Looking for a fun Korean drama romantic-comedy that leans a bit more towards the comedy? We picked our favorite recent (2018-2019) dramas that had us laughing buckets of happy tears for at least half the drama.
To Kdrama newbies, it is good to know that lots (all?) of Korean dramas take a serious dramatic twist around the halfway mark, so we tried to pick the Korean dramas that had a lot of laughs in the beginning and mostly kept with the happy in the second half as well (even when our heroes journey’s were possibly getting the best of them).
Rest assured, all these dramas have happy endings (though incarnation might be involved). If you know of any happy go lucky Kdramas that we missed, leave them in the comments below!
In this list there is a cross dressing prince (The Tale of Nokdu), a persnickety Ghost hotel (Hotel Del Luna), a polished gallery curator trying her hardest to hide her double life as a fangirl (Her Private Life), a snooty prince turned simpleton pauper (100 Days My Prince), an ugly duckling to clueless college knockout (My ID is Gangnam Beauty), A secretary who is just done (What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim), broke 20 somethings running a hostel when a single mom turns their already wacky life upside down (Welcome to Waikiki), a woman pretending to be a robot maid (I am Not a Robot), and – bonus – four friends who are trying to live life their way with lots of early 2000s nostalgia thrown in (Fight for My Way)
8 HAPPY & ROMANTIC KOREAN DRAMA ROMANTIC-COMEDIES TO BINGE WATCH THIS HOLIDAY
1. The Tale of Nokdu (Historical-Romance)
(As of writing this, this show is still airing). The first 8 episodes of this historical drama are pure romantic gender swapping fun! The rest of this show has moved more into serious drama territory but I am still absolutely enjoying myself with it.
So right now it remains a recommend. But depending on the ending, it could be knocked off the list. We shall see!
2. Hotel Del Luna (Fantasy-Romance)
Leave it to the Hong sisters to make a drama about a scary ghost hotel into a fun romantic romp through Seoul.
This show brought the fun in IU who was an alpha ghost that had a vendetta she was trying to atone for and a young beta hotelier (Yeo Jin-goo) who was fated to help her deal with it in probably the most honest an adorable ways possible.
The amount of times she had to save his life…~. This drama was good, though the ending epilogue was either hit or miss as it was an open ending.
3. Her Private Life (Romantic-Comedy)
If you are a super fan of anyone, then you will relate to Her Private Life which takes the story of a super fan in her 30s and makes it relatable to the everyday woman.
On top of that, Park Min-young and Kim Jae-wook’s chemistry is so sizzling that you might think that they have something going off screen as well. (The Kthree did an amazing astrology post explaining why!).
The last few episodes started to go a bit astray, and probably left many people scratching their heads, but they pulled it back around to a happy ending.
4. 100 Days My Prince (Historical Romantic-Comedy)
“Am I the only one uncomfortable?” Possibly the catch phrase of this historical drama that had a very haughty prince turned into a pauper with no memory of his palace life, but, all his snootiness remained!
He falls in love with a witty heroine who is using him as her amnesia-laden-simpleton fiance in order to keep from getting forced into marriage by royal decree (that our lovely prince declared, lol).
Led my Nam Ji-hyun and Do Kyun-soo, this show will take you on a fun ride through Hanyang as we watch our heroine schools our sheltered hero on how to live in the real world.
5. My ID is Gangnam Beauty (Romantic-Comedy)
A college romantic-comedy about a shy yet fiery young woman who had plastic surgery before college to turn normal and ended up turning into a knockout.
But, this drama is not shallow, it is just normal and sweet and so innocent when it comes to the love story. The entire drama is all about her getting used to the attention of others based on her beauty alone and learning how to navigate this new life. Especially when the college cutie who does not like beautiful women starts to fall for her.
But he falls in love with our heroine because he remembers her from before she had plastic surgery and liked her then.
6. What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim (Romantic-Comedy)
When you put Park Seo-joon in a romantic-comedy, expect him to bring the presence and comedic timing of a star. This TV show was all him doing things that only he can do. Oh, and it is 100% fluff.
But I should not count out Park Min-young, she was hilarious as Secretary Kim who just wanted to get her own life away from her boss. Surprisingly,
I enjoyed all the fluff that this drama had to bring, possibly because Park Seo-joon was delivering it all. The ending was either love or hate but rest assured, our couple did end up together.
7. Welcome to Waikiki (Eulachacha Waikiki) (Romantic-Comedy)
We did not finish this drama because we were recapping so much at the time and had to drop some. But when you say a drama is hilarious, you have to add this show to the list. When the romance comes in, a few episodes in, it only adds to the hilarity.
We watched up to episode 12 and had amazing fun with every single episode. Literally! There was not one episode that I did not love. In fact, I need to go back and finish this drama because the comedy was so good. I think the people agreed because it was green-lit for a season 2.
8. I am Not a Robot (Romantic-Comedy)
Complete fluff and fun with a finale that aired in 2018 so it’s on the list. This show about a woman pretending to be a robot is just delightful fluff without too much drama to lose yourself in.
