<figure id="attachment_297928" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-297928" style="width: 826px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2250eb17"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/02/b85f3cbd664f6dd89d76e899989539a4.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-297928" class="wp-caption-text">Shofukutei Shohei (right) smiles mischievously with Akashiya Sanma (left) after a drinking session (&#8217;08).</figcaption></figure>
 The hole that Shobutei has left is too big for me&#8230;&#8221;
 The man who made Akashiya Sanma say that much was Shofukutei Shobei, who died suddenly of an acute aortic dissection on February 22.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 After graduating from Osaka University of Arts in 1980 with a degree in Literature and Arts, Shohei studied under Shofukutei Tsurube and worked as an attendant. He has also appeared in &#8220;Suddenly Gabacho! and &#8220;Young Town Saturday&#8221; (both on MBS), he became popular in the Kansai region.
 After moving to Tokyo in 1987, he became a popular figure in the tea ceremony with his role as Wicky-san on Nippon Television&#8217;s &#8220;Tsuru-chan no Puttun 5&#8221; and his impersonation of Yoshiko-chan from the anime &#8220;Sally-chan&#8221; on Fuji Television&#8217;s &#8220;Monomake Oza Ketteisen&#8221; (The Mimicry Championship).
 Most recently, he appeared on BS-TBS&#8217;s &#8220;Rumor! Tokyo Magazine&#8221; on BS-TBS and regular appearances on Yomiuri TV&#8217;s &#8220;Osaka Honwaka TV. As an actor, he also appeared in the NHK TV series &#8220;Come Come Everybody&#8221; in &#8217;21.
 On February 26 and 27, a large number of fellow TV personalities paid their respects at his wake and farewell ceremony. They all spoke of Shohei&#8217;s unpretentious personality, his kindness to everyone, and his deep paternalism. But it was Sanma who was more saddened than anyone else.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 On February 25, he mentioned Shobei&#8217;s death on the MBS radio program &#8220;MBS Young Town. When Sanma learned of Shobei&#8217;s collapse from a phone call from Tsurubei, he rushed to the hospital later that day. There he learned that he was unable to breathe spontaneously.
 He said, &#8220;I was more prepared than other people for one day, so I managed to do something&#8230;. If I had come to the hospital without knowing that, I would have been shocked.
 He said, &#8220;If I had come to the day of his death without knowing that, I would have been shocked. On the day of his death, Tsurube called him.
 He said, &#8220;He really took care of me&#8230;. Thank you so much, thank you, thank you.
 Thank you, thank you, thank you.
 That is how much Sanma cared for Shobei. On the radio, he mentioned the &#8220;Roppongi Paradise Night,&#8221; a night party for adults held by his friends.
 Simply put, it is like a &#8220;blind date party&#8221; held every night. Sanma said
 Recently, I&#8217;ve been getting phone calls from Shobei-chan saying, &#8216;Hey, brother, when&#8217;s Paradise Night? I&#8217;ve been getting phone calls from Shobei-chan asking, &#8216;When is the Paradise Night? Just when I was about to do it, this happened. If this was going to happen, I should have done Paradise Night&#8230;&#8221;
 I regretted it.
 While the other participants were enjoying their time with the ladies, he and Sanma kept the mood relaxed with their exquisite banter. According to Sanma, there are more than 30 collaborative tricks. Member Shoji Murakami said.
 It&#8217;s not something you can do in five or ten years,&#8221; said Murakami Shoji, a member of the group.
 Sanma said, &#8220;It&#8217;s not something that can be done in five or ten years.
 I think only I and Shobei-chan can do it,&#8221; said Sanma. I think only Shoji Murakami and Shoji Murakami can do it.
 He looked up to the heavens.
 A woman in her 30s who had actually attended &#8220;Roppongi Paradise Night&#8221; said
 When I was there, in addition to Sanma-san and Shohei-san, there was Banai Matsuo and a man who looked like the president of a production company. Everyone was very funny and I remember laughing all the time.
 When I made a joke, he said, &#8220;That&#8217;s a good one. I&#8217;ll use it next time. When he saw that, he would make a note in his notebook and say, &#8216;I&#8217;m going to use that next time. It was a really fun meeting.
 He recalls, &#8220;It was a really fun meeting.
 Some comedians go to cabarets or attend blind dates where they try to &#8220;take home&#8221; the girls by hitting on them or body-touching them. However, the Paradise Night performers are not like that.
 &#8220;We just make the party fun and that&#8217;s it. Everyone just laughs and goes home. I remember that Mr. Sanma gave the participating women 10,000 to 20,000 yen as a &#8216;car fee.
 (The same female participant).
 Sanma said on the radio about his &#8220;condolences&#8221; for Shobei.
 I&#8217;m going to hold a party to send him off on his own. I&#8217;m thinking of taking his picture and glasses and going around to the restaurants he used to go to. I wonder if he will be pleased with that. Please watch over me.&#8221;
 Shobei was an unrivaled lover of cabarets. Mr. Sanma&#8217;s style of &#8220;mourning pilgrimage&#8221; must be making him happy in heaven.

 Shu Nishihara

 On February 22, Shofukutei Shobei died suddenly of acute aortic dissection. Akashiya Sanma expressed his sadness, saying, "The hole that Shobei left is too big for me...

The death of Shofukutei Shobei &#8220;broke Akashiya Sanma&#8217;s heart, too&#8221; A woman who participated in &#8220;Roppongi Paradise Night&#8221; reveals her &#8220;true face&#8221; at the event.

The death of Shofukutei Shobei “broke Akashiya Sanma’s heart, too” A woman who participated in “Roppongi Paradise Night” reveals her “true face” at the event.

Access Ranking