One Night, Two Comedians, Two Languages, Countless Laughs
Comedian Muramoto Daisuke entertains an audience in English. (Picture courtesy of Tokyo Comedy Bar)
If you have ever been brave (or crazy) enough to try your hand at an open mic night at a comedy club you probably quickly realized how difficult it really is to do stand-up comedy. Now imagine doing that in another language that you aren’t fluent in. That was what was on display on Friday night when comedians Muramoto Daisuke and Seyarogai Ojisan took to the stage and attempted to entertain an extremely international audience at the Tokyo Comedy Bar in Shibuya. As this website has documented previously, Muramoto Daisuke has been working hard now for a few years to study and perform comedy in English in front of audiences in the United States and Japan. On Friday, Muramoto retook the stage, iPhone in hand (to help him remember lines), and did his best to make the audience laugh and laugh they did. While he needs to continue to work on delivery, fluency, and pronunciation, there was a marked improvement in his English compared to earlier efforts. You could see the results of years of study starting to show. Furthermore, even with his stilted English, it was evident that his instinct for the perfect punchline was not lost in translation.
Seyarogai Ojisan performs comedy in English. (Photo courtesy of Tokyo Comedy Bar)
Taking the stage a few performers later was Seyarogai Ojisan, a professional comedian who has found popularity on YouTube with his humorous but very informative videos on various political issues. I would later discover that this was his first attempt to perform in English in front of an audience. Muramoto, who Seyarogai has recently been performing with, had convinced him to the daring leap. With that in mind, he was able to effectively convey his thoughts on different issues while sprinkling in some humorous takes. Obviously nervous, Seyarogai Ojisan survived the set but joked later that he’d never perform in English again.
The two comedians then left the club and made their way to Room 39, a tasteful bar in Nishi Azabu, for a dinner show in front of 40 or so Japanese fans. It was here where the two relaxed in their native Japanese and treated the audience to a two-hour show in which the comedians took turns sharing humorous storied and material, some of which they had already done in English earlier in the night. It was truly a unique experience to see two comedians entertain audiences in two different locations and two different languages on the same night.
As for the material itself, Muramoto and Seyarogai touched on issues rarely addressed by comedians on television, covering racism, religion, the horrible response by the government to the problem of overworked teachers, and more. The audience clearly was welcome to comedy addressing these delicate subjects. All in all, with two venues and two comedians in two different languages, it was a very unique night of comedy.
