Toshiaki Kasuga

Toshiaki Kasuga (春日 俊彰) is a Japanese comedian best known as the boke half of the comedy duo Audrey alongside Masayasu Wakabayashi.

On stage, he usually wears a pink vest and white pants.

Aside from comedy, he is also known for his participation in sporting events such as kickboxing, bodybuilding, and finswimming.

He was also a YouTuber under the name Hideo Furui.

Kasuga was born in 1979 in Tokorozawa, Saitama, and graduated from Meiho Elementary School in Tokorozawa.

In 1993, he met later-collaborator Wakabayashi as a classmate.

In 1994, Kasuga graduated from Nihon University Dai-ni Junior High School in Tokyo, and graduated from Nihon University Dai-ni High School in Tokyo in 1997.

After high school, he entered Nihon University with a major in commerce.

In 2000, Kasuga and Wakabayashi formed their owari duo "Nice Middle," and Kasuga took a year off from Nihon University before returning in 2001.

Finally Kasuga accepted his offer, and they formed a comedy duo, "Nice Middle", in 2000.

Although they happily jumped into a comedy career, they stayed unsuccessful for several years.

One day, six years since their debut, a TV play writer called Wakabayashi in person and told him "Kasuga has no talent as a tsukkomi. If you want to play a boke, you'd better look for another partner."

Wakabayashi, then the boke of the duo, relayed the comment to the then tsukkomi Kasuga, but he initially thought Wakabashi was just joking around and did not believe him at all.

He graduated from Nihon in 2002.

In 2005, Kasuga and Wakabayashi changed the name of their duo to "Audrey," after Audrey Hepburn.

In 2007, Kasuga was defeated by Wang HongXiang at the K-1 Tryout.

In 2008, he won 2nd place at Autobacs M-1 Grand Prix, and in 2009 he won 1st place at Shinshun Owarai Taisho - New wave awards (won 76,009 votes out of total 212,036 from TV audiences).

Kasuga learned swimming from his early childhood through his junior high school years.

He attended a private junior high school in Tokyo, Nihon University Dai-ni Junior High, and met Wakabayashi there when they were 8th graders.

Wakabayashi, a trouble-making kid sitting just behind Kasuga, played with him, sneakily cutting his hair from behind without telling him.

In spite of Wakabayashi's misbehavior, Kasusga's first impression on Wakabayashi was that he was a "cute boy", and they got along.

They also attended the same high school, Nihon University Dai-ni High School and joined the American Football Club.

Kasuga was chosen as a member of the Kanto's all-star American Football Team as a defensive end.

However, a penny-pincher, Kasuga did not want to buy outdoor shoes for astro turf that players were suggested to wear for the all-star game, and improperly wearing indoor shoes, was replaced soon after the game had started.

After his high school years, Wakabayashi invited Kasuga to be his manzai partner.

However, Kasuga decided to attend Nihon University instead.

He spent his university years by taking part-time jobs such as a sales clerk position at Seibu Dome.

He mentioned that one day a Glay concert was held there while he was working, and he was very moved after ten years when he was invited to Glay vocalist Teru's birthday party as his favorite aspiring comedian.

Attending mass communication seminars, Kasuga initially planned to be a TV producer while Wakabayashi kept inviting Kasuga to start a comedy career.

They eventually swapped their roles, went through a trial-and-error process, and finally they made the first appearance on terrestrial TV on New Year's Day of 2008.

On December 21, 2008, the two made it all the way into the final round of the M-1 Grand Prix of the year from the consolation match.

During the first session in the final, they were temporarily in the top position above the other eight duos, but eventually ended up 2nd behind Non Style.

Shaving his sideburns (a hair style called a "techno-cut"), wearing his hair parted "80/20" (80% of the hair is combed to the right and the rest to the left) and a pink sweater vest, Kasuga, a unique arrogant character, has been broadly accepted by audiences since the M-1 Grand Prix.

In October 2009, Kasuga was chosen with Wakabayashi as a new regular member for "Waratte Iitomo", the nation's most popular afternoon TV show, and a radio personality for "All Night Nippon", one of the longest-running radio programs in Japan.

Kasuga walks heavily and slowly with his proud 101 cm chest expanding toward the center of the stage.

At the opening, he drops a bossy comment to female audiences such as "Would you like to deliver Kasuga's baby?"

In manzai, he tries to shoot tsukkomi and each time it turns out to be terribly off-the-line boke.

Also, he interrupts Wakabayashi's talks with delayed responses and frequent gags.

In manzai and talk, he responds back saying "Oui" ("Yes").

Holding up his index finger, he yells "Toos!"