If you spend too much time watching Japanese TV, you’ll notice that celebrities sometimes disappear. Whether it’s due to a personal indiscretion, an actual crime, or the ire of an industry bigwig, once-ubiquitous entertainers are swept from view with the efficiency of a Soviet purge.
Daisuke Muramoto, the subject of Fumiari Hyuga’s brilliant “I Am a Comedian,” is one such case. In just a few years, the stand-up comic went from celebrated to shunned. Woman Rush Hour — his manzai comedy duo with Paradise Nakagawa — saw its annual TV appearances drop from 250 to just one.
