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November 22, 2017 9:50 AM

Slippery Stairs is a Japanese game show that delivers exactly what it promises. [SLYT]
posted by gottabefunky (52 comments total)

Are these famous people? Or just citizens? Do they know each other? They started getting ruthless at the end. I loved this though. It's just... fun. Game shows and reality TV in the US now is all about money and deceit and sexy girls with brief cases. I miss being a kid and watching families dump slime on eachother
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:05 AM on November 22, 2017

That ... was amazing. You could tell they were tiring and getting frustrated by the end but it just looked like so much fun!
posted by sldownard at 10:13 AM on November 22, 2017

Thank you for posting the thing I kept forgetting to post, because it's so fuckin' good.
posted by cortex at 10:18 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

Are they...barefoot??? Holy wow. Get these poor people some shoes and Yak Trax. Probably less funny that way, though.

Also: this makes me less excited than usual for winter to really settle in here in Minnesota.
posted by Elly Vortex at 10:19 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

ha ha ha (god I bet that was really painful) ha ha
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:19 AM on November 22, 2017

Red got the knack for quick ascension impressively quickly, but it was when he figured out the push-off-the-wall strategy that he won my allegiance forever.
posted by Don Pepino at 10:19 AM on November 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

You know those dreams where you need to escape or get somewhere, but can't move, or are moving so slowly you feel like you won't make it?

This is like they made a game show out of those dreams.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:24 AM on November 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

The blue guy that jumped to avoid the guy caroming down and managed not to fall is the champeen.
posted by Bee'sWing at 10:25 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

I wonder how that pitch went.

"It's like Sisyphus, but we're the boulders!"
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 10:26 AM on November 22, 2017 [19 favorites]

Holy cow, those last three minutes are suspenseful.
posted by vverse23 at 10:28 AM on November 22, 2017

Everytime I see clips of this, I keep wondering why it isn't a North American game show yet. And then I realize we would dilute the magic. First, the network would make it "sexy" somehow. And then - perhaps even worse - they would make it so we understood everything that was going on, give us touching background stories on the contestants, etc, and that would make it unfunny.
posted by nubs at 10:29 AM on November 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

Wonder what they're lubed with.
posted by gottabefunky at 10:29 AM on November 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

I was disappinted that green ended up winning, after he'd just pulled the yellow guy down from the top.
posted by Flashman at 10:32 AM on November 22, 2017

This combined with the Great British Bake Off would be my ideal television show.
posted by roger ackroyd at 10:40 AM on November 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

Bet the wrap party is the best orgy ever.
posted by Keith Talent at 10:40 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

Some kinda metaphor for 2017 going on here.
posted by scottatdrake at 10:41 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

Oh my god. That was jam-packed with more twists and turns and thrills than any hollywood movie I've seen in ages.
posted by Frobenius Twist at 10:41 AM on November 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Needs more Tormund Giantsbane.

No, I take that back! Has exactly the right amount of Tormund Giantsbane.
posted by miles per flower at 10:43 AM on November 22, 2017

First, the network would make it "sexy" somehow. And then - perhaps even worse - they would make it so we understood everything that was going on, give us touching background stories on the contestants, etc, and that would make it unfunny.

See, the background I invented for this was largely inspired by Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor: contestants are in debt to the yakuza, who have organized a series of absurd gambling events designed to humiliate them and amuse the high net worth gambling clientèle. As each contestant nears the goal, we get a flashback depicting their tale of moderately poor judgment amid a broader setting of economic malaise of the Lost Score.
posted by pwnguin at 10:47 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

There's already a kinda western version (well Canadian/Australian/British).. Splatalot. It's kinda gunge/foam/water instead of ice but does add paintballing (and Mad Max).
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:48 AM on November 22, 2017

We already have this game show in the United States. It's called "Ordinary People Trying To Make A Living In The Modern Economy."
posted by mikeand1 at 11:00 AM on November 22, 2017 [18 favorites]

are they also lubricated or is that just melted ice making them glisten moistly
posted by poffin boffin at 11:04 AM on November 22, 2017

the real hero is the yellow guy who has had 3 ppl zip safely between his legs without losing his place or his balance
posted by poffin boffin at 11:09 AM on November 22, 2017

Where's Guy LeDouche when you need him?
posted by schoolgirl report at 11:11 AM on November 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

oh my god the two giant faucets at the top are dispensing lube
posted by poffin boffin at 11:14 AM on November 22, 2017

those two people at the very top, it's their job to ladle lube from huge lube drums into the lube faucets, that's on their resume now

Lube Ladler
posted by poffin boffin at 11:16 AM on November 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

HIRED!
posted by nickmark at 11:18 AM on November 22, 2017

Not great quality, but here's the women's race.
posted by lucidium at 11:19 AM on November 22, 2017

This just makes me miss Wipeout.
posted by Fizz at 11:20 AM on November 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

update yellow is a bastard and my support now goes to red who lay facedown in the lube cackling and swimming after his last fall
posted by poffin boffin at 11:21 AM on November 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'd like to see this show with big ol' dumb dogs trying to get to a treat.
posted by vverse23 at 11:22 AM on November 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

Red guy was robbed. Repeatedly.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:24 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

After the third minute it starts to feel more and more like I'm watching televised torture.
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:01 PM on November 22, 2017

There used to be something on Spike long ago. I thought it was called Painful Elimination, but all I can find is MXC, and that looks just slightly different, although the contests looked familiar.
It was a Japanese show that the audio was overdubbed with snarky/sophomoric/scatological English commentary,
Anyhoo, the upshot there (in the original) was that the contestants were Korean, and the whole show was kinda racist making fun of the inferior peoples.
It was probably the funniest thing I ever saw on TV until I found this out. Then I was embarrassed about laughing so much.

