is a Japanese

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...

duo consisting of and . They are employed by

Yoshimoto Kogyo is a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate. It was founded in 1912, Osaka, as a traditional theatre, and has since grown to be one of the most influential companies in Japan, employing most of Japan's popular owarai (comedy) talent, produci ...

and are currently active in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Tutorial is the winner of the 2006

M-1 Grand Prix , formerly known as , is an annual Manzai competition planned by Shinsuke Shimada and run by Yoshimoto Kogyo. The supporter Asahi Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts live throughout Japan via All-Nippon News Network. it is the most prevalent ...

and have been prominent comedians making frequent appearances on TV ever since. The unit name "Tutorial" comes from the tutorial sessions Tokui and Fukuda attended when they enrolled in a cram school after failing their university entrance exams. Tokui writes all of the group's material.

Members

* Born April 16, 1975. Plays the '' boke''. Studied at Hanazono University, but dropped out and joined Yoshimoto Kogyo's New Star Creation school of comedy. Tokui is also an actor. Beginning with season 3 of '' Terrace House: Boys × Girls Next Door'' on April 12, 2013, Tokui became a studio commentator on the reality TV series ''

Terrace House In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United Stat ...

''. He continued this role on each installment of the franchise until episode 25 of '' Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020''. His absence is due to the revelation in October 2019 that he did not report around ¥118 million that he earned between 2016 and 2018 on his

income taxes An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

. * Born August 11, 1975. Plays the ''

tsukkomi The following glossary of words and terms (generally of Japanese origin) are related to ''owarai'' (Japanese comedy). Many of these terms may be used in areas of Japanese culture beyond comedy, including television and radio, music. Some have ...

''. The younger son of his family, his parents worked as civil servants. Fukuda graduated from Osaka Gakuin University with an economics major.

History

Both were born in 1975 and grew up in

Sakyō-ku, Kyoto is one of the eleven wards in the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is located in the northeastern part of the city. History The meaning of ''sakyō'' (左京) is "on the Emperor's left." When residing in the Kyoto Imperial Pal ...

. The two met each other at the age of 5 in kindergarten, and have been friends since. They went to the same kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school. Both of them took a year off after failing their university entrance exams and enrolled at the same cram school. The year after, Tokui entered Hanazono University and Fukuda entered Osaka Gakuin University. In 1995, Tokui dropped out of Hanazono University and joined

's NSC comedy academy in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

at the invitation of a friend. They formed the comedy unit "Tutorial", but before their graduation as the 13th generation class, Tokui's friend dropped out and decided not to pursue a career in comedy, leading to the unit's disbandment with Tokui going back to university. During this time, Tokui was also working as a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

as a part-time job. After hearing about the disbandment of Tokui's unit, Fukuda promptly invited Tokui to form their own comedy duo. Although Tokui had accepted the invitation, the two of them did not officially form and begin activities until March, 1998.『お笑いポポロ 2002年12月号』麻布台出版社, December 2002, Page 26-29 Their unit name would still be "Tutorial". During this time, Fukuda was able to successfully graduate with a university degree while Tokui dropped out once again due to poor grades and the fact that they would be pursuing their careers as comedians either way. The ''kombi'''s first stage performance was in May of 1998 at Shinsaibashisuji Nichome Theater at a special event held for rookies.『お笑いポポロ 2003年2月号』麻布台出版社, February 2003, Page 89-91 The unit found steady success with multiple regular TV appearances and their first gig as MCs in

in 2004. Tutorial won the 2006

as the first winners with unanimous votes. They saw huge success and flourished in Tokyo because of this, and both of them moved to Tokyo in the latter half of 2007, where their careers continued to grow. As of 2019, they continue to hold many regular TV spots, appearances and gigs and are prominent figures in the industry. Tokui was sidelined in October 2019 after revelations he failed to report $1 million in income generated by his company over three years. In a public apology, he said he never intended to conceal his earnings. He said he wished to remain in the entertainment industry. However, in a statement, Yoshimoto Kogyo said Tokui would indefinitely refrain from performing.

Achievements

*The 21st ABC Newcomer Comedian Grand Prix (2000) - Newcomer Excellence Award *The 1st

(2001) - Finalist, 8th place *The 31st Kamigata Comedy Grand Prix (2002) - Newcomer Award *The 33rd NHK Kamigata Manzai Contest (2003) - Excellence Award *The 32nd Kamigata Comedy Grand Prix (2003) - Newcomer Award *The 39th Kamigata Manzai Grand Prix (2004) - Newcomer Award *The 5th M-1 Grand Prix (2005) - Finalist, 5th place *The 6th M-1 Grand Prix (2006) - Finalist, Winner

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Profile at YoshimotoProfile on Yahoo Japan
Japanese comedy duos People from Kyoto