(born Yasuo Watanabe (渡部泰雄, Watanabe Yasuo) ; 22 February 1932 – 11 September 2010) was a Japanese comedian, actor and musician. Born in Tokyo, he learned to play the

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

and, while a student at

Chuo University , commonly referred to as or , is a private flagship research university in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1885 as Igirisu Hōritsu Gakkō (the English Law School), Chuo is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions in the country. The univer ...

, began playing in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

bands performing for American soldiers during the Occupation of Japan. He quit university and joined the City Slickers with

Frankie Sakai (13 February 1929 – 10 June 1996) was a Japanese comedian, actor, and musician. Career From his days at Keio University, Sakai worked as a jazz drummer at American Army camps during the Occupation of Japan, often doing comic routines with his ...

in 1953. In 1956, he joined the comic-jazz band

The Crazy Cats The were a Japanese jazz band and comedy group popular in film and television, particularly between the 1950s and 1970s. Led by Hajime Hana, the band's other main members were Kei Tani, Hitoshi Ueki, Hiroshi Inuzuka, Senri Sakurai, Shin Yasuda, an ...

with

Hajime Hana was a Japanese actor. He was the leader of the comic jazz band The Crazy Cats, which featured such talent as Hitoshi Ueki and Kei Tani, and which starred in a series of film comedies (such as the "Irresponsible" (Musekinin) series at Toho) and ...

and

Hitoshi Ueki was a Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and guitarist. He won six awards for acting.Hitoshi ...

. He came to fame when the Crazy Cats started appearing on television, especially through their variety show "Shabondama Holiday," and in movies, through comedy series such as the "Irresponsible" (Musekinin) series at

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer ...

. Some of his nonsense one-word gags such as "gachon" became buzzwords imitated throughout the nation. He also appeared alone in dramatic roles on film and television, was a regular in the "

Tsuribaka Nisshi is a Japanese fishing-themed manga series written by Jūzō Yamasaki and illustrated by Kenichi Kitami. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine '' Big Comic Original'' since 1979. It won the 28th Shogakukan Manga A ...

" film series, and continued to be a popular figure on variety TV. His real name was Yasuo Watanabe, but his stage name, especially with the Japanese name order "Tani Kei", was based on a pun on the name Danny Kaye. He died of a

brain contusion Cerebral contusion, Latin ''contusio cerebri'', a form of traumatic brain injury, is a bruise of the brain tissue. Like bruises in other tissues, cerebral contusion can be associated with multiple microhemorrhages, small blood vessel leaks into ...

on 11 September 2010 after falling down the stairs in his Mitaka home.

Selected filmography

* '' Nippon musekinin jidai'' (ニッポン無責任時代) (1962) * '' Young Season'' (若い季節)　(1962) * '' Zūzūshii yatsu'' (図々しい奴) (1965) * '' Fancy Paradise'' (1968) * '' Kofuku'' (1981) * '' Tokyo Heaven'' (1990) * ''

Samurai Fiction is a 1998 comedy-samurai film directed by Hiroyuki Nakano. It is almost entirely black-and-white, and follows a fairly standard plotline for a comedy and ''jidaigeki'' samurai film, but the presence of Tomoyasu Hotei's rock-and-roll soundtrack se ...

'' (1998) * '' After Life'' (1998) * ''

Waterboys The Waterboys are a folk rock band formed in Edinburgh in 1983 by Scottish musician Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. Mike Scott has remained ...

'' (2001) * ''

Swing Girls is a Japanese 2004 teen comedy film directed and co-written by Shinobu Yaguchi. The plot follows a group of inept high school girls who form a big band. The cast includes Juri Ueno, Yuta Hiraoka, Shihori Kanjiya, Yuika Motokariya and Yukari To ...

'' (2004) * '' Blooming Again'' (2004) * '' Chameleon'' (2008)

Selected television roles

* '' Monkey'' (1979) as

Daode Tianzun Daode Tianzun (), also known as Taishang Laojun () is a high Taoist god. He is the Taiqing (太清, lit. the Grand Pure One) which is one of the Three Pure Ones, the highest divinities of Taoism. Laozi is regarded to be a manifestation of Daode ...

* '' Dokuganryū Masamune'' (1987) as

Imai Sōkun was a prominent weapons merchant in the Japanese port town of Sakai, and master of the Japanese tea ceremony. He was also known by the names Imai Hiratsuna and Imai Kanehisa. Sōkun was the son of weapons merchant and tea master Imai Sōkyū, a ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tani, Kei 1932 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Japanese male actors 20th-century Japanese musicians 21st-century Japanese male actors Male actors from Tokyo Japanese male comedians Japanese male film actors Comedians from Tokyo Musicians from Tokyo Japanese trombonists Male trombonists 21st-century Japanese musicians Crazy Cats members 20th-century Japanese male musicians 21st-century Japanese male musicians