Successful spurt leaves Hard Gay with limp bottom line

[Lasombra]

It's funny when the headlines write themselves.

Nobody, according to Asahi Geino (12/29-1/5), got as big a break in Japan this year as Razor Ramon Hard Gay, the skimpy leather-clad comic who made himself a household name in 2005 by parodying hard-line gay rights activists.
An unknown at the start of the year, by December it was impossible to watch TV for a day without at least one show featuring Hard Gay, as he is almost exclusively referred to across the country, gyrating his pelvis and screaming out "whooo!"
Anybody dominating the airwaves to such an extent would generally expect to pocket a small fortune -- American Bob Sapp may still be counting all the cash he made after being flavor of the month in Japan a couple of years back -- but how did Hard Gay go?
Hard Gay is currently on the books at the Tokyo headquarters of Yoshimoto Kogyo, one of Japan's biggest handlers of comic talents. Before that, however, he was a member of its Osaka-based subsidiary Yoshimoto Shin Kigeki.
For young Yoshimoto comedians, a stint in the Shin Kigeki is a mere step on the corporate ladder. Hard Gay, however, wasn't a standout comedy during his time there.
"He lived in a tiny room in Osaka from the time he joined Yoshimoto. But, everybody who joins Yoshimoto does that," a sports newspaper's entertainment editor tells Asahi Geino. "New members of Yoshimoto only get paid a few thousand yen every time they go on stage. And they only get about 10 appearances a month. They don't get paid otherwise. If they can't make themselves popular quickly, it's pretty hard to make a living."
Hard Gay got his big break in February when he was given a five-minute segment on "Bakusho Mondai no Bakuten," a Saturday night variety show on TBS. Within weeks, Hard Gay had achieved cult status and his stocks in the popularity stakes skyrocketed. Soon, other networks were flooding him with job offers and he remains busy to this day.
But being one of Japan's hottest properties hasn't exactly equated to hard cash for Hard Gay.
"OK, he's really popular, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's laughing all the way to the bank. Yoshimoto is famous enough for its tightwad payments that many of its comics get material from them. Still, compared to when he was in the Shin Kigeki, I'd guess he'd be making about 10 times as much," a TV industry insider tells Asahi Geino. "Hard Gay's biggest problem is that most of his work is done in segments filmed outdoors. When you include rehearsals, outdoor shoots are time-consuming. There's no time in a day to add in extra work. I'd say Hard Gay's making about 2 million to 3 million yen a month. With commercials and merchandising added in, I'd say he's picked up about 30 million yen in the second half of the year."
Yoshimoto refuses to divulge the exact sum that Hard Gay has picked up. His mother is just as tight-lipped.
"I haven't talked to him about it. In fact, I haven't even met him recently," Hard Gay's mom tells the weekly. "The only thing he's told me is that I shouldn't tell anybody too much."
Entertainment world pundits say it soon won't matter too much what people say about Hard Gay.
"It's make or break for Hard Gay in 2006," the TV insider tells Asahi Geino. "It's hard to see him surviving just by going around screaming out 'whooo' and alternatives to what has become his trademark call haven't kicked off nearly as well." (By Ryann Connell)

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