ANTHR 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Manzai, Owarai, Sketch Comedy
Document Summary
Drifting into the owarai boom in the 1980s. Golden hour of family viewing: saturday at 8. Filmed with live audience in a theatre. Borrowed from french conte and meaning comedic play or skit. Facing each other not the audience, enacting a world on stage. Backside program: direct competitors with the drifters on a different channel, eventually dominated it. Come apprentice to a master, guidance would you help you learn craft. Showcased manzai performers (paired stand up comedy) Increased popularity of manzai and spread osaka comedic culture. Pair of performers called conbi, face the audience. Despite appearances, manzai is highly scripted and rehearsed. Special care is taken with writing the neta (the kernel of the joke) Constraints on tv comedy as medium: hardships of the medium. Budget constraints: audience ratings are everything, broad-based appeal, neta need to be based on common experience, cheap laughs and vulgarizing tendencies.
