Editing Manzai (section)

{{Short description|Traditional Japanese style of comedy}}
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[[File:Manzai by unknown artist - wittig collection.jpg|thumb|200px|A pair of {{Transliteration|ja|manzai}} performers at a New Year celebration; the {{Transliteration|ja|tsukkomi}} at front, the {{Transliteration|ja|boke}} behind him (artist unknown, 19th-century Japanese painting)]]

{{Nihongo||[[wikt:漫才|漫才]]|'''Manzai'''}} is a traditional style of comedy in [[Japanese culture]] comparable to [[double act]] comedy.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gov-online.go.jp/eng/publicity/book/hlj/html/201706/201706_05_en.html |title=What's Manzai? |last=Blair |first=Gavin |publisher= Public Relations Office of the Government of Japan |date=2016 |website=Highlighting Japan June 2017 |access-date=4 November 2019}}</ref>

{{Transliteration|ja|Manzai}} usually involves two performers ({{Transliteration|ja|manzaishi}})—a [[straight man]] ({{Transliteration|ja|[[Glossary of owarai terms#tsukkomi|tsukkomi]]}}) and a [[double act|funny man]] ({{Transliteration|ja|[[Glossary of owarai terms#boke|boke]]}})—trading [[joke]]s at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve around mutual misunderstandings, [[double-talk]], [[pun]]s and other verbal gags.

In recent times, {{Transliteration|ja|manzai}} has often been associated with the [[Osaka]] region, and {{Transliteration|ja|manzai}} comedians often speak in the [[Kansai dialect]] during their acts.

In 1933, [[Yoshimoto Kogyo]], a large entertainment conglomerate based in Osaka, introduced Osaka-style {{Transliteration|ja|manzai}} to [[Tokyo]] audiences and coined the term "{{lang|ja|漫才}}" (one of several ways of writing the word {{Transliteration|ja|manzai}} in Japanese; see {{section link|#Etymology}} below). In 2015, Matayoshi Naoki's manzai novel, {{Nihongo|''[[Spark (Matayoshi novel)|Spark]]''|火花}}, won the [[Akutagawa Prize]].<ref>{{Cite news|author=Kyodo, Jiji |title=Comedian Matayoshi's literary win offers hope for sagging publishing industry |date=17 July 2015 |newspaper=The Japan Times |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/07/17/entertainment-news/comedian-matayoshi-shares-akutagawa-prize-higashiyama-bags-naoki/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150827052500/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/07/17/entertainment-news/comedian-matayoshi-shares-akutagawa-prize-higashiyama-bags-naoki/ |archive-date=27 August 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> A [[Hibana: Spark|mini-series adaptation]] was released on Netflix in 2016.