How I Became a Field Reporter for a Japanese Variety Show
In 2012-2013, I was a correspondence reporter for the popular Japanese TV variety show 笑ってコラえて. There was originally an in depth, 7-part series posted on JALUP chronicling the story, but unfortunately this series had to be taken down due to a producer’s request, as apparently you aren’t supposed to reveal all the secrets behind how a major TV show is produced. Go figure…
But an ultra abbreviated, simple summary is okay. So to sum up:
– On Craig’s list, I found an ad for an audition for a Japanese variety TV show filming in New York City where I live.
– I auditioned, got the part, and started filming the next day.
– I traveled around the New England area for weeks, acting as an on air correspondence reporter, actor, and interpreter.
– I learned the ins and outs of how a variety show is made.
– I got to talk with 仲間由紀恵, star of Trick and Gokusen.
– I did gourmet reports at a lot of famous restaurants
– I re-enacted the entire Rocky skit in Philadelphia
– I dressed up as George Washington and did a history tour of DC
July 4th, 2012
August 8th, 2012
January 23rd, 2013
August 28, 2013
If you have any questions about my experience, feel free to ask in the comments!
Founder of Jalup. iOS Software Engineer. Former attorney, translator, and interpreter. Still watching 月曜から夜ふかし weekly since 2013.
Can’t wait to check out this episode!
Hope more entertainment jobs in Japanese TV will open up for you.
So exciting! I won’t miss that!
I’m watching the show now :D
Watching the show live now—so far its rather funny ^^
I just watched the show and there were some good moments definitely. Although I must admit I start to zone out when American history is mentioned. “George Washing— blah blah — America — blah blah”.
How did you manage to become a correspondent in the first place?
You do have to like history a bit here. Hope you watched the Rocky reenactment though.
They held auditions in NY a few months ago. I went, they liked me, and I was in!
ももクロ?!? You lucky dog, you.
That episode had a different feel than most わらコラ episodes. Seemed less about the educational focus. It definitely was entertaining though. You got to do a lot of silly, fun things.
Loved the Rocky bit!
Yeah, I remember you telling me that you were a fan of them! There is still hope that you’ll meet them one day.
You’re on right now talking about Lady Gaga. Is this a re-run?
Yea that is me. It is a new episode. Thanks for watching!
I missed it by 2 hrs:( I will wait for someone to upload it somewhere:)
You’ll be able to find it here:
http://veohdownload.blog37.fc2.com/blog-category-134.html
I am in Japan at the moment and as I was randomly flicking through the channels I recognised your face. Like, seriously what are the chances of that happening? Cool stuff. I enjoyed the episode, keep it up!
You met ももクロ again?!?!
Will you kindly share your frequency of meets with the rest of the class!!
That’s so cool! Wow, every time you write about doing this it makes me want to dive into Japanese full force so I can take part in such neat things. :D Congrats!
I actually found JALUP after seeing the rerun of the New York episode. The wife was very impressed with your accent so some cyber stalking led me here.
The celebrity “station id” bit and the Lady Gaga bit was definitely the best two parts.
That’s awesome! You are an inspiration to us all, Adshap! :) I hope you get to do some more episodes. Also if anyone knows where you can watch this online (I looked around but couldn’t find it) please post the link.
http://veohdownload.blog37.fc2.com/blog-entry-16186.html
You can find all variety tv episodes at this website.
Thanks!
えっ、まさかストーニーブルックが映るなんて思わなかった・・・ 日本にはもう住んでいないのに近くに笑い芸能人がいてびっくりだね。
やった!I really enjoyed the previous episodes, so I’m looking forward to watching this in a week. The show is very fun and motivating at the same time, which is great. I hope you get to be on it lots more in the future!
I’m not sure if Adshap is too humble to mention this or if they didn’t tell him but this episode is part of a three hour live special. Even if its only a short segment that’s pretty awesome that they would add you to such an important program.
For those who haven’t lived in Japan long enough to absorb what’s going on here’s my 2円 explanation. The channel this show is on (日本テレビ) has a massive 24 hour live broadcast, starting on Saturday, to raise money for charity. As a lead-in to this 笑ってコラえて is doing a 3-hour live broadcast on Friday which is not their normal time slot. Very impressive!
四回目も本当に最高だよ!ダンテに負けないで!
Very cool, do you know if you can watch a live stream of this if you don’t live in Japan?
It should show up here the following day of the broadcast.
http://veohdownload.blog37.fc2.com/blog-category-134.html
This website is great because it posts every variety show in Japan the day after it is broadcasted and even has archives.
I don’t know why more Japanese learners don’t know of this site. I advertise it EVERYWHERE.
Whoops, I totally screwed up on the dates. For some reason I thought it was on Friday. Still this is the 3 hour live special so that part still applies. orz
Yeah, I originally made the same mistake too, as it is fairly close to the 24 hour tv.
They told me it’s live due to the 60th anniversary of NTV.
I actually will be filming the last part live at the studio (at like 6am in the morning).