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28 March 2024

Why can't people call me Pacquiao: Jordan's Korean son

Wonho Chung is a Jordanian citizen. (Amal Al Jabry)

Published
By Amal Al Jabry

Wonho Chung is a Jordanian citizen, and, he can prove it.

“I just show them my passport if they don’t believe me!” said Wonho

The celebrated Jordanian-raised Saudi-born Arabic speaking Korean standup comedian, actor, TV presenter, Host, MC and singer easily stands out from the rest of the crowd, having successfully carved out his own niche.

However, the 33-year-old’s recent standup comedy show drew in yet another packed theatre, and again at Ductac, with the show, being presented completely in English, for the first time in history.

“This show’s audience are mostly expats who have been dying to watch me do a standup show in English, and this show was inspired by them, “ Wonho told Emirates 24|7.



“The funniest show I’ve seen in a long time! I’m glad this one was in English!” said Brad M, American.

Khalid AR, Emirati, was always a fan of his work since watching him on Axis of Evil.

He said: “Some guys are different on TV and different in real life but he was the same polite, kind, very nice guy, and I was so happy to meet him in person before the show, such a nice guy, very energetic, same as he was on stage.”

Pavan S, Indian, who attended with his wife and two kids, sitting very close to the stage, said: “His jokes were light and pleasant, no cursing, he’s a great storyteller, a lot of real-life stories, and most of the them involved his personal experiences so that was a lot of fun.“

And that’s the way Wonho likes to keep his shows – clean humoured with loads of laughs.

Wonho explained: “I never talk about sex, religion, politics, or dating, because either people won’t relate to it, or you’re not supposed to talk about it in the first place,  so why tap into that?”

Chung’s ability at connecting with different cultures is a lot of fun to watch, and soon, that will be on an even larger scale.

“I’ve been working on TV, working on a travel show, which will take me to Europe and Asia, to film sort of an Anthony Bourdain style show, but I experience more than just food, it’s about travel, meeting people, trying out restaurants, visiting historical places, swimming in lakes, jumping in waterfalls, you know that kind of stuff!”

Although, he also mentioned that when he’s in the US, in particular, his name can be a disadvantage.

“When I meet someone and tell them my name is Wonho, they look at me and ask me ‘what happened to the other ho’?

So to adapt, he now tells them his name is ‘JuanHo’, which he revealed works out much better that way, and gets him closer to the Latino folks.

Wonho also spoke of how he had his credit card blocked by an Arabic customer service representative – he spoke to him in fluent Arabic the entire time, but after hearing his Korean name, the rep blocked his card and ended the phonecall!

Manny Pacquaio?

What’s more, is that he still gets mistaken for a Filipino sales assistant, valet attendant or waiter.

“It happens quite a bit, like every day! Why do they always think I’m a waiter, why don’t they mistaken me for Manny Pacquaio! Why don’t they elevate my status to something higher! Like next to Manny!” he joked.

It can be argued, that being mistaken for either of the above, would cause less problems that being mistaken for something scandalous.

“It was crazy, I was attending a taping of Arab Idol, and during a break, I took a picture with the judges Hassan El Shafei, Ahlam and (back then) Ragheb Alama, and then I took a picture with Nancy Ajram, so she took our picture and posted it on her Instagram, and said something like ‘special moments always occur on Arab Idol, with the very sweet Wonho Chung’, something like that,” recalled Wonho.

He explained: “The next day, there were all these rumours appearing on gossip sites, saying we were dating or having an affair, I thought it was hilarious so I brushed it aside.”

“But then later that day, I started getting comments from people like ‘Shame on you!’ ‘She’s a married woman with children’ so they totally believed the rumours,” added Wonho.

He continued: “So I had to post something saying ‘guys, we’re just friends, and it’s not true, it’s the way they wrote the article’, it said Nancy invited me backstage, and so on, completely fabricated, I just took a picture with her in front of everyone! But then, any good PR is good PR!”