Robert (owarai)
Life and career. Akiyama and Baba have known each other since kindergarten, attending the same school from then to high school in their hometown of Moji-ku, Kitakyūshū. Akiyama moved to Tokyo after graduating high school with the initial goal of opening up a grocery store in Daikanyama. This changed as he instead enrolled in the Yoshimoto NSC and invited Baba to also enroll and move to Tokyo. The two of them formed the unit "Akiyama-Baba", with Akiyama as the "boke" and Baba as the "tsukkomi". However, the group struggled as Baba's role paled in comparison  to Akiyama, and they determined that he was not fit to be a tsukkomi and invited Toshiyuki Itakura (Currently in the comedy duo, Impulse) to play the tsukkomi role. The three formed a trio called "Zenairu", but was quickly disbanded soon after as Itakura preferred to play a boke role. Yamamoto was in the same 4th generation class as Akiyama and Baba, but had formed a unit called "Yamamoto Yamazaki", which disbanded after 2 months when his partner quit NSC. After other failed attempts at forming a unit, Yamamoto heard about the disbandment of "Zenairu" and approached Akiyama and Baba . The three formed the trio in December 1998 and debuted the year after, making strides in their career with various television appearances in the 2000s. Akiyama in particular gained popularity, becoming a regular participant in the "oogiri" competition special program IPPON Grand Prix. In 2011, the trio won King of Conte. Media. This list consists only of media appearances made by the trio when they appear together as Robert.