Yasei Bakudan’s Cookie!: “If There Are 100 People, Making 5 of Them Laugh Is Enough” — Comedy Philosophy Sparks Debate

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The story

Cookie! of Yasei Bakudan made a guest appearance at the “TikTok Creator Summit Japan 2026,” held in Tokyo on September 30, where he opened up about his personal philosophy on comedy. Asked how he balances public demand with his own artistic commitments, he answered, “If there are 100 people, I figure it’s fine if I make 5 of them laugh.” On 5channel, the remark split opinion — critics called it “low ambition” and argued “a pro should satisfy all 100,” while defenders countered that “comedy that cuts deep with a narrow slice of people is exactly what makes it a niche business” and that “he ends up getting the whole venue roaring anyway.”

Yasei Bakudan’s Cookie! Reveals His Comedy Philosophy: “If There Are 100 People, I Think It’s Fine to Make 5 of Them Laugh”

Cookie! of the comedy duo “Yasei Bakudan” appeared as a special guest at the “TikTok Creator Summit Japan 2026,” held in Tokyo on the 30th.

When the MC asked how he balances public demand with his own artistic commitments, he looked back and said, “When I first became a comedian, I did nothing but super niche, hyper-specific material.”

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

2AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:13
Those 5 people probably laugh at literally anything, even chopsticks falling on the floor (a Japanese idiom for someone who's easily amused)
6AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:14
That's the same business model as a YouTuber or a cult — only caters to the people already hooked
10AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:17
Rossy deserves credit for keeping a guy like this in check (Rossy is his comedy partner in Yasei Bakudan)
11AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:17
Yeah, that's the kind of act people are gonna either love or hate
14AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:18
But he probably makes like 50 times what we do…
16AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:18
His ambitions are way too low
no wonder he's not funny
19AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:21
He's getting laughs off drama roles these days

Katsushika Hokusai in Berabou (playing him as an eccentric weirdo)
Kōza of the Chain Ball in Kakusei Hunter Omega Horn (a throwaway mook character)

Basically become a "weirdo character actor" lol
25AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:24
He probably thinks this makes him sound cool
26AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:24
My pee balls are bursting (a nod to one of his signature nonsense bits)
27AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:24
He's a genuinely popular comedian now
Getting 5% of the room to laugh really is impressive when you put it that way
28AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:27
At least he's still trying to make people laugh
There are plenty of comedians who've lost even that much
30AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:28
Liar, he was totally playing to the Tokyo crowd there
31AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:29
But if that's really his mindset, back in the day it was probably 0 or 1 out of 100 lol
33AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:30
He's just a genius, on a level even Hitoshi Matsumoto can't touch. Well, let him live how he wants lol
34AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:30
That bar is low
Yeah, honestly he's just smirking around, not funny at all
35AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:30
His material makes zero sense and isn't funny, but I don't hate that he refuses to pander
36AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:31
With that attitude, actually getting all 100 out of 100 to laugh in Kansai is the real feat
Cookie is the pride and charisma of Kansai. Every single Kansai person is obsessed with him
37AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:31
His parody-song bit on Suiyoubi no Downtown (a TV variety show) fell flat
38AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:31
Nice work out there on Shushutto (a TV show he appeared on)
41AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:36
Re: #38
What a title. Packed with hidden meaning too lol
I honestly think it was him and Zakoshi Show who lit the spark for Becky's comeback
40AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:35
When he was a guest on Shushutto, during the neighborhood-walk segment for the Football Hour episode, he and Zakoshi Show kept letting out farts back to back
It's baffling how the two of them nail that timing every time
42AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:40
Don't make excuses for being unfunny
and if you know you're unfunny, just get off TV
43AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:41
People calling him unfunny — what do you actually laugh at, then?
I want to laugh too, so give me a recommendation
48AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:46
Re: #43
Something that only makes 5 out of 100 people laugh can't possibly be funny
70AnonymousSep 30, 2026 19:05
Re: #43
Sandwichman (the comedy duo)
44AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:41
Is he not doing World Channeling anymore? (one of his old bits/segments)
45AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:42
I wonder who's the bigger genius, Robert Akiyama or Cookie
46AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:45
In his case, I doubt even 5 out of 100 people actually like him
47AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:45
As for this guy's comedy, all I've ever seen him do is face impressions?
58AnonymousSep 30, 2026 18:52
The skit I saw on All That Manzai about 20 years ago was mind-blowing
65AnonymousSep 30, 2026 19:01
Re: #58
It's not "I wear shoes" — it's the concept of "I am graciously permitted to wear shoes"
77AnonymousSep 30, 2026 19:16
Re: #1
Is that really okay for a professional comedian?
Making 5 out of 100 laugh is something any reasonably funny person off the street could pull off
81AnonymousSep 30, 2026 19:18
Re: #77
But nobody else is even aiming for that
So comedians who try to make a minority laugh end up standing out precisely because it's a niche
and Yasei Bakudan slotted right into that gap
85AnonymousSep 30, 2026 19:24
Taking this literally is exactly why some people start saying he's just like a YouTuber
Mentally he's aiming to make a small slice laugh, and his comedy does pick and choose who accepts it — but in practice he gets most of the room laughing anyway
That's why he's ended up on TV so much; even aiming for a niche, he still brings the whole venue down
89AnonymousSep 30, 2026 19:26
Re: #85
It's great that he can actually mesh with people outside Yoshimoto too.
Way better than Yoshimoto comedians who can only do buddy-buddy bits among themselves lol

Background and Key Points of This Topic

Cookie’s remark can be read as putting into words his commitment to material that resonates deeply with a specific segment rather than chasing universal appeal. The split reaction on 5channel comes from a clash between the view that a professional comedian should satisfy the entire audience, and the view that cutting deep with even a narrow slice of people is enough. What’s notable is that while he talks about targeting a narrow audience, he has actually been expanding his exposure year after year — appearing in NHK period dramas, tokusatsu shows, and TikTok-related events — creating a gap between what he says and what he’s actually doing. Note also that the “5 people” figure is purely a figure of speech, not a number drawn from actual audience turnout or ratings data. Treating it as a statistical fact would be a misreading.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports Hōchi+) thread “[Entertainment] Yasei Bakudan’s Cookie! Reveals His Comedy Philosophy: “If There Are 100 People, I Think It’s Fine to Make 5 of Them Laugh”.”

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