Japanese comedian Ken Shimura has passed away due to COVID-19, age 70🇯🇵 R.I.P.
he'd had serious health issues for the past few years due to pneumonia and other illnesses, and this was the final straw
anyone following me would probably best know him as the co-star of the PC Engine game Kato-chan & Ken-chan, released overseas as J.J. & Jeff
anyone following me would probably best know him as the co-star of the PC Engine game Kato-chan & Ken-chan, released overseas as J.J. & Jeff
his show with Cha Kato, Kato-chan & Ken-chan Gokigen Terebi, was by far the most enduring, not only as the peak of both of their careers but as the foundation for overseas shows like America's Funniest Home Videos, which to this day pay royalties to TBS for use of the show format
Kato & Ken both came from comedy group The Drifters, who had their own successful TV shows through the '70s & '80s; after Gokigen Terebi, Ken had a ton of solo shows, most notably Shimura Ken no Daijoubuda, with his own proteges which included the now-disgraced Masashi Tashiro
by the early '00s he'd reached elder statesman status &found a new surge of prominence through the variety show circuit—he was reticent to do panel/variety shows out of character in his heyday but the younger generations of comedians, who all revered him, got him out of his shell
it's sort of hard to think of an equivalent comedic figure overseas in terms of influence, tone, etc... apparently there was a mutual admiration between his work an that of Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), so I guess that'd be an obvious point of comparison
