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Downtown
Hamada Masatoshi (Hyogo Prefecture, 1963- )
Matsumoto Hitoshi (Hyogo Prefecture, 1963- )
Japanese comedy and variety shows can appeal to foreigners in
two main ways: you can actually understand and appreciate the
humor or, even if you don't, you can just sit back and laugh at
people who are obviously making complete idiots of themselves.
I don't really "get" a lot of the comedy - it loses a lot in translation
and relies a bit too heavily on slapstick for my taste. But once
you get to grips with Japanese and learn to just accept the mindlessness
of it all, the shows are as good a way to kill off brain cells
as any other, I suppose. You get to know the more familiar faces
and styles.
Comedians traditionally belonged to a particular "troupe" and
served as apprentices to more established stars until they made
it big themselves. This exists still in rakugo, the
traditional storytelling form of comedy. Aspiring TV comedians
often follow a similar route. The most famous example at the moment
is the Yoshimoto Kogyo troupe
and the undisputed rulers of that particular roost are
Downtown: Hamada Masatoshi or Hama-chan as he is
usually known and Ma-chan (Matsumoto Hitoshi).
Downtown have been big stars since around 1991, having trained
and spent almost ten years working their way up the ladder within
Yoshimoto. Their brand of comedy is manzai (see
Beat Takeshi). Hamachan is the
tsukomi who is constantly angered or bewildered by the nonsensical or
plain weird boke outpourings of Ma-chan. There's lots of movement, shouting and
slapping of heads (Takeshi prefers a plastic squeaky hammer for
this) which often seems unscripted and chaotic. In the case of
Downtown, the pair know each other so well that that is usually
the case.
The pair went to the same elementary school in a suburb of Osaka, though they
didn't become friends until junior high and they went their separate
ways in senior high. After high school, Hamada had an unsuccessful
try at becoming a motor boat racer. A chance meeting with his
old friend led to Hamada getting caught up in Matsumoto's long-held
dream of becoming a comedian and the pair joined Yoshimoto's training
school in 1982.
Not seen so much anymore are the menagerie of weird characters
that Downtown used to create on Downtown no Gottsu Ee Kanji
(Downtown's Feelin' Good!). Ma-chan dressed up in a huge afro
wig as Dansu Sensei (Dance Teacher), as Aho Aho Man
(Stupid Stupid Man) or as a fairy named Exciting; or more
recently Hama-chan as Eccentric Shonen Boy. Together with
Yoshimoto foot soldiers like Imada Koji and Yamada
Hanako, the pair performed the weirdest sketches, sometimes hilarious
sometimes just baffling. But these days, they appear mostly as
presenters of fairly tame variety or talk shows, relying mostly
on Ma-chan's spontaneous outbursts for laughs. There are often
veiled references to his playboy lifestyle and he is one of Japan's
most eligible bachelors. hama-chan has been married since 1989.
Downtown have also made a lot of money from activities outside
of TV. They've released best-selling albums under their own name
and as the Geisha Girls. Hamada also got together with
super-producer Komuro Tetsuya
and released a couple of million-selling singles as H Jungle
with t. Recently they jumped on the revival bandwagon, leading the Yoshimoto
gang in a version of Sakamoto Kyu's 1960's hit Ashita
ga Aru sa, also the theme of a popular TV drama starring the gang. Both
Hamada and Matsumoto have written best-sellers, though Matsumoto's
unique wit ensured that his books sold considerably better. Together
with TV and various commercial endorsements, including at one
time convenience store chain am/pm, these various sources
of income combined to make Downtown the
biggest taxpayers in the entertainment business for several years
running in the 1990's.
Yoshimoto Kogyo is very much a Kansai operation, although it's
not limited to people from Osaka and its surroundings. Most of
its comedians speak Kansai-ben, the strong, earthy dialect that
developed among the merchant classes of Osaka, as opposed to the
more elegant tones of Kyoto or the standard language of the Edo
(now Tokyo) aristocracy. Matsumoto and Hamada have never lost
that dialect and have actually used it to their benefit. They
use it in the titles of their TV shows - you won't find translations
of Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende (This Is No Job For Kids!)
or Gottsu Ee Kanji in a standard dictionary.
But Downtown are such big stars that these expressions have entered
the common vocabulary.
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