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.
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I want to adapt these for the school festival! A roundup of comedians’ manzai, comedy sketches, and one-liner gags (1–10)
sandwich board man
A popular duo from Sendai! Here are some ideas inspired by Sandwichman, known for humor that never hurts anyone.
Beloved by kids and adults alike, their routines often feature punchlines that are just slightly off from a classic setup and perfectly timed comebacks, which many people find addictive.
The rhythm is pleasant, and the humor that seeps out from their close relationship is a key point.
While the themes are simple and easy for anyone to understand, the unexpected twists in their jokes grab your heart.
Why not try arranging something similar with a close friend?
Tokyo 03
Set against student-life events that everyone experiences, this Tokyo 03 sketch charms with its unique atmosphere born from misunderstandings and crossed wires among the characters.
The boys’ authentic back-and-forth over room assignments and nighttime excitement on a school trip unfolds almost like a drama, drawing the audience into their emotions.
If you’re adapting it for a school festival, consider creating a girls’ version as well, or choosing a travel destination unique to your region.
Since the rhythm of the dialogue is everything, repeated practice will make the humor stand out even more.
With a structure that balances empathy and laughter, it’s sure to energize both performers and audience alike.
JaruJaru
JARUJARU is a comedy duo that has achieved excellent results in numerous award competitions, including winning King of Conte 2020.
Comprised of Junpei Goto and Shusuke Fukutoku, they don’t fix roles as boke or tsukkomi, and entertain viewers with a wide variety of sketch styles unlike anything anyone has seen before.
They don’t just do sketches either— they also perform manzai, and in manzai they basically use a double-boke style.
If you’re going to perform their material at a school festival, a faithful replication might be your best bet.
They have some bits that are so varied you might find yourself thinking, “What is this?” but because their style is so meticulously constructed, getting the adaptation wrong could lead to a major flop.
Pick your favorite JARUJARU routine and try performing it as if they’ve possessed you!
praying mantis
Let’s take Kamaitachi as a reference, since they do both manzai and sketches and are active on variety shows.
One of their trademarks is Yamauchi’s expressive face; whether he’s the boke or the tsukkomi, he delivers his lines with great energy.
Balancing that is Hamaie’s cool demeanor, which creates a gap between the two that also makes people laugh.
On YouTube, they sometimes swap the boke and tsukkomi roles and perform sketches, so using that as inspiration, it could be fun to switch roles and do a series of short bits in succession.
Sisonne
Sissonne, the champions of King of Conte 2014, are known for clear, relatable sketches that expand on everyday situations.
Characters with odd ways of thinking or moving appear in familiar scenes and draw laughs.
Jiro, who plays the boke, often performs in drag, which is also a notable highlight—taking inspiration from that could liven things up.
The contrast between a normal person and a weird one is crucial, so it’s important to see how perfectly you can play “normal” and how far you can push a wildly eccentric character.
Chocolate Planet
Let’s take Chocolate Planet as a reference—they’ve achieved strong results on King of Conte and are active on variety shows as well.
Their sketches add a quirky premise or character as an accent to everyday situations.
Because the underlying world is so relatable, the small sense of oddness that appears there becomes funny.
Sometimes there are striking characters, but the flow is often as natural as everyday conversation, which makes them easy to study.
Since it’s not about sudden, one-off gags, it’s important to refine the script as thoroughly as possible.
Milk Boy
If the names Repezens, Cosmos, and Gin & Vodka ring a bell, you’re probably quite the Milk Boy maniac.
Those were the duo names they used before becoming Milk Boy.
Let’s try performing a Milk Boy manzai routine by the champions of the 2019 M-1 Grand Prix! Their “Cornflakes” bit that starts with “My mom forgot what breakfast she likes” is now as reliably classic as traditional rakugo.
First, master it perfectly and bring the house down with “It’s cornflakes!” You can base your material on teachers at school or unique traits of your school—the key is to take your time and craft your set well.
Go get lots of laughs with that lively Naniwa manzai vibe!