재즈가 뭐라고 생각하세요?
TL;DR · The sourceThe root of this meme is the 1976 Grammy Awards. The host Mel Tormé asked Ella Fitzgerald, the queen of jazz, to explain what jazz is, and instead of answering in words s…
The source
The root of this meme is the 1976 Grammy Awards. The host Mel Tormé asked Ella Fitzgerald, the queen of jazz, to explain what jazz is, and instead of answering in words she scatted on the spot. Rather than define it in a sentence she simply produced the thing itself, and the answer has been retold ever since as a demonstration of jazz's improvisational core.
Origin
The person who carried that moment into Korean internet culture is the webtoon artist Joo Ho-min. Appearing on the streamer Chimchakman's show, he asked "What do you think jazz is?" — and when Chimchakman answered "breathing together with the other person, harmony," Joo cut him off with "no" and immediately launched into scat. Then, entirely straight-faced, he declared: "This is it."
The gap between the original and the reenactment is where the comedy is. Fitzgerald's scat was the real thing; Joo's is closer to an impression, and on top of that he rudely cuts off a sincere answer to deliver it. The sequence itself — earnest question, earnest answer, flat dismissal, song — became a comic structure.
Spread
Clipped out of the broadcast, the moment generated a flood of derivative videos: the scat rearranged for bass or trumpet, animated versions, versions turned into dance.
Celebrities borrowed the format too. BTS, fromis_9, Sunwoo Jung-a, LOONA's HeeJin and Girls' Generation's Taeyeon all released videos using the line. At that point anyone could use it without knowing the source at all — ask "what do you think ___ is?" and then make any noise you like.
How it is used
- Answering something hard to define by imitating it instead of explaining it.
- Cutting off someone's serious answer to shove something absurd in its place.
- Swapping the noun: "what do you think ___ is?"
- To emphasize an improvisational, unconstrained attitude in itself.
Sources
- Namuwiki, "재즈를 뭐라고 생각하세요" — Mel Tormé's question to Ella Fitzgerald at the 1976 Grammys and her improvised scat, Joo Ho-min's reenactment on Chimchakman's show, and the versions by BTS, fromis_9, Sunwoo Jung-a, HeeJin and Taeyeon
- Namuwiki, "Chimchakman / memes" — its place among memes from that channel
- YouTube, "What do you think jazz is, Chimchakman?" — clip of the moment
