I'm a psycho, but that's OK

[imomus]

Coming over like a cross between Lim Soo Jung's nutjob character in I'm a Cyborg But That's OK and 80s irony idol Togawa Jun, Miyuki Torii is a "woman comedian in Japan" and -- for Parisians Kumisolo and O.Lamm -- "boom de la semaine".



Her characters run through a rapid gamut of emotions, from barking mad to fraught to ditzy to gormless to childish to neurotic to skittishly kittenish to manic and back to barking. Her sketches portray women not so much "on the verge of a nervous breakdown" as over the edge. There's pyjama-clad, teddy bear-clutching Masako, the delusional dreamer. Or the fallen angel, born in heaven but growing up in hell. Or the pregnant woman who loses her baby after a bit too much belly-pummeling then dreams about ripping a replacement baby out of rival Mayumi Onodera's belly (the name recalls Mayumi Ono, to whom Torii lost a talent competition in 2001).

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"Her words-selection in her comedy is very original and vivid, and often even intellectual," says Akio Kobayashi on Hook Hand blog. "I like her story about 60s Japanese Red Army, based on Little Red Riding Hood."

The 27 year-old from Akita -- who cites Klaus Kinski and The Ramones as influences -- is a fixture in mainstream women's magazine JJ today, but back in 2005 she made a soft porn gravure video in which, rather than stretching her eyes and raving, she acted demure and coy as she stripped to her underwear. Deleted, the DVD now changes hands for hundreds of dollars. Much of her material continues to be too-hot-for-TV, which doesn't hurt her live shows -- tickets for "National Miyuki Torii Funeral Feast to Seal World-Mania" sold out in seconds when they went on sale in April. She's also released a (reportedly underwhelming) DVD this year, Happy Monday, which sets her characters against a pastiche horror backdrop. YouTube viral mashups include this one, which pits Torii against Shibuya-kei revivalists Capsule.

I'll leave you with some of her sketches (which obviously won't make much sense to those who don't speak Japanese, or don't have kind Japanese girlfriends willing to explain what's going on):

Sketch: Wedding
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The character hides inside a wedding cake at the wedding of Mayumi Onodera, her office colleague, who's marrying the boss -- Torii's ex-lover. She leaps out of the cake and rips open Onodera's belly, from which an army of salarymen pours forth. Or is it all a dream?

Sketch: Funeral
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She's lost with friends at a "funeral feast" -- possibly her own.

Sketch: Maiko
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Meeting her boyfriend for the first time in ages, Maiko plans to cook him a meal, but doubts her own abilities to get it right. So she decides, instead, to keep him by getting pregnant, laying out her plans in a morale-boosting military-style song (buy the condom, pinch a hole in it with a needle...). Unfortunately, when she's three months pregnant, her man decides he isn't interested, and tells his other girlfriend that Maiko only has three months to live.

Sketch: Chieko
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Tomorrow Chieko has to sit an exam, but she's too sleepy and too easily-distracted. Her worried mother comes to visit her in the form of an American short-haired cat, bringing coffee containing sleeping pills.

Sketch: Fallen Angel
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Born in heaven but living in hell, the angel lists all the unreasonable things that happen in everyday life.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

50 yr old english man failed musician saddos have fixate on young Asian girls like you and garyglitter shpuld be banned from internet. You are danger to young women.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Not just that, my excessive YouTube linking endangers the whole of Web 2.0!

[(Anonymous)]

You or Gary glitter ,paedophile is dangerous mind why you need look look look at young asian girl in Beijing they will not tolerate you. obsess your sexual pervert as feel failing reject of U.K. society.you father must take blame also as he must be ashamed to have see you (old man masturbate) on internet as sexual obsesxsion to young asian girl.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Yak yak yak... any opinions about new women comedians from Japan? Thought not.

[cerulicante.livejournal.com]

I speak enough Japanese to understand that her comedy is as funny as butthole cancer.

She's a fucking idiot. No wonder the Japs love her. I guess Dane Cook's magic formula works all over the world.

[(Anonymous)]

you father must take blame also as he must be ashamed to have see you (old man masturbate) on internet as sexual obsesxsion to young asian girl.


ha ha! who hell care about crap comedienne only english sex ciminal chanmce to perve about teenager and children.!! Yes feel sorry your parents in London if see you perving.!!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Please type the following letters to prove you're not a robot:

dF9cc03fgARy98d02gLIttEr

Now, tell me the first word that comes into your head when I say "27 year-old Japanese comedienne"?

