Err, rather than 'Comedian', Tarento are B-grade movie-TV stars from various genres, who are used as cheap celebrities made to do various C-grade shows, like Food tasting shows, food tasting shows and some more food tasting shows.

Seriously, that is just what Tarento do. Dress up in bizzare clothes, go to a food joint and go 'oiishi' 'ummai' at every given opportunity. J-TV is a mess.

Japanese comedy is quite different from Western ones. More cultural and 'inside' references, more physical comedy and much more slapstick or atleast relies on the reactions of the comedian to pull off. The skits are done in groups of 3 I think.


To be honest, I don't find Japanese comedy any good....at times even horrible. Apart from a few shows, most are rehash-rinse-repeat of same kuso. But that's just what I think. 

>french humor is very "black" (humour noir), ironic and satirical, sometimes it can be unpleasant. Spanish humor is much more simple,

> lewd or absurd jokes, or disguising myself in public

I have only heard of typical humor types in other countries like you say. Thinking of these types, all of them could be applicable to the Japanese humor, which may be the mixture of all of them. Rakugo is the traditional Japanese owarai culture. This reminds me that roughly speaking, the owarai culture in the west part of Japan is more lewd. Even some of the modern owarai geinins from west are still like that and they often do a lot of exaggerated funny movements. In contrast, geinins in the east part are rather cynical. There is the opposite case for different geinins, though. I also would like to hear opinions from other Japanese people.

Thanks and enjoy the rest of your year.

The web-site linked above is a Canadian rakugoka’s. There you can see the videos of some parts of his English rakugo stages, it looks a bit promotional, though. I hope you would enjoy some taste of rakugo with his plays. He trained his rakugo skills as an apprentice of Japanese rakugo master ６代目桂文枝 (Katsura, Bunshi VI). One of Bunshi’s play is here, in Kansai diarect Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W5zpCtjl8s I would recommend this one titled “宿題(shukudai; homework)”, though it is bad in audio/video quality. I laughed a lot. (Bunshi was called Sanshi(三枝) before succeeding his master’s name.)

The fault of rakugo for a beginner of Japanese is that they are told in diarects, Kansai diarect or Edo-diarect, which are slightly (a lot?!) different from standard daily Japanese. That can make it hard to understand. In that case, how about a maim comedian duo? There is no language! Just funny. It’s slapstics. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RrlD8M_iSc

And lastly, I’d like to mention a Japanese (comical) monodrama player, Issei Ogata. One of my friends is a big fan of his, and we enjoy his play at the theater once a year. His dramas are ironical burlesques of Japanese everyday life and stereotypes.

What if you find any “funny thing in Japan” out of those above, I would be really happy.

I’m not a comedy lover, and that doesn’t means I hate them. I seldom watch TV shows, not because how they seems, but because I just don’t have enough time to enjoy them. So I cannot tell about TV shows and the persons on TV.

After reading your post, although I have no idea to tell what are the kinds of humor of Japan in general, I would like to ask you if you’ve heard about 落語(rakugo), a kind of narrative art (話芸/wagei) that a monologist, called 落語家(rakugoka), often tells funny stories as sitting. Should they be set aside in your inquiry? They are one of traditional Japanese art like kabuki. Please check the following site to find brief explanation about rakugo in English: http://katsurasunshine.com/what-is-rakugo/

Yes, many Japanese may assume rakugo to be an old fashioned entertainment for the elderly. I know that and I was one of them without any trial. I happened to listen to rakugo instead of selecting one of music audio services on a boring long flight, and got surprised; rakugo were so funny that I sometimes could not help bursting into laugh alone in a calm airplane….; that was embarrassing... I cannot say rakugo is very popular, but you will find 落語研究会; or called “ochiken” that means students’ societies of practicing rakugo as their extracurricular activities; in many high-schools and universities even today. They are enjoying playing rakugo by themselves.

I'm Japanese. I like the Japanese comedy culture, which would just fit something like regular Japanese people’s ways of thinking. I’m one of them.
I know there are Japanese people who don’t like it. However, the view shares of Japanese comedy shows are not bad. Some of them are rather very good. It seems that Debarun’s comments focus only on the negative side.

>What kind of humor is most common/popular in Japan?
Hard to tell. I’m not sure of how humor is categorized. What is yours?

Roughly speaking, there are two kinds of owarai geinins/talents (yes, they are called so); Geinins who do funny actions/talks and the other geinins who quickly correct it. This idea would be the same with comedy shows all over the world but would follow the cultures of the countries which include many things.

>"gaikokujin tarento"
You can see them in various types of Japanese TV shows; comedy, cooking, and/or even commentary shows, etc. Japanese owarai geinins are the same, too and some of them become even novelists and/or famous actors. I feel that various backgrounds, that owarai geinins and gaikokujin talents have, vitalize not only TV shows but also various fields in Japan. This is exactly what talents literally mean as abilities.