Laughter and the Twilight of the Media -- Sanyutei Enraku on the Age of Television (ca. 1970)

Laughter and the Twilight of the Media -- Sanyutei Enraku on the Age of Television (ca. 1970)

Around 1970, Japan was in the midst of the afterglow of its rapid economic growth, and television had already established an unshakable position as a national medium. A cathode-ray tube sat in every home, and "laughter at tea time" was at the center of the group entertainment, but at the same time, the painful criticism of the "total moronization of 100 million people" also overshadowed the debate over the media.

In these times, rakugo storyteller Sanyutei Enraku stood out, quietly but vividly. He said - "I spend more and more time watching TV. It is for other clents, that is, for researching clients". This shows the professionalism of a comedian who looks at television not for entertainment but with a professional eye.

At the time, Enraku was the general host of the late-night program "Night Show. At a time when television still had a late-night face, there was an air of maturity about the show that was not present in daytime programs. The "Night Show" was a program that skillfully interweaved elements of song, talk, and improvisation, and Enraku was the "storyteller of the evening," a soft but sharp storyteller.

Enraku's humorous comments to the audience were impressive. He would say, "You have a long life, don't you? You have a long life. It was a mildly sarcastic remark about excessive TV viewing, and at the same time, it was a rakugo artist's viewpoint that enveloped the viewer with laughter. This one phrase expresses an awareness that we, the viewers of television, are also part of this moronizing structure.

At the time, the world of rakugo was at a crossroads where it was necessary to enter the new arena of television while preserving the formal beauty of the classics. Sanyutei Enraku stood between the two, embodying the interface between traditional art and modern media. His storytelling was not tinged with commercialism, but always close to the viewpoints of the common people.

The year 1970 was also the year of the Osaka Expo. While the prestige of the nation was on a high note, comedians such as Enraku kept people laughing and feeling at ease with their small, everyday comments and late-night programs. The Showa era's performing arts were alive not in flashy productions and glittering stages, but in the subtlety of the pauses in narration and the looseness of facial expressions.

Sanyutei Enraku - with his gentle and sure observation, and his smile that contained a hint of loneliness - reflected the times themselves in the mirror that was television. What is laughter? What is television? He quietly left these questions in the silence as he disappeared behind the cathode-ray tube.