Downtown no Gottsu Ee Kanji
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Downtown no Gottsu Ee Kanji (ダウンタウンのごっつええ感じ), translated as Downtown's Feelin' Real Good, was a Japanese variety show. It premiered on December 8, 1991 and ended its run on November 2, 1997. It aired on Fuji Television every Sunday nights. Hosted by the comedy duo Downtown (consisting of Masatoshi Hamada and Hitoshi Matsumoto), it had several other owarai geinin (comedians) in its regular cast.
Like most other Japanese variety shows, it featured guest interviews and games, but it is best known and remembered for its sketch comedy. Downtown and other cast members would dress in costumes and perform absurd skits with bizarre characters.
[edit] Recurring Sketches and Characters
- AHO AHO MAN
- Translates to English as Moron Man. A fecal-filled-underwear-wearing superhero (played by Matsumoto) who has to save a young boy named Kentarō (played by Hamada) from the evil Ohoho Aliens. As his name suggests, he shows little intelligence or common sense and constantly pulls out useless "aho aho items" that have no effect on the villains. In the end, Kentarō loses his temper over the hero's ineptitude and defeats the aliens himself.
- Seikimatsu Sentai Gorenjai
- Translating to English as End of Century Heroes Five Range-i, it is a parody of Himitsu Sentai Goranger -- the last syllable in renjaa ("ranger") is replaced to avoid copyright issues. Each episode begins with the evil Dokuro Kamen ("Skull Mask", played by Hamada) attacking a woman (played by You) in her home. The sentai heroes, the five renjai, then burst into the scene one at a time to save her and attempt to fight Dokuro Kamen, who is too distracted and unable to fight due to their appearances.
- In the first episode, they have three red renjai and two yellow (breaking the usual sentai convention of having each hero in a different colour). Dokuro Kamen lectures them and tells them to try better next time. Each subsequent episode has Dokuro Kamen attacking the same woman in the same room, and the renjai appearing in mismatched costumes (such as Tiger Mask, Falkor, a waitress) or ridiculously modified versions of their uniforms. The episodes end with Dokuro Kamen scolding the renjai, pointing out exactly what is wrong, and sending them off home.
- Mr. BATER
- Matsumoto plays an American living in Japan, Mr. Bater (hailing from Oklahoma), who wears glasses and a white suit and speaks in the kansai dialect. In each episode, he enters a small business (such as a clothing store, barber, and jewelry store) always run by the same clerk (played by Kōji Imada), a well-meaning but dim-witted man who never speaks. Mr. Bater claims he is on his way to a party and makes a simple request, such as meat for a barbecue, or a new pair of shoes. The clerk mishears or misinterprets his requests and brings him the wrong item, e.g. a jyūtan (carpet) instead of gyūtan (beef tongue). Mr. Bater plays the clown for a brief moment and goes along with it, until he snaps back into "straight man" mode and angrily points out the clerk's mistake. This repeats until Mr. Bater finally gets fed up and storms out, as the clerk smiles at the camera.
- Hōkago Denshiha Kurabu
- Translating to English as After School Electromagnetic Wave Club, this sketch features Kōji Imada and Kōji Higashi as "North Pole" and "South Pole," wearing nothing but helmets and revealing thongs and holding giant U-shaped magnets. They act like characters in an after school special, teaching the viewers business world manners. The magnets, as they proclaim, are used to "draw out evil." Due to their skimpy attire, a mosaic is often applied over their groins whenever there is wardrobe malfunction.
- Imada and Higashi's outrageous appearances have caused screenshots of their characters to be widely circulated on the Internet.
- Tokage no Ossan
- Translating to English as Old Man Lizard, Matsumoto plays a lonely half-lizard, half-middle aged man who lives in the park. A young boy named Masa (played by Hamada) feeds him on a regular basis. When Masa reveals he has less time for the lizard man now that he has a pet dog, the lizard man tries to convince him to let him live in his house as a second pet.
