A British comedy in Japanese clothes, with central character Ginji at once earnest farm boy and entrepreneurial savant, finding ingenious and entertaining solutions in a timeless tale of business and found family.
Everybody has theories that they personally cling blindly to regardless of proof or scientific validity. In this entertaining information program, a host of celebrities present their cases for pet theories to studio guests by any means be it academic argument or laughably “out there” logic. Can their theories gain acceptance? Or will they be discarded as pop science that only adds confusion to the world? Find out through exhaustive examination including on-location experiments!
Produced by Hitoshi Matsumoto, Documental pits ten comedians against each other. The objective is to make each other laugh in a closed room. Each contestant brings a one million yen participation fee. The last person to stay in the room without laughing wins. The winner is awarded a 10 million yen prize and bragging rights as the funniest comedian.
After participating to a previous show where they have to bet or be challenged to any kind of competitions, the losing members of the Gaki no Tsukai are selected to spend 24 hours in a setting which they have no knowledge of the theme nor the course of the events. They are exposed to various absurd and crazy situations nonstop for 24 hours and must refrain from laughing. If they do so, hang-men appear and hit the rule breakers with a weapon (the weapon varies every year).
The show's title can be translated as “The Matsumoto Family's Vacation”. The fictitious Matsumoto family consist of four members: Hitoshi Matsumoto who plays the mom; Tôru Hotohara as the dad; Kenji Tamura as the son and lastly Sada as the daughter. With this stereotypical and funny Osaka family we go out on many adventures, exploring food and activities from the Kansai area.