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The story
On the September 6 broadcast of the radio program “SUNDAY NIGHT DREAMER,” Hiroyuki Ariyoshi spoke about the “roughness” he experienced from comedians affiliated with Yoshimoto Kogyo back in his early days. He said that having Dacho Club around was what let him stand up to the massive agency Yoshimoto, looking back and saying he’d “steeled himself” for it at the time. On 5channel’s “Geisupo+” (Entertainment/Sports News+) board, the remark sparked a lively thread covering how Ariyoshi’s poison-tongued persona took shape, opinions for and against Yoshimoto’s near-total dominance of the industry, and anecdotes about individual comedians like Dacho Club and Bakarhythm.
9/6 (Sun) 21:50
Talent Hiroyuki Ariyoshi appeared on the JFN radio program “SUNDAY NIGHT DREAMER” on the 6th, reminiscing about his younger days standing up to the “giant agency” Yoshimoto Kogyo.
Ariyoshi opened with, “I used to watch ‘Ametalk,’ you know — the one about ‘Tokyo Yoshimoto.’ It was interesting.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
Sounds like he got called in for the final taping of Minna no Okagedeshita, and Ishibashi told him straight to his face — don't lose to Kansai, I'm leaving Tokyo to you.
Even back when that show was still on air, it was Yoshimoto, Yoshimoto, Yoshimoto.
Ah, that makes sense.
That clicked for me.
Summers' Otake: "You're something else, man — this isn't your living room (lol)"
The Yoshimoto comedian laughed it off awkwardly.
That's an unforgivable story, plus it wasn't Otake, it was Shitara — you clearly don't remember it right at all.
Was it really an unforgivable story though?
The one who said "it's like being at home" was Shitara from Bananaman.
Speaking of Dacho Club, Ken Shimura was even worse — he's the one who wouldn't make Jimon a full regular just because he can't drink.
Everyone agrees Jimon's a handful, so…
But that's because the ball was already being passed around exclusively among them first.
Since nobody actually knows the "model answer" for breaking into that situation, if badmouthing your way through it worked, isn't that good enough? Dunno though.
Nobody watches TV anymore anyway, so who cares.
It's basically the comedians' personal property at this point.
Ariyoshi's actually from Hiroshima though (lol)
The fact that he got this far purely on trash-talking other people is impressive, and I guess it says something about a national character that goes along with it.
He does plenty of weird bits on "Ariyoshi Quiz" though.
The Geisupo crowd that hates Ariyoshi just isn't watching.
They're going toe-to-toe with Yoshimoto.
There was a period I was on edge wondering if Mimura's groping bits would blow up into a scandal.
Good thing they've just kept plugging along quietly.
On the other hand, plenty of non-Yoshimoto acts are strong right now too — Sandwichman, Ariyoshi, Bananaman, Cream Stew, Neptune, Untouchable, Audrey, Bakarhythm, Magical Love Lovely.
Chidori and Kamaitachi are strong as well, but nothing has the overwhelming dominance Downtown and Nainai had in the 2000s, so Yoshimoto might just keep getting pushed back.
Magical Love Lovely is a Yoshimoto act too — come to think of it, a lot of comedy-competition winners are Yoshimoto.
Sanma, who took Hagimoto's place, and Downtown, who took the place of seniors like Yasukiyo, the Drifters, and Takeshi — they were probably seen the same way people see Ariyoshi now.
Do those guys perform at a theater every single day, wearing themselves out in front of paying customers who heckle and boo them??
Masters like Hanshin-Kyojin are still doing something like 15 stage shows a week without a break, you know.
They're disliked because it happened through the power of their agency and the TV stations, not through actual talent.
Take the nicknames he gave the SMAP members, for example:
Kimutaku → "Getsuku Baka" ("baka"/idiot here can also read positively, like in "fishing idiot" — it's not a pure insult)
Nakai → "Fake SMAP" (sounds like it's putting Nakai down, but it actually praises SMAP while also elevating Nakai as their leader)
Making these razor's-edge calls in a split second is what makes Ariyoshi, Ariyoshi.
I genuinely don't get what's so amazing about that.
Was that actually funny back then?
Actually, Nainai never technically graduated from NSC either.
Re: #65
Oh, it was Shitara.
No wonder the video wasn't turning up.
Seriously, just ask an AI before you post.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Hiroyuki Ariyoshi has a career arc that includes a slump after his duo broke up, followed by a comeback built on his poison-tongued persona. In the thread, the balance of power for comedians from agencies other than Yoshimoto trying to make it in Tokyo’s comedy world became a central topic. Some posts pointed to the gap between mid-sized agencies like Ohta Production and Horipro and Yoshimoto, which has overwhelming scale in terms of how many comedians it represents, with the shared view that an agency’s size affects how freely a comedian can speak their mind. Meanwhile, opinions split on Ariyoshi’s poison-tongued style itself — some admired his knack for nicknames, while others said they couldn’t really feel what was funny about it at the time. The thread also branched into lively comparisons of individual comedians’ anecdotes tangential to the main topic — stories about Dacho Club and Ken Shimura, Bakarhythm’s career history — turning into more of a freewheeling chat that never converged on a single conclusion.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geisupo+) thread “Hiroyuki Ariyoshi testifies to the ‘roughness’ of Yoshimoto comedians in the past… Dacho Club is what let him stand up to them: ‘I was prepared for anything’.”
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