This page describes words and terms (generally of Japanese origin) relating to owarai (Japanese comedy). Many of these terms may be used in areas of Japanese culture outside comedy, including television and radio, music, or some may even be used in normal Japanese speech.
- bangumi
- 番組 (bangumi). The Japanese word for show.
- boke
- ボケ (boke). From the verb 惚ける or 呆ける, with a basic meaning of senility or forgetfulness. The boke is the member of an owarai kombi that receives most of the verbal and physical abuse from the tsukkomi, because of their misunderstandings and slip-ups. Boke is always sometimes used as an insult in common speech, similar to "idiot" in English, or baka in Japanese, though less insulting.
- conte
- コント (konto). From the French word conte, konto refers to the style of manzai or owarai performance focusing on telling interesting or amazing tales, many of which, one must assume, are made up for the sake of humour.
- dajare
- ダジャレ (dajare). A type of Japanese pun or word play in which the similarities in sound of two different words or phrases are used in a joke.
- dokkiri
- ドッキリ (dokkiri). Recently popularized in the west by shows such as Punk'd, these hidden-camera suprise pranks are very common on Japanese television. Traps like holes in the ground, falling objects, and seductive idols are often used.
- gag
- ギャグ (gyagu). Basically the same as the English word gag, gyagu are generally cheap jokes (though the word often describes any joke) employed by a geinin in their act. Gyagu tend to be short, physical, and often predictable.
- geinin
- 芸人 (geinin). Gei basically means "performance" or "accomplishment", and the word geinin is often translated as "artisan". The un-abbreviated form of the word is 芸能人 (geinōjin), which means "performer" or "entertainer", but it is usually used in a context similar to the English "celebrity". Japanese comedians are usually called お笑い芸人 (owarai geinin, comedy performers) or お笑いテレント (owarai tarento, comedy talents) and talents that appear on television variety shows are usually called 芸能人タレント (geinōjin tarento, performing talents) or sometimes 若手芸人 (wakate geinin, young/newcomer talents) for newer additions to the talent pool.
- gire
- ギレ or 切れ (gire). A casual word for "anger" (similar to "pissed" or "ticked"), the gire is a role sometimes taken by owarai geinin who have very short tempers, or pretend to. Cunning's Takeyama is well known for his short temper; his gire is his defining feature. Also, 逆ギレ (gyaku gire) is the act of getting angry at someone/something in reverse. For example: A girl cheats on her boyfriend, but then gets angry at her boyfriend when he finds out insisting that it was his fault; a man trips on a rock while walking and swears at the rock, throwing it into the woods.
- kombi
- コンビ (kombi). An abbreviation of the English word "combination". Usually refers to the "combination" of two Japanese owarai talents to form a comedy unit.
- konto
- コント (konto). Also known as manzai konto (漫才コント) this refers to a stand-up style which involves humorous skits rather than stories and anecdotes.
- Lumine
- ルミネ (rumine). Short for "Lumine the Yoshimoto" (ルミネtheよしもと), ルミネ is a stage (劇場, gekijō) in Shinjuku's LUMINE2 building, exclusively for owarai performances. It has considerable prestige as only the best performers in Japan ever get a chance to appear on this stage in front of a mere 500 live spectators.
- manzai
- 万歳, 万才, or (currently) 漫才 (manzai). A more traditional style of Japanese comedy.
- owarai
- お笑い (owarai). A general term for modern Japanese comedy.
- neta
- ネタ (neta). Reverse spelling of the word tane (種) which is a common way of saying shushi (種子), meaning "seed" or "pit". A neta is basically a story or a report, and the term is often used to refer to the contents of an owarai act or news broadcast.
- tsukkomi
- 突っ込み (tsukkomi). From the verb tsukkomu (突っ込む), meaning something like "butt in", this is often the role of the partner to the boke in an owarai kombi. The tsukkomi is generally the smarter and more reasonable of the unit, and will criticize, verbally and physically abuse, and generally rail at the boke for their mistakes and exaggerations. A typical tsukkomi often slaps the boke on the back of the head, an action always accompanied by an intentionally cheezy slapping sound effect.