Watanabe Onigiri (left) and Momozawa Kensuke (right) of “Kinkokuni. They won the “Tsugikuru Gejin Grand Prix 2021” and the “Mynavi Laughter Night Grand Champion Tournament” in quick succession, and have quickly become a hot young duo (photo by Sugizo). Just when you think you’ve got it…   Since last year, you have been getting results in the awards race and are also active in variety shows. This year, you must have felt more determined to get results in the “King of Contest”? Watanabe: Last year, we won the “Tsugikuru Gejin Grand Prix” and the “Mynavi Laughter Night” grand champion competition. People around us always say to us, “The King of Contest is next,” but we don’t have very good memories of the King of Contest. Momozawa: Of course I want to be recognized as the King of Contest, but the pressure to win is too much for me to think about. Of course, we have to have two-minute and five-minute stories, so we always have to be aware of that when we make our stories. If I think about it too much, I get really tired of it. –I heard that the manzai artists who have entered the M-1 Grand Prix for many years get a unique “bad feeling” at the beginning of the qualifying rounds. Do you feel that way in the King of Contest as well?  Watanabe: Probably the same feeling. Momozawa: The King of Contest has the highest ratio of going from the first round to the second round; the M-1 Grand Prix has the first, second, and third rounds and the quarterfinals, but the King of Contest has the first, second, and quarterfinals, so you get sifted out first. When I was in the training school and in my first year, I made it to the second round. But in my second, third, and fourth years, I failed in the first round, so I really don’t have a good image of the competition. Especially last year, my fifth year, I felt that way a lot. I thought, “I’ve got it,” but then I was dropped, and I managed to get an extra pass. Then, at Corona, the quarter finals were video screening, and I still didn’t make it. Watanabe: I was infected with corona. It was an indescribable feeling. Momozawa: Just as I was thinking, Is this going to be a bad year? Of course, we always try to make an interesting two-minute segment and I never change my mind.