So I'm wondering if these contestants are Korean as well.
posted by MtDewd at 12:18 PM on November 22, 2017

This reminds me of the time I went to a lube wrestling party. It's really, really tricky, and actually feels way worse than this looks!

I have many questions: Is there a subtitled version available? Who are the audience members, and what are the numbers on their desks? Why is one audience member (judge?) not wearing a shirt? What does the winner win? Can this be used to torture the horrible Republicans that are doing terrible things to people, democracy, and the world? e.g., If they want to slip in another rollback of healthcare, tax support for families/students, block a Court pick (or put an unqualified one through), etc., they have to climb up a giant lube staircase? Or better yet, the top of a lube-covered Washington Monument? And when they fail, they fall into a pit of alligators? Or maybe just a big lube pit filled with dildos.
posted by stillmoving at 12:24 PM on November 22, 2017

If I don't speak Japanese, will I still understand what's going on?
posted by officer_fred at 12:31 PM on November 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yes officer_fred, this is just a visual metaphor for the human experience
posted by meows at 12:45 PM on November 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

in this metaphor the lube ladlers represent god
posted by poffin boffin at 12:49 PM on November 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

I am still recovering from a nasty spill down my front steps a month ago, and this is both hilarious and terrifying for me.
posted by stowaway at 12:50 PM on November 22, 2017

This set should be the final surprise elimination on american ninja warrior. What a slippery twist that would be.
posted by sammyo at 12:58 PM on November 22, 2017

There used to be something on Spike long ago. I thought it was called Painful Elimination, but all I can find is MXC, and that looks just slightly different, although the contests looked familiar.

"Painful Eliminations of the Day" was the closing segment of Most Extreme Elimination Challenge or, indeed, MXC, which was a dubbed-over version of Takeshi's Castle.

How wrong can you go with Beat Takeshi? Regardless of the circumstances one is inquiring about: none wrong.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 1:12 PM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

The contestants look like what the internet will be when net neutrality is gone.
posted by 4ster at 2:24 PM on November 22, 2017

The participants are comedians - it's very typical for C-list celebs to do goofy stuff on variety shows like this (and indeed, though I'm not up on the variety show scene, I think there are a good number of minor celebrities whose whole careers are basically just doing goofy stuff on variety shows).

I can't read fast upside-down Japanese well enough to figure out everybody who's in it, but Eiko Kano is green, and blue is Takushi Tanaka.

(Although I'm not up on the variety show scene, let me get a plug in for my favorite educational/travel/variety show - Sekai no hate made itte Q / Quiz Show to the Ends of the Earth, where minor celebrities have international adventures and do weird things. It doesn't translate as well as slippery stairs, but... it's so good?)
posted by Jeanne at 3:48 PM on November 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

"Painful Eliminations of the Day"

god this sounds like a hemorrhoid fan site
posted by poffin boffin at 4:43 PM on November 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

in this metaphor the lube ladlers represent god

I find this is true of most metaphors, especially ones that don't actually mention god.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:23 PM on November 22, 2017

god this sounds like a hemorrhoid fan site

MXC was even better than that!
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:34 PM on November 22, 2017

To call these shows "game shows" is misleading. At least, they're not game shows in the Western/American sense, in which everyday folks compete to win prizes and then go back home. These people are tarento ("talent"), which is a broad category including comedians, singers, actors, talk show hosts, news announcers (which are often more connected to entertainment than to actual news), and other random folks who are "famous because they're famous." There is a HUGE rotating pool of tarento, and any given show--often variety shows--will feature up to a few dozen of them at time.

For something this slapstick, they're almost certainly all comedians or comedian-adjacent. In Japan slapstick is the main mode of comedians.
posted by zardoz at 5:38 PM on November 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

MXC was even better than that!

There was a US version but it was no fun.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:39 PM on November 22, 2017

Does anyone know what the prize is?
posted by chrispy108 at 3:19 AM on November 25, 2017

Lifetime supply of lube?
posted by nubs at 5:32 AM on November 25, 2017

MXC was even better than that!

There was a US version but it was no fun.

I thought MXC was the US version.
I looked at it again and still laughed my ass off.
(Plus I still want a soccer ball launcher. and maybe a field of mud)
posted by MtDewd at 1:54 PM on November 29, 2017

Sorry, I was referring to Wipeout, a version that appeared on ABC in 2008.
posted by Room 641-A at 2:19 PM on November 29, 2017