while he was working, and he was very moved after ten years when he was invited to Glay vocalist Teru's birthday party as his favorite aspiring comedian. Attending mass communication seminars, Kasuga initially planned to be a TV producer while Wakabayashi kept inviting Kasuga to start a comedy career. Finally Kasuga accepted his offer, and they formed a comedy duo, "Nice Middle", in 2000. Career Dark days to M-1 Grand Prix 2008 Although they happily jumped into a comedy career, they stayed unsuccessful for several years. One day, six years since their debut, a TV play writer called Wakabayashi in person and told him "Kasuga has no talent as a tsukkomi. If you want to play a boke, you'd better look for another partner." Wakabayashi, then the boke of the duo, relayed the comment to the then tsukkomi Kasuga, but he initially thought Wakabashi was just joking around and did not believe him at all. They eventually swapped their roles, went through a trial-and-error process, and finally they made the first appearance on terrestrial TV on New Year's Day of 2008. On December 21, 2008, the two made it all the way into the final round of the M-1 Grand Prix of the year from the consolation match. During the first session in the final, they were temporarily in the top position above the other eight duos, but eventually ended up 2nd behind Non Style. Rise to popularity Shaving his sideburns (a hair style called a "techno-cut"), wearing his hair parted "80/20" (80% of the hair is combed to the right and the rest to the left) and a pink sweater vest, Kasuga, a unique arrogant character, has been broadly accepted by audiences since the M-1 Grand Prix. In October 2009, Kasuga was chosen with Wakabayashi as a new regular member for "Waratte Iitomo", the nation's most popular afternoon TV show, and a radio personality for "All Night Nippon", one of the longest-running radio programs in Japan. Character on stage Kasuga walks heavily and slowly with his proud 101 cm chest expanding toward the center of the stage. At the opening, he drops a bossy comment to female audiences such as "Would you like to deliver Kasuga's baby?" In manzai, he tries to shoot tsukkomi and each time it turns out to be terribly off-the-line boke. Also, he interrupts Wakabayashi's talks with delayed responses and frequent gags. In manzai and