<figure id="attachment_254832" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2592px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-254832"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a1377d4f"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/07/DT_6022.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-254832" class="wp-caption-text">Minamikawa is perplexed by the &#8220;black market&#8221; caused by his wife, but cannot hide his smile.</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong> It&#8217;s true that what my wife is doing is black-marketing!　I didn&#8217;t go through the office. I really didn&#8217;t know about it at all. But, well, if it is this black market, I honestly thought, &#8216;Yes, that&#8217;s possible~~.&#8217;</strong></p>
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<p>Minamikawa (39), who belongs to Shochiku Entertainments and has had his share of hardships as a &#8220;corrupt comedian,&#8221; slowly looked up to the heavens, narrowed his eyes, whose expression was difficult to read, and chuckled.</p>
<p>Of course, this is not about the &#8220;black market&#8221; that has been the topic of conversation about Yoshimoto Kogyo comedians drinking with antisocial. It was about the commotion caused by Minamikawa&#8217;s wife that led to his breakthrough.</p>
<p><strong> It all started at the end of last year when Daigo of Chidori (42) said on a TV program, &#8216;Next year, Minamikawa will be here. My wife was so happy when she heard that. But when the new year started, I had 25 days off in January, and my wife cried. Then, I don&#8217;t know what it was, but she started an Instagram account and said, &#8220;Your company won&#8217;t take my work, so I&#8217;ll do the sales.</strong></p>
<p><strong> I let it go, thinking that if it made her feel better. Then one day, my manager contacted me and said, &#8220;I received an inquiry from Koji Higashino&#8217;s (54) manager. Is this real? When I looked at it, I saw that it was a DM that my wife had sent to Higashino-san, asking him to put it on YouTube. I was extremely surprised.</strong></p>
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<p>His wife&#8217;s &#8220;black market&#8221; led to a series of appearances on YouTube by Higashino and Chihara Jr. The episodes became the talk of the town, and he gradually began to be invited to appear on various programs.</p>
<p><strong> I had already given up on the idea of selling as a mainstay, but my wife dreamed of it (laughs). (Laughs.) Even so, there were senior members who picked me up, and I am grateful to them for allowing me to accept their jobs.</strong></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="No matter what I did, it just stopped at a small break..."></div>
<figure id="attachment_254833" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2592px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-254833"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="b5d65698"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/07/DT_6057.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-254833" class="wp-caption-text">Minamikawa&#8217;s &#8220;cold eyes&#8221; are said to be the best among comedians, and his ability to make people laugh with his cold words is also outstanding.</figcaption></figure>
<h3><strong> No matter what he does, his career ends with a small break and he becomes a rotten comedian.</strong></h3>
<p>Minamikawa has been a comedian for 17 years this year. In 2005, he formed &#8220;Peoples&#8217; Standard&#8221; with Hiroshi Yoshida (42) and made his debut with Shochiku Entertainments, and in 2008, he appeared on &#8220;Arabiki-dan&#8221; (TBS) as a pin-up comedian. It was a petite breakthrough. He also made regular appearances on &#8220;God of Entertainment&#8221; (NTV).</p>
<p><strong> I wish I could have sold it easily,&#8221; he said. I made that one for &#8220;Arabiki-dan,&#8221; so it wouldn&#8217;t have been at all popular anywhere else. But I knew that, and I am not shocked. I thought I could only become a popular comedian by competing in manzai and winning the awards. But my comic performances were not very good. Eventually, the duo didn&#8217;t get along well, and my partner took up martial arts, so I started learning &#8220;Systema,&#8221; a Russian military fighting art. Ironically, my second big break came when I performed Systema on TV.</strong></p>
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<p>Since then, he has been called a &#8220;Systema performer,&#8221; and is required to answer &#8220;It doesn&#8217;t hurt,&#8221; without expression, even when being seriously beaten or kicked by senior comedians and professional martial artists. Meanwhile, his main line of comedy did not take off. As a result, &#8220;Peasant&#8217;s Standard&#8221; disbanded in 2019. Minamikawa began his career as a pin comedian.</p>
<p><strong> I couldn&#8217;t let go of my obsession with the awards race, but since I didn&#8217;t get any results, my bad-mouthing of the office became like a story. I think I was a very difficult comedian to deal with. I was told that no one wanted to be my manager. It had been 15 years since my debut.</strong></p>
