We hear a lot on TV about how young comedians struggle financially before establishing their careers. But duo Total Tenbosch have a very lucrative winning streak going. The pair were announced yesterday as the winners for the fifth time in a row of the “S1 Grand Battle, Round 2”, a funny video contest sponsored by Softbank Mobile and voted on by the network’s mobile phone subscribers. The win landed the duo prize money of ¥10 million, bringing their total from the contest to ¥30 million, and entry to the “S1 Grand Champion” round next March.
The afro-haired tsukomi half of the duo, Fujita Kensuke (34) said he would use his share of the winnings to bring up his son to be a pro baseball player. Then again, the baby’s not due to be born until October. The name Total Tenbosch is a mix of two ideas, the sci-fi movie “Total Recall” (Fujita is a fan) and the Dutch theme park Huis Ten Bosch in Kyushu, which was the suggestion of his comic partner Omura Tomohiro (35).