SNL going to Japan - Uh, Yes THAT SNL

[tomm2thumbs]

The new program is the brainchild of leading entertainment-industry company Yoshimoto Kogyo, which formed a partnership with the producers of the U.S. show, Broadway Video Enterprises, in 2008.

And now we've got all of that out of the way, it's back to our host, Koji Imada!

Yuji Ayabe and Naoki Matayoshi (from the manzai duo Peace), Takashi Yoshimura and Kenta Tokui (from Heisei Nobushikobushi), Naomi Watanabe and the others not only make clever foils for the bigger names, but they also work well together. Watanabe played Lady Gaga in a skit in the first SNL Japan, and it is highly likely that this foreigner-imitation seam will be mined further in future episodes.
____

here's the show opening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z7d96oMM9o

story link:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20110708r1.html

[Poll_Blind]

1. "Cutting Edge Live" from Bob Roberts meets Pink Lady and Jeff, without the Jeff.

There are kinder things to export to Japan than SNL.

PB

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. maybe the Japanese will think it's funny. I sure don't.

[tularetom]

3. Hasn't Japan had enough shit happen already this year?

Why do they need that pile of shit?

If you want to feel really bad get hold of a recording of a SNL show from the first five years or so and watch it right before the current show comes on. Then watch today's version. You'll feel ill. And sad.

[masmdu]

4. US SNL is rotten crap. JPN SNL will be successful because...

it is very unlikely that they will copy ANYTHING other than the name from the US SNL (That is if they want it to stay on the air).

The packaging of the show as western and hip will increase it's appeal to a certain Japanese audience but if they copy the style and "humor" of US SNL it will die a quick death.

Japanese humor is very different from US humor and neither translates to the other well.