A special program hosted by Soshina of the comedy duo "Shimofuri Myojo," titled "Tsukkomi Comedian No. 1 Deciding Match: Tsukkomi Star," will air on Fuji TV's "Saturday Premium" slot (Saturdays at 9 PM) on May 23rd.
This program is a new competition where top-notch comedians specializing in straight man routines gather to compete for the title of the first champion. Soshina himself is in charge of selecting the contestants, devising the themes, and judging all of them, thoroughly pursuing the question, "What is truly funny straight man?"
There are 12 contestants (comedians), and Soshina is the sole judge. He uses a tablet to give harsh evaluations: "Star (1 point)," "Not Star (0 points)," and "Minus Star (minus 1 point)." Furthermore, a "Golden Star" is awarded to any "incredibly funny retort" that truly impresses Soshina, instantly securing the winner's advancement.
The comedians take on the challenging task devised by Soshina himself: "making witty remarks about completely ordinary materials." They must quickly respond to simple "colors" like "seaweed tea" and "copper-colored," as well as "numbers" like "192" and "991," displayed on a monitor. Furthermore, they also have to respond to chaotic "5-second videos" featuring guests such as Kyoko Hamaguchi and Gachapin.
In the semi-finals, contestants will face even more challenging tasks that push their creativity and originality to the limit, such as "Zoom In," where they freely manipulate images on their tablets to make witty comments, and simple challenges involving "Shapes" and "People."
The two contestants who advanced through the preliminaries and semi-finals will clash in the final. The final will be a no-time-limit, buzzer-based battle, with the only judging criteria being "Golden Star" or "Not Star."
To deliver the excitement of the comedic retorts to viewers on an unprecedented scale, the competition will feature the world's fastest robot camera, "BOLT," making it the first variety show to utilize this technology.
The performers are as follows (titles omitted, in alphabetical order):
[Players] <Block A> Yu Akagi (Takuro)▽ Shunsuke Ito (Oswald)▽ Yohei Hinohara (Mama Tart)▽ Kazuki Machida (Evers)▽ Daiki Murata (Do Sakura)▽ Yuta Waki (Zero Karan) <Block B> Gaku (Shinku Jessica)▽ Sakurai (Sanyuuma)▽ Takuya Tani (Pumpkin Potato Fry)▽ Morimoto Tontsukatan▽ Niiyama (Sayaka)▽ Ryuji Maeda (Shimoryu)
[Audience] Sukai Kinjo (JO1)▽ Taiki Sato(EXILE/FANTASTICS)▽ Miori Takimoto ▽ Kana Hanazawa ▽ Miho Watanabe
