Japanese Comedy Symposium

Specialists in Japan and Comedy join for an online Zoom symposium that will introduce comedy cultures and practices for those unfamiliar with Japan as well as point to recent trends and case studies for those with some knowledge of performance and laughter in Japan.

Dr. Till Weingartner (University College Cork) and Beri Juraic (University of Lancaster) join Dr. Richard Talbot (University of Salford) to unpack farting, laughter and online efforts at transcultural comedy.

This seminar will take place over Zoom. You will need a Zoom account to access this event.

How to make Japanese Audiences Laugh: Popular Comedy in Japan

Dr. Till Weingärtner

Humour and comedy are omnipresent in Japanese culture. Traditional performance genres, which are themselves based on popular rituals, have entered contemporary culture as popular forms of entertainment: manzai, stand-up double acts, are the site of innovation, while genres which emphasise tradition, such as the rakugo style of comedic story-telling, continue to draw in audiences and adapt to changing media and popular demand. Through streaming platforms like Netflix, Japanese comedy and narratives about Japanese comedians are becoming available to audiences all over the world. Comedy in Japan is big business and has started to play a role in the global brand of ‘Cool Japan’. The star appeal of the top comedians has changed the popular image of a comedy career and increasing numbers of aspiring comedians vie for a place in the public eye. Using the examples of manzai and rakugo, my talk will provide an introduction to Japanese comedy performance and put the spotlight on the special appeal of a comedy career in Japan.

Dr. Till Weingärtner is lecturer in Contemporary East Asian Studies (Japan), director of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Languages and Cultures (CASiLaC) and research officer for the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at University College Cork. He has held the posts of Acting head of the department of Asian Studies and as acting programme director of the BA World Languages.

The Art of Farting: Japanese satire as a deconstruction of Japanese identity

Beri Juraic

Flatulence jokes have been present in Japanese art forms for centuries. So-called ‘flatulence battles’ or Hōhi Gassen Japanese picture scrolls started to appear in the early Heian period (794-1185). These scrolls depicted men and women eating flatulence-inducing food and partaking in farting contests. In the Edo period (1603-1868) these scatological depictions have become more widespread. It is not entirely known whether these were merely used because they were funny, or they served as a tool for socio-political commentary. Even today farting jokes continue to inspire various artists such as film director Yasujirō Ozu whose 1958 film Good Morning (Ohayō) includes numerous fart jokes. In the last decade, specifically in the post-Fukushima period, theatre makers have also been using scatological imagery. Director and playwright Yudai Kamisato wrote a play Hemispherical Red and Black (Reddo to kuro no bōchō hankyū karada – hōhimushi) in 2011 in which the Japanese have become the cattle who fart and are being discriminated against by the dark matter because they are lazy.

In this paper, I will first trace the historical depictions of flatulence in Japanese art through the essays by satirist Hiraga Gennai (1728-1780) who debated on the merits of high and low culture through the art of farting. Conversely, globalisation has also perhaps brought different qualities to the use of scatology in Japanese art. Eiji Oguma (1995) argued that the Japanese self-images shifted whenever Japanese relationship with the outside world changed. In that vein satirical works also shifted focus. Ozu’s post-war films are often a commentary of the Americanization of Japanese culture while Kamisato’s plays deconstruct the idea of the Japanese uniqueness. Through historical accounts and current perceptions on the art of farting, I will explore how satire has the potential to reposition Japanese identity.

Beri Juraic is a PhD student in Theatre Studies at the Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University. He holds an MA in Japanese Studies from SOAS, University of London. His research interests concern post-war and contemporary Japanese theatre and performance, postdramatic theatre and theatre and language. Previously, he also worked as a theatre producer and festival programmer in the UK and abroad.

Japan Somewhere: Transcultural Popular Comedy on Youtube

Dr. Richard Talbot, University of Salford

The paper introduces specific examples of language learning-related comedy on Youtube broadcast from ‘Japan somewhere’, where ‘Japan’ exists virtually and in the imagination of the Youtube community. For pragmatic and cultural reasons Youtubers are overcoming national and linguistic identities to open a transcultural space for informal comedy. This is set against the background of a recent boom in comedy in Japan ‘proper’. The paper goes on to reflect on how comic techniques and Popular Performance devices can be deployed in Youtube interactions around language and identity. Youtube has been a means of overcoming geographic boundaries while global travel restrictions have prevented local interactions. Meanwhile Youtube regulates the flow of assets between Youtubers and their followers through its Patreon monetization system, through advertising interventions and editing constraints, and through a Youtuber’s own audience development tactics. This paper proposes that while Youtuber creativity appears to be flattened by these dynamics, Youtubers are also adopting, incorporating and curating language and culture in ways that enliven identity performance and promote transcultural dialogue in the public sphere. Some Youtube comedians with an interest in approaches to language-learning persist in parodies of difference, mocking grammatical errors and different pronunciations. Youtube language-based pranks also proliferate. However, there are others, so-called multilingual ‘becoming-subjects’ (following I Sole [2016, 2020] and Kramsch [2009]) who can be understood as playing with a creative, speculative relation with identity and who are no longer attached to the fixed signs of the ‘native’ speaker.

Richard Talbot is Senior Lecturer in Performance at the University of Salford and has published on clown-curation in virtual spaces, and virtual clowning in dementia care. He has worked on Social Media with alter ego Kurt Zarniko, a polyglot-‘geek’, since 2008.

Richard Talbot website  ¦  Kurt Zarniko Twitter  ¦  Kurt Zarniko Instagram

The seminar will take place over Zoom. On the day of the event you will be emailed an exclusive link to the room where the seminar will commence.

Please remember to book with the same name and email as you will be using on Zoom. If you are using a different name and email address, you may be turned away as we cannot authenticate you as a patron.

Warnings: Suitable for ages 18+. Some discussion of bodily functions

Admission: Pay What You Can

Pay What You Can is an ‘honesty box’ for the theatre. We and the artists will continue to programme and produce high quality events and ask you to pay what you can afford.

As a guide, for those in full time employment we would appreciate you paying between £5 and £8. We also understand people’s income can be precarious, hence the lower price options. All revenue from ticket sales for events at New Adelphi Theatre will always go back to support professional artists, through residencies, commissions, touring work or for more bespoke projects where the student experience is enhanced through co-creation with arts professionals. We thank you for all your continued support.

Please note all donations come with 50p fee.

Photo credit: Lisnap