The much-loved television shown, “Waratte ii tomo” [It’s Okay To Laugh], is to finish in March 2014, after over three decades on air.
The show, which broadcasts at noon from Mondays to Fridays, has been a mainstay of the Fuji TV schedule, with its interviews with celebrity guests, kooky quizzes, and audience participation.
The announcement that the show is to end has drawn a massive response from netizens, most of whom would have grown up with Tamori, the host of the programme, on their screens.
From Yahoo! Japan:
“Waratte ii tomo” To End In March; Announcement Made On-Air
On October 22, it was discovered that “Waratte ii tomo”, shown on Fuji TV (noon, Mondays to Fridays) will finish broadcasting at the end of March next year.
The news was announced during the broadcast on October 22. With Morita Kazuyoshi (68), known as Tamori playing the role of the host, the long-running programme began broadcasting in 1982 (Showa 57). Tamori said of the decision, “Fuji has been looking after me for 32 years. I can’t thank them enough”.
Nakai Masahiro (41) of the band SMAP asked Tamori, to make sure the news was true, “Is the show really ending at the end of March?”, and Tamori repeated “It will”. As the credits rolled at the end of the show, the studio audience were shouted “Oh no!”. Hearing this, Tamori said “Thank you all. I’m so grateful to you”, and the programme ended.
In April 2002, to commemorate the 5,000th broadcast of a live show by a single host, “Waratte ii tomo” was certified to be included in the 2003 edition of the Guinness Book Of World Records with the record for the longest-running show.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
gto*****:
So shocked !!!
Tamori, you’ve worked so hard.
Please hang in there for the next six months.
pas*****:
There’s a world of difference between the show now and how it was back in the day when [comedians] Sanma, Downtown and NaiNai used to be on it, so this is the end of another era.
Tamori, good job!
pcs*****:
I’ll just say it’s amazing that the show continued for this long.
They’d been saying it was going to finish for ages, too.
oto*****:
Why doesn’t Mino Monta call it a day?
sod*****:
There’d been rumours, but now that it’s been decided once and for all, I’m kinda sad.
When I think back to my childhood, this was probably the TV show I watched the most.
d_k*****:
This is a show whose name will go down in Japanese TV history, without a doubt.
And the time has come for it to end already.
shi*****:
Good job everyone!
Thank you so much, Tamori!
miz*****:
Tamori, you worked so hard for so long.
k_1*****:
Guess the show must be pretty hard-going physically, too.
las*****:
I guess now Tamori will finally be able to divide his time between the trains and the maps that he likes so much.
I liked watching Tamori most when he was full of beans in the trains section of the Tamori Club!
Comments from Twitter:
横島忠夫:
So it was true? Fuji TV is finished, too.
ありんこ:
So it’s finally ending…in recent years it’s been boring anyway, and I was wondering when they were going to finish it. It was all school arts festival style features too.
Fujie Yamamoto:
So the time has come.
のら猫の友達:
I’m so sad it’s finishing.
ささぱんだ☆@一時的に。どくろです！:
Is this for real!!!!! ( ꒪⌓꒪)
くぉ@立食いソバのアマチュア:
So the urban legend actually came true this time…?
DA-N:
Well, having anyone else as the host is unthinkable….it’s a pity though ーーーー૧(ꂹີ࿄ꂹີૂ) ！！
真夜中のJAM:
Times are changing.
あきのう:
So it’s going to end…I haven’t seen it for years.
goo_n:
Amazing numbers of tweets about this. Already has 14,300!
