Banzai (TV series)
| Banzai | |
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| Genre | Comedy Game show |
| Created by |
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| Starring |
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| Voices of |
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| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 24 (inc. 1 special) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes (inc. adverts) |
| Production company(s) | Radar |
| Distributor | Zodiak Media |
| Release | |
| Original network | E4 |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Original release | 18 January 2001 – 15 May 2003 |
Banzai was a British comedy gambling gameshow spoofing Japanese gameshows and general television style. It was produced by Radar, part of RDF Media. Each segment of the show was a silly or bizarre contest. Members of the viewing audience were encouraged to bet with each other on the outcome of each segment.
The show plays off like a betting show. In each segment, a bizarre challenge is presented with a choice of outcomes. Viewers are given a short amount of time to 'place their bets' before the challenge starts.
Betting contests on the show included grannies playing chicken with motorized wheelchairs, amputee football, egg eating, blindfolded gas pumping, and the length of time it would take an object to hit the ground after being dropped from a roof. The show also sometimes intentionally skirted the bounds of what some would consider appropriate television content; as in contests to guess which person in a lineup has the longest penis, or the biggest breast implants, or how long it would take a madagascar hissing cockroach to microwave.
The voiceovers (especially those by Burt Kwouk) were English deliberately spoken with a heavily exaggerated Asian accent ("prace your bets – no bet, no get"!). Many minor celebrities took part in the stunts, and the occasional more major celebrity like Rutger Hauer. Usually the celebrity would be ridiculed in the segment. Actor Peter Davison, for example, who formerly played The Doctor on Doctor Who, was asked which other Doctor Who actor (from Tom Baker, Jon Pertwee and Sylvester McCoy) he would most like to have sex with.
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