Before ウッチャンナンチャン and ダウンタウン, the reigning "bad boys" of お笑/Owarai comedy teams was the とんねるず/TUNNELS. During the mid-80s, the comedy duo of 石橋貴明/Ishibashi Takaaki and 木梨憲武/Kinashi Noritake were everywhere from CMs, to TV variety programs to print ads and radio programs etc. During their prime, タカさん and ノリさん hosted almost a dozen TV variety programs from the teen idol program 「夕やけニャンニャン」, to the dating game formatted 「ねるとん紅鯨団」, to the late night variety show 「オールナイトフジ」.
The inspiration for their unique name was said to come from the initials of their first names 'T' and 'N' as well as from 60s comedy teams like 脱線トリオ and てんぷくトリオ.
Surprisingly, unlike some of their idols like ツービート (ビートたけし & ビートきよし) タカさん and ノリさん didn't start out as お笑いタレント but instead were more like standup comedians specializing in 一発ギャグ/Ippatsu Gag and モノマネ impersonations. Friends from high school, they both attended 帝京高等学校/Teikyo High School where they both played team sports (タカさん played on the baseball team while ノリさん was on the school's soccer team).
They got their first big break in 1982 when they were invited to compete in the 「お笑いスター誕生!!」/Owarai Star Tanjou talent show. While they didn't take the first prize, they did win a special recognition award. In 1982 they would compete again and place in the Grand Prix. They won special recognition again in 1983.
With their youthful looks, boyish charm, hip style and tall lanky frames they soon became a big hit with audiences especially female fans. Their comedy bordered on the crude and juvenile silly but their personalities were so infectious that young audiences identified with them.
It was not long that they soon experimented with singing. The above 雨の西麻布/Ame No Nishiazabu is probably their biggest hit. While the song seems to be a mocking sendup of weepy, melodramatic 演歌/Enka songs, it actually has a fairly impressive pedigree. It was composed by 見岳章/Mitake Akira who composed "Queen of Enka" 美空ひばり/Misori Hibari's biggest signature song 川の流れのように/Kawa No Nagare No Yo Ni. Misori Hibari was said to have also been good friends of the duo having been introduced to them through her son who was a fan. In the song, タカさん and ノリさん exclaim 「紅白を狙います」 half-jokingly but in reality were very serious about possibly making an appearance on the famed program. They got their wish as not only did they appear on NHK's 「紅白歌合戦」 for that year but their song also placed No. 1 on the 日本テレビ ザ・トップテン TV show and No. 2 on rival TBS' ザ・ベストテン TVshow. The song also reached No. 5 on the オリコン/Oricon charts and won the TUNNELS best new artist awards at both the 「全日本有線放送大賞」 and 「日本有線大賞」 award shows.
They would release several other songs in the subsequent years like 歌謡曲 (1986), YAZAWA (1988) and ガラガラヘビがやってくる (1992).
As other younger お笑 teams began to become more popular, the TUNNELS scaled back their appearances and focused on just a few regular variety programs and TV shows as well as various CMs.
In 2008, the duo would again tackle the world of music this time teaming up with 氣志團/Kishindan's flamboyant lead singer 綾小路翔/Ayanokoji Sho (otherwise know as DJ OZMA) to form the group 矢島美容室/Yazima Biyo Shitsu. In typical Tunnels fashion, タカさん and ノリさん would appear in drag in their "alternate" personalities of ストロベリ ー・カメリア・ヤジマ/Strawberry Camellia Yazima and マーガレット・カメリア・ヤジマ/Margaret Camellia Yazima complete with elaborate fake bios for themselves. Surprisingly (and perhaps even in a scary way) DJ OZMA's character of ナオミ・カメリア・ヤジマ/Naomi Camellia Yazima looks the most femine/convincing of the trio.
Their single ニホンノミカタ -ネバダカラキマシタ- would be a minor hit. The popularity of the group even spawned a movie 「矢島美容室 THE MOVIE ～夢をつかまネバダ～」/Yajima Biyō Shitsu THE MOVIE ~Yume o Tsukama Nebada~
I'm not a big fan of お笑 and really don't quite understand it's appeal in Japan. Growing up watching Laurel & Hardy, Abbot & Costello, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, the Japanese お笑 duos routines and comedy
sketches seem almost too silly and juvenile consisting mainly of shock and insult humor, word play humor and situational comentary. These guys must be doing something right however as they have huge followings and many have often gone on to become major stars. They even get huge female followings. タカさん and ノリさん scored pretty well in this department with タカさん marrying gorgeous model/actress 鈴木保奈美/Suzuki Honami and ノリさん marrying 80s J-Dorama princess pretty 安田成美/Yasuda Narumi.
Here's a clip of one of their regular appearances on 「オールナイトフジ」 TV variety program
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| Courtesy of Prunus from Flickr. |
Thanks, JTM, for bringing back Memory Lane to me. The Tunnels were the main reason for Must-See TV on Thursday nights during my time in Gunma (1989-1991). Their 9 pm variety show was just one of my favourites. Takaaki Ishibashi was the youngest dirty old man I'd ever seen, and could rival Ken Shimura.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping that this song would be posted sometime. In an old issue of "Eye-Ai", this single was available through money order, and I remember the writeup for it. Basically, it said that The Tunnels hated enka and wanted to do a pastiche of it, but the fact that Hibari Misora's songsmith would pen a tune for them and the boys doing such a great job singing it kinda puts that assertion to rest. I think it's a fine old Mood Kayo.
I had no idea about how the duo got its name. Good stuff!
I find Takaaki Ishibashi a very funny man. I don't know much about "TUNNELS", but I became Ishibashi's fan when I started watchind some subtitled "Utaban" episodes, in which he shared the space with SMAP's leader and self-declared bad singer, Masahiro Nakai. I just watched "Morning Musume's" appearances as they were the only ones subtitled, but they teased the girls A LOT (Ishibashi was the one who teased the most, of course). Sometimes I felt really pity for the girls as they were massacred by Ishibashi.
ReplyDeleteAlso, someday I came across a "The Best Ten" episode with Akina Nakamori performing "Fin" while TUNNELS danced along with her on stage. It was very funny to see Akina's serious tone and face melting down in laughs because of the silly things they were doing behind her (and Ishibashi was wearing a fake pig nose to add to the fun).
Finally, I also remember TUNNELS because of "Yazima Beauty Salon", as JTM pointed in the end of the article. As I'm a big fan of DJ OZMA, I checked out their songs and kind of enjoyed their disco inspired hits. If I remember well, even "eternal idol" Seiko participated in one of their last songs.