[kumakouji.livejournal.com]

One thing I've noticed is that female comedians who incorporate surrealism and exaggerated caricatures into their performances invariable get discussed as if theres this under-lying feminist message or agenda to their comedy.

Smack the Pony (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smack_the_Pony) was one such sketch show here in the UK, where in the media a large deal was made of the fact the show was not only performed predominantly by women, but entirely written by women.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The word feminist isn't being bandied about here, though. Hisae tells me people would use the term mou sou of Miyaki Torii, if they need to reach for a label.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Mou sou means "delusional", so I guess there's a feminist angle you could work in if you wanted: Torii shows in painful detail the delusions of contemporary Japanese women -- she's what the art world would call an abjectionist -- and leaves it to others to decide what to do about it.

That may sound Brechtian, but to call Torii "feminist" would be a bit like calling Bernard Manning a "reconstructed new man" because he shows males in a very poor light. I think comedy can't really have an agenda in that sense. It's got to blunder about and break taboos, observe and shock and embarrass, that's what it's for.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Then again, I did think of mentioning Germaine Greer's The Madwoman's Underclothes in this post. Greer suggested in that book that female eccentricity could be, in and of itself, liberating.

[kumakouji.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying Torii is a feminist. In fact some of her videos would probably leave a bad taste in most feminists mouths (unless she's trying to make some kind of bizarre post-feminist statement by stripping off to her bra and panties and posing):



I'm talkin about the way female comedians are invariably pointed out for simply being female. You refered to Torii as a "woman comedian in Japan", just like the media here in the UK made a big point of Smack the Pony's female trio. Like how we still say "male nurse" or "male nanny", women in comedy is still somewhat unconventional, especially humor that requires them to sacrifice their femininity and sexual appeal for the sake of a laugh (which is where the feminism comes in).

[(Anonymous)]

Youtubes of cooky 20something Jap girls who occasionally take their clothes off on camera eh Momus? And they said you were predictable!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Is this footnote the only part of the story people are caring about? I find it the least interesting thing about Miyuki, to be honest. What's most interesting is her madness and excess.

[(Anonymous)]

You're being more than a touch disingenuous, Momus. Would you be the slightest bit interested if she were a podgy 40something American, regardless of how mad and excessive she was?

*rips babies out of bellies*

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

Don't be stupid, everyone knows Western women are good for absolutely 0, with their masculinity and capitalist blonded hair and such, and especially useless when it comes to being funny, with their feminism and er, things.

And I am the living sign!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I write about Japan. I've never written about a Japanese comedian before. There's very little on the English-language internet (not even a Wikipedia page) on Mayuki Torii. Several good reasons for another Click Opera first!

Disgruntlement may mean you'll be happier reading other blogs where you'll never be troubled by this type of information.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Anyway, blondes are demons, everyone knows that!

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

"Or the pregnant woman who loses her baby after a bit too much belly-pummeling then dreams about ripping a replacement baby out of rival Mayumi Onodera's belly (the name recalls Mayumi Ono, to whom Torii lost a talent competition in 2001)."

WELL, GREAT, NOW I HAVE TO SPEND AN HOUR HIDING UNDER BLANKET, CRIPPLED WITH WOMB FEAR.

*a

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

lol esl.

[drywbach.livejournal.com]

Both the belly-pummeling and the womb-ripping sound alarming. I'd have thought any amount of pummeling would be a bit too much when you're pregnant (or when you're not, for that matter).

[(Anonymous)]

What to do with Has been u.k. pervs Glitter , Momus and their ilk(of course protest their innocent intent) ! This is serious question regarding gender and generational relations. Feminists have done a lot of damage with their attacks on masculinity as always predative and potentially rapist but we nonetheless need to be aware that in certain cases they did have a point.Perverts like Glitter, MOmus etc, need serious attention if we are to protect young Asian girls from the realisation of their fantasies.!!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

With your interest in any subject so long as it's related to Gary Glitter and pedophilia -- not to mention the level of your reading and writing skills -- I get the feeling you'd find The Sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/) a more congenial read than Click Opera. Your IP address suggests that you can buy a copy by leaving the building and turning right. It's the one with the red top.

[(Anonymous)]

Perverts like Glitter, MOmus etc, need serious attention if we are to protect young Asian girls from the realisation of their fantasies.!!


Feminism,failed masculine sexuality and perving after young girls in Asia ,your subjects we think.

[(Anonymous)]

Perverts like Glitter, MOmus etc, need serious attention if we are to protect young Asian girls from the realisation of their fantasies.!!


