He is well known for being one half of the owarai (a general term for comedy in Japan) duo Downtown. The style of comedy he uses is known as Manzai, which here in the west, is known as the "straight man/funny man" routine. Matsumoto is the boke, or funny man who specializes in being off-the-wall and wacky. This background is important to his directorial career because it illuminates why his films always have that surreal and farcical style to them.