[Yokoyama Yasushi and Nishikawa Kiyoshi] Manzai Masterpiece Selection Vol.22 Yokoyama Yasushi and Nishikawa Kiyoshi (Yokoyama Yasushi and Nishikawa Kiyoshi) are a manzai duo consisting of Yokoyama Yasushi and Nishikawa Kiyoshi, who used to be affiliated with Yoshimoto Kogyo. They also worked as hosts. They are commonly known as "Yasushikiyoshi (Yasushi-Kiyoshi)" and "Yasu-Kiyo (Yasu-Kiyo)". In addition, manzai with its unique style and tempo (described below) is sometimes called "Yasu-Kiyo manzai". Their hit gags are "I'm angry, but!" (Yasushi) and "Start with small things, little by little" (Kiyoshi). After many breakups, Yokoyama Yasushi invited Nishikawa Kiyoshi, who was an actor in Yoshimoto Shinkigeki, to join them on May 21, 1966, at the urging of Nakayama Reiko and Hata Keita. Their first performance as a duo was at Kyoto Kagetsu on June 1st of the same year. They came out into the world during the entertainment boom of the 1960s and became popular. They continued to be active as TV show hosts until the 1980s. They reached the peak as leaders of both the eastern and western manzai acts during the early 1980s manzai boom. In 1986, Nishikawa Kiyoshi was elected to the Diet (House of Councillors), and the duo went on hiatus. Their last TV appearance as a duo was as hosts of the "Anything Goes Contest Between Two Prefectures and Four Prefectures" on MAGMA30. Meanwhile, Yokoyama Yasushi's opportunities to perform drastically decreased due to repeated scandals, and he eventually terminated his exclusive contract with Yoshimoto Kogyo. This effectively disbanded the duo. Yokoyama Yasushi passed away on January 21st, 1996, without ever reuniting. Nishikawa Kiyoshi has remained active at the forefront, having regular TV shows, even after his term as a member of the House of Councillors expired in 2004. In the early days of the comedy duo, Yokoyama Yasushi and Nishikawa Kiyoshi wrote more than half of the script for their manzai material, and Nishikawa Kiyoshi made corrections to it. In the beginning, they made a name for themselves with their violent manzai, where they would kick and throw each other, so much so that "his black suit became completely white (from dust)". They also watched their rivals and tried many other things to make their duo successful, such as coming up with secret strategies. With the keyword "making the audience ripple", they reduced the number of movement-based gags and increased the proportion of verbal gags, adding more contrast to their comedy and improving their style to keep the audience laughing continuously. Both Yokoyama Yasushi and Nishikawa Kiyoshi can be funny and tsukkomi, and depending on the flow of the comedy, there are times when Yokoyama Yasushi is doing the funny thing and Kiyoshi is doing the tsukkomi, and suddenly Nishikawa Kiyoshi does the funny thing and Yokoyama Yasushi does the tsukkomi. In other words, the roles (positions) suddenly change during the manzai. This was a novel form at the time and was described as "an unconventional manzai that alternates between the 'boke' and 'tsukkomi' roles." #Showa era entertainment that we want to preserve #manzai #telephonelifeconsultation #YasushiKiyoshi #YokoyamaYasushi #NishikawaKiyoshi #YokoyamaYasushi #NishikawaKiyoshi