HahaTai: Taiwan's Street-Interview Kingdom Forged by Public Criticism

30-Second Overview: HahaTai (HahaTai) is one of the most successful street-interview channels in Taiwan’s online creator ecosystem. Launched in 2015, it exploded in popularity in 2019 with a single street-interview video titled Idle People in Da'an District During Work Hours. Relying on a formula of "randomly approaching pedestrians" combined with the "sharp-tongued roasts" of the voiceover host, it accumulated millions of subscribers and over 200 million views. It faced a trust crisis in 2022 over a "fake pedestrian" scandal in Wugu, won both Best Video of the Year and Best Documentary at the Golden Reel Awards in 2023 with its migrant worker interview special, held its 10th-anniversary event at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in 2024, crossed the one-million-subscriber mark in 2025, and received five Golden Reel Award nominations. It has also expanded its interview map from Taiwan to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia. This article traces its ten-year journey from an agency to the streets and finally to the international stage.

A channel that shoves a microphone in front of strangers and then lets the voiceover mercilessly mock the interviewees took home the "Best Video of the Year" award at the Golden Reel Awards, the highest honor for Taiwan’s online creators, in 2023 ¹. This is the most contradictory aspect of HahaTai (HahaTai): it started by mocking pedestrians, but the reason it was ultimately affirmed was that it learned to listen to them. As of 2024, this channel, operated by Jie De Creative Audio Management Co., Ltd., has accumulated over one million subscribers and more than 200 million cumulative views ².

📝 Curator's Note: When asked "Why Taiwan?" about Taiwan's online video content, HahaTai's answer is simple—ask the "people who don't need to work during work hours," and Taiwan's humanity and absurdity will reveal themselves.

From Agency to Kingdom of Street Interviews

Jie De Creative Audio Management Co., Ltd., which owns HahaTai, was established as early as July 2005. Founder Lin Chih-chieh (Jay) started in overseas program agency and audio-visual distribution ². The channel officially launched on April 1, 2015 ^{2 3}. For the first four years, HahaTai was no different from most influencer channels: its content was scattered, its reach was small, and its business model was unstable. The turning point came in April 2019—under the pressure that "if we don't produce decent ratings, we'll be fired," the video planner "Sun Nu" (Granddaughter) and the director/editor "Jin Tong" (Golden Boy) launched the first street-interview series, Idle People in Da'an District, followed immediately by the second episode, Idle People in Wanhua ⁴.

The program's formula was extremely straightforward: find "people who don't need to work" (idle people) on the streets during work hours, interview them randomly, and then have the voice-only "Voiceover Brother" RJ roast them line by line in post-production ⁵. The first episode featured a naked sunbathing uncle, an audience member struck by Amis humor, and a teaching uncle living in a place described as "the backbone of society and pillar of the state" ⁶. Netizens commented, "Hilariously absurd, begging for a sequel," and the series was thus established as the channel's longest-running flagship program ⁶.

Anatomy of a Video: Roasts, Honest Words, and a Twelve-Person Division of Labor

Street interviews themselves are not new; HahaTai's secret lies in the combination of post-production and interview techniques. TVBS once live-streamed its workflow: Host Gary locks onto pedestrians who "look very idle," often starting with, "How have you been lately? Is there anything interesting you want to share with me?" As they chat, they "accidentally turn into heart-to-hearts," and the interviewees begin to reveal their true experiences ⁵. Back in the editing room, Voiceover Brother RJ's voiceover is recorded in a temporary booth surrounded by curtains. A line like "Conclusion: Yilan people breathe a sigh of relief" sets the rhythm for the entire video ⁵.

RJ admits that the channel's early roasts were "very aggressive and sharp," and the reason for the change is "simple: we were scolded"—scolded by viewers and interviewees, which taught them to restrain themselves ⁵. This also reveals the true scale of the channel's operation: behind each video is a team of about twelve people, dividing scripts, post-production, and interviews, balancing the traffic between roasts and humor ⁵. Early member Sun Nu once revealed in an interview with Marie Claire that although consent forms were signed during filming, some interviewees were dissatisfied with how the video portrayed them and demanded changes, which she had to accept ¹³. Amateurs are magnified on camera, and the cost is borne jointly by the interviewees and the channel.

"Often the opening line is, 'How have you been lately? Is there anything interesting you want to share with me?' Talk and talk, and it accidentally becomes a heart-to-heart. At the end of the heart-to-heart, he starts slowly revealing things he has really experienced." — HahaTai Voiceover Brother RJ ⁵

📝 Curator's Note: On HahaTai's editing desk lies an invisible boundary—roasts can mock behavior, but they cannot crush dignity. This boundary was not designed; it was drawn inch by inch by the scolding of viewers.

