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Osakan comedy for foreign punters
As Osaka.com’s resident comedy fan and sometime performer at Osaka Comedy Club, the news of a tourist-focused “Osaka Comedy Festival 2026” was doubly interesting. Firstly, for the free laughs, and secondly, wondering what on earth that would look like. Because comedy is notoriously difficult to translate, and despite the international Stand Up successes of performers like Atsuko Okatsuka, Yuriko Kotani, and Takashi “Waka” Wakasugi, Japan isn’t famous for foreign language proficiency. Or a sense of humor. Which doesn’t mean people aren’t funny here, just that Japan is more famous for other things. Like samurai, salarymen, and a punishing work culture. There’s a reason Japan has no word for “died laughing”* but does for “died of overwork”. It’s a serious place.
*This is a lie, but I wrote it before I discovered “笑い死ぬ – waraijinu” and I’d rather be funny than accurate. Either way, where else in the world has a word for “died of overwork”? (過労死 – karoushi) I think the point stands.
Sponsored by Osaka city and produced by Yoshimoto Kōgyō, Japan’s foremost comedy corporation established in 1912, this festival had both government backing and proven comedy chops. Reaching out to the exploding tourist market makes complete sense both for the city, and for Yoshimoto. Osaka is known as the comedy capital of Japan, a byproduct of its merchant-class love of irreverence and wit, a reputation comedy giant Yoshimoto helped cement. But without speaking Japanese, many tourists miss the punchline. Can Yoshimoto translate their Japanese-language comedy skills to nab a piece of the tourist market? What would this comedy festival look like?
Plaza full of performers
In a busy plaza a stroll south of the Dotonbori Canal I was greeted by a loosely fenced off enclosure of flags, food trucks, and staff with clip boards eagerly soliciting impressions. There was one raised main stage and two viewer-level stages where performers did their thing and audiences either sat to enjoy, or milled around the periphery.
I was dubious how comedy would work in such a busy place, but the nature of the performances and pedestrian flow meant people could wander through freely, stopping to enjoy the shows without pressure or interruption. The city skyline was an interesting backdrop too, particularly for the Cirque du Soleil artist balancing on a tower of chairs, silhouetted in a sliver of sky between towers. The audience was impressed, sporting smiles and spattering applause. It was a good vibe on a sunny Osaka day.
Many of the acts were what I’d describe as street performers – juggling or balance acts where comedy was a skillful addition to their performances, not the entire reason for it. That worked well for an audience of tourists from varied countries. There were clowns. There was a human statue. There was an enormous game of “Pop Up Pirate” with a human-sized barrel. The acts were varied and entertaining, from non-Japanese “Riki”, to the distinctly Japanese “kendama” performers taking a traditional children’s toy to circus-act levels of expertise. Like mastering the Yoyo – a genuinely impressive performance skill that will never get you laid.
Manboobs ahoy
And no foreign-facing Japanese comedy show would be complete without a man getting (partially) nude for laughs. My first view of barely concealed man-flesh was Wes-P’s take on the famous tablecloth-pull trick, with his body standing in for the table. Look him up on YouTube, a description cannot do justice to his deadpan, charmingly pudgy performance.
That’s not to overstate the role of nudity in Japanese comedy. The reason it’s so prevalent on foreign TV is that “pudgy dudes get their moobs out” transcends language barriers. “Got Talent” shows latched on to that simple formula, and the success of acts like Wes-P, Tonikaku, and Akira100% is why many people equate“America’s Got Talent” with “Japan’s Got Man-Nipples”.
This type of physical comedy taps into traditions like Kyōgen (狂言), comedic intermissions between Noh theater acts dating back to the 14th century, and later Tobae (鳥羽絵), an Edo-period comic dance. That’s not to insist that Wes-P descends directly from a particular historical art form, but when I say there’s an 1819 kabuki performance depicting a naked man chasing a mouse around a kitchen with a wooden utensil, no one is surprised.
Challenging non-verbal comedy
After the street performances in Namba Hiroba I hit up the paid show on the 14th floor of the Parco department store. It was produced by and starred Ishida Akira, of Manzai Duo “Non-Style” fame. We media were whisked up the crowded shotengai by a Yoshimoto staffer at the breakneck pace of someone used to chasing comedians and clowns to appointments, then joined an evenly spread audience of tourists and locals for the show titled “Challenge”.
A notable recurring character appeared before the show had even began, dressed all in black, silent, his face covered by a black cloth mask. If you know traditional Japanese arts, he’s a kuroko (黒子) stagehand, who remains “invisible” in traditional kabuki or bunraku plays. If you don’t, he’s a ninja assassin trying his hand at improv comedy, probably. I enjoyed the wordless banter between Ishida and this kuroko, a fourth wall-breaking improvisation vibe that went down well for the mixed language audience.
The narrative emerged slowly from seemingly disconnected skits showcasing street performance-style tricks. As Ishida’s character was revealed to be a lonely lad feckless at finding love, mastering tricks became a metaphor for him learning how to connect romantically. At first Ishida’s character was shown up by the skills of other cast members, but through relentless practice, he went on to the earn the love of his lady by mastering stacking dice in a cup and landing the kendama ball on the pointy-bit. Like Napoleon Dynamite if he’d won the heart of his lady with mad nunchaku skills. Through perseverance and practice, “Challenge” lead to “Change” – a message of positivity, possibility, and clear affection for things like kendama and Rubik’s cube.
NON-verbal STYLE with Ishida Akira
Given how the narrative had been expressed so coherently without language, through such a variety of street performance-focused skits, it made sense that this wasn’t Ishida’s first attempt at non-verbal comedy. He took part in this year’s Adelaide Fringe Festival, and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe twice. In our post-show interview, Ishida emphasized the importance of story in non-verbal comedy. “It’s difficult to get a laugh unless you have a story that sets up the joke. So it’s about how much of my own personality I can show. I want people to get to know me, root for me, and then laugh with me.”
With his “Challenge” show, Ishida connected with the audience through his character and personality, bridging the language gap with shared humanity. What a non-verbal show can lack in subtlety, it made up for with physical gags, larger-than-life personality, and a genuine affection for mastering tricks, dressed as a metaphor for self improvement. I was well entertained, and without nudity no less! Which Ishidaさん admitted was by design.
“People think Japanese comedy means people taking their clothes off. And that’s frustrating. Comedy involving nudity can be funny, of course, but there are plenty of other funny things that Japanese comedians do as well. The problem is that so much of Japanese comedy relies on language, and that can make certain things difficult to express when you’re performing for people who don’t understand Japanese. I haven’t tried Got Talent myself, so I’m not really in a position to give advice. But I’d like to give it a go someday and win an award without having to take my clothes off.”
in photo – Ishida Akira, author Rodney Smith, comedian Momotaro Takamori
Butt now, the end is near
Unfortunately the Comedy Festival has finished, for this year at least. If you’re an English-speaking tourist looking for a laugh, the English-language Stand Up at “Osaka Comedy Club” is still your best option, with shows running every night except Tuesday. If you are in town on a Friday night though, you can catch a non-verbal comedy show in Osaka at the Yoshimoto Dotonbori Theatre, and enjoy Japanese comedians sharing Osakan humor with tourists. Just don’t be surprised if the butt of the joke is an actual butt.
Links:
Osaka Comedy Club, (English language) shows from 8pm most nights – www.osakacomedyclub.com
Yoshimoto Comedy Night, (non-verbal) shows from 9pm Fridays – www.yoshimoto-comedy-night.com
