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The story
Broadcast writer Takasu Mitsuhiro shared behind-the-scenes stories about Downtown’s legendary sketch comedy show ‘Gotsu Ee Kanji’ on a radio program. According to Takasu, the show’s special broadcast drew a disappointing 8% rating, and Matsumoto Hitoshi reportedly voiced his discouragement at the time. The story also touched on how the show was abruptly cut short after a scheduled broadcast got bumped for extended professional baseball coverage. The thread mixed reactions to that sudden ending back then with divided opinions on individual sketches like “Lizard Old Man,” and debate over how much the ratings slump connected to the later struggles of Matsumoto’s subsequent sketch shows (MHK and Zassaa).
Broadcast writer Takasu Mitsuhiro and comedian/writer Kimura Yuichi appeared on the late-night radio program ‘Takasu Mitsuhiro’s Fantasy Media’ (TOKYO FM) on the 6th, sharing behind-the-scenes stories about ‘Downtown no Gotsu Ee Kanji’ (Fuji TV).
‘Downtown no Gotsu Ee Kanji,’ which aired from 1991 to 1997, was a legendary sketch comedy show starring Downtown’s Matsumoto Hitoshi and Hamada Masatoshi.
Matsumoto later revealed that a scheduled broadcast of the show was abruptly cancelled after being bumped for extended professional baseball coverage.
Source: sirabee.com / Read the original article here
What people said
Maybe they just didn't promote it enough
Exactly this
I almost missed it
Nah, come on
He went all in on sketches on NHK
And bombed all over the place
'LIFE!!' (the NHK sketch show that started earlier) survived, but Matsumoto's stopped airing
At the end of the day, Downtown's funniest stuff was never the sketches — it's Hamada and Matsumoto just rambling back and forth
You actually watched Gotsu and still feel that way???
Go watch "The Inn" and "The Company Athletic Championship" (classic Gotsu sketches)
On Gaki no Tsukai, Hamada barely seems interested in talking and just half-heartedly grunts along, yet it's still hilarious
Matchan pulled off that same kind of thing a lot too
But that's not funny either
Not funny, yet they still bring in a ton of guests
Honestly it wasn't that funny — actually, none of the sketch shows Matsumoto's been involved with since then have been
Well, it's not all down to Matsumoto alone
The great sketches on Gotsu definitely owed a lot to the writers too
I'll give him credit as a performer, but he shouldn't get the wrong idea about that
Gotta stay humble
He got sulky over the ratings for this Gotsu special, stopped doing sketches, and lost his touch.
He came back for Zassaa after Tsuchiya begged him to, but by then he was already dried up.
MHK was terrible too. He seemed to know it himself — after that he barely did sketches at all, just enough to get by on TBS's Owarai no Hi (Comedy Day)
Yeah, "Lizard Old Man" was really the start of him losing his way
Couldn't tell where he was even trying to go with it
I didn't get it watching live back then either, but rewatching it as an adult it was actually pretty funny
That's the "sad kind of funny" Matsumoto always talks about
Probably the video and DVD sales
Especially "Lizard Old Man"
I kept watching thinking I just wished they'd stick to "Bokemashou" or "THE Taiketsu"
Toward the end they stopped doing sketches and it was all game segments and location shoots
Probably better bang for the buck
They said they had no idea what it even meant
My mom hated Downtown, but I remember her cracking up when Matsumoto looked in the mirror and said "Man, I've really gotten old too~"
Well, that kind of bit that's just one straight gag with no tsukkomi (straight-man reaction) to land it leaves a lot of people going "…huh?"
It's hard to parse
That's why you need a tsukkomi to make it clear
But then if you add one, it ends up feeling cheap — that's the dilemma
Like handing out 10-yen coins at the public bathhouse
Oh yeah, "Bokemashou"
That one had me cracking up every single time
So far the last one was that painfully unfunny sketch at the end of "Dai-Nihonjin"
MHK actually came later — I don't know if you're just being sloppy or deliberately lying
In terms of ratings they got crushed by Ninety-Nine
Wait, Ninety-Nine had better ratings?
But wasn't Mecha-Ike scripted down to the letter?
There's no one who became a comedian because Ninety-Nine inspired them, and no comedy style or bit that ever came out of their influence
In music terms, Ninety-Nine is basically like Ayumi Hamasaki or Mrs. GREEN APPLE (a hit J-pop band) — acts that were "just popular" and nothing more. Sure, they won on ratings.
They're heroes to the crowd that cracks up watching someone eat and shout "Delicious~"
Background and Key Points of Debate
‘Gotsu Ee Kanji’ aired from 1991 to 1997, and Matsumoto Hitoshi himself later revealed that a scheduled special was abruptly cancelled after being bumped for extended professional baseball coverage. Takasu Mitsuhiro’s latest account adds that behind that cancellation lay an 8% rating and some discouraged comments from Matsumoto. The thread was split on how to judge the sketches themselves — some saw experimental bits like “Lizard Old Man” as a sign the show had “lost its way,” while others said they found them funny on rewatching years later. There was also disagreement over how directly the ratings slump connected to the later struggles of Matsumoto’s sketch projects like MHK and Zassaa, with some posts even mixing up the chronology (which came first, MHK or Zassaa), showing how memory-based claims can conflict. The gap between the show’s reputation for high ratings at the time and its actual struggles in the numbers is easier to understand once you factor in its separate, enduring popularity on video and DVD.
*This article is compiled and summarized from a 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread: “‘Gotsu Ee Kanji’ Special’s Ratings Flopped at “8%”… Matsumoto Hitoshi’s “Discouraged” Words Revealed by Takasu Mitsuhiro.”
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