The comedy duo "Time Machine 3-go," consisting of Seki Futoshi and Yamamoto Koji, appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on March 16th. They talked about their childhoods and families.
Seki Futoshi is from Gunma Prefecture. "I'm from a village at the foot of Kusatsu Onsen, and it's at a high altitude, so there are lots of animals," he said about his hometown. "Foxes and bears come around, and my grandfather used to butcher bears." He said his family wasn't wealthy, and he recalled, "While my friends were getting cool bicycles, I was the only one riding a pink, frilly bicycle that belonged to my cousin."
Seki got married 11 years ago and has a four-year-old son. He laughs as he says that when his son leaves for work, "he puts things like bullet trains in his pockets, as if to say, 'I'm lending you my toys as a special treat.'" He says that sometimes when he arrives at the work site and opens his pocket, he finds a bottle of bubble solution spilled out.
Koji Yamamoto is from Niigata Prefecture. He was shy when he was little. His mother ran a hair salon and came home late, so his father would come home first and they would have a drink and have fun cooking dinner at home. His mother would finish work at 8 or 9 pm and come home. There were four of them in the family, including his older brother, and he says, "We always waited for Mom. We were the kind of family that would never start eating until all four of us were together." He never saw his parents fighting. Even when the other wasn't around, they would say things like, "It's all thanks to Dad," or "It's all thanks to Mom."
Yamamoto is single. He says that the 50 or so houseplants he has at home are "like family." He makes it a point to buy one every time he bombs with a comedy routine. He collects houseplants from various countries. "When (Seki) talks about such a wonderful family, this (talking about houseplants) is lonely," he said with a laugh, and grumbled, "They never give me anything when I go out," to which Seki retorted, "Of course not. They're photosynthesizing."
