Sandwich-Man (2018.12.31)

I think you know Sandwich-man, the comic duo of Mikio Date and Takeshi Tomizawa. They are one of the most popular comedians in Japan now.

I love their work. When I want to relax, I often enjoy their comedy skits on YouTube. When I see a comedy skit, I usually watch it only once or twice. But the performances of Sandwich-man are different. They are so funny and interesting that I watch them dozens of times. I want to enjoy their humorous conversation and brilliant punchlines over and over again. Mikio Date, the straight man of the duo, once said, “Fans of traditional rakugo enjoy the same rakugo story many times. Likewise, we want to be comedians whose comedy-skits people will enjoy watching over and over.” I think they already are like that.

Why is their work so addictive? There are many reasons, but one of the reasons, I think, is that their performance of "Boke and Tsukkomi" doesn't look artificial or staged but looks very natural. We don't need to use our brain very much. We can laugh easily.

By the way, they and I are about the same age, and they sometimes use words or expressions which only people of our age can understand. I enjoy that, too. For example,"Daiji-Man-Brothers Band", "Mr. Hattori, the cooking critic" and "Naoto Kan who is famous for Kaiware radish" etc. When I hear they use such words, I feel, “Oh, I can understand what they really mean! I can understand what is funny here.”— I like this feeling.

Tomizawa, the funny man of the duo, said, "Laughter is necessary for us as long as we live as human beings. With laughter, communication becomes smooth." Date said, "I hope we can contribute to creating such laughter." I admire them, and I think their statements are cool. Yes, indeed. Laughter is the best medicine.

I hope I can take their medicine for as long as possible.