My 23 seconds of fame: Appearing on my favorite Japanese TV show!
Last weekend was quite eventful for me. Along with meeting and talking to comedian Muramoto Daisuke (see previous blog entry), I had the treat of watching myself make a brief appearance on one of my favorite Japanese TV shows, "Getsuyo Kara Yofukashi" (basically "staying up late from Monday"). The comedic show, with hosts Matsuko Deluxe (an extremely popular crossdresser) and Murakami Shingo, features entertaining segments that the hosts watch and react to. Sometimes the show goes out and interviews strange characters on the streets of Tokyo (enter me!).
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be interviewed by the TV show crew in Asakusa. After telling the crew that I was a fan of the show they asked me why I come to Asakusa. I remarked that I research and enjoy watching manzai and that I try to see a show in the area when I can. The crew listened to my comments and then made some suggestions on how to arrange it so that it would seem funny. They then edited my comments to give it a punch. I actually didn't have high hopes that I would make the cut for the airing because I wasn't the type of strange drunk or hentai that they usually feature (the clip before me showed a man getting excited about purchasing women's underwear in a can). After they called a few days after my appearance to ask how long I had been in Japan my hopes of getting on the show skyrocketed.
In the video you'll see me say that I like Kanto area manzai and that it is different than Kansai. I state that they are warm, speedy, and quite funny. The interviewer then asked me who is my favorite manzai duo and I say that my favorite duo is "Nakagawa-ke". The punchline is that this duo is not from Kanto but from Kansai! Of course when I first talked with them I also named some Kanto area comedians but of course that wouldn't be funny so they suggested the change. (Sorry to crush any dreams of the reality of television production for you!) I was willing to lie a bit for a chance to appear on the show though. I extremely happy to see that Matsuko laughed at the segment. Take a look at the brief clip!
