Show business is hard. There must be a lot of pressure on Japanese comedians. There are so many competitors and so many young people who are after your job. So sometimes even a veteran comedian does something he should not do and get into trouble. That has happened to the comedian Ken (47), member of the famous comedy-duo Tommys.
During a TV-show production in China Ken lowered his pants and showed his naked bottom into the camera. He repeated the same action at two other locations. Obviously the director and the stuff of the show did not mind at all during that time, but later when it became obvious that the people who saw it were not amused it was all said to be Ken's improvisation and only his fault.
The TV station decided to cancel the sheduled broadcast of the show. Ken was punished with an unlimited "arrest", meaning that he will not appear on stage or TV for some time, while his partner Masa will go on appearing on TV shows on his own. Ken also did a public apologize on a press conference where he declared that he will never expose his bottom again and that he was a big idiot doing so. As usual for Japanese apologise-press-conferences Ken bowed deeply and expressed his regrets for how much he has put everyone into trouble.
I like Ken. I like Tommys. Their humor is sometimes a bit insinuating, but intelligent, unique and funny. They can make people laugh with their funny ideas without exposing any part of their body. It is hard for me to imagine that it was only Ken's idea. At least nobody stopped him doing that during the shootings and maybe even encouraged him to do it a second and third time. That could be part of the problem I mentioned at the beginning, that the pressure on comedian to do something funny and something new all the time may be very hard, even for the veteran comedians.
Although Ken is now under arrest for some times before he can appear on stage again, I am sure his fans are not really angry with him and everybody will forgive him very soon. For me, I am looking forward to seeing Tommys Ken and Masa again very soon.
I would like ot exchange ideas about humor, laughter, mirth...what is appropriate and what is not. I am the founder of World Laughter Tour, a mission for health, happiness and peace. Please be in touch. www.worldlaughtertour.com
Posted by: Steve Wilson | March 30, 2008 at 08:49 PM