Manzai (漫才) is a traditional style of comedy inJapanese culture comparable todouble act comedy.[1]
Manzai usually involves two performers (manzaishi)—astraight man (tsukkomi) and afunny man (boke)—tradingjokes at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve around mutual misunderstandings,double-talk,puns and other verbal gags.
In 1933,Yoshimoto Kogyo, a large entertainment conglomerate based inOsaka, introduced Osaka-stylemanzai toTokyo audiences and coined the term "漫才" (one of several ways of writing the wordmanzai in Japanese; see§ Etymology below). In recent times,manzai has often been associated with the Osaka region, andmanzai comedians often speak in theKansai dialect during their acts.
Originally based around a festival to welcome theNew Year,manzai traces its origins back to theHeian period. The twomanzai performers came with messages from thekami and this was worked into a standup routine, with one performer showing some sort of opposition to the word of the other. This pattern still exists in the roles of theboke and thetsukkomi.
Continuing into theEdo period, the style focused increasingly on the humor aspects of stand-up, and various regions of Japan developed their own unique styles ofmanzai, such asOwari manzai (尾張万歳),Mikawa manzai (三河万歳), andYamato manzai (大和万歳). With the arrival of theMeiji period,Osaka manzai (大阪万才) began to implement changes that would see it surpass in popularity the styles of the former period, although at the timerakugo was still considered the more popular form of entertainment.
With the end of theTaishō period,Yoshimoto Kōgyō—which itself was founded at the beginning of the era, in 1912—introduced a new style ofmanzai lacking much of the celebration that had accompanied it in the past. This new style proved successful and spread all over Japan, including Tokyo. Riding on the waves of new communication technology,manzai quickly spread through the mediums ofstage,radio, and eventually,television, andvideo games.[2][3][4][5][6]
Thekanji formanzai have been written in various ways throughout the ages. It was originally written as lit. "ten thousand years" orbanzai, meaning something like "long life" (萬歳), using萬 rather than the alternative form of the character,万, and the simpler form才 for歳 (which also can be used to write a word meaning "talent, ability"). The arrival ofOsaka manzai brought another character change, this time changing the first character to漫.
Similar in execution to the concepts of "funny man" and "straight man" indouble act comedy (e.g.Abbott and Costello;Martin and Lewis), these roles are a very important characteristic ofmanzai.Boke (ボケ) comes from the verbbokeru (惚ける/呆ける) which carries the meaning of "senility" or "air headed-ness" and is reflected in theboke's tendency for misinterpretation and forgetfulness. The wordtsukkomi (突っ込み) refers to the role the second comedian plays in "butting in" and correcting theboke's errors. In performances it is common for thetsukkomi to berate theboke and hit them on the head with a swift smack; one traditionalmanzai prop often used for this purpose is a pleated paper fan called aharisen (張り扇).[7] Another traditionalmanzai prop is a small drum, usually carried (and used) by theboke. A Japanese bamboo and paper umbrella is another common prop. These props are usually used only during non-seriousmanzai routines as traditionalmanzai requires there to be no props in terms of routine and in competitions. The use of props would put the comedy act closer to aconte rather thanmanzai.
The tradition oftsukkomi andboke is often used in otherJapanese comedy, although it may not be as obviously portrayed as it usually is inmanzai.[citation needed]
The funniestmanzai duos, according to a web survey byThe Asahi Shimbun in 2012 (excerpt):[8]
Gen Takagi is a famous manzai comedian who brought manzai comedy to Finland and even had his own competition.[11]
