It was announced on February 24th that Beat Takeshi will be appearing as a special guest on the special program "The People's Choice! Shimura Ken's Hilarious Best 30 Sketches" (Fuji TV, February 24th, 6:11pm), which will rank the sketches of Shimura Ken, who passed away in 2020.
The program will run a national vote on a special website for one month from January this year to select Shimura's most popular skits. The top 30 of Shimura's numerous skits that appeared on "Dorifuto Daibakusho" (broadcast from 1977 to 1998), "Shimura Ken no Daijobudaa" and "Shimura Ken no Bakatonosama" will be selected and introduced. The "Bakatonosama" skits will feature rare footage from the first broadcast of "Shimura Ken no Bakatonosama," a special episode from the series, as well as nostalgic masterpieces such as "Hen Ojisan" and "Hitomi Baasan" from the early days.
In the early 1980s, The Drifters' "It's 8 o'clock! All Together" (TBS) and "Oretachi Hyokinki-zoku" (Fuji TV), featuring Beat Takeshi and Sanma Akashiya, competed for the same Saturday 8pm slot, and the term "Saturday 8pm War" was even coined. Shimura's ally Beat Takeshi appeared on the show and looked back on their time together.
Beat Takeshi said he was jealous of Shimura's sense of humor, and praised his comedy skills, saying, "Even if I did something on my own during a skit, Ken-chan would try to make up for it with a joke. He's really generous." He will also answer the question, "If you were to offer Shimura a role in a movie, what role would he play?" Rare footage of the two men performing together in a skit will also be shown, including a timeless classic from the "Bakatonosama" series that was filmed about 30 years ago.
The comedy duo Chocolate Planet, who are huge fans of The Drifters' skits, comedian Watanabe Naomi, who made her first appearance on "Dorifu ni Daijoubudaa" which aired this New Year, Ishino Yoko, who has been a regular on "Shimura Ken no Daijobudaa" since the very first episode, and Yuka, who has co-starred with Shimura in countless skits since his debut, will each be presenting what they consider to be their best skit.
Furthermore, Akira Emoto, who co-starred with Shimura in the "Geisha Sketch," which also ranked highly in this ranking, and Mana Ashida, who appeared in the sketch at the age of 7 after receiving an enthusiastic offer from Shimura, will be interviewed to reveal their interactions with Shimura at the time. In addition, there will be unreleased sketches featuring collaborations with a host of other great actors, including Seiko Matsuda, Akina Nakamori, Yasuko Matsuyuki, and Toshiyuki Nishida, who passed away last October. It is said that the content is quite extravagant, with even some parodies of popular films.
