Who Are Lee Seon-min and Yoo Young-woo, Woni's Driving Uncles?

On 3 July 2026 the YouTube channel ‘스튜디오ㅋㅇㅋ’ published an episode called ‘원이, 편안함에 이르렀나 l 나의연수아저씨 졸업식’ — a graduation ceremony for a driving course. It was the final episode of the season of driving-lesson content that RESCENE’s Woni had been filming since August 2025 with two comedians in the passenger seat, and by 26 August 2026 it had 4,194,981 views. The two men teaching her are Lee Seon-min and Yoo Young-woo, and each had about a decade of work behind him before the first lesson.

The series, and the two men in the car

A press release on 2 September 2025 introduced ‘나의 연수 아저씨’ on a simple premise: a beginner-driver host receives lessons from expert ‘uncles’. RESCENE’s leader Woni was the learner, the comedians Lee Seon-min and Yoo Young-woo were the instructors and new episodes went up every Friday at 8 p.m. The series ran on ‘스튜디오ㅋㅇㅋ’, a YouTube channel launched in February 2025 for informal car talk and separate from the main official channel of the used-car platform K Car.

In the car, according to Ilgan Sports, Lee Seon-min sat beside Woni, taught her calmly and eased the tension. Herald Business reported on 10 June 2026 that the series, featuring the two comedians with Woni in beginner-driving episodes, had drawn in the MZ generation, idol fandoms and general variety viewers as well as car enthusiasts.

The nickname the series gave Lee Seon-min — ‘조수석 삼촌’, the passenger-seat uncle — became the headline of an Ilgan Sports profile of him on 20 June 2026. That piece said the series contributed greatly to what it called the RESCENE syndrome, as the group drew attention for Minami’s ‘거제 야호’, Zena’s ‘신라 공주’ character and the ‘LOVE ATTACK’ reverse run. A ‘reverse run’ (역주행) is the Korean term for a song that climbs the charts well after its release rather than at launch.

Lee Seon-min: a 2016 debut, a cancelled stage and ‘면상들’

Lee Seon-min debuted in 2016 as the runner-up (차석) of SBS’s 16th open recruitment for comedians — the periodic audition intake through which Korean broadcasters used to hire sketch performers onto their own programmes. He told News1 in March 2026 that he had spent about four years as an aspiring comedian, from 2012 to 2016, before passing that audition.

The SBS programme he was appearing on, the sketch show ‘웃찾사’, was cancelled a year after his debut. Lee said that when it ended it felt less like losing a job than like losing a dream, and that his recruitment classmates and his family were what let him keep going; he came to accept, he said, that there would be stages other than ‘웃찾사’.

A year after the cancellation he started the YouTube channel ‘면상들’ with his recruitment classmate Cho Hoon — the turning point of his comedy career, News1 wrote. In 2022 he drew wide attention for the catchphrase ‘딸딸기’; he told News1 the short-form video passed ten million views and that the ‘메타코미디클럽’ channel’s subscriber count crossed 100,000 at once around it. He called it the best catchphrase of his life and said it still appears in his autograph. News1 wrote that he appeared on so many programmes and channels that people said ‘turn on YouTube and Lee Seon-min is on it’; Lee himself said he was probably the comedian-turned-YouTuber who had appeared on the most channels, and that he was grateful to be invited so often.

He said he met Metacomedy’s CEO Jung Young-jun while ‘야인시대 외전’ was being made, and that ‘면상들’ became the comedy agency Metacomedy’s first creators. April 2026 marked exactly ten years since his April 2016 debut; he told News1 the ten years had held many hard parts and that he hoped the next ten would be a career he could draw strength from. He also said he had appeared in about ten films and OTT works over six or seven years of acting, that he was preparing a personal channel to show acting and variety work and that comedy was everything to him — his vocation, with the goal of making as many people laugh as he could for as long as he lived. Of the comedy channel ‘피식대학’, which had helped him when he was struggling, he said he wanted to tell them he loved and thanked them.

Yoo Young-woo: a 2019 KBS debut and the year ‘개그콘서트’ season one ended

Yoo Young-woo debuted in 2019 as a specially recruited KBS comedian and appeared on KBS 2TV’s long-running sketch programme ‘개그콘서트’. The first season of ‘개그콘서트’ ended a year later.

