User:Freshgavin/Sandbox/Owarai

Owarai (お笑い, owarai) is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word owarai is the honorific form of the word warai, meaning 'a laugh' or 'a smile'. Owarai is most common on Japanese variety shows (バラエティ番組, baraeti bangumi) and the comedians are referred to as owarai geinin (お笑い芸人) or owarai tarento (お笑いタレント). Presently Japan is considered to be in an 'owarai boom', and many minor talents have been finding sudden fame after a gag (ギャグ, gyagu) or skit became popular.

Characteristics of Owarai

Manzai (漫才), a traditional form of Japanese comedy that is still somewhat popular today, is characterized by a pair of usually older male comedians acting certain roles in a constant comedic battle against themselves. This tradition is continued in the acts of many modern talents. While there are many women talents, they are largely outnumbered by the men, and they tend to take more minor roles.

The traditional Japanese dress worn by manzai talents is replaced by the western suits that are worn by many of the owarai kombi (コンビ, combination; referring to a pair of comedians in a unit) and many talents begin their careers performing in a style very similar to stand-up comedy.

Some minor characteristics include frequently used sound effects (cheap, old-fashioned sound effects are used intentionally for comic effect), dajare (ダジャレ, a Japanese-style pun), and dokkiri (ドッキリ, a hidden-camera prank like those seen in the popular show Punk'd).

Owarai Geinin

A few popular kombi include:

くりぃむしちゅー Cream Stew
アンタッチャブル Untouchable
インパルス Impulse
オセロ Othello, a rare female konbi
スピードワゴン Speed Wagon
ダウンタウン Downtown
ナインティナイン Ninety-nine
ペナルティ Penalty
よゐこ Yoiko
レギュラー Regular

As can be clearly seen, many if not most of owarai units have names based on English words or phrases. Kombi are usually included as guests for shows, though some (namely Cream Stew, Downtown, and Ninty-nine) often act as hosts as well.

Some popular talents that usually don't perform in units are:

明石家さんま Sanma Okashiya
タモリ Tamori
ビートたけし Beat Takeshi
内村光良 Teruyoshi Uchimura
藤井隆 Takashi Fujii
ホリ Hori
青木さやか Sayaka Aoki

Of these, Sanma, Tamori, and Beat Takeshi are sometimes referred to collectively as the 'big three' because of their massive popularity. Talents such as these often act as hosts for shows, or perform together in small or large groups, something almost unimagineable for most western comedians.

Variety shows

Japanese variety shows or comedy shows are the main outlet for most owarai geinin and along with drama and anime they are some of the most popular shows on Japanese television.

Variety shows in Japan are generally divided into a variety of sections, games, and/or 'corners', some very short and some shows focusing (for a special episode) solely on one game, or feature. Trivia, quiz, or game shows in Japan can often be considered owarai as the contestants of such shows are often a mix of owarai geinin and other Japanese talents of various descriptions. Game shows without any famous characters playing the role of contestants are rare.

Of these sections and games, many can be seen recurring on a variety of shows all across Japan. It may even be possible to classify Japanese variety shows (or at least the individual sections of the shows) according to the following formats:

Quizzes or trivia (with subjects ranging from 雑学 (zatsugaku, general or useless knowledge), math, science, history and other school subjects, kanji (testing peoples' knowledge of difficult or rare characters), English, and a mishmash of typical quiz-style trick questions)
Food judgement/tasting/making (various types of food are also commonly used as prizes for the winner of a game)
Travel (often travelling within Japan to view someones estate or around the world producing short, documetary-style segments about world culture, with a comic twist)
Physical challenges, tests of strength/endurance etc.
Tests of improvised comic skill (for example, a dajare contest)
Obstacle courses/collections of strange games or activities
Music (Either with real Japanese musicians, or with owarai geinin trying their hands at music, covering popular songs or showing off their own)

Some concepts of variety shows are consistant over most of Japanese television, though they may be considered quite different than those seen in the western world. Many shows are made up of what are called VTRs, or video segments, and are usually introduced with a hand gesture and the word dōzo (the implied meaning is let's have a look), though this procedure is usually made into a joke with strange gestures instead of the usual wave.

A few popular variety/comedy shows of varying contents are:

笑いの金メダル King of Comedy (showcasing the stand-up acts and skits of new and popular talent, often featuring VTR segments of the activities of various talents)
エンタの神様 The God of Entertainment (similar to King of Comedy, though focusing on stand-up acts)
愛のエプロン Apron of Love (talents lacking cooking skill are asked to cook difficult dishes and are given harsh, though honest, judgements)
SMAP×SMAP Smap Smap (the five members of the immensely popular group SMAP host many different shows, presenting segments such as music, cooking, and news)
銭形金太郎 Zenigata Kintarō (this show's segment bimbo batoru (battle of the poor) showcases the life of two or more people living in Japan who support interesting life styles on minimum amounts of money; the funniest, or most inspiring bimbo wins)
Matthew's Best Hit TV+ (hosted by the comedian Takashi Fujii, this show features musical guests and a strange variety of games and unrelated segments)
トリビアの泉 Spring of Trivia (showcasing interesting and strange facts (or strange interpretations of boring facts) of little or no importance using a trivia-style format)
ネプリーグ Nep-league (featuring the owarai trio Neptune on one of the two teams of contestants, this quiz show features various 'levels' of play challenging the players' knowledge of everything from world events to reading Japanese to spelling simple English words)

External links

大笑い.com (oowarai.com) Japanese site promoting owarai and owarai talents
お笑い芸人相関図 (owarai geinin sōkanzu) Japanese site with information on various owarai geinin and the relationships they have with other talents
お笑い芸人図鑑 (owarai geinin zukan) Japanese site, so called encyclopedia of owarai geinin
Japan Humor Corner Site dealing with some aspects of humor and comedy in Japanese