[1] Osamu Shitara (設樂統) was born April 23, 1973, in Minano, Saitama as the youngest sibling of a brother and sister who are 6 and 3 years older respectively.
Shitara graduated high school in March, 1992 and found a job with Seibu Railway at the connection of his father who is a manager at Seibu Nagatoro Hotel, an establishment of the company.
[1] He worked at the Kotesashi Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line for 6 months before switching to other various part-time jobs and then finally becoming a comedian as a student of Masayuki Watanabe, whom he worked as a driver for.
[3] In October, 1993, Shitara met up with three other rookie comedians in Shinjuku and formed a comedy group, Yūki Himura is one of them.
However, after a few practice sessions, Shitara believed that a four man group would be limiting to their potential, and left with Himura to form what a comedy duo named Bananaman.