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<p>But you never know what life will bring. Thanks to this &#8220;rottenness,&#8221; he was offered a great job. It was the &#8220;rotten comedian therapy&#8221; segment on &#8220;Godtan&#8221; (TV Tokyo). This corner is a variety show in which &#8220;rotten comedians&#8221; such as Yuuki Iwai (35) of Haraiichi, Toshiyuki Itakura (44) of Impulse, and Kenta Tokui (41) of Heisei Nobushi Kobushi expose the true nature of the guests in straightforward language and debunk them. Minamikawa, however, fought back thoroughly, and was praised for his ability to talk back and debunk the three, as well as for his many talents as a comedian.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="I never want to lose to the Yoshimoto comedians.&quot;"></div>
<figure id="attachment_254835" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2592px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-254835"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="41779523"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/07/DT_6116.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-254835" class="wp-caption-text">He is proud to say that he has the strongest love for his agency, Shochiku Entertainments, although his complaints about the agency have become a topic of conversation.</figcaption></figure>
<h3><strong> I was completely stuffed as a comedian.</strong></h3>
<p><strong> I had nothing to lose, because I was completely stuck as a comedian,&#8221; he said. For example, as a Yoshimoto comedian, you are surrounded by senior and junior comedians, whether on TV or on stage, so you naturally become a team player and your talks expand. But that is not the case with Shochiku comedians. You are always surrounded by comedians from other companies, and you have to compete on your own. That is why I never want to lose to Yoshimoto. For example, recently I have been asked to appear on &#8220;Sanma&#8217;s Comedy Improvement Committee&#8221; (Fuji Television) more and more often, and to be honest, I am extremely scared of the reckless demands of Akashiya Sanma (67). To be honest, I&#8217;m scared out of my wits when Mr. Sanma Akashiya (67) makes reckless gestures. Of course, there are times when things don&#8217;t go well, but I manage to keep at it without running away.</strong></p>
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<p>In addition to &#8220;Koukoukaikai,&#8221; I also appear on &#8220;Ametalk! (TV Asahi) and &#8220;Wednesday&#8217;s Downtown&#8221; (TBS). When we asked Minamikawani about his response to his third attempt to make a big breakthrough, he expressed his gratitude to his wife for giving him the opportunity to do so.</p>
<p><strong> He said, &#8220;Actually, I&#8217;m getting a lot of offers right now to do things like city tours and real estate tours as a married couple. I&#8217;ve been getting a lot of offers to do things like city tours and real estate tours. Something like that. That&#8217;s delicious, isn&#8217;t it? I would love to be on the show, but my wife won&#8217;t budge, saying, &#8216;That&#8217;s not right. She says, &#8220;I&#8217;m only doing it because I want the world to know how interesting you are,&#8221; and there is no wavering. From the moment we met, she has always wanted to show the world how interesting I am. He genuinely supports me. I am very grateful.</strong></p>
<p><strong> So I think she should do whatever she wants to do.　She wants to open a dog café in Setagaya. I&#8217;m like, &#8220;What the heck is that? Don&#8217;t you think? (laugh).</strong></p>
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<p>Minamikawa is walking with his wife. When we finally asked him about his dreams for the future, he calmly stated his current thoughts.</p>
<p><strong> I&#8217;ve been a failed comedian for a while, and I have two children, so I thought it would be good to have a family. There are so many talented comedians out there. Among them, I don&#8217;t think I am the type of comedian who appears on TV every day. Of course, I want to be on TV and sell well. When I do, I will go head-to-head and give it my all because I don&#8217;t want to lose to the Yoshimoto comedians. But if I think about whether I can continue to appear on TV in the future, it is probably impossible. If that is the case, I would rather be on stage for an hour by myself, doing comic stories, and performing solo throughout the country. After all, a comedian is only as good as his material.</strong></p>
<p>Even with his third breakthrough in front of him, Minamikawa&#8217;s eyes were still somewhat cold. Perhaps that is the true essence of a corrupt comedian.</p>
<figure id="attachment_254836" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1728px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-254836"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7e947b77"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/07/DT_6060-rotated.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-254836" class="wp-caption-text">Minamikawa is also known as a fashionable comedian. Caps and denim are his standard fashion.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_254837" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2592px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-254837"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="dbf23700"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/07/DT_5972.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-254837" class="wp-caption-text">Minamikawa is still cool about his third breakthrough. His wife&#8217;s dream is to open a dog café&#8230;</figcaption></figure>


 Yuri Adachi

 "It's true that what my wife is doing is a black market business!　She doesn't have an office. I really didn't know about it at all. But, well, if this black-market business is ......, I honestly thought it was a possibility~~~."

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