Wednesday, August 28, 2013

WTF WED! JAPAN #6 THE JAPANESE TAKE PRANKING TO THE MAX!


If you spend enough time on the internet, you'll see the face of Japanese comedian Ayumu Kato and his infamous grimace. What you might not know is that the face first received notoriety during a particularly fantastic celebrity prank where poor Ayumu Kato thought he was in the middle of sniper fire. With many other pranks, it's about the ingenuity of the set-up and the reaction, but with this prank, it is all about the reaction.

On a side note, comedy is all about context but I still think American comedy is probably the most evolved and diverse and, if you've ever watched foreign comedy, you know what I'm talking about with the slew of gimmick, shock, and just juvenile humor that you'll find on Latin American TV or on Japanese TV (where celebrities conveniently inform you how to react).  Then again, you could consider the recent works of Adam Sandler and the shows where we have celebrities chat about video clips as part of American comedy and, in that case, I'll just shut up.


This competition is pretty intense between the perfect execution of the Brazillian prank and it's rather believable reactions to the over the top reaction of the poor guy in the Japanese clip. If I had to pick a winner, I'd probably go with the Brazillian prank.



I wanna leave us off with a prank that only works because of the flight/fight reaction of humans and the artistry that goes into these intricate dinosaur puppets. You can point out that it's hard to believe that they wouldn't notice the human legs, but I'd argue that the people running from one of these monsters isn't looking at the legs. They're either looking at the mouth full of teeth or the bigger picture that a dinosaur is chasing them down a hallway and roaring at them. It's simply a perfect prank.