Neptune (owarai)
Neptune (ネプチューン Nepuchūn) is a three-man Japanese conte group consisting of two boke, Taizo Harada (原田 泰造 Harada Taizō), and Ken Horiuchi (堀内 健 Horiuchi Ken) - usually referred to as Horiken (ホリケン), and one tsukkomi, Jun Nagura (名倉 潤 Nagura Jun). Their trio name comes from the Kinnikuman character, Neptuneman.
History
Taizo, born March 24, 1970, is most famous for his physical comedy and his tendency in television shows to be masochistic and raw. He was born in Hiroshima and raised in Tokyo. A few of his memorable conte were during Neptune's late night comedy show, "O-Nep!" which featured Taizo dressed in wrestling gear usually in a public location with a lot of young, female spectators. He would run into the crowd, grab a mini-skirt wearing female, and perform a tomoe nage, flipping the girl over his head and onto a wrestling mat, exposing her underwear. He also had a character called "Mr. Hip," where he would "compete" with a bikini wearing female, bumping them into a pool and then mocking them. This tough-guy degradation of women became somewhat of a symbol of Neptune in the early 2000s.
Horiken, born November 23, 1969, in Kanagawa Prefecture, tends to balance Taizo's macho, misogynistic demeanor with childish behavior and pranks. He is often known for his meaningless ippatsu gags, such as "Flying to the sky, Paraglider!" (空まで飛んでけパラグライダー! Sora made tondeke paraguraidā!), while leaping into some physical contortion.
Nagura, many times left to simply observe the other two's antics, is the only member with Kansai heritage, being born on November 4, 1968, in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture. He was originally a member of the manzai duo, "JunKattsu" (ジュンカッツ), until his partner left him and he grouped together with Taizo and Horiken, which were then known as the group "Florence" (フローレンス Furōrensu). He is continually mocked for his huge protruding jaw, and is many times compared to the skeleton of a Thai man (because of his emaciated, dark skin).