Stretchies

A highly educated duo from Keio University who refused to give up on the path to comedy even after job hunting

■ Profile

A manzai comedian affiliated with Ota Production.
In the M-1 Grand Prix, which decides the top manzai comedian,
They have advanced to the quarterfinals for four consecutive years since 2017.
The latest episode of the radio app GERA's "Stretchies' Sorry for the Right Side" is updated every Wednesday at 20:00 p.m.
Currently appearing at many K-PRO live shows.

The super-intelligent comedy duo Stretchies, Takagi Kanta and Fukushima Toshitaka, both graduated from Keio University. Why did these two genius minds decide to pursue a career in comedy? We delve into the path they have walked together so far, including some surprising anecdotes from their quirky student days.

■We've been together since high school.

Takagi: We met when we were in high school. We attended Urawa High School, one of the most difficult public high schools in Saitama Prefecture, and we were nerds who loved studying. We spent most of our high school years studying, but the only time we really put our energy into it was the school festival. That's because Urawa High School is an all-boys school. The school festival is the one chance a year to interact with girls, so we were really fired up. We wanted to attract attention from the girls, so we entered the beauty pageant that was part of the school festival with Fukushima. Even though Urawa High School is an all-boys school, they have a beauty pageant. The boys enter dressed as girls. Even back then, we loved being in front of people and making lots of people laugh.

Fukushima: We both went to the same university and graduated from Keio University. I've always loved comedy, so I joined Keio's comedy club as soon as I enrolled. On my first day there, I thought, "I have to do something funny!", so while everyone was playing GameCube, I threw the cube and made a joke saying, "I got a 1!", which got me a scolding from the club president and I was banned. I thought, "I've really messed up."
And so, the spring that had happened shortly after I entered school passed, and one summer day I met Takagi again at a class reunion. There, I heard that Takagi was still active in the comedy club that I had been banned from. Takagi told me, "You're finally over your anger, just apologize and you'll be fine!" So one autumn day, I went to apologize to the club president wearing sweatpants, which I thought was my formal attire (lol). After that, I was able to return to the club. And so, Takagi and I formed a comedy duo. Takagi was already in a comedy duo with someone else, but he was still labeled as the "banned guy" and couldn't find anyone to be his duo, so he decided to form a duo with me.

■What made you decide to pursue a career in comedy?

Takagi: Actually, I won the Student M-1 Grand Prix twice when I was a university student. The second time, I won as a duo with Fukushima, but the first time, I won as a duo with someone I'd been in with before Fukushima in a comedy club. That experience made me think, "Maybe I should pursue a career in professional comedy," so I went to audition for a comedy agency with my partner from the first time I won. But I suffered a setback there. The interviewer pointed at me and said, "You have no talent." I was really shocked, so I told my partner at the time, "I'm quitting comedy," and gave up on my dream of being a comedian for the time.
Despite that, it was during the second Student M-1 Grand Prix that my passion for a career in comedy was rekindled. I had thought I had given up, but Fukushima, who was thinking about a career in comedy, invited me to participate a second time. I had thought, "I'll do comedy with Fukushima one last time, then get a job and graduate," but I ended up winning the second Student M-1 Grand Prix as well. Winning for the second time rekindled my desire to pursue a career in comedy.

Fukushima: I first became interested in a career in comedy during my five-day internship at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance. As a group of five students, we had the opportunity to give a presentation on the topic of "How can we get people to sign up for insurance?" As a comedy fan, I said, "I want to do a comedy sketch!" and all the students and employees agreed, so we decided to use a comedy sketch for our presentation. The sketch we performed was a big hit. I was able to make everyone happy with a joke I had created. That made me happy, and it made me want to do comedy. Then, after competing in the "Student M-1 Grand Prix" with Takagi and winning, my desire for comedy grew even stronger.

Takagi: Although we were focused on comedy, we were actually also job hunting. Both of our parents were against us becoming comedians, so we struggled with job hunting from January to March of our third year. I couldn't put my all into it at all (laughs). One incident from that job hunting experience was when I couldn't wake up on the day of my interview with Dentsu, so I ended up missing it. I remember waking up around 3 p.m. and looking pale. I went to the living room, and my mother was very angry. I had to find an excuse to calm her down, so I quickly said, "I'm going to do comedy! That's why I don't have to go to the interview!" This was the first time I'd ever told my mother that I wanted to be a comedian, and looking back, it felt like the moment I made up my mind.

■Message

Fukushima: My university years were such an intense time for me that I still reminisce about them five days a week (laughs). I feel that the memories of your university days can sometimes give you hope for tomorrow. So I want everyone to make memories that you can look back on and think, "That was a good time." It's a waste to just spend your limited time in your youth daydreaming. I hope you will try your best, sacrificing sleep and taking on new challenges.

Takagi: I decided to pursue a career in comedy after joining a comedy club in university. I've always liked comedy, but I never thought about becoming a comedian. However, in the club I met seniors who were aiming to become comedians, seniors who had aimed to become comedians but quit, and seniors who actually became comedians, and my attitude changed. So I want you all to meet and talk to a variety of people. I think that by meeting many people, you will be able to discover what you want to do. Also, be careful not to oversleep on the day of your job interview like I did (laughs).

Interview with Student Newspaper Online on February 22, 2021 by Kokoro Sato, a first-year student at Tsuda University