[Spoiler Alert] Grace has two upcoming shows. One is in Brooklyn at Crystal Lake on December 1st at 7:30PM. The next one is on December 18th at Sugar Maple in Milwaukee. Grace’s Thanksgiving weekend was packed. She went saltwater fishing where she proceeded to throw-up for 4 hours straight and attended her 20th year high school reunion and was pleasantly surprised. Grace discusses the show You and Everything Else written by Song Hye-jin who wrote a couple of classic Korean films including My Mother the Mermaid and My Wife Got Married. It is directed by Jo Young-min who directed one of Grace’s favorite K-dramas—The Interest of Love (check out K-Drama School episode 111). Grace’s guest today is Milwaukee-based comedian Raegan Niemela. They talk about pasties, earthy working-class womanhood, weddings, comedy, and so much more. Grace’s book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Subscribe to K-Drama School on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kdramaschool and follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace has a couple of show date announcements: On Monday, December 1st at 7:30PM, she’s performing at Crystal Lake in Brooklyn, New York for the Not a Boy Not a Girl Comedy Show. On Thursday, December 18th at 8PM she’s performing at The Sugar Maple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the Hotties Only Comedy Show. See you there. Today’s episode covers the show Bon Appetit Your Majesty (2025, tvN) based on a webtoon by Park Kuk-jae and directed by Jang Tae-yoo who worked on shows like My Love from the Star and War of Money. Grace discusses the actress Im Yoon-ah of the SM K-pop girl group Girls Generation and her performance. Grace tries to make sense of how the show fuses French cooking techniques with traditional Korean cuisine along with quantum physics. Grace’s guest is Madison-based musician and pianist Jason Kutz of Mr. Chair and Spectaculous. Grace and Jason talk about music, instruments, lightness, noodling, and so much more. Mr. Chair is playing Charlie Brown’s Christmas Special at Orpheum Theater in Madison on November 29. Be sure to catch their show. Grace’s book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Subscribe to K-Drama School on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kdramaschool and follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
Grace has a few tour dates to announce. She will be giving a book talk on K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television at Hudson Valley Books for Humanity in New York on November 21st at 5PM and another at Big Red Books in New York on November 22nd at 2PM. She’s performing at Not a Girl Not a Boy Comedy Show at Crystal Lake in Brooklyn, NY on December 1st at 7:30PM. Welcome to the 200th episode of K-Drama School podcast. Grace reflects on the journey up until now, and how she got Creme Savers at the Amish store in the Driftless in Wisconsin. Grace’s guest is professor Min Joo Lee of Occidental College. They discuss Min Joo’s new book Finding Mr. Perfect which just dropped from Rutgers University Press. Their talk includes research method, relationship with the subjects, Asian masculinity and desirability, how romantic comedies shape and influence hetero cis-masculinity, and, of course, K-dramas. Grace’s book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Subscribe to K-Drama School on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kdramaschool and follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Virtuous Business (2025, JTBC) written by Choi Bo-rim and directed by Jo Woong, starring Kim So-yeon. She unpacks the brief history of how Western sex toys entered the South Korean market and compares facts with what was stated in the monologue by Ra Mi-ran’s cameo appearance in the pilot episode. Grace gives an update about her recent book talk at George Washington University, and her latest big purchase. Grace has two book readings coming up in November. She’ll be reading at Hudson Valley Books for Humanity on November 21st at 5PM and at Big Red Books on November 22nd at 2PM. Grace’s guest today is Wisconsin-based comedian Breanne Wilhite. They talk about comedy, debate over Dr. Phil’s whiteness, and many other interesting topics. Grace’s book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Subscribe to K-Drama School on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kdramaschool and follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Our Unwritten Seoul (2025, tvN) starring Park Bo-young, Park Jin-young and Ryu Kyung-soo, written by Lee Kang and directed by Park Shin-woo. Grace discusses the tremendous actresses on this show including Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young and Jang Young-nam, and what they bring to their performances. Grace’s book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Subscribe to K-Drama School on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kdramaschool and follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries. Donate to Grace’s friend Sarah’s GoFundMe page so she can fight breast cancer (stage 3): https://www.gofundme.com/f/ccz6e-sarahs-breast-cancer-fundraiser
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Heavenly Ever After (2025, JTBC) starring Kim Hye-Ja and Son Suk-ku, written by Lee Nam-kyu and Kim Su-jin and directed by Kim Sok-yun. Grace’s guest is the very talented Madison-based DJ BP Lar (@djbplar on Instagram). They discuss almost burning B’s house down with a tortilla and feeling like a hero immediately thereafter, performing her first DJ gig only after a few hours of her first lesson, meeting her husband in Bangkok, Wisconsin’s niceness, and whether being a DJ is the same as being a musician or not. Grace’s book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Subscribe to K-Drama School on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kdramaschool and follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Happy Pride Month! Grace discusses the show When the Stars Gossip (2025, tvN) starring Gong Hyo-jin and Lee Min-ho, written by Seo Sook-hyang and directed by Park Shin-woo. Grace wonders when a K-drama will allow a woman to have sex and get pregnant out of wedlock and not be punished by death in the end. Grace’s guest is the very talented Los Angeles-based clown Oscar Fuentes (@irongogi on Instagram). They discuss clown “rules,” feedback, art, rejection, love and California Pizza Kitchen. Grace’s book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Subscribe to K-Drama School on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kdramaschool and follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Happy Pride Month! Grace discusses the show Tastefully Yours (2025, ENA) written by Jung Soo-yoon starring Kang Ha-neul, Go Min-si, Kim Shin-rok and Yoo Su-bin directed by Park Dan-hee. Grace is impressed by Go Min-si’s transformation after her terrifying appearance in The Frog. She is also fascinated by how the show emulates Seon Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan’s culinary skills and the cultural