Laugh! Festival: Shock ‘til they drop

By TIM WATKIN

Attempting to talk in English about Japanese slapstick has its pitfalls.

On the line is Nambo San of Japanese comedy troupe the Tokyo Shock Boys, returning to the Auckland and Wellington Laugh! Festival for another blast of banzai slapstick.

Actually it's his translator on the phone - with Nambo in earshot- which comes in mighty useful when you're discussing matters such as soccer, insurance, and testicular fortitude. Some edited highlights ...

I understand the Boys met backstage at a Paul McCartney gig in Japan. They all met, actually, backstage as roadies for Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Madonna and the Rolling Stones. They were doing backstage carpentry work and they thought "why don't we do something like this?"

After 10 years on the circuit, do they feel their shocking acts are losing some of their shock value?

It's never happened like that because of the human always have the shocking value in their life anyway, so they're really enjoying it.

The audience, you mean?

Yeah.

A ha. They were all tv commentators at the soccer world cup weren't they?

In France they did commentating for Japanese supporters. They wanted a different perspective between the French soccer people and the Japanese soccer people.

It must have been quite different...

It was completely different. Like a war in France.

In coming back to New Zealand they say they're coming back to their "favourite shores." Is that true or are they just sucking up?

On their CD Gero Gero, there's a song called New Zealand. And it's really their favourite.

What kind of training does Nambo San do to strengthen his, er, scrotum?

Because he needs concentration, he does karate and judo.

No, how does he maintain his 'scrotum of steel'...

Oh you mean the testicles?.

Yeah. Does he do anything with them to train?

Yeah, basically he needs hard muscles in his testicles. So he does massage every night.

I'm curious what these guys do for fun on a night off. Do they just throw bricks at each other or what?

They usually go to play the pokies and they lose their money. It's just their relaxation.

Do they have a huge insurance bill?

Actually they have to have a huge amount of insurance money.

How much?

Ah, he can't say, but Nambo used to work at an insurance company.

So he gets a good deal?

Yeah.

Does Nambo have his testicles insured?

There's no insurance for his testicles, but he's thinking about it.

Does that worry him?

Of course. He doesn't have any children yet, maybe because of that reason. And Nambo says please expect us because they're going to bring small dynamite to New Zealand.

Small dynamite?

Yeah. They've got a new trick using small dynamite.

How long do they think they can keep doing this show for?

Until they become really old and when they do the rope and fire trick, their false teeth fall off.