Freelance Announcer Ai Kanda Talks Variety Talents and Their Green Room Meals

“You’re just like a variety talent!”

Thankfully, as entertainers, we are provided with lunch boxes in the dressing rooms wherever we go. On morning shoots, it’s a light meal with two rice balls and one piece of fried chicken. For day or night shoots, there are several options to choose from, such as a main dish of fish or hamburg steak, so you can pick the flavor you want.

Generally, meals during work are, of course, paid for out of our own pockets. When I was an NHK announcer, I was still a salaried employee, so meals were at my own expense. When I became a freelancer and saw lunch boxes prepared in the dressing rooms, I realized, “I’ve entered the entertainment industry now. I’m no longer a salaried worker.” By the way, lunch boxes for programs featuring well-known celebrities are always lavish. It’s a sign of a healthy budget, and it motivates me, thinking, “I’ll work hard and get into a program like this!” For me, the dressing room lunch box became something more than just food.

During the pandemic, the variety of lunch boxes increased. This was likely because many restaurants that could no longer operate normally started selling lunch boxes. During this time, a new and worthy contender emerged: a tempura-don lunch box. The tempura, with large shrimp and conger eel, was visually stunning and delicious. Before long, it appeared in dressing rooms across various programs, and I had it multiple times.

One very hot summer day, a program had that lunch box prepared. “Oh! It’s this lunch box again today. It’s really popular lately,” I said to the manager and makeup artist. But then a co-star who had eaten it reported, “The rice was sticky and gooey.” Immediately, unopened lunch boxes were gathered, and we were told not to eat them.

Fortunately, no one who had eaten it, including the person who reported it, complained of stomach aches. However, it wasn’t like it had natto or yam in it. It had never been sticky or gooey before. It was clear that it had gone bad.

That same day, the lunch box provider apologized, and it was speculated that the new staff member, still inexperienced, had served the rice too quickly before it had cooled, causing the issue.

After that, the lunch box was no longer served on that program, but for several months, it was still being served on other sets. However, now, I never see it anymore. It’s hard to imagine the same thing happening on other sets. The lunch box, which quickly became popular in dressing rooms, has disappeared and I suddenly realized, “It’s just like a variety talent!”

A variety talent is primarily a TV personality who appears on variety shows. I’ve been a freelancer for 13 years, and I’ve had more work as a variety talent than as an announcer. So, I’ve analyzed the structure of variety talents in my own way.