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"Rather than the result, I want to focus on whether we were able to perform our manzai to the fullest."

Horikoshi (Nayuta), 4th year School of Humanities and Social Sciences

At Toyama Campus Waseda University Student Center

Horikoshi belongs to Waseda University Comedy Studio LUDO (official student club, hereafter referred to as LUDO. Intercollegiate). He formed the manzai duo "Nayuta" with Onohara while studying at the University of Tokyo, and is active as the tsukkomi (comic man). At the M-1 Grand Prix (hereafter referred to as M-1) held in 2023, he advanced to the quarterfinals as the only amateur and won the Best Amateur Award. He is still a student but is actively working as a comedian, advancing to the quarterfinals in 2024 for the second consecutive year. We asked Horikoshi about what led him to become a comedian, how Nayuta was formed, the characteristics of manzai, and his future goals.

--What made you decide to become a comedian?

I've liked comedy since I was in junior high school, but it wasn't until I saw M-1 in high school that I really started to like it. I was so into it that I would go to the cinema to watch the live broadcast of the M-1 semi-finals even during regular exam periods. I think it was around that time that I started to feel like I wanted to become a comedian someday. In my second year of high school, I participated in High School Manzai (※) and made it to the semi-finals, which was my first opportunity to perform manzai in front of the general public.

(※) An event sponsored by Yoshimoto Kogyo to decide the "No. 1 High School Comedy Player"

When they participated in a high school manzai contest (Horikoshi is second from the left). Apparently, Horikoshi recruited the members to perform the manzai on social media

The reason I started thinking about going professional was because I was able to achieve great results by progressing to the quarterfinals of the 2023 M-1 as Nayuta. I hadn't really talked to my partner Onohara about Nayuta's future, but as we were being interviewed together, I learned that Onohara also wanted to continue in comedy after graduating from university.

--Please tell us why you decided to attend Waseda University and about your activities with LUDO.

When I was in high school, I started to really like comedy, and I got into not only professional comedy but also college comedy. It was during this time that I discovered the most famous of them all, LUDO, and was so inspired that I decided to go to Waseda University.

At Waseda Festival during his second year of university. Nayuta (Onohara on the left, Horikoshi on the right) performing a stand-up routine at LUDO's comedy live show "Baki Baki Festival"

In order to share their comedy with more people, each member of LUDO actively holds comedy shows outside of school. They do everything themselves, from planning the show to renting the theater, inviting comedians to perform, and attracting customers through social media, so over the past three and a half years they have gained the ability to create a live show from scratch. Currently, Nayuta is working hard with the goal of holding a live show once a month.

We also have a lot of events. At the twice-yearly training camp, we hold a sports festival in the daytime, and in the evening, we form comedy duos with members we don't usually pair up with to perform stand-up comedy. We even paired up with Tomoda Ore-san (2024 School of Culture, Media and Society Society graduate), a senior from a year older than us who was featured in Waseda Weekly in 2023. We also hold events all year round, such as Christmas parties and trips to Disney with all the members of LUDO. I think it's a great student club because you can really enjoy both the comedy and the events!

This is a photo from when they did a skit with a shuffle duo during a training camp. They say they still like the skit they performed under the name "Kichiku no Shogou" (Deeds of Devils)

--How did Nayuta form?

During my first year of university, I often appeared with my classmates from LUDO at a live show called "GakuCome!", which was a comedy show for student comedians. We started hanging out with about 7-8 members who were always there, and I approached Onohara, who I became friends with there, and we formed Nayuta during my second year of university. It's common for student comedians to form and disband comedy duos, or to have multiple roles, and I had been in several comedy duos up until that point. Among them, Nayuta was a good fit with Onohara, as we felt a sense of accomplishment even in small live shows and were seeing results. There's no particular origin for the name of the duo; I just thought of it and thought it sounded cool, so we decided on it (laughs).

--What are the characteristics of Nayuta's manzai?

We mainly focus on wordplay. Even if the audience doesn't know what kind of characters we are, anyone can enjoy wordplay. However, we don't think that wordplay is the only thing that's funny, so in the future we would like to create material that will make people laugh at our humanity.

Also, rather than practicing manzai a lot on a regular basis, they polish their material by actually performing live comedy shows. In fact, the script for their manzai is not decided in detail, and only the funny parts of Onohara are decided, and the lines for the straight man are often not decided. In order to improve the quality of their material, they have performed nearly 40 live shows in a month.

--In 2023 you won the M-1 Grand Prix for University Students, and this year you reached the quarterfinals of the M-1 again this year, following your success in 2023. Can you tell us about a tournament that left an impression on you?

The excitement of making it to the quarter-finals of the M-1 last year was incredible. First of all, I was happy just to be able to stand on the stage at Lumine the Yoshimoto in Shinjuku, and there were comedians I admire in the dressing room, so I was excited as a comedy fan. I was also very honored to receive the Best Amateur Award, which has been won by many great people up until now. When we performed our manzai, I felt nothing but fun rather than nervous, and it was a truly happy time.

Another memorable event was the University M-1 Grand Prix (sponsored by the Waseda University Broadcasting Research Club), which we participated in when we were in our third year of university and which had the highest number of applicants to date at the time, 413 groups. The final was held at the Okuma Memorial Auditorium, and it was the first time that Nayuta won the competition, so I realized how happy it could be to win.

Photo on the left: A photo with Gaku from the comedy duo "Shinku Jessica" in the dressing room during the quarterfinals of the 2023 M-1
Photo on the right: Photo of when he won the University M-1 Grand Prix

--Please tell us about your future goals.

Following last year, we only made it to the quarterfinals of this year's M-1, so next year we want to make it to the semifinals. On the other hand, rather than focusing on the results, we want to place more importance on whether or not we've been able to perform our manzai to the fullest. We think it's important that we're able to create manzai that is fun and satisfying, so we'll continue to keep that mindset in mind as we work.

Currently, Nayuta is working as a freelancer, but after graduating from university, he aims to join an agency and become a professional comedian. He also dreams of going on a national tour someday. It would be great if he could make many people laugh and earn a living through manzai.

No.890

Interview, text and photography: Waseda Weekly Reporter (SJC student staff)
Watanabe Shino, 3rd year student School of Education