The Variety Show of Title Academies Exploding in Korea... The Original Is Said to Be 'Kabuki' [Nichiyobi Nichi Culture]

Kabuki Manzai 'Oogiri' Trend
Responding with Answers to a Single Prompt
Witty Replies Are Key
Evolving into Various Forms Like Variety Shows

"Say something about the random photo!"

A photo of Santa Claus sitting on a bed, staring blankly, appears on the screen, and after a brief silence, a comedian responds.

"December... 26th?"

Then laughter bursts out among the participants. If the answer is witty and funny enough to be acknowledged by everyone, the yellow screen closes, and then a screen saying 'IPPON' appears. This variety show scene is from the Japanese title-based comedy show 'Ippon Grand Prix (一本グランプリ)', which can often be seen on South Korea’s social networking services (SNS) these days.

Participants of Fuji TV's 'Ippon Grand Prix'. (Photo by Amazon)

Like this variety show, giving a single theme and having people come up with witty and diverse answers is called 'Oogiri (大喜利)'. Did you know it actually originated from Japan’s traditional Kabuki theater? It’s a comedy style with more tradition than you might expect. Today, we’ll tell you about Japanese Oogiri, known as a title-based comedy show.

A participant receiving 'Itpon' from everyone at the Itpon Grand Prix. (Photo by Yoshimoto Music YouTube Channel)

Oogiri originated from Kabuki performances during the Edo period. Originally, Oogiri was not written with the characters for joy (喜) and benefit (利) as it is now, but with different characters pronounced the same way: '大切り'. The character '切' means to cut. 'Kiri (切り)' means a cut-off piece. In theater, it refers to the final act. Especially, the last scene of the second performance of the day was considered to hold important meaning, so the character for big (大) was added, calling it 'Oogiri (大切り)'.

However, since the meaning was about cutting off, it wasn’t a very positive character, so it was changed to the current characters meaning great joy (大喜利) to express a better meaning.

So why was the last scene considered so important? The final part of the play was set in the merchant society of the Edo period and dealt with human stories, loyalty, romance, and various conflicts people face in society. The play also included dances that expressed these themes. After such plays ended, storytellers would perform separately at the end, which became Oogiri.

Illustration of a person attempting Oogiri. (Photo by Irastora)

Therefore, Oogiri includes elements of communication with the audience through storytelling and riddles. Especially in storytelling, there is 'Odai (お題)', where a title or prompt is given, and each person comes up with witty answers, similar to a writing contest. This is the origin of today’s title-based comedy shows. Among Kabuki storytellers, 'Sandaibanashi (三題?)' is famous, an improvisation where three words are taken from the audience and a story is created on the spot.

Because of this, on SNS, Oogiri is sometimes used to describe when netizens share funny 'stories' about a relatable topic, saying "I’ve had a similar funny experience."

So how does this title-based comedy show work? 'Ippon Grand Prix' has been aired on Fuji TV since 2009. However, since last February, it has not been regularly broadcast. The term 'Ippon (一本)' that appears when a funny answer is given means a 'one-point win' in judo or kendo.

Itphone Grand Prix set site view. (Photo by Itphone Grand Prix official website)

We mostly only see the comedians answering, but the show is structured as a battle between two teams of five comedians each, totaling ten comedians. When a comedian from Team A finds a comedian from Team B’s joke funny, they press a scoring button. Each person has two buttons and can give up to 2 points. If all five laugh and the answer gets a perfect score of 10 points, it earns an 'Ippon'. Each team faces four questions, and within a 7-minute time limit per question, they compete to earn as many Ippons as possible.

The comedian who makes the most people laugh in each team becomes the MVP and advances to the finals, while the remaining eight judges score. To earn an Ippon in the finals, a perfect score of 16 points is required, making the difficulty much higher. If one side earns an Ippon first in a question, that turn ends, and the first to get three Ippons wins the day.

While some answers are simple guesses based on photos, many involve deep stories reflecting Japanese politics and culture, so the comedians have considerable experience. The official SNS also releases theme words for viewers. Let’s look at an example from 'Say something about the photo' that was posted until last February.

A photo released for viewer responses on the Japanese Fuji TV variety show 'Ippon Grand Prix'. (Photo by Ippon Grand Prix X)

Here is the photo. Popular answers on SNS included "Help me, because I’m a cat!" and "I told you not to press it before you said don’t press it!"

Let’s look at one more. This question was a case where the official Twitter even selected an Ippon from viewers and gave prizes.

A photo released for viewer responses on the Japanese Fuji TV variety show 'Ippon Grand Prix'. (Photo by Ippon Grand Prix X)

The person selected for the Ippon said, "There’s Secom, you know." It fits perfectly with Santa’s cautious expression.

What titles come to your mind? If you have funny answers, please share them. Let’s compete as a nation of humor.