As with many traditional Japanese arts, aspiring owarai comedians once had to apprentice themselves to popular comedians to learn their craft.

Since around the early 1990s, however, the art of making people laugh has been formalized by comedy schools. This trend has been another boost for the owarai boom. "It's not easy to be a star, but as long as you have the talent, the path to becoming a comedian has been made more accessible," said comedy scholar Noboru Saijo.

Initially, only comedy production companies like Yoshimoto Kogyo, Shochiku Geino and Jinrikisha ran such schools, but now general entertainment producers have begun to recognize the business opportunities.