significance of that. Grace’s guest is Madison-based comedian and comedy show producer John Glen. They discuss camp gear, comedy, and preparing oneself beforehand for karaoke. Grace’s book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Subscribe to K-Drama School on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kdramaschool and follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Happy Pride Month! Grace discusses the show When Life Gives You Tangerines (2025, Netflix) written by Lim Sang-choon starring IU, Park Bo-gum, Moon So-ri and Park Hae-joon directed by Kim Won-seok. Grace compares the show to the Reply series and how they utilize nostalgia triggering materials and historic markers to hail Korean audiences with retro items. Grace also offers a thorough update as to why she hasn’t been podcasting—mostly because she’s been adjusting to a whole new life in Wisconsin involving fishing, firearms and teaching. Her guest today is Madison-based comedian Will Franken (@frosty_franken). They talk about the pointlessness of higher education the way it stands, what a good teacher is, how the word “conservative” has changed over the centuries, and which Madison bars on State Street are the worst. Grace’s book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Subscribe to K-Drama School on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kdramaschool and follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
Grace will be performing stand-up in Milwaukee at Pomona Cider Company on September 13th! No K-drama coverage today. Grace is super tired after her first week of teaching. She went on a night hike for the first time in a very long time and saw some beautiful things. She is also adjusting to Wisconsin’s active scene. She hopes to make the most of it. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show The Frog (2024, Netflix) starring Kim Yoon-seok, Yoon Kye-sang, Go Min-si and Lee Jung-eun, directed by Mo Wan-il. This is part two of the series coverage. Grace wonders where the demented cruelty of the female antagonist comes from. She also wonders what the bigger overarching message of the show is. Perhaps the show ought to have been just a film or ended at a stranger point. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show The Frog (2024, Netflix) starring Kim Yoon-seok, Yoon Kye-sang, Go Min-si and Lee Jung-eun, directed by Mo Wan-il who also directed The World of the Married. This is part one of the series coverage. Grace will continue the show’s coverage next week in part two. Grace is impressed by Mo’s filmic stylings as a TV director, comparing him to the Safdie brothers. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
Grace has three shows coming up this weekend. August 23rd at the Den Theater in Chicago, August 24th at Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago and August 25th at the Milwaukee Improv. [Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Born Again (2020, KBS) starring Jang Ki-yong, Jin Se-yeon and Lee Soo-hyuk. Grace appreciates Jang Ki-yong’s role playing a mentally unstable character. It is exactly what she needed. She also loves how terrible the show is. She qualifies it as a makjang for the books. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Miss Night and Day (2024) starring Lee Jung-eun and Jung Eun-ji, and K-drama productions’ laudable choice to cast middle-aged women as the lead on a show. Grace’s guest today is former Berlin comedian Shirah Roth who is currently based in Israel working as a teacher to children on the autism spectrum. They discuss how to surrender to what it is moment-by-moment, honoring wildness, the unpredictability of life, being an old soul, ice prince, and how domestic pets bring magic into our worlds. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
No K-drama today. Grace talks about going out dancing, learning about contemporary pop artists from a Gen-Zer and finding alignment, peace and calm. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere now: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace is in clown make-up today as she discusses the show Tell Me That You Love Me (2023, Disney+) based on a Japanese TV show from 1995. Grace admires Jung Woo-sung’s acting chops playing a deaf/mute person but doesn’t understand Shin Hyun-been’s appeal as a performer. There are several quotes that Grace loves from this show which she shares. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere now: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Connect (2022, Disney+) based on a webtoon by Shin Dae-jung and directed by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike starring Jung Hae-in, Go Kyung-pyo and Kim Hye-jun. Grace critiques Go Kyung-pyo’s unconvincing performance as a psycho killer but praises Miike’s mise-en-scene choices throughout the show as well as the very original storyline. Grace tears down King Spa and Sauna in Chicago as a shitty place to relax due to poor customer service and the disgruntled staff’s bad vibes. Grace praises St. Paul’s Fish Company in Milwaukee for their excellent seafood. Grace also loves Chicago’s pristine silence at night. What a great city. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere now: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses an old-school show entitled Maestra (2024, tvN) starring Lee Young-ae. She compares it to Tár, Youth, and Mozart in the Jungle. She discusses the heroine Cha Se-eum’s character and what it means to be an ambitious modern Korean woman with no one to rely on or trust in a competitive society today. Grace problematizes the show’s unsympathetic portrayal of drug addicts. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere now: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses an old-school show entitled Summer Scent (2003, KBS) starring Song Seung-hun and Son Ye-jin directed by hallyu K-drama director Yoon Seok-ho of Autumn in My Heart (2000) and Winter Sonata (2002). Grace mentions the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man (2009) and compares its essential message to Zen Buddhism. Grace wonders what Indian saints who live with nothing would think of Grace’s materialist consumer lifestyle in America. Grace has relocated to Madison, WI and making adjustments. She asks you all to give a shout if you’d like for her to visit your town for a book talk. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere now: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show The Midnight Romance in Hagwon (2024, tvN) starring Jung Ryeo-won and Wi Ha-joon directed by Ahn Pan-seok who directed shows like Something in the Rain and One Spring Night. The show focuses on cram school teachers who are paid well for their work while teachers remain underpaid. Grace comments on the chemistry between the two lead actors. But Grace was blown away by Seo Jung-yeon’s performance and admires the show’s mise-en-scene whenever her character is in a scene. Grace’s new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere now: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.