is a Japanese comedian best known as the '' boke'' half of the comedy duo

Audrey Audrey () is an English feminine given name. It is the Anglo-Norman form of the Anglo-Saxon name ''Æðelþryð'', composed of the elements '' æðel'' "noble" and ''þryð'' "strength". The Anglo-Norman form of the name was applied to Saint Aud ...

alongside Masayasu Wakabayashi. On stage, he usually wears a pink vest and white pants. Aside from comedy, he is also known for his participation in sporting events such as

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

, and

finswimming Finswimming is an underwater sport consisting of four techniques involving swimming with the use of fins either on the water's surface using a snorkel with either monofins or bifins or underwater with monofin either by holding one's breath or ...

. He was also a YouTuber under the name Hideo Furui.

Biography

Kasuga was born in 1979 in

Tokorozawa, Saitama is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 344,194 in 163,675 households and a population density of 4800 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Tokorozawa is located in the ce ...

, and graduated from Meiho Elementary School in Tokorozawa. In 1993, he met later-collaborator Wakabayashi as a classmate. In 1994, Kasuga graduated from

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice (Japan), Minister of Justice, in 1889. ...

Dai-ni Junior High School in Tokyo, and graduated from Nihon University Dai-ni High School in Tokyo in 1997. After high school, he entered Nihon Univeristy with a major in commerce. In 2000, Kasuga and Wakabayashi formed their owari duo "Nice Middle," and Kasuga took a year off from Nihon University before returning in 2001. He graduated from Nihon in 2002. In 2005, Kasuga and Wakabayashi changed the name of their duo to "Audrey," after

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, t ...

. In 2007, Kasuga was defeated by Wang HongXiang at the K-1 Tryout. In 2008, he won 2nd place at

Autobacs () is a retailer of automotive parts and accessories based in Japan, with branches primarily in Asia and stores also located in France. Etymology Autobacs was given a backronym as follows, which reflects the products the company provided prior ...

M-1 Grand Prix, and in 2009 he won 1st place at Shinshun Owarai Taisho - New wave awards (won 76,009 votes out of total 212,036 from TV audiences).

Early life

Kasuga learned swimming from his early childhood through his junior high school years. He attended a private junior high school in Tokyo, Nihon University Dai-ni Junior High, and met Wakabayashi there when they were 8th graders. Wakabayashi, a trouble-making kid sitting just behind Kasuga, played with him, sneakily cutting his hair from behind without telling him. In spite of Wakabayashi's misbehavior, Kasusga's first impression on Wakabayashi was that he was a "cute boy", and they got along. They also attended the same high school, Nihon University Dai-ni High School and joined the

American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

Club. Kasuga was chosen as a member of the

Kanto Kantō (Japanese) Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region *Kantō-kai, organized crime group *Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ' ...

's all-star American Football Team as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

. However, a penny-pincher, Kasuga did not want to buy outdoor shoes for

astro turf Astro may refer to: Entertainment and media * Astro (South Korean band), a South Korean boy band * Astro (UB40) (1957–2021), member of the British reggae band UB40 * Astro (Chilean band), a Chilean indie rock band * Astro (Japanese band), ...

that players were suggested to wear for the all-star game, and improperly wearing indoor shoes, was replaced soon after the game had started. After his high school years, Wakabayashi invited Kasuga to be his

manzai is a traditional style of comedy in Japanese culture comparable to double act comedy or stand-up comedy. usually involves two performers ()—a straight man () and a double act, funny man ()—trading jokes at great speed. Most of the jokes ...

partner. However, Kasuga decided to attend Nihon University instead. He spent his university years by taking part-time jobs such as a sales clerk position at

Seibu Dome (official name: ) is a baseball stadium located in Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan. It is home to the Saitama Seibu Lions, a professional baseball team. The stadium has a roof over the field and the stands, like other indoor ballparks. However, it la ...

. He mentioned that one day a

Glay Glay (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also arranged songs using elements from a wide variety of genres, includi ...

concert was held there while he was working, and he was very moved after ten years when he was invited to Glay vocalist Teru's birthday party as his favorite aspiring comedian. Attending

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

seminars, Kasuga initially planned to be a

TV producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon a ...

while Wakabayashi kept inviting Kasuga to start a comedy career. Finally Kasuga accepted his offer, and they formed a comedy duo, "Nice Middle", in 2000.

