TOKYO -- In the age of artificial intelligence, SoftBank's humanoid robot Pepper is trying its mechanical hand at showbiz, appearing as one half of the stand-up comedy duo Peppers.
Pepper's partner is Shun Kaneko, a 25-year-old apprentice comedian at comedy theater operator Yoshimoto Kogyo. The robot is smart, but it can't have people rolling in the aisles all by itself. Pepper's shtick comes courtesy of a human programmer backstage.
