As a kid I had endless hours of fun with my cousins and
sisters. With sometimes five of us squashing into one of the old
style telephone boxes, somehow managing to close the door behind
us we would start dialing numbers chosen at random from the
telephone directory.

The typical conversation being:

"�Hello, can I speak to Mrs. Walls Please"�? said in a rushed
squeaky voice!

The person at the other end would usually reply "�sorry, wrong
number"�.

And thus we would respond in a breathless giggle "�well, can I
speak to Mr Walls then"�.

This might go on indefinitely and to include Great Uncle Walls,
hopefully long enough for the recipient of our humor to say,
"�THERE ARE NO WALLS IN THIS HOUSE"�.

And this was our queue for the punch line of: "�Well, how does
your roof stay up then"�.

HAHA!

This style of humor was often followed, once we had got over our
fits of giggles, by one of us standing underneath the all
imposing clock tower in Rhosneigr town center and asking
passerby"s for the time. Or back into the telephone box to ask
if some poor housewife"s washing machine was running. Hopefully
for a positive reply so that we could respond with "�you better
go and catch it then"�.

My mother used to tell me of what she used to get up to with
friends: the tying of door knockers together, pulling the string
and watching many doors open at the same time and some confused
residents wandering what was going on. Or the tying of a bit of
string across the road so that the local bobby would find his
helmet suddenly knocked from his head!

Such gentle humor in retrospect and compared to what we are
issued up on television these days! Producers have taken
practical jokes to a new extreme with each program trying to
outdo the next in daring and shock and none more so than the
Japanese who took it up a notch and past what any civilized
person would call "�funny". The program that I remember was shown
on British television maybe fifteen years ago and was based upon
practical jokes and endurance tests for a series of what I would
call mad people!

Scenario: A newly wed couple, having exchanged vows repair to
the open air reception. It seemed to be rather a grand affair
with hundreds of people, marquees and even an archery range
nearby for guests use! Anyway, after a few speeches and toasts
the bride having had a few drinks was persuaded to take a shot
at hitting a target. Picking up the bow and fitting an arrow
took some teaching but after a few attempts an arrow was fired
in the general direction of the target. When the arrow would
have hit the target (if it had been going anywhere near) the
husband, who had been hiding in waiting staggered out from
behind it. Covered in tomato ketchup over his white shirt and
with an arrow suitably affixed to his chest he fell to the
ground, thrashed around for scenic effect and with a final
scream finished his acting debut in the death position.

The wife meanwhile having seen the effect of her shooting was in
hysterics, thumping the ground and had a knife been handy she
would have ended her own life there and then! Staggering blindly
to her supposedly dead husband she held his limp body in her
arms. Weeping untold sadness and apology she looked down through
the mist only to find him winking at her!

I am certain that the couple did not repair to a bed of roses
that evening, nor would they have a merry chuckle about the
day"s events over a cup of hot cocoa that night! But the main
aim of the show and the practical joke was not about the wife"s
feelings, but about providing an audience with some good humor.
And judging by the laughter of the guests, the husband"s
satisfaction over the success of his practical joke and the
audience"s laughter it was a total and resounding winner.

I imagine though that the wife was either seeking annulment that
very same night or was to spend time in the local jail accused
of murdering her husband with a meat cleaver. Naturally she
would not get her sentence reduced through "�justifiable cause" "�
the convicting judge stating that she obviously had no sense of
humor and would therefore serve the full term without parole.

But that was ten or fifteen years ago and from Japan, a country
that considers endurance tests unworthy unless more than half
the contestants nearly die or end up in hospital with some
serious disorders. Back home in the UK, with the more morally
justifiable humor things were following another path, people no
longer wanted "�fun" or revenge on the next door neighbor they
wanted fame. Before long every man jack and his border collie
wanted to appear on TV, to have their ugly mugs shown to the
world however embarrassing it might be to themselves and their
family, friends and neighbors.

Young guys and girls lined up by the thousands to sing songs
off-key and totally sadly, hopeful models tried to get through
to a contract with some high profile magazine which preferred
girls to be anorexic rather than ones who might have just come
from breakfast at MacDonald"s and the one-man bands who thought
the London Symphony orchestra was the next step would not have
sounded out of place amongst a steel fabrication yard at full
swing.

