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What is the “Viking” model for story creation?

–Yadan started out as a comedian at SMA (Sony Music Artists), right? When I thought of SMA, I used to have the impression that it was an agency where entertainers with relatively successful careers would go to their last resort.

HonmaThere are a lot of young people these days, but in the past it was said to be a place they drifted to, rather than a place they came to. It is said to be the final destination for comedians who have moved around to various agencies and failed to make a name for themselves.

That’s why we have a lot of hard-working people like Baiking, Zakoshi (Hollywood Zakoshisho), and Nishikigoi. However, we were in our early twenties and suddenly found ourselves in a place that seemed like a hangout for stray dogs. Actually, we’ve never been collared.

NakajimaFor people of our age, I think it’s safe to say that Yadan is the only SMA native.

–You became a current member in 2007, but Ya-dan itself was already formed in 2005.

HonmaWe originally formed a trio with three classmates from university. I admired Neptune, so at first I wanted to join the same company as Watanabe Productions (Watanabe Entertainment). However, when I looked into it, I discovered that SMA had just launched a comedy division in 2004, and that the person who started the comedy division was Mr. (Seiichi) Hirai, who had transferred from Watanabe Productions.

What’s more, Mr. Hirai was the former manager of the Junkats and Florence during Watanabe’s professional days, before they formed Neptune, and was also a senior at our university (Nihon University). I thought this might be delicious.
However, as soon as I joined, one of my partners left. Then Mr. Hirai thought he needed someone just right and introduced me to Ito. I looked exactly like my ex-partner, and even the customers didn’t notice me at first.

ItoUntil recently, anyone could attend an SMA concert as long as they wrote their name on a piece of paper. There were times when I would show off material, but I almost never got rejected. So I thought I’d just let them perform live for now. I had no intention of joining, but before I knew it, I was assigned to it.

–I heard that when Mr. Kotoge (Eiji) from Viking was young, he held a solo live show once every two months, and each time he released six new songs. After four years of doing that, he finally won the King of Conte.

HonmaThis is still the model case for our office’s success.

NakajimaAs a “Viking model,” comedians from other agencies also use her as a reference.

HonmaSo we have set a goal of creating three new stories every month. It’s quite difficult though… I think I’ve probably written about 500 stories in my lifetime. But only about 1/30th of that remains.