Studied for entrance examinations for comedy”…Winner of “R-1”! Ole Tomoda’s confession: “I admired Mr. Carlsmokey Ishii.

It was unexpected.

I never thought that I, a nobody, would be able to win the championship. I really didn’t expect it myself.

This is what Ora Tomoda, 23, who won the “R-1 Grand Prix 2025,” said. With his addictive rhythmic jokes based on Showa-era songs and outstanding singing ability, he came out on top of a field of 5,511 contestants, the largest in history.

He has been performing for less than two years and graduated from Waseda University last year. He belongs to an entertainment agency that also includes actors and athletes, and has never been to a training school. Along with his surreal material, his unusual background has also attracted attention, but what kind of person is he really? ……

When we first asked him about how he got started in comedy, he revealed some unexpected roots that bear no resemblance to his current style.

I have loved watching comedy shows since I was in elementary school. My favorite show was “Bakusho Red Carpet” (Fuji TV), and I used to imitate the rhythm comedians on the show with my friends. For example, I used to imitate “2700. That is the base of my current style.

In the finals, he also wowed the audience with his beautiful voice.

I haven’t practiced in particular (laughs). I only did voice training once as a trial. But I have always loved singing. When I was in kindergarten, I got hooked on Masashi Akikawa’s song “Be a Thousand Winds,” and I practiced it a lot.

Until high school, he was more likely to perform as a comic duo. He teamed up with his classmates and performed their material at school festivals and student award shows. It wasn’t until he entered university that he ventured into the world of pin-up comedians in earnest.

I studied hard for the entrance exam to get into a famous comedy club at Waseda University,” he said. I learned the basics of comedy and even how to make up stories based on internet memes, which I did in the finals, at the circle. For me, the circle was also a training school.
When my partner graduated in my second year, I tried my hand at being a pin comedian, which was a lot of fun. In the spring of 2010, when I was in my third year, I posted a video on SNS that got a lot of attention, and I gained confidence that I could go in this direction.

The video, in which the singer introduces the eccentricities of an imaginary left-handed boyfriend on a flip chart to the tune of Megumi Maoka’s (69) famous song “My Left-Handed Boyfriend,” became a topic of conversation, with a famous producer from a key station retweeting the video.

Why he did not choose Yoshimoto

This video was the impetus for him to be scouted by his current agency by DM. Yoshimoto Kogyo is the biggest company in the industry, but did he have any choice but to choose Yoshimoto if he wanted to enter the world of comedy?

I didn’t want to work for a major comedy company if I was going to do comedy. If there are too many people, you get buried in the crowd. I wanted to do it at my own pace.
Even so, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to be a comedian. Then, out of curiosity, I was selected for an internship as an announcer at TBS. When I appealed my comedian activities, the interviewer asked me, “Why don’t you become a comedian? I was asked a perfectly legitimate question. Thinking about it again, I realized that the only thing I have chosen to do on my own volition has always been comedy, even though I am easily swayed by my surroundings, so I accepted the offer from my current firm.

Tomoda, who was determined, joined his current firm in 2011. The results were immediate. In July 2011, he made it to the final of the “ABC Comedy Grand Prix. He continued to hone his skills, and this year, in the third year of his career, he has reached the pinnacle of pin comedians.

As for his ambitions for the future, he said, “There are so many things I want to do,” but then he mentioned one thing as if it had just occurred to him.

I’ve said many things, but the person I admire is Karl Smokey Ishii, 65, of Yone Yone Club. I like him partly because of my parents’ influence, but I don’t think there is anyone else who can start a movement like that. I want to work with Mr. Ishii someday. That is my clear goal.”

Any last words to the readers? When I asked him to write about his “aspirations” to enrich the lives of those who watch his work, he wrote, “I want to be closer to the people I admire. His “romantic flight” to become the man of his dreams has just begun.

From the March 28, 2025 issue of FRIDAY