These young hopefuls with their five minutes of fame on national
television embarrassed themselves to the laughter and giggles of
millions of viewers. Pet owners, gardeners and cooks, poor
people and rich all made a spectacle of themselves and willingly
so, just for five minutes of fame! Strangely enough this search
for glamour and fame even spread to the already rich and famous.
Actors and politicians, famous cooks and authors, wealthy
tycoons and nutty scientists suddenly felt left out as viewers
tuned in to average person and sort of forgot that there was
already a large vat full of famous people! So sadly, the already
famous people jumped on the bandwagon and started to appear on
gimmicky fame and fortune shows "� six weeks living on a deserted
island (with a full cast, helicopter support, satellite
communication and nights back home in LA), cooks trying their
hand at singing a Christmas Carols (resembled a nail being drawn
harshly across the blackboard) and groups of already famous
people bickering stupidly as they pretended to live together for
six weeks!

Hope all those seeking five minutes of fame got what they were
looking for"�.!!!!!

Throughout all of this decade long turn from fun seekers to fame
hopefuls the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 and TV stations all over the
world loved it. Here they had prime-time programs with minimal
content, easily stocked with poor actors who would pay to appear
and no end of viewers to tune in. So with thousands of hopeful
daily the world was given endless showings of anything from
large models having cat fights to ex-cons attempting to lift
mini-coopers with their bottom lips!

All a bit sad really!

The question that should now be asked is: "�do any viewers of
these shows actually take them seriously and ache to be part of
it one day or are they all laughing their heads off at the poor
"�now famous" people on stage"�? The answer to this ultimate
question may lie in the asking of another question: "�do these
same people think that the sport of wrestling is a well-staged
and choreographed event, purposely acted out for television
viewing or do they think that it is a sport entered into with
the full vigor and enthusiasm of say boxing"�?

But whatever, life is currently taking a turn for the worse!
Fame has grown slightly boring, viewers have realized that "�too
many cooks spoil the broth"� or that nobody can really remember
those famous wonders of yesterday for longer than five minutes,
except those that had really terrible voices or whose mug
resembled that of an escaped convict! Nowadays new prime time
shows are emerging, those that involve either fun and fortune or
fame and fortune! Shows with contestants, shows offering fame
and all with a large cash donation to the winning candidate"s
purse at the end of it all! So, the already famous are being
pushed aside once again and hopefuls of all shapes and sizes and
ages enter willingly into endurance tests, assault courses and
into embarrassing displays of inability in varying forms, but at
least the dangled carrot more than made up for viewer"s laughter.

What maybe the ultimate in sadness are the shows that emerge
from the United States. The one that I pick out, shown endlessly
during prime time viewing hours on the satellite channel of AXN,
is called Fear Factor. This program is described by AXN on their
website as:

"�It's no holds barred on Fear Factor as the hit reality series
returns with the promise of more gut-wrenching dares, more
death-defying feats and more creative stunts as ordinary people
face their most primal fears in another explosive season
"�"�"�."�"�"�"�"� It's three fears to face, three stunts to complete and
three steps away to a cash prize of up to US$50,000 in every
episode of Fear Factor. Meet ordinary people in the most
extraordinary situations, where their physical and psychological
limits will be tested, all in the hope that they will be the
final one left standing at the end of each challenge"�.

Sound good? Here is a program that combines the dangled cash
prize and the fame for the contestants. The fun part is when one
can no longer take the program seriously. I have watched this
program many times or flicked through upon realizing that AXN
once again has nothing to offer viewers during the evenings.
This program is like Baywatch, watched seriously by males and
females the world over because of the promenaded bodies that
flaunt tit and bum in a very unnatural way! There was no flabby
lifeguard on Baywatch, no slow-witted flat-chested female
sashaying across the beach to save a life! Fear Factor follows
closely in this regard, all the female contestants seem to have
breasts that struggle to be contained within their skimpy
clothing and the males are all muscle-bound and short of a
decent conversation. These are not ordinary people, what is
served up here is a stage show that provides the three elements
of requirement for today, fun, fame and fortune!

What will it be next?

About the author:
Author and Webmaster of href="http://www.seadolby.com">Seamania. As a Chief Engineer
in the Merchant Navy he has sailed the world for fifteen years.
Now living in Taiwan he writes about cultures across the globe
and life as he sees it.

Author : Ieuan Dolby
Site : www.goarticles.com

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