Comedy
Traditional Japanese comedy and story telling: Rakugo and Manzai Welcome back to the podcast! We have reunited with Taka after a long time to discuss his latest Rakugo performance - traditional Japanese comedy. We also talk about Manzai the most popular comedy style in Japan which involves 2 people as opposed to 1 in western style stand up comedy. We also talk about Japenese puns, jokes, Taka's hometown mascot and ponder about Counter attraction. Episode notes: 00:00 Intro – Taka's new apartment and interesting neighbors 09:42 Language quirk - Semi-final cicada 12:32 News and stories - Rakugo, Manzai, Taka's rakugo performance, English rakugo 34:33 Brand name of the week - Counter attraction 37:17 Japanese characters - Marimokkori, a mascot from Hokkaido 41:52 Thought of the day - Do you have to be depressed to be funny? Links: Taka's rakugo performance (we're working on English subtitles) Example of rakugo with English subtitles Canadian rakugo comedian Katsura Sunshine: explaining rakugo, documentary with clips