The word is derived from the French word "conte" which means short story or short play.
This form of comedy is self-explanatory if you have seen any skit comedy on television, and therefore, I will use this post to outline the successful konto in the modern history of owarai.
One of the first and still popular konto is Yoshimoto Shin-Kigeki. I have mentioned Shin-Kigeki in an earlier post, but I will briefly mention that it contains many elements that are considered beta (or cliche). The audiences know what will happen next during the performance; however, Shin-Kigeki theaters are filled with laughter show after show. It is indeed a perfected comedy.
In the 1970s, an extremely popular show emerged on television. The show was called It's 8 O'clock! Everyone Gather Round! (8ji Dayo! Zenin Shugo!) The main act of this show was a group called The Drifters formed by Ikariya Chosuke, Takagi Bu, Arai Chu, Nakamoto Koji, and Kato Cha. After Arai Chu left the group, Shimura Ken (one of the most famouse Japanese comedian alive) joined the group. The set up of this show was unique; it was a television live broadcast of a theater performance. The group traveled to different theaters across Japan each week, and many children and family went to see it performed live. The average viewing rate was 27.3%, and the highest was 50.5% (which means over half of Japan's household was watching this show).
clip from 8ji Dayo! Zenin Shugo!
In the 1980s, Ore-tachi Hyokin-zoku came on television. This program starred now famous Beat Takeshi (Perhaps more widely known as a film director Kitano Takeshi), Akashiya Sanma, and Shimada Shinsuke as well as many other comedians who are still popular today. The konto characters from this show are occasionally brought back on the television screen by these same comedians in other variety shows. The show is labeled as legendary by other geinin and serve as the prototype for modern konto form seen on television.
clip from Ore-tachi Hyokin-zoku
Around the same time, a duo called Tonneruzu (Tunnels) began to gain popularity on a show called Tonneruzu no Minasan no Okage desu. This show also produced characters that remain popular and legendary among the geinin community.
clip from Minasan no Okage desu
And in the 1990s, Downtown introduced the show Gottsu Ee Kanji. This show was different from the prior as it used continuous story line that carried over many weeks of the show. The prior konto were based on short stories that ended within each weekly broadcasting. Most geinin that were part of this show have become extremely successful, with many hosting their own. Following in the footsteps of Gottsu Ee Kanji, other konto-centered television programs have emerged and continues today.
clip from Gottsu Ee Kanji
Konto is an important part of Japanese comedy and recently, like manzai, has started to become recognized as an art form. Konto competition called King of Konto started and has become one of the largest events for geinin along with R-1 Grand Prix and M-1 Grand Prix.
Going back to the Japanese game shows, the game shows carry some of the same notions as the konto. Many game shows in Japan were part of the konto-centered television shows that featured some of the same comedic characters. This tradition carried over to most comedy-independent game shows, and thus, one may see people dressed in ridiculous costumes and such. Furthermore, another tradition that carried over is the fact that the games were indeed part of the overall comedy; in other words, the games are tools for the comedians to make people laugh, and the games mean very little to the people who are participating. The comedians may not go by the rules or may not even compete to win if that is what it takes to get the crowd laughing. They are not being laughed at by the audience but are making the audience laugh; they are no clowns but are comedians.
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