Ohayo Wayama: A Japanese Solo Sketch Comic Who Finds the Comedy in Everyday Counters and Friend Groups
Meet Ohayo Wayama, a solo comedian who performs one-person sketches set in travel agencies, restaurants, and nights out with friends. Here's who they are and which sketch to watch first.
Who Is Ohayo Wayama?
Ohayo Wayama is a Japanese solo comedian with the agency Production Jinrikisha who performs one-person sketches. (Ohayo is the Japanese word for "good morning.") Hailing from Abiko, in Chiba Prefecture, Ohayo Wayama came up through the 29th class of JCA and debuted in 2023.
The official profile lists a few telling hobbies, including going to the zoo alone and regrowing vegetables from kitchen scraps.
The Style
In Japanese comedy, a conte is a short scripted sketch with a setting and characters, and every piece on this site is one of those, performed solo. Ohayo Wayama plays a single character, often opposite a partner the audience never sees or hears.
In our editors' reading, these sketches gravitate toward ordinary places: a travel agency counter, a restaurant's waiting list, the end of a night out with friends, a hospital room, a train that has come to a sudden stop. Many put the main character in a customer-service job, speaking politely to someone on the other side of the counter. The subjects range across work, family, friendship, and food, with the occasional detour into bathroom humor, and the sketches rely on sharply drawn characters and running bits that keep coming back.
Where to Start
"Now Seating": A restaurant host works through the waitlist, calling out the names customers wrote on the sign-up sheet by the door, a fixture at busy restaurants in Japan.
"Travel Plans": A travel agent pitches a Guam package to a customer, never seen or heard, who is planning a first trip abroad.
"The Leftover Karaage": After drinks at an izakaya, a casual Japanese pub, one of three close friends stops the other two before they head home to talk about the one piece of karaage (Japanese fried chicken) that always gets left on the plate.
Our pick for a first watch is "Now Seating." Anyone who has waited for a table will recognize the setup right away. From there, "Travel Plans" offers another scene across a service counter, and "The Leftover Karaage" shows a different side of Ohayo Wayama's work: a small moment among friends.
Can We Talk Before You Go?
A night out ends with a friend taking every little social snub very personally.
3:51
Grandma's Makeover
A grandson pleads with Grandma to stop treating surgery like a beauty routine.
2:33
Talking Back to the Train
A commuter keeps talking back to the PA system as if it owes a personal explanation.
4:03
Now Seating
A restaurant host reads a prank name off the waitlist without dropping the polite voice.
3:33
Notes from the Director
A director delivers acting notes with enough drama to upstage the whole scene.
3:07
We use AI as part of how we create our articles.
Subtitles on this video: AI translation from the Japanese.