Gerardon Wins King of Conte 2026 With 1,342 Points and ¥10 Million Prize

Two matching scores deliver a first championship

Gerardon won King of Conte 2026 on October 17 at TBS in Tokyo's Akasaka district, scoring 671 points in each of two sketches to claim the championship with 1,342 points. Attack Nishimoto and Kamichii, both 39, received ¥10 million and became the competition's 19th champions, finishing ahead of Kaerutei and Yahhoi.

The victory put Gerardon at the top of a field of 3,445 entrants. It also completed a return to the final five years after their previous appearance, when they competed as a trio. This time, Nishimoto and Kamichii won in their second year as a duo, following Yuji Umino's departure in February 2025 because of ill health.

Gerardon led both stages of the televised final, extending a 10 point advantage over Kaerutei after the opening sketch into a winning margin of 33 points. Their first routine followed two company employees pretending to be drunk. Their second placed a bewildered customer inside a magic bar.

After the result, the pair put their arms around each other's shoulders, and Nishimoto wiped away tears while still wearing his magician's jacket and bunny costume. Kamichii, accepting the trophy as one of Gerardon's two remaining members, spoke about what the result meant after the group's change in membership.

I'm glad we were able to show that we're funny as a trio and as a duo!

How Gerardon turned a lead into a decisive win

Eleven acts performed an opening sketch, with the three highest scoring acts advancing to a second round. Scores from both performances were added together to decide the winner, so the opening round continued to matter after the finalists returned to the stage.

Gerardon advanced with 671 points, followed by Kaerutei with 661 and Yahhoi with 653. The final three then performed in reverse order of their opening positions: Yahhoi first, Kaerutei second and Gerardon last.

Yahhoi received 629 points for its second sketch, bringing its total to 1,282. Kaerutei scored 648 for a total of 1,309. Gerardon therefore needed 639 points to move ahead of Kaerutei. Its second score of 671 cleared that target by 32 points and produced the final winning margin of 33.

Gerardon's advantage grew because it repeated its opening score while both rivals scored lower in the second round. Kaerutei's score fell by 13 points between sketches, and Yahhoi's fell by 24. Gerardon finished 60 points ahead of Yahhoi.

The drinking sketch that put them first

Gerardon's opening routine, titled Drunk, featured two company employees drinking together at an izakaya, a Japanese pub serving food and alcohol. Each man appeared to be keeping pace with the other, although both were actually pretending to drink.

The shared misunderstanding gave the performers room for increasingly extravagant party entertainment. Nishimoto used shoes while impersonating a rabbit and a praying mantis, while Kamichii removed his shirt as part of the performance. Both characters kept up the appearance of drunken enthusiasm.

The seven judges awarded the sketch between 94 and 98 points each. Kenji Yamauchi of Kamaitachi gave it 98, the highest individual score Gerardon received in the opening round. Satoshi Iizuka of Tokyo 03 awarded 95.

Iizuka, a member of the judging panel, praised how thoroughly the familiar premise had been developed.

It wasn't new at all, but it was extremely well made from beginning to end.

The scores placed Gerardon 18 points ahead of Yahhoi and 28 ahead of Aisho wa Ii Yone, which finished fourth in the opening round with 643. Only the top three could perform again, leaving Aisho wa Ii Yone 10 points short of advancing.

A magic bar supplies the winning second act

Gerardon's final routine, Magic Bar, cast Kamichii as a customer and Nishimoto as a magician whose constantly changing tricks left the visitor bewildered. Nishimoto's costume combined a magician's jacket on top with a bunny outfit below.

The routine received another 671 points, although the individual judges' marks changed. Iizuka and Toru Domae each awarded 94, Eiji Kotoge gave 95, and Ryuji Akiyama, Yamauchi, Jiro and Hiroki Akiyama each gave 97.

Hiroki Akiyama of Hanaco, one of this year's new judges, praised the balance between the routine's boldness and its execution.

Gerardon's sketch was bold without becoming sloppy, and it was incredibly funny. Congratulations.

Kotoge, the judge from Viking, also gave an unequivocal assessment of the result.

It was incredibly funny. An undisputed victory.

Gerardon thus won with two very different settings: an apparently ordinary drinking session and a strange magic performance. The scores show that both routines earned similarly strong support across the panel, with no individual mark below 94 in either round.

Rebuilding a trio's comedy for two performers

Gerardon's history stretches back to 2008. Nishimoto, Kamichii and Umino were classmates in the 12th Tokyo intake of NSC, the comedy training school associated with Yoshimoto Kogyo. The group is represented by Yoshimoto, and its name comes from former England footballer Steven Gerrard.

As a trio, Gerardon reached the King of Conte final for the first time in 2021 and finished fifth. Umino's departure in February 2025 left Nishimoto and Kamichii to reshape their performances around two people rather than three.