Career

Dark days to M-1 Grand Prix 2008

Although they happily jumped into a comedy career, they stayed unsuccessful for several years. One day, six years since their debut, a TV

play writer A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

called Wakabayashi in person and told him "Kasuga has no talent as a

tsukkomi The following glossary of words and terms (generally of Japanese origin) are related to ''owarai'' (Japanese comedy). Many of these terms may be used in areas of Japanese culture beyond comedy, including television and radio, music. Some have be ...

. If you want to play a boke, you'd better look for another partner." Wakabayashi, then the boke of the duo, relayed the comment to the then tsukkomi Kasuga, but he initially thought Wakabashi was just joking around and did not believe him at all. They eventually swapped their roles, went through a trial-and-error process, and finally they made the first appearance on

terrestrial TV Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the signal transmission occurs via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an anten ...

on New Year's Day of 2008. On December 21, 2008, the two made it all the way into the final round of the M-1 Grand Prix of the year from the

consolation Consolation, consolement, and solace are terms referring to psychological comfort given to someone who has suffered severe, upsetting loss, such as the death of a loved one. It is typically provided by expressing shared regret for that loss and ...

match. During the first session in the final, they were temporarily in the top position above the other eight duos, but eventually ended up 2nd behind Non Style.

Rise to popularity

Shaving his

sideburns Sideburns, sideboards, or side whiskers are facial hair grown on the sides of the face, extending from the hairline to run parallel to or beyond the ears. The term ''sideburns'' is a 19th-century corruption of the original ''burnsides'', named ...

(a hair style called a "techno-cut"), wearing his hair parted "80/20" (80% of the hair is combed to the right and the rest to the left) and a pink sweater vest, Kasuga, a unique arrogant character, has been broadly accepted by audiences since the M-1 Grand Prix. In October 2009, Kasuga was chosen with Wakabayashi as a new regular member for "

Waratte Iitomo was a Japanese variety show aired every weekday on Fuji TV. The show was hosted by Tamori (Kazuyoshi Morita) and ran from 1982 to 2014. The show was produced in the Studio Alta building in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The show featured a series of regular ...

", the nation's most popular afternoon TV show, and a radio personality for "

All Night Nippon is a Japanese radio program broadcast by Nippon Broadcasting System and other radio stations from 1–5 am (JST). It preempts broadcasts from TBS Radio's programming heard on stations under both JRN and NRN (TBC Radio, CBC Radio, etc.). D ...

", one of the longest-running radio programs in Japan.

Character on stage

Kasuga walks heavily and slowly with his proud 101 cm chest expanding toward the center of the stage. At the opening, he drops a bossy comment to female audiences such as "Would you like to deliver Kasuga's baby?" In manzai, he tries to shoot ''tsukkomi'' and each time it turns out to be terribly off-the-line boke. Also, he interrupts Wakabayashi's talks with delayed responses and frequent gags. In manzai and talk, he responds back saying "Oui" ("Yes"). Holding up his

index finger The index finger (also referred to as forefinger, first finger, second finger, pointer finger, trigger finger, digitus secundus, digitus II, and many other terms) is the second digit of a human hand. It is located between the thumb and the mid ...

, he yells "Toos!" meaning "Hey!" or "I did it!" Some of his other recurring gags include "Onigawara", "Apa" and the "Kasu" dance.

Penny pincher

His stingy life style has been introduced in many variety shows. He says that he wants to save as much money as possible to buy a

single-family home A stand-alone house (also called a single-detached dwelling, detached residence or detached house) is a free-standing residential building. It is sometimes referred to as a single-family home, as opposed to a multi-family residential dwelling ...

in the future.

Other ventures

Kasuga participated in K-1 kickboxing in 2007. He retired after two fighting matches due to ruptured eardrum. Kasuga has represented Japan at the

Finswimming Finswimming is an underwater sport consisting of four techniques involving swimming with the use of fins either on the water's surface using a snorkel with either monofins or bifins or underwater with monofin either by holding one's breath or ...

Master World Cup, organized by the

Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) is an international federation that represents underwater activities in underwater sport and underwater sciences, and oversees an international system of recreational snorkel and scu ...

. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 event in

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and a silver medal at the 2016 event in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. Kasuga started

in 2013 and placed fifth at the 23rd Tokyo Bodybuilding Tournament in 2015. He did not qualify at the 24th event in 2016. Kasuga ran a YouTube channel under the name Hideo Furui, which was discontinued in December 2021.

