Description: A guide to the Japanese comedy duo’s 671-point opening sketch, the shoe-and-animal physical comedy, and judge Kenji Yamauchi’s remark that neither performer was simply playing the fool.
The trick was that both characters behaved as though their own absurd actions made perfect sense. At Japan’s King of Conte 2026 on October 17, Gerardon earned 671 points for a sketch about two drunken office workers. Judge Kenji Yamauchi praised their movement and remarked that neither man was simply taking the conventional “boke” role. That observation explains much of the appeal: the scene did not need one character to stop everything and tell the other how ridiculous he was.
What happened on television?
TBS broadcast the final live from 6 p.m. Japan time. Eleven acts competed, including one qualifier from a new second-chance round, after 3,445 groups entered the contest. Gerardon performed sixth. Contemporary reports describe Attack Nishimoto using his shoes to imitate a rabbit and a praying mantis, while partner Kamichii played another uninhibited drunk, at one point taking off his shirt. Those stage details come from news coverage; this article does not claim a firsthand viewing of the complete broadcast.
Why is that funny rather than random?
An office drinking session is an ordinary social setting. The characters’ behaviour becomes increasingly extraordinary, yet neither appears to regard himself as the designated comedian of the pair. The audience sees the gulf between their serious intentions and the bizarre result. Japanese comedy often distinguishes the boke, who introduces a foolish idea, from the tsukkomi, who corrects it. Here the performers can remain committed to their respective characters instead of pausing for an explanatory correction. That is an interpretation of the judge’s remarks, not a claim about a secret writing process.
What did the judges say?
Yamauchi awarded 98 points and singled out the drunken physical acting and the absence of a simple fool-versus-corrector split. Hiroki Akiyama of Hanako praised how the performance stayed funny throughout, joking that the script might fit on a single sheet of paper. Satoshi Iizuka of Tokyo03 said the premise itself was hardly new but the execution worked from beginning to end. The shared thread is precision of performance, not novelty for its own sake.
Did one great sketch win the contest?
No single round decided it. Gerardon led the first stage on 671, ahead of Kaerutei on 661 and Yahhoi on 653. The three finalists then performed again. Gerardon’s second sketch, set in a magic bar, also scored 671, giving the duo 1,342 overall. Runner-up Kaerutei finished on 1,309, a gap of 33 points. The same high score twice is a striking detail of this particular victory.
Why did the win matter to the duo?
Gerardon formed as a trio in 2008 with Attack Nishimoto, Kamichii and Yuji Umino, and reached the final in 2021. The group has performed as a duo since 2025. This was its first final in the new configuration. After winning, Kamichii celebrated showing that the act could be funny both as a trio and as a duo.
Conclusion
The funniest person in the room does not always have to announce that a joke is happening. Gerardon’s office workers act like their behaviour is perfectly normal; the audience gets to do the double take. That is why the judge’s “neither is playing the fool” comment is more revealing than it first sounds.
