Making great strides in variety! Sentinel, a unique young duo from Uganda and Japan, reveals their “big ambitions

The comedy duo “Sentinel” is composed of Tomisat (30), a boorish comedian who has a Ugandan father, and Daisei (30), a burly comedian. Since forming in July 2008, the duo has emerged as a force to be reckoned with, especially in variety shows, and in their fourth year since forming, they have expanded their activities to include an appearance on “Midnight Honey” (Fuji Television Network).

What are the roots of this up-and-coming duo that has garnered so much attention? We take a closer look at the duo’s appeal through their history, including what made them want to become comedians, episodes from their school days, how they came to form the duo after attending a comedy training school, and their most recent goals.

Comedy people are cool” – two people who became comedians after watching a variety of comedy shows

–When did you two first become interested in comedy?

Daisei: Around junior high school. Rather than simply liking comedy, I was a strict old man who usually only watched golf or mahjong shows, but I kept watching “Samaaz” and “Tunnels” shows, and I got into it because I thought “comedy people are cool.

However, when I was in junior high school, I was a bit of a wimp (laugh). When I talked to my friends about it, they said, “Don’t do it,” and I thought, “I can’t do that kind of thing. It was in high school that I decided to get serious about comedy. A friend invited me to join him because he thought I was funny, and I started doing manzai at festivals and such.

Tomisat: I was a member of “Mecha x 2 Iketeru! (Fuji Television Network) and other Fuji Television variety shows. It was around the time I was in high school that I decided to get serious about it. I had a classmate who had been recognized as “funny” by the whole school since the first year of junior high school, and when I was about 16 years old, he asked me to join him.

When I was about 16 years old, he asked me to join him, but he told me to wait until I graduated from college. I worked as a part-time leader at a restaurant for about seven years and waited. Then, when it was time for me to graduate from college, he said, “I can’t do comedy after all” (laugh). He had done student comedy in college and felt that “the pros are tough. Then, by chance, another friend from high school asked me to join him, and we enrolled in the Ota Productions training school together.

–What kind of activities did you do after graduating from high school?

Taisei: I went to Hosei University, but I thought I was the “strongest” at the time, so I didn’t join a comedy club (laugh). I made up stories with friends I had formed a comedy duo with in high school, and we performed at independent shows.

In the end, I dropped out of college without making any friends. Just as I was about to enter a training school, my partner at the time said he was going to find a job, so I dragged along a classmate who had been the “ace number four” in terms of popularity in high school. He was in his fourth year of college and was job hunting, but I convinced him to quit. Then my friend said, “If I’m going to do comedy, I want to join Watanabe,” so I enrolled him in Watanabe Entertainment’s training school.

–Tomisat: How did you do at the training school?

Tomisat: The partner I entered the training school with quit halfway through, so I teamed up with another classmate (Tokudai Kizu) to form the previous duo, “Shintenchi. We were at the top of the class, weren’t we?

Daisei: We were not at the top of the class, but we were in the top live performance group for a long time and belonged to an office. However, we didn’t get along with the writers and the duo didn’t get along well, so we broke up after about one year. I left the office and formed a duo with another comedian from Ota Productions, who was not Tomisat at the time.

–Where did you two meet?

Tomisat: There was a young comedian show in Tokyo called “Wakaki-no-Iriri,” which was a gathering of people who had made good grades at comedy training schools other than Yoshimoto Kogyo. We got together at the first show.

Daisei: We had been performing together since April when we graduated from the training school. I thought Tomisat was interesting, and when I broke up the duo from my training school days, “Shintench” was in great shape. It would have been very harsh to ask him to join me in that situation. So I teamed up with another comedian.

Tomisat: “Shintench” was going well at first, but after a while there was a difference in enthusiasm. I am the type of comedian who puts everything into comedy. My partner at the time had his own private life and wanted to do things in a balanced way. The gap between us grew and grew, and he told me, “I’m tired of it. On the first day of the 20th year, I was allowed to appear on “Gurunai Omoshiro-so” (Nippon Television Network), but we broke up right after that.

After that, I was on “Wakakeni no Soroshi” without telling anyone that we had broken up. There was a project where the duo would switch and do shuffle material, and I happened to be with Daisei. I thought it sounded good, but since Taisei was already in a duo, it was hard for me to ask him to join. I was in a darkened room watching YouTube videos of the COVID-19 crisis, when I was fired from my part-time job and had to cancel all my gigs. My pin name at that time was “Pineapple Tomisato.

Daisei: It’s not the name of someone who does something completely (smiles).

Tomisat: It’s a commandment name, a commandment name. After that, thanks to various people, I became positive that I wanted to do comedy. The Daisei duo broke up rather soon after that, so Sentinel started in July of 2008.

–Last June, you were voted No. 1 in the “comedians who are likely to sell in the current variety show” category on “Godotan” (TV Tokyo). Was there a big response to the show?

Daisei: The first TV show we appeared on as Sentinel was “Godotan. After the show went on the air, we felt a temporary tailwind, but we failed in the second round of that year’s “M-1. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

After that, I didn’t feel the supportive mood anymore, and I realized that I would have to do my best on my own. In the end, I had to do my best on my own. I am aware that I have made progress little by little over the past year, but I think I need to quicken my pace.

Tomisat: I think it is a world where you have to win when you can. Now that I have been allowed to appear in “Late Night Honey,” I think I need to keep up the momentum and go all out. I think I have to be serious about both my material and TV, so I am doing more than 50 live shows a month. I quit my part-time job to concentrate on comedy, so now is the time when I have the least money.

Daisei: I quit my part-time job, too. I don’t have time to do both.

— Ideally, he would like to get results in the awards race and sell well on TV.

Tomisat: The “M-1” final will probably come later, but I would like to have some kind of title by this time next year.

Daisei: Like “Gekisho,” our office live show, we are always in second place or something like that.

Tomisat: We don’t have the power to win. I think I can see something soon.

Daisei: We have our eyes set on the “Climax Series” in December to determine the “Gekisho” annual champion. There are three teams: “Wandering Rabbi,” “Blue No. 1,” and us, so we have a 1/3 chance of winning. Of course, the two teams are strong, but now Sentinel has to get into the habit of winning anyway.

Tomisat: For the first time, my partner said something positive. It’s giant-killing. Anyway, now we are working hard to get to the top!

In the latter half of the interview, “The recording session is a battlefield” and “a series of stoppages”… “Fear felt in popular TV shows” as revealed by the up-and-coming young duo Sentinel, ” they share their true feelings about the behind-the-scenes recording of the Fuji Television comedy show “Midnight Honey” in which they have appeared many times.