He told News1 he had decided in childhood to become a comedian after his father noticed him laughing at the ‘개그콘서트’ corner ‘키컸으면’ before the comedy had even started; he wanted, he said, for someone to laugh because of him. He said he was cast for the programme after a Seoul comic-dialogue show that its new production team attended — a slot he could take only because the senior comedian Kwak Beom arranged for his regional tour date to be swapped. Comic dialogue (만담) is a stage form built on a two-person conversation rather than sketches.

He said the end of ‘개그콘서트’ was bleak because the stage he had dreamed of since primary school was gone, and that Metacomedy’s CEO Jung Young-jun helped steady him during that period. He went on to the YouTube channel ‘유스데스크’ and other content, and has recently expanded the ‘유스데스크’ comic-dialogue show into a national tour with Koo Jung-mo.

News1 wrote on 22 August 2026 that Yoo came into his own through the ‘급습’ series on ‘피식대학’ and through ‘나의 연수 아저씨’ on ‘스튜디오ㅋㅇㅋ’, and that many viewers were drawn to what the outlet called his ‘good-natured’ (사람 좋은) comedy. Yoo described the sequence himself: the ‘긁’ content came first, then ‘노포 이용주’ with Lee Yong-ju, then the ‘급습’ videos, and as ‘스튜디오ㅋㅇㅋ’ ran at the same time a shared universe with Lee Seon-min took shape.

Eleven months of lessons, and how the season ended

Over eleven months Woni learned car basics under the two passenger-seat uncles and drove herself. The three also worked outside the car: Lee Seon-min appeared in the first video of Woni’s personal channel, and when that channel’s gyaru video began drawing reactions Yoo Young-woo joined too, with the three marking it with their first fine-dining meal.

On 4 July 2026 Ilgan Sports reported that the two ‘나의 연수 아저씨’ episodes in which Woni travels to her hometown Geoje with Lee and Yoo had 2.39 million and 1.92 million views, growth the outlet tied to the ‘LOVE ATTACK’ reverse run. The same outlet wrote that Woni’s personal channel and the ‘거제 야호’ meme had lifted RESCENE’s profile and that reverse run, and that ‘the driving-uncle content deserves much of the credit for the background’.

For the finale, published on 3 July 2026, Lee and Yoo appeared in the outfits they had worn for the first episode’s opening and wrote Woni handwritten letters. The production team and the two comedians also prepared a surprise: after wrapping the last recording they visited the taping of the music show where RESCENE were appearing for the ‘LOVE ATTACK’ reverse run. Woni said in the finale that the programme had been the foundation of her growth, that the uncles had played a huge role in her life and that it was a channel she could not forget until she died. Lee Seon-min said the series would move to a seasonal format, leaving a reunion open.

An earlier exchange had already set a marker. In February 2026, on Woni’s channel, Lee asked her to strike a particular pose if she became the ending fairy at MAMA — the close-up shot a performer gets as a broadcast segment ends — as a sign she remembered him. Woni said she would have to win first, and told Lee he was certain to land a regular programme. Lee’s version: ‘Within five years you will be a MAMA ending fairy, and uncle will become a terrestrial main MC and invite you as a guest.’ Lee’s agency Metacomedy said it was a meaningful experience simply to have worked with Woni, and that it was glad if Lee had helped her bright charm come through in the content.

What Yoo Young-woo says the year beside Woni was like

Speaking to News1 on 22 August 2026, Yoo Young-woo described the eleven months from his own seat. ‘Woni was always going to do well; we were lucky to work with her,’ he said, adding that from the first meeting she greeted them so brightly in the heat that he thought she would succeed.

He said that as the content began drawing reactions he could feel Woni’s popularity rising from beside her. When ‘안원잘부’ started and Lee Seon-min appeared on it first, he said, the response was very good — and he then worried about whether that response would hold when his own turn came. The video of the three of them talking at a fine-dining restaurant, he said, also drew a strong response.

After RESCENE took a music-show win, Yoo said, Woni sent word through her agency thanking him and Lee Seon-min, saying it was all thanks to the two uncles and that it could not have happened without them. He said he was grateful that she had taken the trouble while so busy.

