Wonderful school festival / cultural festival

I want to adapt these for the school festival! A roundup of comedians’ manzai, sketch comedy, and one-liner gags

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.
Keyboard playerSAKI
I’ve been playing the Electone since I was six, mainly performing Disney music, anime songs, and music from dramas and films. I post performance videos on YouTube and social media, and I also give concerts. Building on my Electone experience, I took up synthesizer and piano during my student years and performed at school-sponsored events. As a writer, I’ve covered not only music-related topics but a wide range of genres, so I hope to draw on my experience to deliver articles that make readers think, “I want to try that!” or “I want to listen to that!”

Many students are probably thinking about putting on a comedy show as an attraction for their school cultural festival.

It sounds fun to perform a one-liner, do a manzai routine or a sketch, and make everyone laugh by showing your material on stage! But the tricky part is deciding what kind of material to perform.

It would be great if you could create your own original material, but that’s not so easy.

That’s why we recommend imitating or arranging popular comedians’ routines and performing those! In this article, we’ll introduce recommended bits from popular comedians—whether manzai, sketches, or one-liners—without limiting the format.

I want to adapt these for the school festival! A roundup of comedians’ manzai, skits, and one-liner gags (41–50)

Ranjatai

Ranjatai 'Wind Cat' Manzai

Ranjatai

Episodes featuring Ranjatai—such as their appearance on the Kansai late-night show “Aiseki Shokudō” and on “Downtown DX” in the segment “A New Era Arrives!? Underground Comedian Special!!”—are regarded as legendary.

One of Ranjatai’s charms is that their setups and developments are so bizarre that “sometimes you just can’t keep up!” Highly recommended bits include “the convenience store falling from the sky” and “the cat entering the body.” In any case, find a partner who can keep the high energy going for three straight minutes!

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Taki no namida pin ku

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Nakagōn Hakukō

[Nagon] City Tinkering Collection / Summary of Biases

Nakagōn Hakukō

The comedy duo Nagon, made up of the yankee-style boke Sachiko Usuyuki and the tsukkomi Norikatsu Abe, is popular for a routine where Usuyuki pretends to smoke while roasting different neighborhoods.

Instead of copying the bit word-for-word, we recommend mimicking the style and using your own school’s town as the subject! Among students, go for slightly roasty jokes that make people think, “So true,” and grab some laughs.

For visitors considering enrolling who came to see the school festival, it’s also a great way to show what the school is like and what the surrounding area feels like!

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Haranishi from FUJIWARA

Is the sharpness amazing? FUJIWARA’s Haraichi gives a live performance of his “momentum impersonations” at the launch event press conference for the new balance T360 (Part 2)

Haranishi from FUJIWARA

Haranishi from the comedy duo FUJIWARA is said to have a trillion gags.

If you’re looking for a one-shot gag, try copying his! He’s got so many bits that you’ll never run out of material, and they seem easy to tweak.

Lean into that student vibe and give them a try.

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Lani Nose

[Joke/Bit] Lani Nose “ABC Song”

Lani Nose

If you can play guitar, I highly recommend the material by Lani Nose, who won the 2019 Uta Netao Championship! This duo, made up of Takaiku Suzaki and Kento Yamada, aren’t your typical manzai comedians—they’re “musical manzai” performers who take the stage with a guitar and mainly do musical comedy.

Even before they broke out as comedians, they were active as a band under the name Runny Noize, and their entrance music is actually a Runny Noize track.

With a guitar in hand, they show off a range of styles: parodying songs everyone knows, sometimes even rapping.

They’ve got bits that use guitar technique too, so if you’re good at guitar and love comedy, they’re perfect for you!

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Robert Akiyama

Robert Akiyama Body Imitation Show

Robert Akiyama

Let’s take inspiration from Robert’s Akiyama, who has created a wide range of material, including full-body impersonations.

Speaking of Robert’s Akiyama, his meticulous character-building is a defining feature.

By thoroughly crafting the history each character has lived through, he gives them a convincing presence, as if the real person were speaking.

Because strong, distinctive creators do exist in real life, Akiyama’s characters start to feel genuinely real, too.

This depth of character development isn’t just a parody technique unique to Akiyama; it also seems like a valuable reference when creating other types of material.

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In conclusion

We introduced popular comedians’ routines in various formats—stand-up, sketches, and one-liners.

If you want to perform a comedy bit at your school festival, try copying one of the routines we featured! And if you have the time, we also recommend adding your own original twist.