Audrey (owarai)

Audrey
Japanese name:	オードリー
Romaji:	Ōdorī
Formed:	2000
Company:	K Dash Stage
Tsukkomi:	Masayasu Wakabayashi
Boke:	Toshiaki Kasuga
Other name(s):	ex-name: Nice Middle

Audrey ( オードリー, Ōdorī^?), is a Japanese owarai 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 has won 2nd place in the M-1 Grand Prix 2008 competition. As of February 2009, 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 and Wakabayashi the boke. 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.

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

Media

TV

Regular

• Campus Night Fuji (キャンパスナイト･フジ) -- Fuji Television/CX (4/10/2009-)
• School Kakumei (スクール革命!) -- Nippon Television (4/5/2009-)
• Merengue no Kimochi (メレンゲの気持ち) -- Nippon Television (4/25/2009-) *Every three weeks
• Zenbu uso (ぜんぶウソ) -- Nippon Television (10/3/2009-)
• Morita Kazuyoshi Hour Waratte Iitomo! (森田一義アワー笑っていいとも！) -- Fuji Television (10/9/2009-) *Every Friday

Irregular

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

Radio

• Audrey no Shampoo Ojisan (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

Regular

• Sora o Minakya Komaruyo! (そらを見なきゃ困るよ!) -- GyaO Jocky (11/2007-）
• Kokuccha! (告っちゃ!) -- GyaO Jocky (5/2007-）
• Ainari (あいなり) -- GyaO Jocky (9/2007-10/2007）
• After School, Totsugeki High School (After School TV内「突撃!ハイスクール」) -- Nikkei Shingaku Navi (3/2008-）

Magazines

• Tokyo Isshukan
• TV Pia

CM

• Nintendo "Nintendo DSi" (2/14/2009-）
• Kaunet (3/2/2009 - ）
• Kentucky Fried Chiken (3/5/2009-)
• Sapporo Brewery "Draft One" (7/2009-)
• DHC "Men's Drug Wax"(9/19/2009-)
• Toyota Motor "Ractis" (10/2009-)
• Benesse Corporation "Shinken Zemi Chugaku koza" (11/2009-)
• Ajinomoto "No Mikata" (11/2009-)

References

• The Asahi Shimbun, January 25, 2009

See also

• Owarai
• Manzai

External links

• K Dash stage of Profile
• Owari TV - Audrey