Mytop 5 lists and WHY:
Top 5 Kombi of all time:
1. Tunnels
2. Downtown
3. Ninety-nine
4. Taka and Toshi
5. (Dont have one yet)
Tunnels never did manzai, and started off more as a monomane/gag duo. They were incredibly popular in the 80s and managed to obtain over 30% of the ratings nationwide with their shows (which is incredibly hard, for any show) and having seen their earlier works and Tunnels Mina-san okagedeshita, and Kuwazugirai, I can say I love those shows more than Downtown’s gottsu ee Kanjii and Gaki no tsukai. I love all 4 shows, but somehow I cannot imagine Gaki no tsukai without Matsumoto. Or Hamada. If either left, i dont think i would want to watch the show. That includes Heyx!3, their reliance on each other is amazing (as in a great bond) but it seems to say that we are only good as a team, and not solo. I love how Downtown takes punishments in their shows (theyre always the butt of the joke two, even though these two are incredibly big names in the show business). The second thing is, I love manzai too, but i just havent seen enough / understood enough to like it more than Tunnels work (which is understable without Japanese)
Ninety-nine is there solely because of Morning Musume and their connection with Tsunku, that and Okamura dances funny 
Taka and Toshi are incredibly funny! Their manzai skits are…truly hilarious, though they tend to rely on their props to really cause the imagination to stir. But its amazing, Tunnels got to play pranks on them too! You can see Taka and Toshi skits on youtube (I may have linked to them in the past)
Top 5 Comedians of All time
Note: I like Japanese comedians, manzai and owarai above ALL other forms of comedy…which is why this list only has Japanese comedians.
1. Ishibashi Takaaki
2. Hitoshi Matsumoto
3. Masatoshi Hamada
4. Takashi Okamura
5. Tamori
1. Ishibashi Takaaki
I had my first true encounter with Japanese, and I can say hes been the reason why I even like it
Taka-san is outrageously funny, ridiculous at times, yet hes still a very sensible and well respected man. Hard to explain, until at least you watch him at work. Hes INCREDIBLY knowledgeable and smart, frequently citing a lot of western and Japanese references (which is funny when they relate or you can understand where hes coming from). His work in Tunnels (the comedy duo) is legendary, being very naturally funny (more so than Downtown in Gotsu ee Kanjii, to me least least) although he never really did true manzai.
His face expressions are amazing, and basically he can pull off any kind of emotion on his face at any time…he should really be an actor. His dress sense is very conservative, but to me its clean and respectable. And with Taka-san, I feel like Im laughing at his expressions AND his actions/ what he says. He is just so straightforwardly funny, and he is incredibly daring, referring to different things, touching female artists, asking for their numbers, showing the audience his knowledge of the video equipment, etc 
. His friendships with many famous people such as Nakai-kun, Matsuda Seiko, Tamori, Morning Musume etc are envious and it always seems like many positive things come out of it. His way of life (getting married, then having a child, being a family man, etc has also been positive to me), and hes like 180cm tall.
Even after their Tunnels era ended (in terms of popularity) hes been going well doing solo work, something that I cannot imagine Downtown (and neither can they) going solo. His successful transition is a reflection of his ability
Simply put, I LOVE HIM!!! Hes the best comedian
2. Although Taka-san is very much above everyone else in this list, Matsumoto comes 2nd (though not TOOO close).
Heres where I explain why Taka-san is my #1 vs why Matsumoto is my 2nd. So basing it on their comedic abilities alone, I think Taka-san and Matsumoto are pretty much even and equal. Their quick, their ad-lib skills are amazing and they can think of a reference / retort /challenge (all humourous of course) to anything. The thing that gives Taka the edge is that because of being in Tunnels and doing monomane and ippatsu gags a lot, he has more control of his face and can pull of a billion expressions that Matsumoto cant. So basically, as neither do manzai [anymore] and I see them mostly on Utaban and Heyx!3, Taka-san is the better of the two. This and the above list on Tunnels vs Downtown will explain why. I really do like Matsumoto though, and its hard to say, if I could understand Japanese and manzai, where his position would be (though I would understand Tunnels works more too)
3. Hamada is well respected and I like how hes angry, scary and totally sadistic. hes regarded more as the head of the group for Downtown, for various reasons I can see (such as taking the lead) but he is just not as naturally funny as matsumoto or Taka…even not doing his tsukommi role.
4. Okamura is only here because of the morning musume relations and acts he has done, otherwise I would of liked to put Sanma here (though I havent really understood what he was talking about)
5. Tamori is here for his amazing ability to renact a lizard and freak out Matsuda Seiko and Tunnels!
Tags: Beat, Downtown, ee, Gaki, Gottsu, Hamada, Hitoshi, Ishibashi, Kanjii, Kitano, manzai, masatoshi, Matsumoto, no, Okamura, Sanma, Taka, Takaaki, Takashi, Takeshi, Tamori, Toshi, Tsukai, Tunnels
