Inevitably they became friends. They became famous in their Highschool for their sense of humor. The two graduated High school and went their separate ways. Matsumoto was offered a Job off the books at a print making shop but declined. Hamada wanted to be a motor boat racer. He gave it a shot but was unsuccessful.
By chance one day, he met up with his old friend Hitoshi Matsumoto on the street and somehow got caught up in Matsumotos life long dream of becoming a comedian and entertaining Japan.
And so the two decided to pursue this dream.
The early days...
Ma-chan and Hama-chan did not get famous over night. More like 2 nights. Lets go back to 1982...
The two would practice their comedy routines in the park on weekends while they were attending Yoshimoto Trainging school for aspiring comedians. Though they had talent, they werent exactly model students. Matsumoto was known to come stumbling into class late or sometimes not even show up. Their Manzai comedy acts won them a ton of contests and prizes. They became the top ametuer comedians in the Kansai district.
Yoshimoto Kogyo is a Comedy corperation. Think of it as a record company for Comedians.
Comedians begin as apprentices to the more popular comedians until they gain popularity on their own under this corperations name. (Downtown are now the undisputed kings of the Yoshimoto Kogyo). Their style of Comedy is MANZAI. Manzai is common for comedians in Yoshimoto Kyogo.
Hama-chan plays the part of 'tsukomi' who is constantly in an outrage by the witty yet ridiculous 'boke' outpourings of Ma-chan. The shows are a frenzy of slapstick violence and bizarre costumes. Many wonder just how Hamada gets away with hitting Matsumoto so often. Apparently Ma-chan takes it because they've known one another for so long.
Once out of Training school they went out into the world of Manzai comedy with the name 'The Right Brothers". This name was soon changed to "Downtown". They did random skits that were funny, clever, and sometimes completely insane. Perhaps one of the earliest well known DT shows was 'Downtown no Gottsu Ee Kanji'. (Downtowns feelin good).
There was little or nothing they would not do to make people laugh. It was only a matter of time before DOWNTOWN became a household name. 1991 is the year they first became big stars. Now, in 2002, they are still going just as strong. So what can two guys do over the span of over a decade to keep the industry paying up?
Let's go back to the beginning...
Their popularity spread fast. Several companies sought them out to do commercials for their products. They did commercials for Popoli and Osmo. After TV shows and Commercials had been accomplished, Downtown moved on to a new form of Media. Music.
Known as THE GEISHA GIRLS, downtown performed shows dressed in drag and put out best selling albums.This proved that they could do just about anything and get paid for it.
Downtown broke onto the scene with their Kansai-ben Osaka based Dialect. This was the same for most of the comedians operating under the Yoshimoto label. Kansai-ben was developed ages ago by the merchant classes of Osaka and was low class compared to the language of Tokyo Aristocracy. Downtown kept that dialect through out their career and even used it in the names of their shows such as: "Downtown Gaki no Tsudai ya Arahende" (This is no job for kids!) You wont find that translation in a dictionary. Downtown are responsible for turning Kansai-ben into something a lot more common on television.
Downtown launched the ever popular HEYHEYHEY Music Champ in 1994. Heyx3 is a music variety show where the latest and greatest music acts peform and sit down for interviews or weird games. In some cases, these musical guests were downtown themselves.
Hamada hooked up with producer Komuro Tetsuya and released a couple of singles as H Jungle with t. They sold tremendously well. Matsumoto launched an equally successful singing career with another artist. Both members of downtown took their acts to the stage of HeyHeyHey.
DOWNTOWN got together with other members of the Yoshimoto comedy crew and formed Re: Japan. The group re-did the popular song from the 60's, Ashita Ga Aru. This was the 2nd time it was re-done since the song was written.
The song was to be the theme song for Georgia coffee commercials which downtown were invited to star in. They were themed around salarymen and the stress of everyday life. The wild success of the coffee commercials spawned a daytime TV drama called Ashita Ga Aru. It translates into "Tomorrow is another day".
The drama was based on salarymen and women who worked their lives away at the office but were heroes of their own world. Guess who starred in this drama... (next page)
