Led by Hajime Hana, the band's other main members were Kei Tani, Hitoshi Ueki, Hiroshi Inuzuka, Senri Sakurai, Shin Yasuda, and Ētarō Ishibashi.
[1][2] Signed to Watanabe Productions, their performances mixed music and comedic bits, in the spirit of Frankie Sakai and the City Slickers, and they soon changed their name to the Crazy Cats.
[3] Beginning in 1961, they co-starred on the variety show "Soap Bubble Holiday" ("Shabondama Horidē"), performing in skits written by Yukio Aoshima, who later became governor of Tokyo.
In terms of their music, E. Taylor Atkins has said that "The Crazy Cats are significant for capitalizing and purveying an image of jazz musicians as clownish, slang-slinging ne’er-do-wells.
"[1] Mark Anderson has written that their "film series, in particular, had a great impact on 1960s popular culture," and that "they remain emblematic of a group of entertainers made possible by the television era.