It is becoming impossible to say what you want to say, the way of life of Sanma in the future.
Do you like making things in the first place?
I think everyone likes it. Showa men started with plastic models, so they might like to make things.
But you are still much busier than everyone else, aren't you?
I'm overwhelmingly busy (laughs). But I don't sleep overwhelmingly (laughs). I feel like I am making up for that.
How much sleep do you usually get?
Since I am 55 years old, I have been using the lightest sleep inducing drug available, as people around me have advised me that I need to sleep. At my age, if I don't sleep, it greatly affects my voice on stage. So I try to sleep. It is said that the human body is designed so that if you close your eyes without thinking, you get about 70% of your sleep, and that is true. I have proven it in my own human experiments (laughs). But it is hard to close my eyes for five hours without thinking. I end up thinking about something. It's not zazen, but that's the state of mind I'm in.
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Let's end with a few words about your work. It is rare to find someone who has been working at the forefront of the industry for such a long time.
This is the only time since television was established. In our time, there was a theory that if a variety show was successful for two years, it was enough for a two-year run. It is true that it is strange that the show has continued for 20 or 30 years. I know it is strange for me to say this, but it is really strange. I had planned to retire at the age of 60, but now I am 66, and I feel that I have been lucky for 6 years. It's like, when am I going to quit next?
Do you still want to compete on the same level as the young people?
I want to keep that kind of feeling. When I praise young people or others, I feel that I am getting old. In my case, I want to be on the line between acknowledging and not acknowledging. I want to be frustrated when younger people make me laugh.
From the younger generation...
About 20 years ago, when the Big 3...me, Takeshi and Tamori were in the dressing room together, Okamura of Ninety-Nine wanted to set off a bomb (laughs). He said, "I wanted to blow up those three people," half jokingly and half seriously (laughs). It means that the top is jammed.
Do you want them to overtake you in terms of ability?
Of course, of course. I know it must be frustrating to be overtaken, but that's the way TV is made, and I think I have made a path for the younger generation. I've always thought so, but as Tokoro (George) said, "There is no one behind you, Sanchan. You are just going around in circles." I think he is right. When I mentioned this to Koji Imada the other day, he said, "I see Sanma-san on the next street, but it's a completely different street" (laughs). Times are different, and the way of television is different, so even if I tell them to come to the same road, maybe they don't really have the same road. Maybe I'm just running all the time while saying I'm doing it for my juniors (laughs).
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You once said that the Web and other non-television media are the enemy.
TV is my hometown. I want to take care of my hometown. The Internet is like a new town. I sometimes envy the high-rise buildings in other cities (laughs). But my hometown is here in the countryside, so I want to stay here, and I can't move to New Town at the age of 66. I can't move to a new town at the age of 66. I don't think television will disappear, and I think my life will be lived within that context.
Will you continue to focus mainly on television?
I think I will be doing more stage work from now on. The era has come to a point where it is no longer possible to say what I want to say on TV, and "Ore-tachi hyokinzoku" and "Koi no kara no kara no commotion," which everyone said were funny, cannot be done in this day and age. That was part of the fun. What is truly interesting and enjoyable for me can only be done on stage nowadays. I hear that even the stage is beginning to be criticized in various ways, so I think we are entering an era in which things will become uninteresting.
Eventually, I may invite some very devoted fans to my house and chat with them for a very high admission fee (laughs). It is getting harder and harder to say the truth on TV, but it is still okay at my apartment (laughs). 10 or so people will have tea and talk about what they think is really interesting, as they want to say. I think that both the people doing the work and the people watching it on TV are going to be under a lot of stress from now on. I would like to return to the days of TV when we were funny, but it's not going to be easy. The times...I think it's the times. I think that in another 10 years, young comedians will emerge who will be able to clear the current system. If I were 45 years old now, I would be in tune with the current system, but at 66 years old, it's no longer possible to be in tune with the current system. That's how I feel.
I think athletes often think about how they will retire. Do you think about how you will end up, Mr. Sanma?
I was thinking at 55 that I would quit at 60 in a flash. I heard that in a company, when the top of the pyramid disappears, the people who can grow will emerge. For example, if there are five people who are good at their jobs, they will not grow unless they are gone. I once told Takeshi-san that it would be better if the top management quit, but he said no way. I once told Takeshi that it would be better if the top management quit, but he said, "I don't want to do that.
In fact, when I was 60 years old, people still needed me, and even at 62 years old, I was still getting feedback from people around me. I think I will quit when I can't come up with a good comment or when my brain speed slows down or when my face on TV becomes dirty. I tell people around me to feel free to tell me if I start slowing down.
I guess it will be a while (laughs).
I am trying desperately to do my best (laughs).
I feel that you are taking on the role of Mr. Akashiya Sanma.
I know it is an old-fashioned idea, but I try to keep in mind that it is the fans and the audience that make the difference. The other day, I received a message that I was saved after watching a TV program, or that my illness was cured after seeing a stage performance, which sounds like a lie. It makes me think once again that what I was doing was right...or at least makes me think so.
That's one cool thing....
Aesthetics. It's just my own selfish aesthetics. No, I think it is "micro-ethics," the subtlety of subtlety. What I can say to people all over the world is not "learn beautifully. I think it should be "learn in a subtle way. I think the character for "beautiful" is absolutely wrong. Nothing is beautiful. I want to cherish the way I live...the way I am.
