Celebrating “Double Impact” Winner! Nippon’s president: “I blew it, I went all out, I came straight to the point.”

Tsuji became the first champion of the two-fisted style of comedy!

I’m really happy to win. I’m happy, but it’s also complicated when people find out that I have the prize money. ……

The final of “Double Impact – Manzai & Contrast Dipshit No. 1 Contest” (Nippon Television Network Corporation) was held on July 21. The first champion was the duo “Nippon no Boss,” consisting of Kohei Tsuji (38) and Ketsu (35).

The day after winning the championship, Ketsu told FRIDAY the following story. The prize money you won was 10 million yen. What will you do with it?

Ketsu: “I announced my marriage on July 20, but I haven’t given him a wedding ring yet, and we haven’t gone on our honeymoon yet. Now that we have the prize money, we have to upgrade, don’t we?　Hey, you said that Tsuji, who is making the story, will get 60% of the prize money and I will get 40%, but can we pretend that you ostensibly took 80% and gave me only 20%?”

Tsuji: “Don’t say that here. Won’t they find out if they write about it?　It’s Friday, they’ll write about it. Then my wife will hate me so much.

Butt “………… Well, I’m just kidding.

Tsuji: “No, it’s too late now.

The duo’s charm lies in the absurd situations created by Tsuji and Ketsu’s powerful comedic timing. In the final manzai, there was a violent scene …… in which Ketsu, believing Tsuji’s fictional story, was beaten to a pulp and screamed while being mounted on a horse by a handsome man.

Still, the road to victory was not short. In his main competition, “King of Conte” (TBS), he has reached the finals five years in a row since 2008, but he has always been one step short of the title.

Tsuji: “I don’t really feel like I’ve won yet. In the past award race finals, even if I had a good response, the score often did not come with it. This time, too, when Longcoat Daddy got the highest score right before us, I thought, ‘We’re not going to win again. But on the other hand, maybe it was a good thing that I was able to let go and give it all I had.

Ketsu: “I understand. I thought it was the usual pattern again.

Tsuji: “Anyway, I wanted to win the award race, so I tried to increase the number of stories and develop them, but for a long time I couldn’t get any results. I came in last place in the final of the “King of Conte” in 2010, and from that point on, I didn’t know where to go from here on out. That was a new feeling for me.

From the outside, it looked like smooth sailing for the duo as regular finalists, but they say they were at a loss. The year 2010 was also the 10th anniversary of the duo’s formation.

They had hit a big wall, but they could not give up on winning the awards race. They faced comedy one more time and came to an answer.

Tsuji: “There was not much we could do. For example, we can’t come up with a great foreshadowing line, or create a good conversational drama.

Ketsu: “Then we decided to just open ourselves up and do what we can do, such as using bizarre settings and ridiculously over-the-top humor, just as we had done in the past.

Tsuji: “With a style like ours, unless we win an award and are assured that it’s safe, we won’t be used on TV or anything!　So when I heard that Mr. Long was going to be in the show, I thought, ‘He’s already successful, so give him a break. I also thought to Kamomentaru, ‘Please don’t get in my way.

The words of his seniors also gave him a boost.

Tsuji: “I came in seventh place in the ‘King of Conte’ in 2012, and Tomizumasa sent me an e-mail saying, ‘That was really interesting. I was happy because I knew that I had not made a mistake in this direction. I thought I would get a devil’s electric wire if I won, but nothing happened this time. I guess he didn’t watch the tournament. That old man.”

Ketsu: “Don’t say ‘ossan’ (laughs). If it’s Masa-san, there is a possibility that he doesn’t know about it!

The two polished personalities finally left a huge impact on the whole of Nippon.

From the August 8 and 15, 2025 issue of FRIDAY