On his own position he was direct. He said he had no envy of the two, that he always tells Lee Seon-min he should do even better than he is doing and that when the many people who like Lee Seon-min and Woni tell him ‘you’re the only one left’, that itself is hype and feels like being cheered on already. He added that he had been getting closer to Lee Seon-min since Lee’s hard days and had thought all along that Lee had to make it, so watching him come into the light now made him glad.

Where each of them stood by late August 2026

Lee Seon-min’s broadcast schedule filled out through 2026. He appeared in May 2026 on MBC’s ‘나 혼자 산다’ and ‘놀면 뭐하니?’, and in July 2026 on ‘나 혼자 산다’, ‘라디오스타’ and ‘놀면 뭐하니?’. On 12 August 2026 he appeared on episode 355 of tvN’s ‘유 퀴즈 온 더 블럭’, broadcast at 8:45 p.m. as the ‘꿈은 힘이 세다’ (Dreams Are Strong) special, alongside the director Christopher Nolan and the actor Matt Damon. CBC News reported that on the programme he spoke about his difficult early career and about drawing public attention ten years after his debut, including the cancellation of ‘웃찾사’ and the part-time jobs he had worked, and reported that he said his YouTube income had grown roughly tenfold on the strength of ten regular programmes. Asked about being called the comedian of the moment, he answered: ‘대세까지는 아니고 소세’ — not the mainstream, more of a small stream.

He kept following Woni publicly. TV Report reported on 11 August 2026 that two days earlier he had posted a short clip of himself watching RESCENE perform ‘LOVE ATTACK’ at the 2026 Coupang Play Series halftime show, shouting the group’s name and tearing up at Woni’s solo shot. In July 2026 he had said on his own channel that he hoped Woni would become a global star and wanted her to know that uncle was always cheering for her.

Yoo Young-woo’s own News1 interview, the 56th in the outlet’s ‘코미디언을 만나다’ series, ran on 22 August 2026 with the reporter An Tae-hyun — the same reporter who had interviewed Lee Seon-min as the 54th subject in March. In its second part, News1 wrote that Yoo had recently drawn attention for his singing through music and musical content. He said that when he tried a singing character after being told his tone resembled the singer Jung Joon-il, the response was not ‘that’s funny’ but ‘he sings well’, and then the unusual feedback ‘사람 너무 좋다’ — he seems like such a good person — which he said was close to the definition of a comedian he had dreamed of as a child. He said the senior comedian Lee Chang-ho had told him seriously that he should do musical theatre and had shared tips and vocal-care advice, giving him the courage to consider it.

His stated wish is modest and specific: that the place he is in be cheerful and happy, that people laugh at him without his having to perform a sketch and that he be a comedian who is teased for life. Metacomedy’s CEO, he said, told him he hoped Yoo would stay everyone’s younger brother. He added that he is still in the process of learning what comedy is, and that comedy is something he loves very much.

Key takeaways

• Lee Seon-min debuted in 2016 as the runner-up of SBS’s 16th comedian open recruitment; the SBS sketch show ‘웃찾사’ he was appearing on was cancelled a year later, and he started the YouTube channel ‘면상들’ with classmate Cho Hoon a year after that.
• Yoo Young-woo debuted in 2019 as a specially recruited KBS comedian on ‘개그콘서트’; the programme’s first season ended a year later, and he moved to the YouTube channel ‘유스데스크’, recently expanding its comic-dialogue show into a national tour with Koo Jung-mo.
• ‘나의 연수 아저씨’ launched in September 2025 on the YouTube channel ‘스튜디오ㅋㅇㅋ’ with RESCENE’s leader Woni as the learner driver and the two comedians as instructors; the season ran eleven months and closed with a graduation episode on 3 July 2026.
• Yoo Young-woo told News1 that after RESCENE took a music-show win, Woni sent word through her agency thanking the two uncles, and that he has no envy of Lee Seon-min or Woni.
• By August 2026 Lee Seon-min was appearing on MBC and tvN programmes, including the 12 August episode of ‘유 퀴즈 온 더 블럭’, and Yoo Young-woo had become the 56th subject of News1’s ‘코미디언을 만나다’ interview series.