Takeshi Kitano, Hitoshi Matsumoto team up for variety show
Popular comedians Takeshi Kitano (63) and Hitoshi Matsumoto (47) are working on their first collaboration, a variety show on NTV titled "Takeshi to Hitoshi ~Nippon wo Omoshiroku Project~."
The show's producer is Toshio Tsuchiya, who previously worked with Kitano on "Tensai Takeshi no Genki ga Deru TV!!" and with Matsumoto on "Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!" Tsuchiya initiated the project, asking both comedians if they were willing to do a collaboration. They each agreed, and the show was born.
The concept behind the program is "Let's make Japan more interesting!" Abbreviated as "NOP" (for "Nippon Omoshiroku Project"), the show will search for people with stand-out talents and highlight them on camera. Kitano and Matsumoto will then advise those people on how to enrich their talents, aiming to build them up as good examples of Japan's interestingness to the rest of the world.
Tsuchiya expects that the interaction between Kitano and Matsumoto will be the biggest attraction of the show, given that they are two of the most prominent comedians in Japan and have never worked together before. In fact, Tsuchiya has been meeting with each of them separately so that they will come face-to-face for the first time when the show is filmed later this month.
"NOP" will be aired as a single episode on December 10, but Tsuchiya is hoping to make it a continuing project with a new episode every three months.
source; TOKYOGRAPH