In an Era Where It’s Hard to Break Through Unless You’re an “M-1” Champion, What Kind of “Comedians” Are Variety Shows Looking For?

The Proliferation of Comedy Competitions Is Eroding the Value of Winners

Starting this year, a “losers’ bracket” will be introduced to “King of Conte” (TBS), the competition that crowns Japan’s top comedy duo.

“The proliferation of comedy contests is diminishing the value of winners, making it difficult for anyone other than the ‘M-1 Grand Prix’ champion to break through. Since sketch comedians often struggle with freestyle comedy, it’s even harder for them to gain popularity. They’ve likely taken this step to generate buzz and enhance the significance of ‘King of Conte,’” said a producer at a major network.

It seems that the killer line from Sho Hasumi (29) of “Dow 90,000”—who made it to the finals of “King of Conte” for the first time this year—“Comedy isn’t in vogue”—is becoming a reality.

“In the Reiwa era, where short videos and online news have become the norm, topics are consumed at an incredibly fast pace. While live award shows, comedy-focused specials, and programs that compete with unique angles are increasing year by year, regular variety shows are typically recorded one to two months before broadcast.Even if they poke fun at current events, by the time the show airs, the topic has already passed its peak. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to sustain variety shows as regular series. It’s symbolic that *Ariyoshi no Kabe* (Nippon TV) is ending its regular run this fall,” said a broadcast writer.

Fuji TV, following its own theory that “a comedy boom comes once every eight years,” has been airing *Atarashii Nami* (The New Wave), a program dedicated to discovering and nurturing young talent.That program gave rise to popular variety shows like *Mecha×2 Iketteru!* and *Haneru no Tobira*, but *Hachimitsu!!*, which followed in that lineage, quietly launched in the late-night slot in 2023 and ended after two years without producing any breakout comedians.

“Speaking of Fuji TV’s variety shows, *Atarashii Kagi* has shifted to location-based segments like *Gakkou Kakurenbo* and achieved success. Sketch comedy shows don’t deliver the ratings they need, given the budget and time they require. On the other hand, having only young comedians do location shoots or talk segments just highlights their inexperience.“Back when Fuji was in its heyday, the network had the leeway to wait for variety shows featuring young comedians to mature into full-fledged programs. However, with the network’s foundation now shaken by a series of scandals, the honest truth is that there’s simply no spare capacity—whether in terms of personnel or funding—to devote to nurturing talent,” says a director at a production company.

Given this situation, the producer mentioned earlier says, “Although it’s undeniably become formulaic, the comedy award show is one of the few types of content we want to continue—even if it means propping it up.”

“After all, it’s one of the few formats that offers the chance to become a star overnight. It’s said that when comedy award shows and the regular broadcasts of *Wednesday Downtown* (TBS) and *Godtan* (TV Tokyo) come to an end, that will mark the true dawn of an era when ‘comedy is out of fashion.’”

The aforementioned scriptwriter points out that for variety shows to regain their former momentum, “the emergence of one-hit wonder comedians is necessary.”

“The last time a comedian’s gag won the Grand Prize at the ‘Buzzword Awards’ was in 2014, when *Nippon Elektel Union* won with ‘Dame yo~ Dame Dame’ (No way~ No, no). There are more and more years now when comedy-related buzzwords aren’t even nominated. If a gag were to emerge that’s widely used by everyone from children to office workers, it would surely spark a revival.”

It seems that what the Reiwa-era comedy world is looking for is not a champion of the awards circuit, but a comedian capable of sparking a social phenomenon.