Takashi Wakasugi opens up on making Aussies laugh ahead of appearance of Taskmaster Australia

Comedian Takashi Wakasugi has opened up about his love of Asics trainers, why he chose Melbourne over Sydney and how he gets Aussies laughing.

Dressed in a stylish baggy suit and a trendy pair of Asics trainers, Takashi Wakasugi warns me to never buy a similar pair of shoes. “It’s too dangerous,” Waka says, somewhat ominously.

“You’ll never wear anything else. They’re too comfy. After wearing these, I have to throw all my other shoes in the bin.”

We meet at Comedy Republic, one of Melbourne’s most loved comedy clubs – providing stages and audiences for both established comics and the up and coming.

Not many people are funny enough to make it as stand-up comics, and that lean crowd thins out even further when you deduct those who can speak just one language.

Waka’s first language is Japanese, but he performs his comedy in English – and still leaves crowds heaving with laughter.

When he’s onstage, Waka’s demeanour is paradoxically – and hilariously – both Japanese and Australian. He intrinsically understands what makes Aussies laugh and has a specific brand of seemingly unsure charm to win over the crowd.

Takashi Wagasuki knows how to make Australian audiences laugh. Picture: Jason Edwards

Offstage, he is more softly-spoken – but still has an acerbic wit that strikes at the most opportune moments. Waka even ends sentences on an upward lilt like a true Aussie – but he isn’t trying to be someone he is not.

He didn’t move to Australia until 2018, but he started in comedy in 2012, performing mostly to international visitors and ex-pats in Japan.

So, even though Japanese is his mother tongue, he has always performed in English.

“I studied English hard, but also after I started comedy and I started writing, I started thinking about jokes in English and that made my English improve much faster, much quicker,” he says.

“Studying a language is tough, but if you try to make something with the language, you learn it much quicker – like anything.

“But the problem is, my English improved a lot through the comedy in Australia.

“I always hang out with other comedians, which means my English is so bad. I swear a lot. That’s all the comedians’ greenroom English. That’s my English now.”

Waka even ends sentences on an upward lilt like a true Aussie. Picture: Jason Edwards

Comedy in Japan is huge, Waka explains, but it usually takes a different format than in Australia. One popular genre is called manzai, a double act where one person plays the clown and the other plays the sensible one.

“One thing that is kind of different between Japanese comedy and English comedy is, I think, personality,” Waka says.

“I think in Japanese comedy, we don’t need that much personality. It’s more sketch, more character. But in English comedy, stand-up comedy, you need a kind of personality, like who you are and what you think about things. There’s a lot of opinion.

“A lot of Australian comedy is like all the things that Japanese culture is not a big fan of.”

When Waka was approached to participate in the latest season of Taskmaster Australia, it was a no-brainer for him.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime, you can’t do it again. It was like I was in a dream. I had a really great time – and a tough time. I think it’s called ‘Taskmaster disease’,” he jokes.

“After the task, you still think about it and you always get ideas after the task, like ‘oh, I should have done this’.

“You go and open a task and you have, like, 20 minutes or something, so you have to run through your ideas. After, it’s backto the green room and so many ideas are coming, constantly. I even would dream about it sometimes.”

He is appearing in the latest season of Taskmaster Australia. Picture: Jason Edwards

Hosted by Tom Gleeson, Taskmaster Australia asks a motley crew of Aussie comedians and actors to complete a series of ridiculous, hilarious and incredibly random tasks.

Past episodes and seasons have included tasks like “turn yourself into a piece of furniture”, “create and then burst through a banner”, and “register the greatest weight on a scale from a mat”. The results are chaotic and unpredictable, but very funny.

Joining Waka in the challenges this season were Dave Hughes, Emma Holland, Lisa McCune and Tommy Little.

“It was too fun. So much fun. (Dave Hughes) was very good with TV – he and Tommy just kept talking,” Waka laughs.

Shortly after Waka made the move to Australia, he was thrust into Covid lockdown with the rest of us. Pandemic life was harsh, as it was for most, but Waka managed to find a silver lining.

When the world began to reopen but borders remained closed, he was perfectly positioned as an international comedy act – a category lacking in Australia at the time.

“I was quite unique, as an international stuck in Australia, that was quite lucky for me,” he says. “So, actually, I had a great time in Australia. I really appreciated it.”

He describes the show as “so much fun”.

It was not his first time here, having visited years ago as a student.

“I came to Sydney as an exchange student for one year,” he says. “I didn’t study much, I enjoyed Australia too much. I started comedy at that time and I really loved it. Back in Japan, I got a job and lived a normal Japanese life – but I was always thinking I wanted to go to Australia to do comedy.”

When asked why he chose to move to Melbourne when he studied in Sydney, he answers straight away, looking slightly guilty.

“Sydney is too expensive. I was sick of living in a share house and paying lots of money,” he says. “But also Melbourne comedy, it’s very important to me. So being based in Melbourne is good.”

Waka is full of smiles and quick wit, but the life of a comedian is a tough slog. Apart from the obvious challenge of standingon stage to make people laugh, it can come with a lot of uncertainty and moving around.

Waka loves what he does and his message is simple: support live comedy.

“People should get out and support local artists,” he says. “There are so many comedy clubs. Watching TV is fine, but live comedy is more fun. The reason why I started comedy was because I watched it.” ■

Catch Takashi Wakasugi on Taskmaster Australia, Thursdays at 8.30pm on 10 and 10 Play. He is performing his new live show Comedy Samurai in Melbourne in April