Gaki No Tsukai

May 18, 2006 2:54 PM

"...this clip of a Japanese show called Gaki No Tsukai stands out not for what it includes, but for what it lacks - talking and screaming. It takes place in a studio made up like a library, with the participants (including Kickboxing champion Ernesto Hoost) stifling their laughter, screams of pain and retching noises, just like any student did in their own junior high school library." [youtube video, text shamelessly lifted from wfmu]
posted by Armitage Shanks (25 comments total)

dayam.. this is so freakin' weird.. but i lol'd!
posted by zenzizi at 3:08 PM on May 18, 2006

I didn't buy that it was a real library but that was still pretty fuckin' funny. If the video spreads well, I see kids everywhere doing this in the school library.

I woulda died over that wasabi one. *shivers*
posted by dobbs at 3:11 PM on May 18, 2006

Ah, ガキの使い... This show doesn't always take place in a library, though. The point is that all of the participants (each of whom is either a comedian, a tarento, or a special guest) have to keep from laughing while one of them does some kind of weird skit. If they laugh they have to pay a penalty, oftentimes money. A recent episode was set at a Japanese ryokan, and they took turns leaving the room and peering down from a hole in the ceiling with weird hair, makeup, expressions, etc.

Basically a "how long can you stand it" variety show. Its full name is ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで!!, or "Downtown no gaki no tsukai ya arahende!!" "Downtown" is the name of a famous manzai comedian duo.

Here's another clip from the same show. And another. And one in English.
posted by armage at 3:33 PM on May 18, 2006

That was great!
posted by onalark at 3:57 PM on May 18, 2006

Funny, but not laugh out loud funny.
posted by absalom at 4:20 PM on May 18, 2006

I don't think I've laughed that wildly in a long time. The poor guy's face when, after the third instance of getting the wrong card, is confronted with the repeated slaps of that machine...priceless.
posted by invitapriore at 4:37 PM on May 18, 2006

My guts are aching from laughing so hard.

The best part was that I really felt like a part of the show, with my spouse sleeping on the couch nearby.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:37 PM on May 18, 2006

I snapped muscles and tendons laughing. Reminds me of being dead bored in school and having fits of laughter only because I shouldn't.
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 6:29 PM on May 18, 2006

god that was hysterical. the library element was amazing.
posted by shmegegge at 6:32 PM on May 18, 2006

awesome... really awesome
posted by twjordan at 7:30 PM on May 18, 2006

It's like Jackass as a game show!

It's now my mission to bring this to America.
posted by fungible at 7:31 PM on May 18, 2006

That was really amazing, esp. the tender biting of the old man. Wow.
posted by stinkycheese at 7:47 PM on May 18, 2006

That was hilarious.
posted by Skygazer at 8:11 PM on May 18, 2006

That tender biting old man will haunt my dreams; sure, I laughed my ass off, but a part of me was just as terrified as the bitee looked.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:12 PM on May 18, 2006

the slapping machine is priceless...reminds me of a cartoon when I was young where a dog spins a wheel and whatever it lands on the cat has to do the dirty deed or pay a penalty....I laughed my arse off- today too.
posted by Jikido at 9:03 PM on May 18, 2006

This is the funniest goddamn thing I've seen all week. The slapping machine just about made me lose it.
posted by neckro23 at 10:03 PM on May 18, 2006

Hahhaahha good one good one.
posted by arrowhead at 5:09 AM on May 19, 2006

I had to stop eating my fish-and-chips lunch when tender biting old man did his thing...
posted by runkelfinker at 5:37 AM on May 19, 2006

[ this is good ]
posted by Jeremy at 7:09 AM on May 19, 2006

I've watched this several times now - and I'm laughing even more each time I watch it with others. Great find!
posted by avoision at 8:46 AM on May 19, 2006

Oh gosh those Japanese are SO crazy!
posted by dead_ at 9:13 AM on May 19, 2006

The human species is soooo strange.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:31 PM on May 19, 2006

Awesome.
posted by Tuwa at 11:37 PM on May 19, 2006

Three thumbs up.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:05 AM on May 20, 2006

Bob Sapp
posted by the cuban at 4:22 AM on May 31, 2006