Generational Shift in Hosting: From Saving Ratings to the Public's Idle People

HahaTai's hosting lineup has undergone a clear generational shift, with each change coinciding with a node in the channel's expansion. The first generation of hosts centered on Sun Nu, a former website editor, and Jin Tong, a director/editor. They accidentally created the street-interview model amidst workplace dilemmas in 2019. In a 2020 interview, Sun Nu still joked, "I am a resource; cherish me. Trying to exploit me is impossible" ¹³. Starting in 2021, Sun Nu officially joined the HahaTai hosting lineup, and the channel simultaneously launched the dating reality sub-channel "Hazakasi," attempting to extend the ability to "have heart-to-hearts" into the realm of amateur matchmaking ².

The third-generation hosts, Jieni (Hong Jie-ni) and Gary (Hong Shao-qin), took over in 2023,恰好 hitting the channel's most glorious year: double Golden Reel Awards, the premiere of Boys Like Boys, and the launch of overseas street interviews. In an interview with Ming Chuan University's Media Department, Jieni and Gary described their leadership philosophy: "Affinity" is the ticket to enter the street interview, but "curiosity" is the key to keeping pedestrians—first let the interviewee lower their guard, then ask questions others cannot ³. The only thing that hasn't changed is Voiceover Brother RJ: he never shows his face, appearing only in post-production, yet he is the channel's most recognizable voice. From the early "very aggressive and sharp" toxic tongue, he was scolded by viewers into learning restraint, which ironically became "warm roasts" ⁵. A channel with three sets of people and ten years has seen three faces change, but the question in the microphone, "How have you been lately?" has never changed.

From Mockery to Warmth: Migrant Worker Special and Coronation at the Golden Reel Awards

In the second half of 2022, Taiwan society began focusing on migrant worker issues due to the TV drama The Court. HahaTai released the Idle People Among Migrant Workers During Holiday Time street-interview special that same year, asking migrant workers who left their homes: Do you miss home? What is the secret of perfume? How long do you work before you can build a house? Do you hope your children come to Taiwan to work? The video accumulated nearly one million views and was nominated for three major awards at the 2023 Golden Reel Awards ¹⁴.

On October 14, 2023, the 5th Golden Reel Awards were held at the Kaohsiung Entertainment Center. HahaTai won both "Best Video of the Year" and "Best Documentary" with this film, tying with Ah Han's PO Video and HOOK for the most awards ¹. The Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage street interview, originally nominated for the Documentary Award, was actually a program the team had planned to combine with matchmaking while the pilgrimage proceeded. Two days before departure, participants tested positive, forcing a last-minute change to a street interview. Jieni joked on stage, "This might be Mazu's will" ¹. Gary put away his usual humor and said calmly, "Sometimes prejudice against migrant workers still exists in society, but I believe our video can reduce misunderstandings between us." Founder Lin Chih-chieh expressed emotionally, "My mother and my children have received much help from migrant workers; they are already like my family." Before leaving the stage, the two thanked the audience in Vietnamese and Indonesian ¹.

Trust Crisis: The "Fake Pedestrian" Scandal of Wugu

The channel has not had a smooth ride. In early November 2022, netizens exposed that in the Wugu District street-interview video, the "local residents" appeared to be temporary actors recruited by the production company, not random interviews. Public opinion fermented quickly, and HahaTai remained silent for nearly five days ^{15 7}. On November 10, the channel officially responded in the comment section of a newly uploaded video, stating that "for three years of street interviews, there have been many fake pedestrians, actors, and pre-set voices," but due to protecting interviewees' privacy, they could not respond to each speculation one by one. The interview scope covers the whole of Taiwan, and the team adjusts its methods based on the difficulty of visiting different areas. In addition to finding interviewees locally, they also post previews before departure, inviting fans who expect to be interviewed to join, and apologized to the affected interviewees ⁷.

This statement instead triggered a debate between two factions. Some criticized, "The entire statement avoids the heavy and picks the light," "What is a media company doing recruiting actors?" Others believed, "As long as everyone watches the video happily, it's fine," not caring if they were real pedestrians ⁷. This scandal exposed the structural dilemma of the street-interview genre: when "randomness" becomes the channel's招牌, any non-random intervention shakes the foundation of viewers' trust; yet the cost of real-world filming—losing money if you can't find a decent interviewee after a whole day of searching—drives the team toward a semi-planned route ¹⁵.

📝 Curator's Note: The Wugu scandal did not truly destroy HahaTai, because the basis for viewers' final vote was not "whether the pedestrians were 100% random," but "whether these stories were real enough to make people laugh and then think." This is perhaps the most realistic judgment for content creators.

Crossover: Gay Dating Reality, Golden Bell-Level TV, and the 10th Anniversary Wedding

Beyond street interviews, the HahaTai universe expanded rapidly. In 2021, the dating reality sub-channel "Hazakasi" was established ²; in 2023, HahaTai's Boys Like Boys became Taiwan's first large-scale gay dating reality show. It premiered for free on the Hazakasi channel, then went global on the GagaOOLala streaming platform, and aired on TLC, a Warner Bros. Discovery channel, becoming Taiwan's first local LGBTQ+ dating reality show on traditional TV. Broadcasting rights were sold to Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and other regions ^{1 8 11}. Deadline and Variety specifically noted in their November 2023 reports that the film was co-produced by GagaOOLala and its subsidiary HahaTai ^{8 11}.