That change meant working out how to divide the comic roles. In Japanese comedy, boke describes the performer supplying absurd behaviour or ideas, while tsukkomi describes the performer responding to or challenging them. Gerardon had to find a workable balance for its new membership.

Kamichii said he had expected that process to take longer, before a sketch unexpectedly came together.

I thought it would take more time to find our form as a duo, but at an unexpected moment we came up with a sketch that really clicked.

The 2026 appearance was Gerardon's second final and its first as a duo. Winning both rounds gave Nishimoto and Kamichii a concrete achievement in their new format, alongside the fifth place they had earned with Umino five years earlier.

An injury had ended their previous attempt

Nishimoto's victory followed a withdrawal from the previous year's competition. Gerardon had reached the semifinals in 2025, but a muscle tear shortly before the performance forced the act to pull out.

Nishimoto explained that the injury happened just two days before the semifinals. The timing meant the pair lost the opportunity to compete for a place in that year's final after already progressing through earlier rounds.

His return in 2026 brought both a first championship and an end to that interrupted attempt. The key dates in Gerardon's journey were:

• 2008: Gerardon was formed, beginning the group's career in sketch comedy.
• 2021: The trio reached its first King of Conte final and finished fifth.
• February 2025: Umino's departure was announced, and Gerardon continued as a duo.
• 2025: Nishimoto suffered a muscle tear two days before the semifinals, forcing a withdrawal.
• October 17, 2026: Gerardon won the championship with 1,342 points.

A new route brought 11 acts into the final

King of Conte introduced a repechage, or second chance round, for the first time in its history in 2026. The change added one act to the 10 direct qualifiers, creating a televised final featuring 11 competitors.

Thirty five acts had reached the semifinals. Of the 25 that missed direct qualification, the highest placed 10 entered the second chance contest. Comedian judges narrowed those acts to Spicy Garlic, Soitsu Doitsu and Kissa Moon, after which a public vote selected Spicy Garlic for the final place.

Spicy Garlic scored 636 in the opening round of the final and finished fifth. Its score put it ahead of six other finalists, although it remained 17 points behind Yahhoi, the last act to advance to the final three.

The full final lineup, in performance order, was Ganso Ichigochan, Yahhoi, Spicy Garlic, Nanamagari, Dow 90000, Gerardon, Nippon no Shacho, Aisho wa Ii Yone, Kaerutei, The Mummy and Yadan.

Seven judges assessed the expanded field

Domae of Long Coat Daddy and Hiroki Akiyama of Hanaco joined the judging panel this year. They sat alongside Iizuka, Kotoge, Ryuji Akiyama of Robert, Yamauchi and Jiro of Sissonne. Long Coat Daddy had won the previous year's competition.

The final brought together acts with very different competition histories. Nippon no Shacho was making its sixth final appearance, while Yadan reached the final for the fifth consecutive year. Nanamagari returned after a decade, and Dow 90000, Aisho wa Ii Yone and Yahhoi were appearing for the first time.

Yahhoi's debut ended with third place after sketches set in a ramen restaurant and around sushi. Kaerutei, making its third final appearance, finished second after routines titled Death Game and Bar.

Masatoshi Hamada hosted the broadcast, with TBS announcer Maonko Hibi handling proceedings. The final aired live on TBS from 6 p.m. to 9:56 p.m. on October 17 as part of Owarai no Hi 2026, the broadcaster's comedy programming event.

Commemorative orders run until October 31

King of Conte's championship merchandise announcement says commemorative T shirts and acrylic stands are being sold through advance orders. The order period ends at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, October 31.

The TBS Shopping page confirms that both items are web exclusive and made to order, with orders accepted until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, October 31. The acrylic stand costs ¥1,500 including tax and captures the winners' moment of joy, while the T shirt costs ¥4,500 including tax and features a design of that moment.

The organisers said design details would be announced through the competition's official social media accounts once settled. The announcement did not give a date for that reveal.

For Gerardon, the immediate result is a ¥10 million prize, the competition's 19th championship and a first title earned by its current two members. The victory joins two chapters of the group's career: its earlier success reaching the final as a trio and its return to win as a duo.

Key Points

• Gerardon won King of Conte 2026 on October 17, topping a field of 3,445 entrants.
• Attack Nishimoto and Kamichii scored 671 in each round, winning with 1,342 points and receiving ¥10 million.
• Kaerutei finished second with 1,309 points; Yahhoi placed third with 1,282.
• The victory came in Gerardon's second year as a duo following Yuji Umino's departure in February 2025.
• The competition's first second chance contest brought Spicy Garlic into an expanded final of 11 acts.
• Orders for championship T shirts and acrylic stands close at 11:59 p.m. on October 31.