Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
Called '''''manzai''''' in Japanese, thisa '''Boke and Tsukkomi Routine''' is a kind of [[Straight Man and Wise Guy]] duo, but also the interaction between two characters who constantly play off each other. A ''boke''{{'}}s job is to set up the gag by telling a story or explaining a fact which is obviously false (making him an idiot) or flawed (making him sneaky). The ''tsukkomi'' is, roughly, the [[Straight Man]] who has to correct him, [[Dope Slap|often]] [[Paper Fan of Doom|physically]].
 
It is common in Osaka so normally both members of the comedy duo will speak in [[Kansai Regional Accent|Kansai-ben]]. Frequently, manzai teams will dress in one of two ways: 1) similarly tailored outfits with complementary color schemes; 2) one (usually the ''boke'') wears casual clothes, and the other (usually the ''tsukkomi'') a respectable business suit. Ironically, the most famous ''manzai'' duo of all time, [[Gaki no Tsukai Ya Arahende|Downtown]], reversed this -- Hitoshi Matsumoto, the ''boke'', always wears a suit and tie (albeit with the tie tucked neatly into his trousers), and Masatoshi Hamada, the ''tsukkomi'', always wears something casual. (They're also pretty much single-handedly responsible for the equation of Kansai-ben with funny characters.)
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Can be [[Those Two Guys]]. Compare [[Right Way, Wrong Way Pair]].
 
{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* Lampshaded in the Japanese version of the ''Mac & PC'' commercials. By maintaining the outfits from the US version, Mac has inadvertently become a casual-clad Tsukkomi while PC is the formal-wearing Boke. Given that these two actors form the comedy group Rahmens, this may have been deliberate. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnzmXD2YTqc&feature=rec-HM-r2 Watch all 12 of them here.]
 
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Sket Dance]]'' is one giant Shonen-style Boke and Tsukkomi Routine, quite arguably. Although all of the Sket Trio can be any of the two roles depending on the situation, Bossun and Himeko are able to pull off this act ''masterfully'', even when in their everyday interactions with each other.
** Chiaki Takahasi pointed this out when Bossun met Himeko for the first time.
** In one chapter, Bossun and Himeko partnered up on the spot during the closing round of a live Manzai contest. {{spoiler|Their flawless performance eventually gave them the win against their cheating opponent}}.
* ''[[Gintama]]'' is basically a series of Boke and Tsukkomi Routines. The characters even describe their own interactions as such.
* In a typical bit of self-reference, Haré in ''[[Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Haré+Guu]]'' said that, since he is the show's ''Tsukkomi'', he is not good at telling funny stories.
* ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' of all places have this. {{spoiler|And it was done during the [[Defrosting Ice Queen]] episode for Nene...with Akari.}}
* In ''[[Ranma ½]]'', Kasumi occasionally tries to pull off a sequence of these jokes playing both parts herself.
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* Rina and Ranfa do an impromptu Boke and Tsukkomi Routine when they run into each other in a ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' episode.
* The premise of ''[[Lovely Complex]]'' is the budding romance between [[Huge Schoolgirl]] Risa and [[The Napoleon]] Ootani, who has trouble seeing Risa as anything more than his partner in their Boke and Tsukkomi Routine.
* In an episode of ''[[Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer]]'', Kaede entertains guests at a victory party by performing both parts of the routine with herself as the tsukkomi and Blanche as the boke.
* [[The Idiot From Osaka|Aizawa Sakuya]] from ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' more or less views life as a non-stop series of gags and comedy routines, frequently treating the unwitting Hayate as the boke and viciously assaulting him for any number of completely nonsensical reasons (mainly for being really bad at being a boke) whenever she makes an appearance. Her antics, in turn, often set ''her'' up for the boke role whenever Nagi is nearby, who answers attacks on Hayate in the name of comedy in kind.
* In ''[[GetBackers]],'' Emishi and Amon pull off a number of these. (The first involves Emishi trying to describe the appearance, by comparing her to various celebrities, of a woman he's never met; in the second he insists on the existence of "stomach trilobites" to the point of drawing one on his abs in marker...)
* Kunogi Himawari of ''[[xxxHolic×××HOLiC]]'' misinterprets Doumeki and Watanuki's constant arguments as an attempt to be a humorous Boke and Tsukkomi team.
* In ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'', doubles partners Hikaru "Dabide" Amane and Harukaze "Bane-san" Kurobane from Rokkaku frequently pull these off. More often than not, ''boke'' Dabide makes some rather bad word puns, and ''tsukkomi'' Bane kicks him ''on the head'' as a punishment. That even happens during matches, where Bane [[Armor-Piercing Slap|slaps]] Dabide across the face if he's slacking.
** In the Senbatsu arc of the anime, Amane is paired up with Oshitari (who ''is'' an Osaka native) in doubles. He attempts to pull the other into a similar dynamics...only to make the always calm Oshitari [[Dude, Not Funny|lose]] [[Berserk Button|his]] [[Beware the Nice Ones|temper]]. It's theorised, however, that Oshitari ''may'' not be ''that'' upset, just playing the ''tsukkomi'' role relaying on verbal insults rather than physical violence.
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'''Nozomi:''' You don't have to mention ''that!'' }}
** Later, [[The Cameo|an actual manzai duo]], named Audrey, guest-stars in one episode of ''[[Fresh Pretty Cure]]''.
* In ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'', both the [[Visual Novel]] and the [[Anime]], Tomoya and Kyou try to teach Kotomi how to perform a proper tsukkomi. Sadly, the poor girl has boke written all over her face, and she regularly ends up on the receiving end of a tsukkomi immediately after attempting her own. At one point, she expresses the desire to become a great manzai performer. Both Nagisa and Ryou motivate her to work for her goal, but Kyou and Tomoya are quick to point out that all three of them are boke to the core.
* In ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]],'' [[Hot-Blooded]] Tasuki and his best friend Kouji go into these sometimes.
* Maria in ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei|Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]]'' once spent far too long time watching Boke and Tsukkomi and started slapping people who were looking dazy...''on the first day after New Years Eve!!''
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* In ''[[Ichigo Mashimaro]]'', Miu is the boke, while her usual tsukkomi is Chika. In one episode, Chika's trying to concentrate on homework, but Miu wants to know who'll be the straight man for her antics. She tries to get Matsuri to play the role instead, but she's too "boring" for it. Her other common tsukkomi is Nobue.
* In ''[[K-On!]]'' season 2, Yui and Azuza do a boke and tsukkomi routine before singing as a duo at a neighbourhood talent show. As one would expect from their personalities, Yui was the boke and Azuza was the tsukkomi.
{{quote|'''Yui''': She's the reprehensible one.
'''Azuza''': I ''hope'' you mean "responsible"!}}
 
