Downtown

I love to watch comedy from another country mainly because it’s so alien and indecipherable. I like it because I don’t get it. But not all foreign comedy is inexplicable. Take for example these following scenes from Japanese sketch comedy show Downtown. There’s an absurdity that is over-the-top yet quietly subtle. Downtown is yet another foreign show that should be imported to this country.

Apparently Michael Jackson’s Captain EO was known as Captain Jackson in Japan.




This sketch requires a somewhat cursory knowledge of the clichés of Japanese Sentai programs.




The 5 Rangers sketches were essentially the same but this comp reveals that just because something is repetitive doesn’t mean it can’t be inventive in some small way. The funeral one is easily my favorite sketch.






I take back what I said about Downtown earlier because the show does have it's fair share of inexplicable moments. Aho Aho Man (aka Moron Moron Man) and the AfterSchool Magnet Twins sketches only reinforce people’s narrow (but occasionally accurate) views about Japan’s cultural landscape. Nonetheless, enjoy the aggressive weirdness on display in these vaguely off-putting scenarios.