Miyuki Torii

Momus does a round-up of YouTube videos of comedian Miyuki Torii in action — her comedy persona is that of a deranged woman — but more surprising is the gravure video of her he dug up. I’d seen old clips of her doing regular “tarento” stints, but didn’t know about her gravure past.

One thing he doesn’t report is that Torii apparently does in fact suffer from psychological issues, with her scarred wrists the remnants of past suicide attempts. It’s been quite a successful year for her though, with her comedy career really taking off at the start of the year. I think the first time I saw her perform was on 99’s GuruNai Friday night TV show, on the “Omoshiro Sou” segments late last year.

Me and my wife talk about this a lot, but comedy duo 99 really have quite an eye in terms of comedy talent. It’s not just that they’re my favorite comedians — I’ve been following them for over 10 years now — but I’d say that at least 80-90% of the new comedians that make it big first broke on either one of those GuruNai segments, or even on Mecha Ike, in the annual “Kuwasugi” parody corner.