worth a thousand words.
Gyeonggyu's second disciple
Don't look for precedents, be your own success story.
Brain hemorrhage and birthday party

Chapter 3 Things That Can't Be Done
It leaves me helpless

Boy and the Theater of Destiny's Three-Way Intersection
Beyond broadcasting, with broadcasting
Two universes born in one classroom
The last train to the unknown world
The rebellion of dialects
Whose revenge is it?
120 stage greetings
The fate of film
The last movie
Between main character and sub-character

Chapter 4: Perhaps I am born to hear this story.

Questions Asked by Three Women: Mother, Wife, and Daughter
Grandma's Chicken Gomtang
Bean sprouts and army
Mother's 20 Years
The unknown territory of wife
Moments as clear as crystal
The unfinished equation of a daughter
The future of marriage
Dog and Human Time
Anxiety behind the scenes
Textbook of Happiness

Chapter 5: Living Long and Bold

The one who survives is the winner.
Laughter has no expiration date.
The Age of Escape
eternal anxiety
Not small but great happiness
Lee Kyung-kyu's Day
On how to fly through the air called life
Life is about finding and ending
What Death Teaches Us
The difference between property and inheritance
There is no such thing as a beautiful ending

Detailed image
Detailed Image 1

Into the book
Sometimes I think life is a joke.
That's a perfect joke too.
Even if you worry about something endlessly, when it passes and you look back, you can just laugh.
If we can end our lives with a smile, we've all safely ended up making a joke of our lives.
In that sense, I think we are all comedians in our own lives.
--- p.14 From “Starting”

After yelling in front of the camera for so long, I now feel like the line between my real self and my character is blurring.
When I'm really angry, I get more confused.
'Am I really angry right now, or am I just pretending to be angry to make people laugh?' Now that I think about it, it seems like I've been misunderstood like that a lot.
But this too is a fate I must accept.
Now we have crossed the river of no return.
--- p.24 From "Crossing the River of No Return"

People are the same, but as time goes by, the names they are called by have also increased, including comedians, gagmen, and entertainers.
There won't be much difference.
Me too.
Nowadays, on TV, they call him the 'godfather of entertainment' and no longer call him a comedian.
For some reason, I feel drawn to the word comedian.
First of all, I'm a funny person.
--- p.28 From “The Evolution of Laughter”

I heard that Na Hoon-a, a fellow alumnus of Choryang Elementary School, announced his retirement and began his last national tour concert.
It's amazing that he decided his own ending.
For me, retirement is nothing else.
Fading from someone's memory is retirement.
The biggest wound is 'disappearance'.

As time goes by and I look back, the malicious comments were just small wounds to me.
What I'm really afraid of is not being chosen.
--- p.55 From “The Tightrope Walk of Wounds and Joy”

The programs I create serve as safety belts in my daily life.
If he gets caught driving under the influence, not only will comedian Lee Kyung-kyu suffer, but the symbol of traffic culture will also be ruined.
My 40 years of experience will be shattered in an instant.
So now I only drink in my neighborhood.
I leave the car at home and walk.
Once you start drinking, you never know what kind of symptoms will arise, so you have to get rid of them in the first place.
Some people say that entertainment changed the world.
But the truth is the opposite.
The program changed me.
To be a slightly better citizen, a slightly better person.
I had to put into practice the campaign I created first.
That is my destiny.
--- p.78 From “Irreplaceable Responsibilities”

TV and I have both gone through many changes.
From skit comedy to variety, from analog to digital, from terrestrial to OTT.
In 2023, Comedy Royale was broadcast worldwide on Netflix, and in 2024, Comedy Revenge was broadcast worldwide.
I have experienced all the changes firsthand, as if I were traveling through a time machine.
Sometimes I even went out and looked for it.
When something unfamiliar appears, if I ignore it because I don't know it, I will end up being the one to ignore it.
In 2022, I made a pledge while receiving an award from MBC.
I will never leave when I applaud.
I will endure to the end and survive.
--- p.110 From “Beyond Broadcasting, with Broadcasting”

I have never regretted my 45 years as a comedian.
I don't know how lucky I was to fail the play audition at that time.
Even if I had been lucky enough to get on stage, I wouldn't have been able to fully display my talents as much as a comedian.
No failure is permanent.
Only by opening and closing the doors of many failures can I boldly step into the door I've been waiting for.
--- p.123 From “The Rebellion of Dialects”

One day, I told my daughter that I would be her rock forever.
But this is my mistake.
Instead, I realized the surprising fact that I was rubbing myself against my daughter.
As parents get older, they become more dependent on their children.
I feel different every day.
Isn't this growth?
--- p.167 From “The Incomplete Equation of a Daughter”

“He who works hard cannot beat him who enjoys it.”
That's nonsense.
Those who enjoy it, just enjoy it.
A truly strong person is one who perseveres to the end.
The one who lasts the longest while showing only 70 percent is the winner.
It is wiser to keep going for a long time than to give it 100 percent from the beginning and quickly get tired and give up.

