Cunning (Owarai)
Encyclopedia
Owarai
is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word owarai is the honorific form of the word warai, meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". Owarai is most common on Japanese variety shows and the comedians are referred to as owarai geinin or owarai tarento...
duo (kombi) from Fukuoka Prefecture
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka.- History :Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen....
. Cunning consisted of the pudgy, short-tempered Takanori Takeyama (竹山隆範), and the rail-thin Tadayuki Nakashima (中島忠幸). Known for his bursts of extreme anger, though said to be much more sedated off-camera, Takeyama is the boke of the unit. The tsukkomi, Nakashima, fell ill with leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
in 2005 and took indefinite leave from work until his death from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
on December 20, 2006, aged 35.
The name of the duo, cunning, while meaning "sly" or "clever" in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, refers to the act of cheating
Cheating
Cheating refers to the breaking of rules to gain advantage in a competitive situation. The rules infringed may be explicit, or they may be from an unwritten code of conduct based on morality, ethics or custom, making the identification of cheating a subjective process. Cheating can refer...
on a test in Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
.
History
The two met as classmates in elementary school, and began attending Yoshimoto'sYoshimoto Kogyo
is a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate, with its headquarters based in Osaka. It was founded in 1912 as a traditional theatre, and has since grown to be one of the most influential companies in Japan, employing most of Japan's popular owarai talent, producing and promoting the shows they...
New Star Creation school together in 1992. They both began performing in Fukuoka
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka.- History :Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen....
under Yoshimoto with Takeyama wearing a red tuxedo and Nakashima wearing a blue one. Success didn't find them easily at first and they fell heavily into debt; the duo even broke up for a year. After reforming, they starting working under Sun Music Production
Sun Music
Sun Music is a 24-hour music channel led by the well-known Sun Network of India. The channel features Tamil music from Kollywood...
and after managing to gain a little recognition, their occasional TV appearances elicited a positive response; they were even compared to the famous performer Beat Takeshi
Takeshi Kitano
is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
and the already popular kombi Tunnels (Owarai)
Tunnels (owarai)
The are an owarai duo with a long history composed of Tokyo born and . Both of them attended where Ishibashi, the taller of the two, participated in baseball, and Kinashi participated in soccer....
. They rode with the owarai
Owarai
is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word owarai is the honorific form of the word warai, meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". Owarai is most common on Japanese variety shows and the comedians are referred to as owarai geinin or owarai tarento...
boom in 2004 until it was revealed that Nakashima had leukemia the following year.
Takeyama continued to perform as "Cunning Takeyama" while his partner was away from television. He remains a popular variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
talent and is probably one of the most famous among Japanese comedians for his kire, or sharp temper.
On December 20th, Nakashima died. Takeyama held a press conference the following day, describing himself with Nakashima as having been as close as a married couple. Takeyama announced he will continue to appear on television as "Cunning Takeyama."