In 2024, HahaTai celebrated its 10th anniversary. From July 19 to 21, the channel held its first large-scale physical event, Idle People Passing By: Songshan Stroll, at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. It called classic interviewees to "return home" to set up thirty market stalls and witnessed life changes on the Haha Grand Ballroom stage—from a nameless college student turning into Mango Sauce of a new-generation rock band, flooding the Songshan Baroque Garden, to the interviewed singer Rosasa, who fulfilled the promise in the video and collaborated with host Gary to create a new song, I Understand Your Weirdness, becoming Gary's debut stage ⁹. On November 30, 2024, HahaTai participated in VETV's reality competition show King of Night Markets, responsible for on-site hosting and interviews. The first two episodes broke one million views ^{12 16}.

From Street Interviews to Universe: Expansion of Program Spectrum and Five Golden Reel Awards Footprints

Over ten years, HahaTai's program spectrum has long exceeded the two words "street interview." The official channel currently updates every Thursday evening, with regular programs including at least four major series: "HahaTai Street Interviews," "HahaTai Local Experience," "HahaTai Local Guide," and "HahaTai Rental Survey," plus special projects like Taiwanese Homophone Sufferers Association—filming from Taipei to Kaohsiung (RJ's hometown), from streets to homestays and rental sites ². The Singapore rental survey special released in August 2025 used the contrast between HDB flats and private apartments to re-question the "rental pain" familiar to Taiwanese audiences in the world's most expensive city ¹⁷.

The Golden Reel Awards' nomination trajectory serves as a chronicle of this expansion. Nominated for the first time in 2022 for the "Heart-to-Heart Award"; in 2023, it took the double crown of Best Video and Best Documentary; in 2024, at its 10th anniversary, the channel transformed the glory of the awards into a reunion with interviewees on the Songshan stage; in 2025, the 6th edition saw five nominations again—Ultimate Interview—People Who Married and Divorced competed for the Heart-to-Heart Award, Randomly Sending Thai Colleagues Home vied for the Go-Anywhere Award, Taiwanese Counseling Door Names Gathering was nominated for Best Impact Award, the Ukraine street-interview special and Singapore street-interview special were nominated for Best Group Creator Award and Best Program Award respectively ^{17 18}. Although none of the five awards were brought back, parent company Portico Media wrote in a press release after the ceremony that a milestone more important than awards is: subscriber numbers officially broke one million that year, "representing long-term viewer trust and support, and entrusting us with significant social influence and responsibility" ¹⁸.

Walking in Taiwan, and Walking Out of Taiwan

In December 2023, HahaTai announced its first overseas street-interview destination: Australia, spanning Melbourne, Bern, and Eden ⁹; subsequently, it moved to Hong Kong and Singapore. The Singapore special Idle People in Singapore During Work Hours English-subtitled version accumulated over 1.2 million views ¹⁰. At the 10th anniversary of its launch in 2024, the channel re-translated Taiwan region street-interview videos into full English for broadcast on the international video channel TaiwanPlus ¹⁹. From the naked sunbathing uncle in Da'an District to the Chinese renter in Melbourne, the same microphone asks the same question: How have you been lately?

Overseas expansion is not just about language translation. The channel's community management has also been international from the start: the official Facebook and Instagram post recruitment notices in both Chinese and English. The recruitment themes for overseas specials range from rental prices and cultural characteristics to work-and-travel visas, always seeking the "amazing daily life" of locals ¹⁰. The channel's participation in Taiwan's diverse society is not limited to the lens: Starting in 2020, it was invited by the Taiwan Love Hope Association to speak and exchange ideas at the Southern Rainbow Street in Taichung and the Sunshine Queer Center in Kaohsiung, using time outside of street interviews to connect with friendly equality organizations ²⁰.

This is perhaps HahaTai's most important legacy over the past ten years: it demonstrated that online content can be both a business and social observation. That Da'an District video, which almost got Sun Nu fired in 2019, allowed the team to discover that Taiwan's most precious and often ignored scenery is the pedestrians walking on the road, willing to say three extra sentences to strangers. The channel started by mocking, but survived by "having heart-to-hearts"; scolded for being too aggressive, it learned gentleness because it was scolded. In 2025, HahaTai, with its Singapore and Australia specials, was nominated for five major Golden Reel Awards again ^{17 18}—the microphone that RJ, Jieni, and Gary were fighting to "marry" on the Songshan stage is still on the road ⁹. And the hardest-to-replicate lesson it leaves for Taiwan's content industry may be: Algorithms change again and again, platform dividends come and go, but pedestrians willing to stop are always more worth pursuing than fingers willing to swipe away.

Further Reading

• 《Boys Like Boys》GagaOOLala Official Page
• HahaTai YouTube Channel
• HahaTai Street Interviews【ENG SUB】Playlist
• 《King of Night Markets》Official Website (VETV)

References