The late patriarch of Korean comedy, Jeon Yoo-sung, was looking after his juniors right up to his final moments on Sept. 25―a humble, heartfelt kindness that’s left many moved.
In Episode 9 of the YouTube series “Rolling Thunder - New Women,” released Nov. 4, comedians Lee Kyung-sil and Cho Hye-ryun shared memories of the beloved star and expressed their grief.
“I’ve never seen the good stories keep coming this long after someone’s gone,” Lee said. “Yoo-sung oppa never hurt anyone, so all you hear is people saying thank you.”
Cho recalled, “He called me five days before he passed and said, ‘I’m going to die soon.’ I went to the hospital within a few days.” Lee added that when she phoned to say she’d come by, it was pouring rain. “He told me, ‘It’s going to be too hard for you to come―don’t come. The rain’s too heavy,’” she said.
When Lee and Cho arrived, Jeon’s protege Kim Shin-young was by his bedside. “He had an oxygen tube in, his hospital gown pulled aside, with two wet towels on his chest, and Shin-young kept changing them,” Lee said, praising Kim’s loyalty after she paused her broadcast schedule to stay with him until the end.
“Just hours before he passed, he slipped 100,000 won into an envelope and said, ‘Shin-young, fill up the tank―go get gas,’” Cho shared through tears, noting how Jeon was looking out for his student’s drive home even then. And in classic comic fashion, she turned the sorrow into a smile: “To be honest, with tolls and a coffee at the rest stop, 100,000 won is a little short. Kind of stingy, right?”
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)