Personal life

He is described as reserved, polite and modest, contrary to his character on TV. Wakabayashi has said he has never heard Kasuga speaking bad about others. Mikio Date, a member of owarai duo Sandwichman has also said Kasuga had neither spoken ill of others nor agreed with other comedians' bad comments on others at their joint live rehearsals. His father has been very supportive of his career, making original DVDs of Kasuga to distribute to the family's neighbors, and frequently giving him advice by e-mail. Though initially against his comedy career, his mother is also supportive, distributing to neighbors the

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

magazine when one of the issues carried an article on Kasuga. According to Kasuga, all of his family members are big-boned. His mother used to be a

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

player. Kasuga had a fanatical female fan called "Ochimusha" (stray

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

) when he was a football player in high school. From the age of 20, he had a girlfriend (called " Dogu" (clay doll) by Wakabayashi) for five years. When he dated her, his friends called him "

Moai Moai or moʻai ( ; es, moái; rap, moʻai, , statue) are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island, Rapa Nui in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main mo ...

" due to his big head, and named the two "the mysterious couple." She later said on the TV program "

London Hearts , formerly known as and , is a Japanese variety television show hosted by London Boots Ichi-go Ni-go and Hiroiki Ariyoshi on TV Asahi. It focuses on creating comedy by taking Japanese comedians and television personalities out of their normal b ...

" that he was gentle, but she separated from him because she did not like his indecisiveness. On the show, unexpectedly meeting her at a bar, he got very nervous and passed her once but looked back at her repeatedly. (He just looked like he was "spinning around.") On his birthday, February 9, 2009, he was photographed by a

paparazzo Paparazzi (, ; ; singular: masculine paparazzo or feminine paparazza) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people; such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities, typically while subjects ...

during the night while he was dating a 30-year-old woman who, according to Wakabayashi, resembles the "

Hippo The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant ...

of Isodin." (One of Japanese confectionery/pharmaceutical company

Meiji Seika is a Japanese snack food company. It is the trade name of a pharmaceutical company in Japan. It was renamed into the on March 31, 2011. It is currently a subsidiary of Meiji Holdings and a Japanese leader in the area of infectious disease with ...

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

characters. See the "External Links" section below). Kasuga later said that he was going to make her his girlfriend, but after the photo's publication, he was unsuccessful in reaching her. In April, 2019, Kasuga proposed to his girlfriend of 11 years "''Kumi-san''" on the television variety ''Monitoring''.

Media

TV

* (キャンパスナイト･フジ) --

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

/CX (4/10/2009-) * (スクール革命!) --

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

(4/5/2009-) * (メレンゲの気持ち) -- Nippon Television (4/25/2009-) *Every three weeks * (ぜんぶウソ) -- Nippon Television (10/3/2009-) * (森田一義アワー笑っていいとも！) -- Fuji Television (10/9/2009-) *Every Monday * * *

Wednesday's Downtown is a Japanese variety show hosted by the Japanese owarai duo, Downtown. The show has been broadcast on TBS since 2014. Overview In each episode, a Japanese entertainer is invited to appear on the show as a host and present various trivial t ...

Radio

* (オードリーのシャンプーおじさん) --

Nippon Cultural Broadcasting is a Japanese radio station in Tokyo which broadcasts to the Kanto area. It is one of the two flagship radio stations of National Radio Network (NRN) (the other station is ) and is a member of the Fujisankei Communications Group. History The ...

(4/7/2009-) *Every Tuesday *

(オールナイトニッポン) --

Nippon Broadcasting System , or JOLF, is a Japanese radio station in Yurakucho, Chiyoda ward, Tokyo, next to the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Founded in 1954, it is together with Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, the flagship station of the National Radio Network. Nippon Broa ...

(10/10/2009-) *Every Sunday from 1:00 am

Internet TV

Sora o Minakya Komaruyo! (そらを見なきゃ困るよ!)
��

GyaO is a Japanese internet company originally formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! (later divested by Verizon into Altaba) and the Japanese company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Kioi Tower in the Tokyo Garden Terr ...

Jocky (11/2007-）
Kokuccha! (告っちゃ!)
��GyaO Jocky (5/2007-）
Ainari (あいなり)
��GyaO Jocky (9/2007-10/2007）

��Nikkei Shingaku Navi (3/2008-）

References

External links

Audrey Official Website provided by K Dash stageOwari TV - Audrey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasuga, Toshiaki 1979 births Living people Japanese comedians People from Tokorozawa, Saitama Nihon University alumni Finswimmers Japanese bodybuilders