Sam Hammington is Korea’s first foreign comedian. He is Australian, but  has lived in Korea since 2002. Recently, Sam’s name has been mentioned a lot among Korean people, and he has become a Korean sensation. What happened to him?  You can find out here.

Click here to read “Australian Comedian, Korean Sensation: A Talk with Sam Hammington (1/2)”

Toonari Post (TP): You have been in Korea for ten years. How have you felt about Korea so far?

Sam Hammington (SH): It’s such a dynamic country. It changes so much. I mean it’s improving. That’s something really exciting. You don’t want to leave, because you don’t know what you’re going to miss out of it. Always something new and something dynamic is happening. Well, like any countries, there is good and bad. Coming from the country that is culturally diverse, it’s great to see the country like Korea where people come together as one, and support the country like World Cup events like that. That’s pretty amazing, but same talking, I think sometimes that can be scary. Particularly being non-Korean.

TP: Any tips for those who want to travel or move to Korea?

SH: What you need to realize, if you want to move to Korea, is you need to have a little bit thick skin. Laws and regulations probably are a little bit different what they are in other countries. The other thing you need to appreciate is Korea is one of the few homogeneous societies in the world. I think that’s something to admire, but it can also be seen as downfall in the way the world became so much smaller these days. Countries are so much closer than they used to be. I think you have to be not too sensitive when coming here. Things are going to be difficult. It’s going to be difficult to communicate with people and it’s going to be difficult to get things to be done. That can be frustrating. But, it’s not fair for you to get frustrated and blame the country or people.

TP: You have achieved lot of amazing things so far. We would love to hear about your future goal.

SH: I just want to continue doing what I do, and just enjoy work. I really like being able to make people laugh and happy and trying to do different things like acting, film, and drama on Television. Also, with my businesses obviously to extend them and develop them, so they can be more successful than they already are. I have an education agency at the moment where students come to us and say, “We want to stay in Australia,” so we can set them up with an agreement with universities, and the internship that we can send students to go abroad. Part of my role is to go around and do guest lectures at universities which is something I really enjoy. I would like to do a lot more of that. Another business is a sweet store. Cupcakes, cakes, and cake decorating. So, hopefully we can sort of branch out, and do more corporate catering. Hoping to also do comedy show next year. It’s kind of adult only. Hopefully that will be successful.

TP: Do you have something to say to your fans and supporters?

SH: My fans, in terms of living their own lives, you need to think outside of box. If you hear something, you don’t necessarily feel it’s true. Look into it, and see what. I guess you have to find your own way of life, and that’s always tough. But, it’s also exciting. Making mistakes is not a bad thing. I guess everything you do is a lesson, a life of lesson. That’s something that the older you get the more you realize. Every day is something new that you learn, there is a mistake that you learn from. Life wasn’t meant to be easy. If it was, it would be boring. You have to live your own life and be yourself. I mean people have so many expectations. Your parents, family and friends, but if it doesn’t feel right, I don’t know if it’s the thing to do. Cause it’s you. You are the person has to live your life.

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In the recent Korean presidential election, one man enjoyed almost as much attention as the election itself. His name is Sam Hammington, 35-year-old Australian comedian living in Korea. He has become a sensation for posting his thoughts on Facebook, taking deliberate jabs at the Korean government and people indifferent to the election.

His post drew much attention, making people wonder why this person, a foreigner, is so interested in Korea’s presidential election. His name was on the number one of the daily hot search listing on Daum, one of the Korea’s biggest search engines. His following posts about the presidential election also attracted much attention. Korean media was scrambling to cover his story. One of his posts got almost 90,000 likes within one day.

Toonari Post recently had an opportunity to sit down for an interview with Sam Hammington.

Toonari Post (TP): Please tell us about yourself.

Sam Hanmmington (SH): My name is Sam Hammington. I don’t know what I call myself. I’ve got the title of Korea’s first foreign comedian. Koreans call me a public figure. I would like to think of myself as a public figure more than an entertainer or star, but also a businessman. I guess that’s one of the great things about Korea. There are so many opportunities here. Maybe that’s why I should call myself an opportunist. It pretty much seems like everything ever done has been based on opportunities.

TP: The first foreign comedian in Korea. That is a special title.

SH: I have been here for 10 years now. When I came here first, I kind of did not do much of anything initially, but someone said, “Hey I know a producer looking for foreigner who speaks little bit of Korean. Do you want to do this TV show?” I was like, “Sure.” So, I did that and got bit of work here and there doing small things on TV, and I got a phone call from a friend of mine who was comedian, and he said, “Gag Concert needs foreigner who speaks Korean really well.” You know, it’s the biggest TV show in Korea, I needed to do it. I wanted to do it, and that was “World News” (the name of the stand up comedy which made Sam popular with Korean people). From there, I did Gag Concert for two years, and ever since then, being on TV and radio, working in the entertainment industry full time.

TP: As Korea’s presidential election was on going, your name was discussed a lot as well. What happened?

SH: Having a Korean permanent residency, recently I got a package from the electoral office, and in the package it had all the information about presidential candidates. I kind of got really excited. Hang on, have I being given the opportunity to vote in the presidential election? I just made an assumption that I can actually vote. But, I learned that I only have the rights to vote for the head of Seoul education election, not for the president. So, I put something about my frustration on Facebook. I wasn’t upset that I couldn’t vote. I was upset that they sent out information that could be considered misleading, and also it was waste of money.

TP: Even though you learned that you did not have rights to vote for the president, you did not stop encouraging people to vote. What was your intention?

SH: Feedback I got from Koreans was like “It’s amazing to see you so enthusiastic about Korean politics, and you are not even Korean.” I kind of looked at it as an opportunity, and thought, “You know what. I can’t vote, but if I can get out there, and if I can say things that will make Koreans, particularly younger generations, if I can inspire them to go out and vote, that means I’ve done my job.” So, I kind of used it as an opportunity with my profile to get my voice other there and maybe urge other people to go out and do their part. For me, voting is really important. If you don’t vote, you have no rights to make any complaints about the government. It’s about you going out and trying to do your part for the country because it’s about the future. It’s to help the development and improvement of your county for the future.

TP: Unfortunately, people in their 20s showed low turnouts compared to other generations in this election. It seems that this is not the problem that only Korea has.

SH: We’ve heard so much about people in their 20s talking about the political system and shown much interest. But it was so disappointing to me to see after having shown so much interests being so vocal, but the turnout was so low. 50s and 60s had the highest turnout. The reality is 20s, they are the future. They are the ones who need to be more interested in the politics and concerned about how the government and country changed. I guess it’s something that needs to be, from an early age, taught about. You have to understand what politics is and how it does improve your life. I guess in a lot of countries it’s not compulsive.

Click here to read the second part of this Toonari Post interview.

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