Japanese Owarai comedy is a hit on every TV show in Japan
Do you know what “Owarai” means? It’s a word that is widely used to refer to Japanese comedy. Owarai comes from "Warai", which is Japanese for laughter. The history of Japanese humor is long. The origins of “Owarai” have their roots in antiquity.
"Manzai", one of the many styles of Japanese humor, was born in the Heian (794 -1185) period. With the advent of television, “Manzai” became very popular in Japan and today many contemporary television programs are based on this style of humor. This style is very peculiar. Performances usually include two people up on stage. One plays the role of the funny man, while the other interrupts and corrects him. This method is called "Boke to tukkomi" ("Boke" means to play dumb and "to tukkomi" to correct). In Japan, this type of humor is widespread and today it has become a basic style for contemporary comedians.
Generally, people who work in Owarai are known as "Owarai-geinin" or "Owarai-tarento" (which is derived from the English word "talent"). If they are a Manzai couple, then they’re known as “Owarai-Konbi” (derived from “combination” in English).
Sanma, Tamori, and Beat Takeshi (Takeshi Kitano) are Japan’s most famous Owarai-geinin comedians.
“Owarai-geinin” have diversified, and today they take part in various activities. Many of them appear on variety shows, a category that’s about as popular as drama and anime. There are several styles within that category: game shows based on physical competitions, math and science programs, cooking shows, travel programs, etc.
Variety shows are in style lately as are programs featuring Manzai and Konto (comedic theater) competitions. They compete to see who is the funniest.
In this video, you can see an example from one of these competitions featuring a contemporary comedian. This is a program called “Enta no Kamisama” (The God of Entertainment). The actor in this video is called Jinnai Tomonori, one of the favorites in this type of competition.
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