Audrey (owarai)

Audrey
Audrey
Native name	オードリー
Nationality	Japanese
Years active	2000 - Present
Employer	K Dash Stage
Genres	Manzai
Members	Masayasu Wakabayashi (Tsukkomi); Toshiaki Kasuga (Boke);
	Same year/generation as:; Peace; Uji Koji; King Kong; Daian; Nagareboshi; Knights; Heisei Nobushi Kobushi; Ryota Yamasato

Audrey (オードリー, Ōdorī), is a Japanese owarai comedy duo of Toshiaki Kasuga (春日俊彰, Kasuga Toshiaki) as boke and Masayasu Wakabayashi (若林正恭, Wakabayashi Masayasu) as tsukkomi, formed in 2000. The duo won 2nd place in the M-1 Grand Prix 2008 competition. The duo belongs to the management company K Dash Stage Co., Ltd.

Biography

Formed under the name of Nice Middle (ナイスミドル, Naisu Midoru) in 2000, Kasuga initially was the tsukkomi ("straight man") and Wakabayashi the boke ("funny man"). After almost 6 years of unsuccessful activities, Wakabayashi was one day told by a TV playwright in person that his mate, Kasuga, is "junk" (ポンコツ, ponkotsu) as a tsukkomi, and that he had "better look for another mate". When Wakabayashi tried to explain to Kasuga what he had been told, Kasuga "thought he was just joking." Rejecting the idea but swapping their roles instead, they finally started to make first appearances on terrestrial TV broadcasts in 2008. On December 21, 2008, the two made it all the way to the final round of the M-1 Grand Prix of the year from the consolation. After the first session of the final, competed and broadcast live on the same day, they were temporarily in the top position ahead of the other eight duos, but ended up 2nd overall behind NON STYLE.

The manzai performed by Audrey is characterized by Kasuga's trying to shoot tsukkomi but each time turning out to be terribly off-the-line boke, interrupting Wakabayashi's talks with delayed responses and frequent gags. Wakabayashi, on the other hand, either reacts fast and hard with his tsukkomi in return, or sometimes just "ignores" him.

In 2009, they were on TV commercials for major global companies such as Toyota Motor, Nintendo and KFC.

Little Toos

On the May 19, 2012 broadcast of All Night Nippon, Wakabayashi decided to call their regular listeners "Little Toos" (リトルトゥース, alternatively romanized as Little Twoos or Little Tous), combining Lady Gaga's fandom name "Little Monsters" and Kasuga's catchphrase, "Toos!"^[1] Since then, several Japanese entertainers have proclaimed themselves Little Tooses, such as Hokuto Matsumura, Yugo Kochi, Meru Nukumi, Hikaru Takahashi, and Konoka Matsuda.^[2]

Event at Tokyo Dome

On February 18, 2024, their All Night Nippon radio show event was held at Tokyo Dome. The audience at the venue was 53,000, with another 52,000 people attending the live viewing at movie theaters and 55,000 people watching the live online streaming, for a total of 160,000 viewers.^[3]

Members

Toshiaki Kasuga (春日俊彰, Kasuga Toshiaki)

Date of Birth: February 9, 1979
175 cm 88 kg B101 W83 H98 F28.5 cm
Birthplace: Tokorozawa, Saitama
Manzai Role: Boke

Masayasu Wakabayashi (若林正恭, Wakabayashi Masayasu)

Date of Birth: September 20, 1978
168 cm 60 kg B87 W75 H80 F26.5 cm
Birthplace: Chūō, Tokyo
Manzai Role: Tsukkomi
Writes the material for the unit

Media

TV

Regular

Hirunandesu! [ja] (ヒルナンデス!) -- Nippon Television (10/5/2011-) *Every Wednesday
Ikinari! Ougon Densetsu [ja] (いきなり! 黄金伝説。) -- TV Asahi (4/15/2010-) *Every Thursday
Campus Night Fuji [ja] (キャンパスナイト･フジ) -- Fuji Television/CX (4/10/2009-)
School Kakumei [ja] (スクール革命!) -- Nippon Television (4/5/2009-)
Merengue no Kimochi [ja] (メレンゲの気持ち) -- Nippon Television (4/25/2009-) *Every three weeks
Zenbu Uso [ja] (ぜんぶウソ) -- Nippon Television (10/3/2009-)
Morita Kazuyoshi Hour Waratte Iitomo! [ja] (森田一義アワー笑っていいとも！) -- Fuji Television (10/9/2009-9/26/2011) *Every Friday
Audrey-san, Zehi Atte Hoshii Hito ga Irundesu. [ja] (オードリーさん、ぜひ会ってほしい人がいるんです。) -- Chūkyō Television Broadcasting (4/8/2012-)
AKB48 Team 8 no Bunbun! Eito Daihōsō! [ja] (AKB_チーム8のブンブン!エイト大放送) -- Nippon Television (1/28/2017-4/1/2017)
Hiragana Oshi (ひらがな推し) →Hinatazaka de Aimashō（日向坂で会いましょう）-- TV Tokyo (08/4/2018-)

Irregular

Kaito Shinobi-na [ja] (快盗!!シノビーナ) -- TV Asahi (1/17/2009-)
Quiz Presen Variety Q-sama!! [ja] (クイズプレゼンバラエティー Qさま!!}) -- TV Asahi

Radio

Audrey no Shampoo Ojisan [ja] (オードリーのシャンプーおじさん) -- Nippon Cultural Broadcasting (4/7/2009-) *Every Tuesday
All Night Nippon (オールナイトニッポン) -- Nippon Broadcasting System (10/10/2009-) *Every Sunday from 1:00 am

Internet TV