Shimada Shinsuke was born in Kyoto on March 24, 1956 as Hasegawa Kimihiko. As a teenager, he was an outlaw and experienced several arrests. He saw the manzai of a duo called B&B at the age of 18, and seeing how funny B&B's manzai was, he decided to enter owarai in order to beat Shimada Yoshichi (one of the B&B duo) in being funnier. He formed the duo Shinsuke Ryusuke with Matsumoto Ryusuke, and began performing manzai. They soon became recognized as one of the funniest acts in western Japan and became a regular in Oretachi Hyokin-zoku. However, as the Manzai boom started to end in the 1980s, the duo disbanded; at the press conference, Shinsuke stated, "He will never be better than Taihei Saburo Shiro and Downtown [in manzai]." It was at that moment Downtown gained media attention (they were virtually unknown before that time).
Shinsuke began to enter the role of television show host. He is also a successful producer in the Japanese entertainment industry as well as an entrepreneur. Shinsuke is the man who started the M-1 Grand Prix. In a television show with Matsumoto Hitoshi of Downtown, he stated that the owarai industry should decide who is simply the funniest geinin, and he stated in another show that the M-1 Grand Prix is his show of appreciation for the culture of manzai, the first 8 years of his geinin life. His intelligence and wittiness make him the most liked television show hosts in Japan today.
Matsumoto Hitoshi
Downtown formed in 1982 by Hamada Masatoshi and Matsumoto Hitoshi. The duo changed owarai, at least for the geinin that followed, and are one of the most highly admired comedians in Japan by the fans and other geinin (older and younger). Hamada is the tsukkomi and Matsumoto is the boke. Hamada is now known for his sadistic portrayal while Matsumoto claims he is a masochist; they are responsible for spreading the use of the now common S&M reference in Japan (S-type people being those who are active and aggressive while M-type people are the receiving end; not only in a sexual way). Their influence is also shown through the geinin that came after them. Almost all manzai duo that followed Downtown mimicked Downtown's style especially the poker face boke characteristic of Matsumoto. Yet, Shinsuke states that Downtown arrived at that style after learning all the older, traditional style of manzai, and therefore, the copies cannot be better without learning the basics.
As I mentioned earlier, they were virtually unknown until Shinsuke's comment at the press conference. They were in the first graduating class at NSC which also included Tommy's, a duo that included an already famous Japanese champion in boxing. Furthermore, they were not well looked upon due to their new style and radical manzai topics. Among many older geinin, they were not received well due to the lack of the master (again, they were the first class at NSC). With these reasons, they had a very slow start. Yet, many other geinin including those in his class already felt that Downtown was something different and extraordinary. Shinsuke stated that many successful geinin including Shinsuke, Sanma, and All-Kyojin went to give a lecture at NSC. They always said that one duo was funniest among those in the class, and they all pointed at Downtown.
Because of their slow start, they led an extremely poor life until their success. For many years, they went to work but had no money (and did not make enough money) to make the return trip, so they walked a long distance home. Their dinner during those nights was a bottle of milk that they shared on the way back. However, Hamada and especially Matsumoto always lived in poverty. Hamada later states that it was probably the poverty and lack of toys that fostered Matsumoto's creativity today; Matsumoto had to come up with fun things on his own.
Since Shinsuke's comment, Downtown saw success that was unheard of at the time. Hamada said that, one day, he went for a television drama shooting along with popular movie actors of the time, and when they got off the bus, more fans gathered around Hamada than those actors. Today, they still continue to be one of the most popular geinin on television. Together they host a number of television shows. Hamada alone hosts television shows that are less comedy while Matsumoto starts and runs shows that reflect his creativity and his style of comedy. Matsumoto has also begun to enter the film industry. What is fascinating about Downtown is that while they are already successful and big name in the entertainment industry, they continue to take part in more or less physical comedy. This can be seen in television programs like Lincoln and Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende.
Along with Oretachi Hyokin-zoku, Downtown's Gottsu Ee Kanji has been an influential konto show that introduced games or game like skits that carried over to the Japanese game shows.
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