Johnny Yune was born Yune Jong-seung in 1936 in Eumseong County, Chungcheongbuk-do Province, South Korea.
13 Facts About Johnny Yune
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Johnny Yune graduated from Sungdong High School in Sindang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, and came to Massachusetts, US on an ROK Navy scholarship in 1962.
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Johnny Yune became a US citizen in 1978, at which point he anglicized his first name to "John", due to its phonetic similarity.
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In 1964, Yune practiced his stand-up routine in places such as the Cafe Tel Aviv at 250 West 72nd Street, New York City.
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Carson liked Johnny Yune and had him on the show 34 times in the 1970s and '80s, making Johnny Yune one of the show's most frequent guests for a stand-up comedian.
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Johnny Yune played a Mongolian named "Jon Yune" in the 1979 movie Meteor, and performed as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s.
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Johnny Yune performed at the 1988 Summer Olympics at Seoul, along with Bob Hope and Brooke Shields.
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From 1989 to 1990, he hosted The Johnny Yune Show, the first Americanized talk show in Korea.
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Johnny Yune was an alternate delegate at the 1988 Republican National Convention, where he sang the US national anthem on August 16,1988.
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Johnny Yune was appointed auditor of the Korea Tourism Organization in 2014 by the Park Geun-hye administration.
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Johnny Yune's appointment provoked controversy, as his critics questioned his lack of business experience and close ties to the then-president.
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Johnny Yune married a Korean American named Julia Yune in 1999; they divorced in 2010.
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Johnny Yune died in Southern California on March 8,2020, at the age of 83; per his wishes his body was donated to medical science.