== Advertising[[Fan Works]] ==
* A [[Running Gag]] in the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha AsA's]]'' [[Fan Web Comic]] ''[http://ashitahadocchida.onmitsu.jp/as_nano.html A's Nano]'' has Hayate [http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4272/asnano59.jpg being portrayed as a master] of the Boke and Tsukkomi routine due to having a [[Kansai Dialect]]. Note: Link may be considered [[NSFW]].
* Lampshaded in the Japanese version of the ''Mac & PC'' commercials. By maintaining the outfits from the US version, Mac has inadvertently become a casual-clad Tsukkomi while PC is the formal-wearing Boke. Given that these two actors form the comedy group Rahmens, this may have been deliberate. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnzmXD2YTqc&feature=rec-HM-r2 Watch all 12 of them here.]
 
 
== Fan Fiction ==
* A [[Running Gag]] in the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As]]'' [[Fan Web Comic]] ''[http://ashitahadocchida.onmitsu.jp/as_nano.html A's Nano]'' has Hayate [http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4272/asnano59.jpg being portrayed as a master] of the Boke and Tsukkomi routine due to having a [[Kansai Dialect]]. Note: Link may be considered [[NSFW]].
* One of the welcome surprises resulting from the [[Crazy Awesome]] that is ''[[Shinji and Warhammer40K|Shinji and Warhammer 40 K]]'' is the Rei-Asuka comedy duo. Rei is the boke, while Asuka, perhaps understandably, thinks "tsukkomi" is some sort of bizarre Japanese perversion and refuses to listen whenever someone attempts to explain it.
* In ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'', Kanae and Kunikida think that Yanagimoto and Taniguchi are trying to invoke this while dating.
* In the ''[[LazyTown]]'' [[Fan Vid]] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy-3KI2eHi4 "'We Are Number One' but it's in Japanese ☆彡"], there is a sudden yet smooth transition to a reference to [[Touhou|"Bad Apple"]], prompting Roxie Robbin to shout out "Stop singing weird songs!" in one of the places the regular version of "We Are Number One" would have him and his recruits say "We are number one".
 
== [[Live -Action TV]] ==
 
== Live Action TV ==
* [[Gaki no Tsukai Ya Arahende|Downtown]], possibly the most famous manzai duo, could be considered a subversion nowadays, having shifted from the rigid manzai to a more fluid conversational style of humor.
* The Autobacs M-1 Grand Prix is an annual manzai ''tournament'', sponsored by Yoshimoto Kogyo (the largest ''jimusho'' (artist management company in Japan) and broadcast on Asahi TV. Many of the most prominent Japanese comedians of the last ten years came into the public's eye through their appearances in the competition.
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* In ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]]'', Ryuunosuke and Genta's interaction borders on this. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when they actually do a manzai routine to amuse the others at New Year.
 
== [[Radio]] ==
 
== Radio ==
* [[Ricky Gervais]] (tsukkomi) and [[Karl Pilkington]] (boke) have this exact dynamic in their routines on ''[[The Ricky Gervais Show]]''. Karl, an "idiot", is brought in and asked to talk about various [[Seinfeldian Conversation]] topics, which soon derail into [[Cloudcuckoolander|total nonsense]], at which point Ricky corrects him by shouting "[[Catch Phrase|Don't. Talk. Shit.]]"
 
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
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----
{{quote|'''[[The Stinger|Waldorf]]''': Personally, I never could get behind Japanese comedy.
'''[[Statler and Waldorf|Statler]]''': Why not? Better than being in front of it!
'''[[Memetic Mutation|Both]]''': Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh! }}
}}
 
{{reflist}}