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日本をしばいたろか!
筆者は1月の末に、米国出身のお笑い芸人であるリー5世と関西テレビのバラエティー番組に出演した。
しっかりとした台本のあるアメリカのコメディーと違い、状況に応じた芸人のとっさのリアクションを生命線とするこの種の番組、果たしてどんな苦難、難題が2人を待ち受けていたのか…?!
Shibaitaroka, Japan!
Last month I had my first opportunity to take part in my own Japanese "Variety Show." American performer Lee V and I teamed up with a great production team assembled by Kansai Television to create the show Shibaitaroka Japan!
As befits the principal players in a Japanese variety show, Lee and I were really put through the hoops! We started shooting with the opening segment, a little scripted skit, set in a kushi-katsu (fried food on skewers) restaurant. That was fun, but that was also where the fun and games ended.
After that it was close to torture. We were first whisked away to the mountains on the outskirts of Osaka, approaching Wakayama, to undergo a uniquely Japanese kind of religious shugyo or training. In the freezing cold, wearing nothing but short white kimonos, we were made to stand under a freezing cold waterfall for over a minute. Being Canadian, I was quite confident that I could withstand the cold. I was wrong. It was really cold. Really, really cold.
We were then taken to a Japanese traditional cooking school, where the master chef offered us several "traditional" Japanese delicacies. The most difficult dish to stomach was sweetened fried grasshoppers. I really wish they had done something to them to conceal the fact that we were eating grasshoppers, and then not told us we were eating grasshoppers. I have to admit, though, that they didn't taste as bad as they looked, but that's not saying much.
This style of show is much more popular in Japan than in Canada or the United States. In North America, the most popular kind of comedy show is the sitcom, or "situation comedy." This kind of show, like the popular show Friends which was widely seen in Japan as well, is a tightly-scripted performance by the same set of characters in the same setting every episode.Fans get to know the characters' personalities, quirks, peculiar habits and set phrases, a lot like Japanese vaudeville, new comic plays (shinkigeki).
In Japan, on the other hand, a more common pattern is to send some geinin, or comedians on one or more adventures on location and just see what happens. The script is very bare-bones and the show relies heavily on the quick wits and spontaneous reactions of the comedians.
It was a real honor to be invited to do our own show, and I hope they invite us to do it again. On the other hand, maybe I should be careful what I wish for.
- performer
- 芸人
- teamed up with 〜
- 〜と一緒になった
- production team
- 制作チーム
- assembled
- 召集された
- befits
- 〜にふさわしい
- principal players
- 主役
- (were)put through the hoops
- 数々の試練を味わった
- shooting
- 撮影
- opening segment
- 番組の最初の一コマ
- scripted skit
- 台本のある寸劇
- skewers
- 串
- was close to torture
- 拷問同然だった
- (were)whisked away to 〜
- 〜に連れて行かれた
- outskirts of 〜
- 〜の外れ
- approaching 〜
- 〜に接して
- undergo
- 〜を受ける
- uniquely
- ほかに例を見ないほど
- religious
- 宗教的な
- freezing cold
- 凍えるほどの寒さ
- waterfall
- 滝
- withstand
- 〜に耐える
- master chef
- 料理長
- delicacies
- 珍味
- stomach
- がまんして食べる
- sweetened
- 甘く煮付けた
- grasshoppers
- いなご
- conceal
- 〜を隠す
- that's not saying much
- (見た目がひどすぎるから、味がそれよりましだといっても)それは当たり前だ
- tightly-scripted
- しっかりした台本のある
- same set of characters
- 同じ登場人物
- setting
- 設定
- quirks
- 奇癖
- peculiar
- 独特の
- set phrases
- 決まり文句
- vaudeville
- 寄席演芸
- bare-bones
- 必要最小限の
- quick wits
- 機転
- spontaneous
- とっさの