# ずん飯尾さんと芸人トーク！！設楽との共通点も？！ - Show: 金曜JUNK バナナマンのバナナムーンGOLD - Published: 2026-10-19 - Canonical: https://podc.club/en/episode/1651797030_6582959b6ddf.html - Audio: https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/TBS8011680072.mp3 - Source: Edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. Not an official summary. Iio Kazuki (飯尾和樹) of the comedy duo Zun (ずん) joined Banana Man's Banana Moon Gold to trace the arc of his career — from a mammoth middle school with more than nine classes per year in Gunma, through the electrifying pre-Vocabulary Boom live scene at La Mama, to his unexpected path as Banana Man's script writer. Along the way, Shitara shared Tamori's advice to "never chase the era," and the two men discovered a north Kanto, born-in-1973 bond they hadn't fully mapped before. ## What this episode answers ### What kind of position did Iio hold in class during his school days? It depended entirely on his classmates: when he found friends on his wavelength he could operate as part of a proper "funny group," but in the wrong year only four or five insiders would laugh at each other's jokes. His school had more than nine classes per year, so every class reshuffle dramatically changed his social environment. ### What did Iio experience as a young comedian at La Mama? He committed to La Mama exclusively, vowing not to take other slots until he secured top billing (tori), but that spot was held by Bakusho Mondai (爆笑問題) and he never won it. At the same time he witnessed Neptune, Batsugun, Nonkeys, and other acts who would go on to break through in the Vocabulary Boom all sharing the same tiny stage in front of a crushingly packed crowd. ### What advice did Shitara receive from Tamori? When Shitara visited Tamori over New Year's through Junio's connection and asked how to reach the next level, Tamori told him: "Don't chase the era — if you try to latch onto what's trending you'll spend your whole life running and never catch it. Keep doing what you genuinely find funny, and when the era happens to arrive you'll ride it effortlessly." ### What does Iio value most in his human relationships? He is driven by curiosity about "what comes after" — as a child he would secretly double back after saying goodbye to a friend just to see how the friend got home — but he is equally quick to cut off people he dislikes, mentally "deleting" someone at a golf round simply for treating a caddie rudely, and refusing from the outset to attend any party where he knows a difficult person will be present. ### How did Iio come to be Banana Man's writer? When his comedy partner left and a writing path opened up, Iio realized he could not execute the skits he envisioned with his own acting ability but that Banana Man could — so he concluded he should simply become Banana Man's writer, and the partnership solidified naturally through their joint work on Juijui (ジュイジュイ). ## Article ## Mammoth School Days in Gunma — How Your Classmates Determined Who Was "Funny" Iio Kazuki and Shitara were both born in 1973 and raised in North Kanto — Gunma and Saitama respectively. Iio's middle school ran to more than nine classes per year and over 1,300 students in total, requiring nine buses for the school trip alone. With class rosters reshuffled every two years, the social landscape shifted constantly. "If I landed with friends who were on my wavelength, we could operate as a proper funny group," he recalled, "but in the wrong year it was just four or five of us laughing at each other's inside jokes." Shitara empathized, noting that Tokyo's population density was nothing like what either of them had known growing up. ## La Mama and the Young Comedian Years — The Night Before the Vocabulary Boom As a young comedian, Iio based himself at La Mama (ラママ), a live house he committed to exclusively. He vowed not to take slots elsewhere until he had claimed the coveted top-billing spot, known as tori, but that slot was held indefinitely by Bakusho Mondai (爆笑問題) and he never managed to take it. Eventually he moved on to other venues. Even so, La Mama at that moment stood at the threshold of an era. Neptune (ネプチューン) — still performing under their earlier name Greem — along with Batsugun (抜群), Nonkeys (ノンキーズ), and Folk Dance DE Narukozaka (フォークダンスDE成子坂) were all sharing the same small stage, the house so packed that audience members were pressed against each other complaining of the crush. "Everyone was genuinely funny, and everyone's energy was extraordinary," both members of Banana Man agreed. They also admitted frankly that their own group never quite rode that Vocabulary Boom (ボキャブラブーム) wave. The conversation turned to Horiuchi Ken (堀内健) of Neptune, and both Iio and Shitara were effusive: "He still absolutely sparkles — there's something Peter Pan-like about him," and "Seeing him on Job Tune together, still chasing his dreams at this stage, is genuinely extraordinary." ## Tamori's Words — "Don't Chase the Era" Through Junio's (ジュニオ) work as Tamori's driver, Shitara had the chance to visit Tamori several New Year's holidays in a row. He once asked directly: "What does it take to reach the next level?" Tamori's answer was plain: "Don't chase the era. If you try to latch onto whatever's trending, you'll spend your whole life running and never catch it. Keep doing what you genuinely find funny, and if you're lucky the era will suddenly arrive — and you'll ride it effortlessly." Iio nodded deeply: "That's exactly right. I think that describes Banana Man too." ## Curiosity and the Speed of Defense — A Philosophy of Human Relationships From childhood, Iio has been consumed by what happens after. As a kid he would secretly double back after saying goodbye to a friend just to watch how the friend made it home. That same instinct explains his fondness for post-credits scenes in films: "I want to see what lies beyond even the essence of a thing." But he is equally quick to cut ties. At a round of golf he watched someone hand a club to a caddie with careless rudeness — and quietly decided to erase that person from his world while gazing at the crimson silhouette of Mt. Fuji at dusk. If he knows a difficult person will be at a dinner, he simply doesn't go: "Sorry, I'm busy." New friendships are still possible in his fifties, he said, but the feeling of throwing himself open to anyone the way he once did has faded. "There's no second round of recruitment, no third round," he laughed. ## Becoming Banana Man's Writer — "Those Two Can Do It" Iio had always worked as a performer, but when his comedy partner left, a path toward writing opened. He had known Banana Man before that point, and the turning moment came from a clear-eyed realization: "There's a kind of skit I want to make, but I don't have the acting ability to pull it off myself. Banana Man does. So the answer is simple — become Banana Man's writer." The transition happened naturally through their joint work on Juijui (ジュイジュイ), and the partnership has continued ever since. ## Takeaways - Iio and Banana Man share a 1973 birth year and North Kanto upbringing, and both lived through the pre-Vocabulary Boom fever at La Mama firsthand. - Tamori's advice to Shitara — "don't chase the era; keep doing what you find funny and the era will come to you" — resonated deeply with Iio as a philosophy that defines Banana Man's career as well. - Iio combines an insatiable curiosity about "what comes after" with a razor-sharp instinct for cutting off people he dislikes, giving him a distinctive and deliberate approach to human relationships.