Haha

Life and career

2000–2008: Debut and rising popularity

Haha was born on August 20, 1979, in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany and moved to Seoul, South Korea when he was an infant. His parents are both Korean. His mother has a doctorate in psychology, and he has older sister, Ha Ju-ri (하쥬리) who is a pianist, and who also has a doctorate. Haha graduated from Daejin University, where he obtained a master's degree in Drama and Fine Arts. He signed to Seoul Records and debuted as a singer and rapper in 2001 with the hip-hop group, Z-kiri. Despite being widely promoted, Z-kiri failed to get popular and quickly disbanded.

In 2002, Haha became a co-host on the show, What's Up YO! alongside MC Mong and Jerome To. The three later became known as the "What's Up Trio" because of their strong friendship on-screen. He then was cast in the third season of Nonstop, a sitcom about a group of college students and their friends and family. He remained a part of the cast until 2003, allowing him to showcase his acting and comedy skills. Haha then became the producer and presenter on his own radio show with MC Mong, known as Haha and Mong's Journey in 2004 for SBS Power FM.

After leaving Nonstop, Haha spent two years alongside singer Taw, to prepare and record his debut album entitled, "The Beautiful Rhyme Diary". The album, and his debut single, "Love Song”, were released together on February 18, 2005, but the single failed to chart or garner much popularity. He guested on X-man on May 22, 2005, and became popular for his imitation of his close friend, Kim Jong-kook. His sudden boost in popularity allowed him to become a regular guest on X-man, arguably the biggest variety show of that time.

Thanks to his growing popularity, Haha joined the cast of MBC's Infinite Challenge by December 2005 as part of some changes to the format of the show pioneered by the new producer, Kim Tae-ho. By the time Season 3 aired in 2006, the concept and format of "variety & reality program" had very popular, and Infinite Challenge was the prototype of many programs that followed. Beginning on December 2, 2006, the program received the highest ratings of prime-time lineups on Saturday evenings. In his final episode before starting military service, Haha performed at a guerilla concert at Yeouido Park that was secretly organized by his fellow co-hosts.

He returned as a guest for the sixth and final season of Nonstop in 2006. In 2007, Haha released his second single, "You're My Destiny" which took samples from the song "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King. The single managed to reach number one on the Gaon Chart and he performed it on the Comeback Stage on Music Bank in November. Haha joined the show, Happy Shares Company as a co-host until February 2008.

2008–present: Military service, Running Man, and career in music

In February 2008, Haha temporarily left Infinite Challenge in order to complete his national military service. Reports had claimed that he had been attempting to evade his military service. However it later turned out that these reports weren’t true and that Haha's service had only been postponed. During his service, he collaborated with a new group Davichi for their song "Love and War". After serving in the military for 24 months, he was discharged on March 11, 2010.

Haha then returned to Infinite Challenge as a cast member following requests from his co-hosts, Yoo Jae-suk and Noh Hong-chul. He also made regular guest appearances on Yoo Jae-suk's talk show Come to Play and was the co-host of the Haha-Mong Show with MC Mong until allegations were made that MC Mong had attempted to evade his military service. Since 2010, Haha has been one of the co-hosts of the SBS variety show, Running Man. On December 30, 2011, he received the award for "Best Entertainer" during the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards for his work on ''Running Man''. He also performed his single, "Rosa" during the award ceremony.

In 2012, he continued pursuing his musical career by collaborating on a mini-album, "Skull & Haha Ya Man", with fellow reggae artist Skull, who had previously been in Stony Skunk. The two performed one of its tracks, "Busan Vacance" on several TV music shows, and Haha performed the song along with other cast members during fan meets for the Running Man show. In 2012 he was also featured along with Gary, on their fellow Running Man cast member Kim Jong-kook's comeback album, "Volume 7 – Journey Home" on the song "Words I Want to Say to You".

In 2013, Haha collaborated with Skull once again, on a single titled "돈암동 멜로디" as well as on an EP entitled "REGGAErilla". Also, on July 9 of that year, Haha and his wife welcomed their first son, Ha Dream.

In 2014, he and Kim Jong-kook formed a musical duo, Running Man Brothers. They toured the United States in July and December.

In 2016, Haha collaborated with Skull on a single entitled "Love Inside", featuring Stephen Marley. The song ranked in the top ten of a Jamaican video chart when it was released. At that time he had 2 new variety shows: Talking Road and Rebound. In addition, along with Jeong Jun-ha, he hosted a new high school rap battle show on Mnet in 2017.

Personal life

On August 15, 2012, it was announced that he was going to marry South Korean singer Byul. The couple married on November 30, 2012. The couple welcomed their first child, Dream, on July 9, 2013. Their second son, Soul, was born on March 22, 2017. Their third child, a daughter, Song, was born on July 15, 2019.

Filmography

Discography

Commercials

2002: 700–5425

2003: OTTOGI CORPORATION 3Minute

2003: Binggrae

2007: Lotte Card CO., LTD.

2008: TriGem Computer Inc.

2010: Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd.

2012: SKY

2013: Coca-Cola

2013: BRINICLE

2014: Coca-Cola

2018: K-Fresh Zone (With Lee Kwang-soo)