How Can this Duo Comedian Gaining Popularity in their 40s!Revealing TOKYO COOL’s Untold Story!

TOKYO COOL” is a manzai duo that is slowly gaining popularity, especially among older men in their 40s. At first glance, the manzai of Kankan (45) and Susumu Mae (46), a bokeh who is in charge of storytelling, looks like “the hyokin manzai” of the Showa period, featuring Kansai-style goofy flippant comic moves, but they deliver detailed material at a brisk tempo with a sharp sense of humor. The style of closing moves with happy words is innovative and fresh.

Mae: “ Our material is a kind of extension of that kind of material, where a bunch of unattractive middle and high school students get together and do something stupid on the dance floor, and they laugh like a bunch of old men while saying, ‘You’re really stupid!

Kankan: “ When I go to sales, grandmothers and grandchildren really like it, but young girls don’t like it at all. Sometimes there are couples, but usually only the boyfriends are laughing hysterically.

In 2003, Mae, who had been working freelance, was invited to join Kankan’s office to form the manzai duo Zenryoku Jijii.

Kankan said, “ At the time of formation, “Bakusho Red Carpet” (Fuji TV) was very popular, so we were thinking only of one-minute package material.” In 2003, “M-1 Grand Prix” will resume, and there I decided to collect many one-minute stories and make them into a manzai, and when one story ends, I decided to say ‘hyokin’. And when I did a solo live show, it was a smash.”

Mae “ One time I said ‘hyokin’ and it didn’t go over well, so I started adding more blurbs, and as I was adding more, I thought, ‘What the hell! We got into a fight, and it was really funny. We were both thinking, ‘This is so stupid,’ and then we thought, ‘This is it. Saying ‘hyokin’ and fighting are the only two things we do.

The turning point came in 1919. In the “Name Change Summit” corner of the variety program “Arita Generation” (TBS), the duo changed their name from “Zenryoku Jijii” to “TOKYO COOL.

Mae “ To be honest, I really didn’t like the name change. But Teppei Arita told me, ‘If you call yourself Zenryoku Jijii, it will look exactly the same, so there is no way to go on from there.

Kankan: “ Actually, the show ended last March, so I went to Mr. Arita directly to ask him to change the name back at that time.

Mae “ At that time, I was getting a little tired of the hyokin material and was doing something a little different. Then Mr. Arita said, ‘The good thing about you guys is that short hyokin material. So you should keep doing it. That was right after that. We won the “Netapare” (Fuji Television Network) award three times in a row, were allowed to participate in the “ENGEI Grand Slam” (Fuji Television Network), and “TOKYO COOL” became a trending topic. I have nothing but gratitude to Mr. Arita.

Kankan: “ Sometimes people say, ‘You’re in a groove these days,’ but that’s hard. It was fun, but many of them quit halfway through their careers. I want to work hard to make up for them. My dream is to move around in costume, and I want to experience the feeling of not knowing where I am at the moment.

Mae “ I want to sell more, drive a foreign car, live in a townhouse, and go to exclusive clubs. My goal is to be paparazzi. But he is very calm in his true feelings. We don’t know what the future holds, so we will continue to do only what we enjoy doing. This style will not change in the future.

Kankan: “ You must be feeling pretty good while saying that!

Mae: “ Of course it will!　And it’s Friday’s interview.

We look forward to seeing if he can shine as the next “old man’s comedian” after “Nishikigoi”!

From theMarch18, 2022issue ofFRIDAY