Kyoto Prefecture

Live comedy in countries such as the US and UK mostly conjures up images of listening to one person tell jokes and funny stories for an hour or so. But it often primarily involves groups or collectives of comedic theater performers putting on circus-like shows in many other places. Japan has a blend of both. Traditional stand-ups are plying their trade as well as theater groups performing styles such as slapstick and avant-garde. Like other regions of Japan, Kansai doesn’t have the plethora of live comedy venues that you’d find in London or New York, but there are a handful of venues that serve up belly laughs as part of an evening’s entertainment. An overview of live comedy in Japan Japan has a long tradition of performance comedy that goes back to the Heian period. The American-style of individual observational stand-up has broken through to an extent in recent years, and you can find both Japanese and expat comedians plying their trade in either English or Japanese in a few venues across the country these days. But Japan has its distinctive styles of comedy that have been wowing crowds for centuries. The main styles are: Kyogen – performance comedy dating…