The Old Man Bites Tenderly Game Show (video)

Weird Japanese gameshows are nothing new, and I follow links for these things expecting the usual forms of horror and degradation - lizards, branding, that kind of thing. But 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. And of all the degrading things I've seen from American and Japanese television, nothing compares to The Old Man Who Bites Tenderly.

The title of the show may translate to "Silent Library," but I'm not sure. [Download Video, 36 megs, mpeg format, or stream it via youtube here] via Attu

Comments

[zachery]

this is amazing!!! i saw bits of this show on when i was in japan this past summer. thank you so much for reconnecting me with it, i had completey forgotten. it has the strange, uniquely japanese brand of naive perversion and childish violence that american tv is simply not sensitive or sophisticated enough for.

[Gavin Purcell]

I just wrote up a big blog post about this clip and some others that were attached to it. This clip is part of a larger overall series which includes (in my opinion) a much, much funnier clip of the same comedians trying not to laugh at a terrible ESL speaker.

If you're interested check it out here: http://tvinjapan.blogspot.com/2006/05/no-laugh-or-you-get-beat-show-full.html

P.S. I love this blog. Keep up the awesome work.

[Trina]

love it! i was of course led to this by mike doughty's site, and it comes as no surprise that its brilliant! why do we as americans have to suffer through collective twenty-somethings living in giant houses and complaining about their very existance as they battle for money, fame, recording contracts etc, while the east gets to watch plucking nosehairs, bad kareoke, and a slapping machine? man would i love to have a slapping machine at my desk at work. thanks!!

[JAMAL]

ITS VERY GOOD SHOW VERY FUNNY HOPEFULL YOU CAN SEND MORE VIDEO SHOW IM FROM KUWAIT I LOVE THIE SHOW VERY MUCH

[Ben List]

This show would more accurately be described as a comedy / variety show and not a "game show."
These guys aren't really competing for anything other than laughs. Here's a snipurl link to more clips from the same show: http://snipurl.com/szsd

[BJJ]

Its ernesto hoost, the only black man in all of japan (hes a boxer, actually born in japan)