
American’s Star Power Unrivaled in Japan - danso
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/world/asia/unknown-in-america-david-spector-carves-out-niche-in-japan.html
======
jliechti1
大山 (Dashan), or Mark Roswell, a Canadian, is the Chinese equivalent. He's a TV
personality in China and is known for his perfect Chinese and his ability to
do certain comedic styles, that are difficult even for native Chinese speakers
to do (a loose western equivalent might be something like Abbott & Costello
_Who 's On First?_ \- very rapid dialogues).

Like David Spector, he is known nearly everywhere in China and has been on TV
for decades. Also, most Westerners have never heard of him. Does any know any
equivalents like this in South Korea or any other Asian countries?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashan)

~~~
w1ntermute
There's a relatively new debate show on South Korean cable featuring a whole
cast of foreigners who are surprisingly fluent in Korean. Most of them are
just gaining popularity now, but some of them have been showing up on TV for a
while.

Overview: [http://korcan50years.com/2014/08/18/korea-newest-talkshow-
th...](http://korcan50years.com/2014/08/18/korea-newest-talkshow-the-
nonsummit/)

Episodes with English subs:
[http://bxrme.tumblr.com/post/92235653533/abnormal-summit-
sub...](http://bxrme.tumblr.com/post/92235653533/abnormal-summit-subbed)

~~~
sho_hn
You beat me to it - when I saw the HN headline I immediately went "I should
post about Abnormal Summit" :).

Let me add some interesting trivia instead, perhaps: There was another Korean
talk show featuring foreign guests some years ago, Global Talk Show
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Talk_Show](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Talk_Show)).
It featured all-female guests (Abnormal Summit has an all-male cast so far).
It was a more gaudy affair though and centered on the guests' experiences in
South Korea. Abnormal Summit has a much more interesting hook, the focus is on
exchanging opinions between citizens of different nations.

Beyond TV: I'd argue that Simon and Martina from Eat Your Kimchi
([http://www.eatyourkimchi.com](http://www.eatyourkimchi.com)), Canadian
YouTubers living in South Korea, are well known among the country's youth.

> [...] who are surprisingly fluent in Korean [...]

This is almost a running gag in these situations/shows by now - whenever a
foreigner rolls out a few words of Korean the reaction is invariably "와 한국말
잘하시네요!~" ("wow your Korean is so good"). You can play some kind of drinking
game to that :).

------
thisjepisje
Once again, no paywall:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/world/asia/unknown-in-
amer...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/world/asia/unknown-in-america-
david-spector-carves-out-niche-in-japan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss)

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Still blocked by the great firewall, however.

------
a8da6b0c91d
Do people actually pay for the NYT? HN consistently has a bunch of NYT links
that I can't read because of the paywall. I can't give that organization money
because of its complicity in deceptive war propaganda.

~~~
WoodenChair
Despite its flaws and recent scandals, the New York Times remains the most
definitive American news source. Its reporting is in depth and its reach is
wide. It has some sense of ethics, even though it doesn't always uphold them.

