Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! | |
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Gaki no Tsukai's "free talk" segment.
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Genre | Variety |
Starring |
Hitoshi Matsumoto Masatoshi Hamada Hōsei Tsukitei Naoki Tanaka Shōzō Endō |
Country of origin | Japan |
Original language(s) | Japanese |
No. of episodes | 1331 (as of 20 November 2016) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Kenji Suga |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company(s) | Yoshimoto Kogyo |
Release | |
Original network | Nippon TV |
Original release | October 3, 1989 | – present
External links | |
Official website at Nippon TV |
Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! (ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで!! Dauntaun no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!?, lit. "Downtown's This Is No Task for Kids!"), often abbreviated Gaki no Tsukai (ガキの使い?) or just Gaki Tsuka (ガキ使?), is a Japanese variety show hosted by popular Japanese owarai duo, Downtown, with comedian Hōsei Tsukitei (formerly known as Hōsei Yamasaki) and owarai duo Cocorico co-hosting. The program has been broadcast on Nippon TV since its pilot episode on October 3, 1989 and continues to this day, celebrating its 1000th episode on April 18, 2010. The program currently broadcasts on Nippon TV and its regional affiliates from 11:25 p.m. until 11:55 p.m JST.
Perhaps the best known Gaki no Tsukai episodes are those dealing with batsu games, or punishment games, in which one or more of the cast members are subjected to after losing bets, major competition, or physical challenges.
The "No Laughing" batsu game itself (broadcast annually during the New Year's Holiday) was first introduced in 2003. The premise of each "No Laughing"-punishment game is that the losing members of the cast have to endure many compromising, absurd, generally ridiculous situations for a long period of time (up to 24-hours, thus far) but must refrain from laughing at any of them. Whenever someone does laugh the announcer of the game will declare that person as having just become "out" (アウト or a-u-to in Katakana); immediately afterwards, the appropriate number of "hang-men" will come out to mete the rule breaker's punishment. Most of the time, this punishment is a single strike on the buttocks with a weapon, but some punishments have included a blow dart shot into the buttocks, a slap to the face or a kick to the side of the upper leg by a Muay Thai practitioner.