Though it did go the sad route for a few episodes, it has a happy ending and lots of hilarious situations where our heroine almost outs herself as a robot that will make you laugh at the absurdity. Of course there are tears when our hero finds out that he was duped, but it is a happy ever after in the end.
BONUS
Fight for My Way (Romantic-Comedy)
Technically a 2017 drama but I had to add it because it is the drama that got us into live recapping! I love this show about four people who are trying to live life their way. I was rooting for them!
The friends and their struggle to follow their hearts in contemporary Korean society in Seoul is so heartwarming and inspiring that it will make you want to start writing your own goals, seriously. Not to mention, it is so hilarious at times that you might spit out your drink.
The early 2000s nostalgia coupled with Park Seo-joon and Kim Ji-won in lead roles that cemented them both as stars is definitely worth a watch, but all four leads are truly amazing in each of their own ways.
I would say this drama started to slow down in episode 11 or 12 to the point where the ending few episodes did not look anything related to the beginning. But it still had a happy ending and I was amazingly obsessed with the opening 10 episodes (maybe too obsessed?) that it had to make the list! Definitely a recommend.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Go Back Couple (Romantic-Comedy)
If the first 30 minutes of this show weren’t depressing, then it would have made the list because the rest of the show is so much fun. But they had to set-the-scene of a divorce and a couple wanting to start over, so they were really heavy handed on the sadness in the opening.
The fun happens when they time travel back to college and get to relive their lives while trying to avoid each other. Plus, it is the show that made everyone sit up and wonder – um, who is that ROTC guy? (answer: Jang Ki-yong in his first big role)
Familiar Wife (Romantic-Comedy)
This show basically suffers from the same thing as Go Back Couple in the depressing opening. Though in this case I believe the entire first two episodes were depressing? Depressing enough for a lot of people to drop it cold early on.
We actually did not watch the first two episodes and just skipped right to episode 3 where our couple travels to the alternate dimension where they never got married. So if you want to do that, go right ahead! They have plenty of flashbacks to cue you in on how things changed for our couple while providing mostly fun moments to keep you laughing.
Should We Kiss, First? (Romance)
The first 10 episodes (or 19 & 20) of this drama are the things that film magic are made of. So fun, but in a generational way that also brings in the nostalgia of when you were a spring chicken.
Unfortunately, it went super dark in the ending. And I mean super dark. Even so, I feel like everyone should watch the opening 8 to 10 episodes and live that magic. Just don’t continue any further than that. Honestly, just don’t do it.
And those are our recommends! Are there any recent dramas that we did not mention that you think should be on the list? Let us know in the comments!
I would add Extraordinary You to this list. Even more so than Hotel del Luna. Hotel del Luna was funny around the 50% mark. The rest was ultra serious and sad. I cried so hard with the ending 😭
Author
You know, I was really thinking of adding Extraordinary You to this list! But then I thought it might be too meta for newbie Kdrama watchers? I get all the jokes and they crack me up, but I wonder if a newcomer would love it as much or if it would go over there head?
I think anyone who has watched any sort of drama, or even a Telenovela, would get the tropes.
Those are universal tropes. I am from South America and we have the same tropes in Telenovelas, the second male lead that is too good to be true but always late, even the ill girl (with a heart disease) is a popular trope in Telenovelas. I think most newbies would get most if not all the tropes.
Author
Oh for sure, there is carry over with Telenovelas! I’ve seen a few and loved them! I think that’s why South America has such a huge Kdrama audience.
I think my mind just went to a lot of my friends who don’t watch anything but typical US TV shows like the Shondaland repertoire. They have no idea about the tropes.
Author
But Extraordinary You is such a good fun drama so far! It should probably be on this list!
Oh god… the Shondaland Repertoire…
That is something you would never catch me watching.
I’ve personally given up on American dramas for 4 reasons:
1) whenever I get committed to one, it gets cancelled. That does not happen with Asian Dramas.
2) They have too many seasons. Sometimes a story should end naturally before it jumps the shark.
3) Too much sex. I don’t mind sex, but some series just use the sex scenes for ratings. They don’t advance the plot one bit. I need a sex scene that at the very least has some meaning within the plot.
4) They are too predictable. I mean, kdramas are predictable too. But I swear I start to watch an American drama, even the police ones, and within 10 minutes I know exactly how the plot is going to go. It gets boring soon.
Author
Completely agree with you on #3. That is the reason I couldn’t get completely into Game of Thrones or so many other shows.
Definitely not for the beginners… Head shakening.. 🤣🤣
Yikes ya I forgot how sad it was. I just remember the super funny early moments
Author
Now that you two mention it, Hotel Del Luna did start to get pretty sad at the end. Though not as sad as some other Kdramas. I might have to swap it out for Extraordinary You which seems to still be on the happy side. But it is moving towards more serious dramatic territory.
Hotel del Luna was my favourite drama in 2019.
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