Cultural Comedy

Please, watch the following video before reading the rest of the post. Without viewing, the post will make no sense.






In the United States, we love our comedy. Nearly every night of the week and weekend, you can find a comedy program or two on the "big three" networks: ABC, NBC, and CBS. For those of us lucky enough to have cable or satellite, we even have a whole channel devoted to comedy! Comedy has in some ways, infiltrated our lives, with many people recieving news through the Daily Show, Colbert Report, and the late-night shows, because that's what people want to watch.



Throughout the years, American television has done some pretty crazy things to get people to laugh. Launched in 1989 with one Bob Saget hosting, America's Funniest Home Videos shows purely home videos of people doing really funny things. The show has since had 4 different hosts, and is still running. Twenty years' worth of funny home videos, and we still love it. Long, long, long before AFV, in 1947, there was a radio show called Candid Microphone. This program was the predecessor to the television show Candid Camera, which aired from 1948 until 2004. This show was also based on videos, but the people didn't know they were being taped, which made it so hilarious! For a few more recent years, the show Punk'd with Ashton Kutcher also featured videos of people, but with pranks being pulled on celebrities.



Today, our comedy show are varied, from AFV to talk shows to sitcoms. Some of the more daring shows have pushed people to the edge in order to make the audience laugh, like Punk'd and Candid Camera, but they still have limitations. In the US, we are incredibly worried about violating others' rights, trying to keep them happy. When we collectively decide that an action was unacceptable, we have no problem with raising hell. While our television isn't as censored as some countries', there are certain words that can't be said, and certain things that can't be done, and with the varied beliefs of our country, somebody will be offended no matter what is done.



The video of the Japanese prank show pushes the poor man nearly over the edge of fear. It's hard for me to say if this would, or could, be done in the US, due to the uproar that could come from it. I've seen fake robberies, but not anything as graphic as this prank. Just put yourself in that man's place. You go to an interview, just like a normal day. Suddenly, there are shots fired, and the people around you drop "dead", bleeding from their "gunshot wounds". I would have reacted exactly the same as the man in the video.



While I understand that the prank was all in good fun, the fun wasn't so good. If that man was a stranger, with the production crew having no information on how he might react, who knows what could have happened. He could have fainted, had a heart attack, a panic attack, or any number of stress reactions. That would not have been funny. At least not in the United States of America.



Never having been to Japan, I don't know their culture and what they find acceptable. Putting someone through stress like that in this country wouldn't be taken very lightly. I confess, I did laugh at first, but then I thought of what that must have been like, and then I felt bad for him, even angry at the people who staged it. The Japanese may have a different view, though, and that is just one simple (or not) example of how two cultures can be radically different.