[1] Serving as a popular emcee on radio shows and in dance halls,[2] Tani developed a campy, high-energy stage persona that combined archaic speaking conventions of upper-class madams with caustic catchphrases and anachronistic smatterings of pidgin English.

[3] He parodied American style with androgynous eyeglasses, a pencil-thin "Colman" mustache,[4] and slick suits and wig, calling himself "Number One Handsome Boy."

Tani channeled Spike Jones with satirical jazz performances, using an abacus as a percussion instrument in lampooning post-war Japan's economic fixations.

His popularity waned as Japanese social critics led the nation in reasserting Japan's independent cultural identity, attacking Tani as a symbol of America's "colonization".

[1] In later years he worked to revitalize his career amid continued resistance in the press and from the entertainment industry, including producers of nostalgic television retrospectives.