Just before M-1! Ranjyatai’s determination: “Full swing, that’s all I can do.

Among the nine finalists for the M-1 Grand Prix, there is one duo that stands out from the rest. This is “Ranjatai,” which has been together for 14 years. Kazuya Kunisaki (34), the joke guy, plays an overly eccentric character, and Koji Ito (36) tweets at him without hesitation. Described as “illusion manzai” because of their unique worldview, the semi-finals were their best ever. They have twice been eliminated in the loser’s resurrection round. The two members of “Ranjatai,” who are challenging the final for the first time, talked for an hour about how they feel about challenging the top of manzai.

Ito: “Now that the final has been decided, our longtime dream has come true. I feel like I’m dreaming.

Kunisaki: “The eligibility to participate in ‘M-1’ is up to the 15th year of formation. We were one step away from our last year. When it didn’t work out, I really thought about how I could lie and cheat the age limit. I thought about how I could cheat the age limit.

Ito: “We received a lot of congratulations from fellow comedians and people in our office.

Kunisaki: “Our office was established by ‘Sandwitchman’. Kunisaki: “Our office was established by ‘Sandwitchman’ and Mr. Tomizawa (Takeshi, 47) is a judge again this year. So I’m sure he’ll give us 100 points in the final! (laughs) That’s a big advantage.

They opened the door to the final, which had been closed for many years. The turning point for them was a live performance with one of their seniors that caused a “manzai controversy” in last year’s final.

Kunisaki: “Last year, one week before the M-1 loser’s bracket, I got a bad back. My office introduced me to an excellent osteopath, but he couldn’t make it in time.

Ito: “In the end, I was eliminated at the bottom. After that, Ms. Noda (Crystal 35) of “Magical Lovely” invited me to a live performance.

Kunisaki: “Perhaps because it was right after ‘Madical Lovely’ won the ‘M-1’ championship, 17,000 distribution tickets were sold out. On such a big stage, I asked Mr. Noda, “What are you guys doing? I don’t know what you’re doing,” but I was actually glad to hear that. But that was actually a good thing. The audience, who used to stumble at the entrance of the story because the world view of “Ranjatai” was too bizarre for them to understand, started to listen to us, saying, ‘It’s okay if you don’t understand the meaning.

Ito: “Mr. Noda showed us our ‘instruction manual’.

Kunisaki: “All I can say is thank you.

From overly exaggerated imitations of famous people to dancing while shouting “Ucchan Nanchan,” the two excel at their unique material. How do they create that world view?

Kunisaki: “I’m in charge of creating the material. I used to work part-time at a gas station, and my job was to watch the customers to make sure there was no trouble. I gradually lost track of what I was doing and found myself talking to plastic bottles, but I was able to pass the time by making videos of myself acting out these strange characters.

Ito: “They showed it to me, and it was funny, so I just did it on stage and it was popular. I’ve been making stories this way ever since.

Kunisaki: “I don’t have a script, and sometimes I go on stage without ever having a meeting. Sometimes Ito is just frightened all the time and in trouble (laughs).

Ito: “There are some things that really don’t make sense. It’s hard to improvise. But it’s fun.

Kunisaki “I loved V6’s “Let’s Go to School! (TBS). Especially the amateurs who appeared in the “Claiming to be Minors” and “Healing Musicians” sections were all very funny, and V6’s comedy was great, so I used them as a reference. In that sense, the origin of our eccentricity is V6.

Ito: “Johnny’s going to be mad at us.

Lastly, I asked them again about their enthusiasm for the M-1 final.

Ito: “All I can really see is winning. I will definitely win.

Kunisaki: “I want to come out as the top batsman and make a mess of the competition. I’m going to swing as hard as I can!

Will the biggest upset in history take place?

From the December 31, 2021 issue of FRIDAY