--- p.187 From “The Survivor is the Winner”

In the universe, we are smaller than a speck of dust, in time, we are a mere moment, but death makes life worth living.
The death of one person has a resonance as big as the universe.
Because I am there, there is Yerim, and because I have a daughter, there is Yerim's mother.
We are all connected like this.
To exist for each other and then quietly disappear, that is life and its value.
Death is just a period.
That's enough.
--- p.208 From “What Death Teaches Us”

Publisher's Review
★ Broadcasters Yoo Jae-suk, Jeon Hyun-moo, Hong Jin-kyung, and Lee Yoon-seok
Son Ju-eun (Chairman of Megastudy), Kim Ho-yeon (Author, "Inconvenient Convenience Store")
Highly recommended by Kwon Hae-bom (PD, “My Little Television”) and Jang Si-won (PD, “Strongest Baseball”)!

“Many people talk about it.
Leave when the applause starts.
"Why are you leaving when people are applauding? I will continue to work until even one person stops applauding." - From his acceptance speech at the 2022 MBC Entertainment Awards.

In 2022, when his name was called for the Merit Award at the MBC Entertainment Awards, Lee Kyung-kyu said his heart sank.
After observing for over 40 years, most of my seniors left the broadcasting industry after receiving this award.
This was essentially a message telling them to leave.
However, the author, who had no intention of backing down easily, expressed his determination to once again make waves across the nation with his extraordinary acceptance speech that caught everyone off guard.
He is Korea's representative 'godfather of entertainment' and the longest-serving comedian still active. Where does the driving force that keeps him challenging new things even as he gets older come from?

He left behind dozens of signature programs, but at the same time, he also encountered countless failures.
There have been programs that started out ambitiously only to be canceled without warning, and films that people poured their entire fortunes into ended up being ridiculed by the public.
However, the author says that the frustration and trials of that time were the foundation that made Lee Kyung-kyu who he is today.
Looking back, I can confidently say that the days of suffering were fun because they gave me time to plan and focus on my next direction, and that it was a thousand times better than regretting something.
Regrets tend to be greater when you worry too much and eventually give up.
The author vividly demonstrates, through stories from his own experiences, that the color of life changes depending on where we focus and where we give meaning.

“No failure is permanent.

I opened and closed the door of many failures, but when I finally found the door I had been waiting for
“You can boldly step into it.” _From the text


MC, comedian, broadcaster, film director, father and husband… .
The numerous adjectives that precede his name are proof that the author has constantly challenged himself, struggled, and lived his life to the fullest at every moment.
Repetition, responsibility, and sincerity.
The author, who considers the three essential elements of life as his life motto, has never missed a single week of broadcasting, except when he was studying abroad in Japan.
He shows his serious attitude towards work without holding back, thinking that when one person transfers, another one will transfer, and when a seat is vacated, someone will definitely take that seat.
As the saying goes, if something looks easy to others, then that person is a true expert. As a veteran, behind the skillful appearance, there is a hidden effort that moves quickly in an unseen place.
Listening to his story, I realized anew the importance of the essentials that we must always keep in mind when facing work and life.

As you go through life, you will realize that rather than sweet, honey-like words that are pleasant to hear, cool words that refresh your mind like a glass of cold water make your life better.
In a world where adults who can offer helpful and accurate advice are disappearing, "Life's Perfect Joke" is a book that can always be read when you desperately need the stories of seasoned adults who have accumulated life know-how through going through all kinds of hardships.


Even if you fall, get back up again
A Slapstick Life Essay by Natural Comedian Lee Kyung-kyu


In Chapter 1, 'Life's Perfect Joke', 'Human Lee Kyung-kyu', who lives a life like a joke that makes him laugh no matter how much he worries about something, looks back on his life, where he has gained and lost a lot, and talks about the enlightenment he has gained along the way.


Chapter 2, “Why Are You Leaving When People Applaud?”, tells of Lee Kyung-kyu’s unique survival strategy that has allowed him to survive for a long time as a representative entertainer of South Korea without losing his sharp sense.

In Chapter 3, “Things I Can’t Help Make Me Helpless,” Lee Kyung-kyu, a boy who grew up with movies as if by fate, talks about the movies he couldn’t help but love that played a decisive role at every turning point in his life, and vividly conveys the dazzling beauty of a life of dreams.


Chapter 4, “How did I come to be born and hear this story,” talks about my deep love for my daughter and family, who have been my rock for a long time, and my pet, who has been a strong pillar of support even during my panic disorder.

Chapter 5, 'Living Boldly and Long', contains Lee Kyung-kyu's strong determination and ambition to not settle for the past, but to move forward into the future, and to survive to the end, based on his philosophy of life that those who work hard can beat those who enjoy themselves.

In a world filled with perilous chaos, where new incidents and accidents occur every day, the story of an adult armed with guts and senses gives us courage.
If you follow the honest and unvarnished thoughts of Lee Kyung-kyu, you will eventually realize that life is a gigantic stage that you can only laugh off, and that we are all comedians of our own lives.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: March 12, 2025
- Page count, weight, size: 216 pages | 348g | 128*188*17mm
- ISBN13: 9791194246800
- ISBN10: 119424680X

You may also like

카테고리