According to The Mainichi, a record 3,795 people participated in the latest tournament, all vying to be recognized as the country’s funniest solo comedian. Both amateur and professional acts are welcome.
Hamada, who hails from Kobe and is a professional comedian belonging to Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., was born blind on his left eye, while he only registers light on the right.
He was inspired to pursue a career in comedy after hearing a manzai performance on TV of a duo called Bikkizu and cried from laughing.
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After graduating from a special needs school, he worked part-time and saved enough money to attend New Star Creation (NSC), a training school established by Yoshimoto Kogyo.
Hamada has won laughs by pulling fun from his daily life as a visually-impaired person, among other matters.
Friends celebrate Hamada’s victory. Image via Twitter/@naoko0430
While he is not too concerned about his visual impairment, Hamada thinks his audience cannot concentrate if they are conscious about it.
“I want to overcome this barrier. It’s my dream, on a big stage, to make the audience burst into laughter, with having them forget that I’m visually impaired. That would feel awesome.”
A poster of Hamada after winning the R-1 Grand Prix. Image via Twitter/@hata_norichika
He cracked an audience in another competition last year:
“If you can’t make up your mind whether to laugh, please just laugh!”
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