On October 11, “King of Contest 2025” (TBS), a special program to determine the best contortionists in Japan, was broadcast. The heated battle unfolded, but the content of a skit performed by a “popular trio” is causing controversy. The popular trio’s “extreme contraption” drew criticism for being “too funny.” The show, which is well-known for its MC, Masanori Hamada of Downtown, was broadcast live for about four hours starting at 6:30 pm. A record number of 3,449 pairs entered the competition, with the most skilled comedians performing a variety of skits. In the finals, Rainbow, Yadan, and Long Coat Daddy faced off, with Long Coat Daddy winning.” (Sports newspaper reporter) The crowned winner, Long Coat Daddy, was congratulated, and the show seemed to end with great success. However, immediately after the broadcast, X received the following comments: “Yadan’s izakaya (pub) comedy just annoys me…there are usually people who are that obnoxious these days, so it’s not a joke at all. The setting of Yadan’s final contraption is a setting that I don’t like to watch. There are so many bad words said about people, so why do they get such high scores? These were some of the harsh comments heard about the comedy trio “Yadan’s” comedy. Yadan, consisting of Honma Kid, Toru Nakajima, and Long Size Ito, has made four consecutive appearances in the finals since 2022. In the first stage of this year’s competition, they again advanced to the finals with a story about a game between a regular customer and a first-time visitor to Machinuka over the “last gyoza” (dumplings). In the final stage, they performed a skit about an izakaya (Japanese-style pub) run by a shopkeeper with a poisonous tongue. …… It centered on an exchange between the quirky owner and a regular customer, who was surprised when he visited the restaurant for the first time. The owner told a regular customer who asked for more beer, ‘I’m serving it right now, so wait a minute. He would reply to a regular customer who asked for more beer, “I’m serving it right now, so wait a minute. You don’t seem to have any friends, do you? But he is also known to curse at other customers, saying, “Hey, you old hag, hurry up and die! He also grabbed a regular customer who confided in him about his problems and punched him in the chest. The “punchline” of the story caused further ripples. At the end of the contrivance, for some reason, the customers were all ordering eggplant stew, so the first-time customer also ordered some, but the taste was ordinary. However, as time went on, both the regulars and the first-time customers begged for the eggplant stew, their hands trembling, and the scene ended with a hallucination. One first-time customer asked, ‘Didn’t you put something in it?’ The performance was reminiscent of “drugs,” and some people may have been offended by it. Yadan has always been good at extreme comedy, and many of their fans supported their izakaya comedy this time. However, some people may have been dissatisfied with the owner abusing the customers and offering questionable menu items, even though it was a contrived performance.
