David Humphrey, "The Time of Laughter: Comedy and the Media Cultures of Japan" (U Michigan Press, 2023)
Aug 15, 2023
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Media and cultural historian David Humphrey examines the roles of laughter in the media and cultural history of postwar Japan, focusing on the ambivalent functions of laughter and the gendering of laughter. He explores the transformative decade of the 1980s in Japanese comedy, the concept of temporality in television programming, the unfair expectations placed on women, and the rise of Yoshimoto Kogyo in the comedy industry.
Comedy in postwar Japan played a central role in entertainment and underwent a transformative shift in the 1980s.
Gender played a significant role in the portrayal of laughter on Japanese TV, with a gradual move towards ad-lib performances.
Yoshimoto Kogyo, a comedy promotion company, heavily influenced the comedy landscape in Japan, leading to the emergence of diverse comedic styles in the post-bubble era.
Deep dives
The Changing Landscape of Japanese Comedy
The podcast episode explores the history and transformation of Japanese comedy, focusing on the roles of mediated laughter and the temporality of laughter. The rise of variety shows in the late 50s and 60s brought scripted and well-produced comedy to Japanese households. However, there were also performance comedy shows and a gradual shift towards more ad-lib and unscripted content. The 1980s marked a transformative decade in comedy, with the emergence of the Monzai boom and the controversial comedy of Beat Takeshi. The podcast highlights the breakdown of traditional comedy norms and the introduction of more cynical and taboo-breaking humor during this period.
Gendering Laughter and the Ambivalence of TV Comedy
The podcast delves into the gendering of laughter in Japanese comedy and the changing dynamics of TV comedy in the late 50s and 60s. Women were often pushed into the unifying role on TV, but there was also a backlash against this portrayal in the following decades. The increasing availability of studio video technology allowed for more editing and a move towards ad-lib performances. The podcast also discusses the role of laughter in both unifying and dividing the public and private spheres. It explores how comedy reflected the societal changes and conflicts of the time.
The Influence of Yoshimoto Kogyo and the Post-Bubble Era
The podcast examines the influence of Yoshimoto Kogyo, a prominent comedy promotion company, and the post-bubble era of Japanese comedy. Yoshimoto Kogyo played a major role in shaping the comedy landscape, representing various comedians and catering to different audience niches. In the post-bubble era, there was a proliferation of different comedic styles, ranging from mainstream to edgy and ambivalent comedy. The podcast highlights the emergence of document variety shows in the 90s, which featured unconventional and unpredictable content that deviated from the official plan. These shows provided a platform for alternative voices and contributed to the evolving nature of mediated laughter.
Comedy in the 1970s
During the 1970s, Japanese TV experienced a significant shift in comedy with the emergence of influential comedians like Hano Tukinichi and Sakuntagoyugo. Their comedic style served as a turning point in how comedy was produced, combining elements of scripted and unscripted comedy. They brought together different strands of comedy from the 1960s, creating a synthesis of live performance and intimate humor. Despite controversies, such as risqué performances on television, their comedy represented a unifying force and set the tone for comedy in the 1970s in Japan.
The Evolution of Japanese Comedy
The 1980s witnessed a significant transformation in Japanese comedy as the previous notion of a unified public time gave way to a multitude of divergent interests. This fragmentation affected television, and comedy responded by representing the tensions and contradictions of the era. Comedy in the 1980s showcased an ambivalent laughter that both subverted and reaffirmed the status quo, reflecting the breakdown of television's promise of a unified public time. This breakdown also coincided with the advent of the internet, leading to the coexistence of TV and online media. Comedians like Yoshimoto Kogyo capitalized on this shift by adapting a no-brand strategy and industrializing media production, thereby shaping the comedy landscape in the 1990s and 2000s.
David Humphrey’s The Time of Laughter: Comedy and the Media Cultures of Japan (U Michigan Press, 2023) examines the roles of mediated laughter in the media and cultural history of postwar Japan, with a strong focus on the temporality of laughter. As the book shows, comedy has been central to Japanese entertainment from the age of television to the age of social media, identifying the 1980s as a transformative decade. Humphrey’s narrative is particularly attentive to the ambivalent functions of laughter as both unifier and divider. Here, his attention to the gendering of laughter is particularly illuminating. The Time of Laughter is a welcome academic intervention to a critical but, at least in the English-language literature, largely overlooked aspect of the history and culture of Japan over the past seven decades.
Nathan Hopson is an associate professor of Japanese language and history in the University of Bergen's Department of Foreign Languages.