Sticky substance on keyboards, The Sun and every other British news paper reported on the has been(failed nusician) U.K., 50 yearold pedophile. Feminism,failed masculine sexuality and perving after young girls in Asia ,your subjects and your fantasies, we think.Your father must be so ashamed when he sees you.

[internought.livejournal.com]

I for one found this post rather interesting.

[(Anonymous)]

pervert

[(Anonymous)]

Crusty old pervert - even worse.

[(Anonymous)]

Stinky wrinkly pervert fingers stuck to keyboard.

[obliterati.livejournal.com]

With all the very strange things (http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3485&page=1#Item_0) that are coming out of Japan these days (and that link is obviously very tame all things considered), it's interesting to see what is making people laugh amid all that transgression.

I don't understand the Japanese language very well but from the descriptions here the psycho aspect isn't some tentacle rape fantasy like some of the comments are (stupidly) suggesting, it actually reminds me of that first Whoopi Goldberg concert on HBO back in 1988 or so before she got all Hollywood. Some of the characters and subject matter sound similar though I wish there were a better comparison, there just don't seem to be many "intellectual" comediennes allowed to become famous in the west. Or maybe my memory is slipping and that is an awful generalization. It seems once they let Tina Fey and Janine Garofalo get through the flow just kind of stopped.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

This one (http://ichiriduka.hp.infoseek.co.jp/image2005.11.html) (from your link) made me chuckle. Super-loose legs!

[obliterati.livejournal.com]

Aside from that one, the artist definitely seems to have an interest (http://ichiriduka.hp.infoseek.co.jp/imade2003.9.2.html) in (http://ichiriduka.hp.infoseek.co.jp/image2006.4.html) injured (http://ichiriduka.hp.infoseek.co.jp/imade2003.5.html) legs (http://ichiriduka.hp.infoseek.co.jp/image2007.2.html) for some reason. I'm kind of a fan of this theme because, well, I have to be. No football for Dave again this year!

"intellectual" comediennes

[(Anonymous)]

sarah silverman?

Re: "intellectual" comediennes

[obliterati.livejournal.com]

It's hard to imagine, but I'd love to see Sarah Silverman's reaction to Klaus Kinski actually.

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

Kirsten Schaal, French and Saunders, Jo Brand, the girls from Smack the Pony, Sarah Haskins, Shayna Ferm, Kathy Burke, Jessica Hynes, Jocelyn Jee Esian, Jane Horrocks, Mo Gaffney, Wanda Sykes, Diane Delano? I guess you're not the kind to like Roseanne Barr or Ruby Wax. Sarah Silverman is funny too, though a little loledgy for my taste, though she did do that I'm fucking Matt Damon! song.

Or here in Holland we've got Tosca Niterink, Brigitte Kraandorp, & Plien & Bianca.

[obliterati.livejournal.com]

I'm mired in Americaland and haven't watched a television in far too long probably, I'm definitely missing a few European references there. French and Saunders were with the people who made The Comic Strip Presents... (among many other things obviously) which was one of the greatest shows ever but no one in the States ever saw it. Thank you for the names! I look forward to laughing my ass off soon.

I'm old and always glad to see people like Andrea Martin and Nora Dunn and Amy Sedaris. And you have to give Roseanne Barr some credit, but like with that other comment down below I'd love to see what she thought of Klaus Kinski. That would be funny for reasons I'm not sure Roseanne would be prepared for. ;)

[obliterati.livejournal.com]

er, "comment up above" I mean. I was too busy laughing at the thought of Roseanne and Klaus doing jokes about airplane food to say that right.

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting character(s), this actually attaches well to some tangents of research I've been interested in the past couple of months. Related to this and I'm a Cyborg..., have you seen Welcome to the Quiet Room?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen it, no.

[drywbach.livejournal.com]

It's good for the imagination to watch the clips and try to make sense of them, but I'm going to have to learn Japanese to understand the humour. I find Togawa Jun an interesting artist (although I know far too little of her work!), but that's easy, thanks to her voice, her music, and her image.

[akabe.livejournal.com]

you should maybe let hisae do these entries. ... or maybe you could have mentioned someone like okada hiroko (http://mizuma-art.co.jp/artist/0070/) in the same post; she's well over 30 and married (i think, to makoto aida) . getting this kind of feedback is sort of kimochi warui

[imomus.livejournal.com]

For one anon poster with a British Telecom address and an IQ of about 80 I ain't gonna change a goddam thing!

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Post about ferns for a week. Shakes the haters right off.

[(Anonymous)]

FERNS ARE PEDOPHILES TOO!

[microworlds.livejournal.com]