The untold story of 'voice imitation saint' MC Nguyen Viet Ho

(Baonghean) - Known as the "voice impersonator" of famous characters and a former celebrity in reality game shows, MC Viet Ho is also known as a famous MC in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

In early 2016, TV viewers were amazed by a contestant on the talent show Gottalent who mimicked voices extremely well. The Nghe An guy could mimic many famous people such as director Le Hoang, MC Nguyen Huu Chien Thang, MC Nguyen Ngoc Ngan, and characters in long-running Chinese martial arts novels. It turned out that he was born in the sunny and windy land of Huong Khe - Ha Tinh, and was once an active contributor to Thanh Nien Newspaper, but at the time of the competition, Viet Ho was already a well-known MC in the Vietnamese show industry.

MC Nguyen Viet Ho is currently a music editor and MC in Hanoi. Photo: NVCC

He said that since he was young, he could play many roles in a play because he had a talent for imitating voices. When watching Chinese dramas, he could even dub the voices of 5 characters at once, "Imitation so well that I could talk for hours without the listener recognizing me." And that talent would only be a form of entertainment for relatives, friends and colleagues if it did not come to him. "The time I participated in game shows was because my friends encouraged me to compete for fun, and I boldly filled in my name, thinking that going on air would be a bit of honor. I never expected to be known by many people. Even happier was that the judges admired me, "It couldn't be more similar."

MC Nguyen Viet Ho in a talk show. Photo: NVCC

However, the voice mimicry is limited because it is not possible to upgrade the contest entries, so Nguyen Viet Ho only stopped at the semi-finals and "My talent is only that". However, what he received from this fun registration was that he had more shows to host from weddings, music editing, tea room MC, big events. Because in addition to the voice mimicry skill, Viet Ho was previously a sought-after MC in a place where the competition of the profession is unlimited.

The place he calls limitless competition is Ho Chi Minh City, where entertainment activities are constantly developing. It was there that he once looked for a stable job, struggling with many jobs to survive.

At that time, in addition to my main job as a Thanh Nien Newspaper correspondent, I was also known in the real estate industry as a good businessman. However, during that journey, Viet Ho still had not really found his passion. Then, by chance, a friend asked him to host a wedding. Unexpectedly, it was only his first time as an MC, but he was very active, with varied scripts and witty lines. The happy party became memorable memories for the relatives of both families.

Since then, his reputation has spread far and wide, many of his friends and acquaintances have asked Viet Ho to be the MC for weddings, MC for events and host charity fundraising music shows. After doing it for a long time, he became familiar with it and wanted to pursue the profession, wanted to learn to develop into a professional MC. “The hardest thing is that I was not trained in this field, so I can only learn from my seniors, accumulate and then turn it into my own. Another difficult thing is that when speaking for a long time at an event, I will inevitably be led to the Central accent. At first, I also found it difficult, but gradually I found the standard timbre to be able to maintain the pitch and intonation of my voice... In my opinion, what you say and your style are more important than whether your accent is standard Northern or not...”

MC Nguyen Viet Ho and MC Bui Tien Dung at the reality TV show - "Hot Seat Power" currently being broadcast on VTV3. Photo: NVCC

Thanks to his constant efforts and learning, from a show he hosted for only a few hundred thousand, now people pay him from 10 to 12 million VND, even 40 to 50 million VND if he hosted a wedding. "Before, when I was doing voiceovers at TV stations, people paid me 40 thousand VND for an episode, but I only took 20 thousand to confirm that I did not do it for money. Later, when I became an MC, I still only wanted to charge a cheaper price than the market price so that customers would know that I wanted to learn more to be worthy of the money they paid me."

And from those years of paying tuition for that profession, I have really found my place. Now I do not introduce myself as a reporter or a Voice Imitation Saint, but as a professional MC.

These days, Viet Ho is participating in the recording of the game show Hot Seat Power with Dam Vinh Hung, Chi Trung, Dinh Tien Dung (Cu Trong Xoay). At the same time, he is also the MC and in charge of music editing for the largest tea room Big Bang in Vietnam (Hanoi). His wish is to turn this place into a music space, a new entertainment venue for the people of the capital. For him: "MCing is not simply a profession to make a living but also a creative art field where the player is an artist."

Thanh Nga