Johnny Yune
| Johnny Yune | |
|---|---|
| Born | Korea |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, writer |
Johnny Yune is a Korean-American actor and comedian.[1]
He played the lead in the 1980s films They Call Me Bruce?[2] and They Still Call Me Bruce.[3] Yune's big break came at The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Yune stated that due to "Charlton Heston" not showing up on time, he was given over twenty minutes of air time to make a great impression. Carson, impressed by Yune, had him on the show over 30 times. Johnny Yune also had a special night on NBC, when the Johnny Yune Special aired.
Johnny Yune performed at the 1988 Summer Olympics at Seoul along with Bob Hope and Brooke Shields. From 1989 to 1990, he hosted the Johnny Yune Show (쟈니윤쇼), the first Americanized talk show in Korea. The show was a great hit, but only after a year, Yune decided to leave KBS due to limited freedom of the media.
Profile
Johnny Yune was born 1936 in Eumseong County, Chungcheongbuk-do Province, South Korea.[4] His Korean first name is Jong-seung and got an American name 'John' from its phonetic similarity[5] when he became a US citizen in 1978. First, he graduated from Sungdong High School[6] in Sindang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, came over from South Korea to Massachusetts, USA as a student of Wellesley College on ROK Navy scholarship in 1962, and played a Mongolian under the name of "Jon Yune" in the movie Meteor, also did work as a Stand-up comedian in the 1980s. Johnny Yune appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" 34 times in the 1970s and 1980s, one of the most appearances by a stand-up comedian, and as the first among the Asians.[7] He married a Korean-American named Julia Yune in 1999.
Johnny Yune practiced his standup routine in 1964 in places such as the Cafe Tel Aviv at 250 West 72nd Street, New York City. Another successful standup comic who also practiced his routine at the Cafe Tel Aviv was Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back Kotter.
Selected filmography
- Western Avenue (1993)
- Hamburger Johnny (1988)
- They Still Call Me Bruce (1987) — Bruce
- Gidget's Summer Reunion (1985) — Johnny Soon
- They Call Me Bruce? (1982) — Bruce/Grandfather
- The Cannonball Run (1981) — TV Talk Show Host
- Meteor (1979) (as Jon Yune) — Siberian man
References
External links
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