<figure id="attachment_446709" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-446709" style="width: 1280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1d2fe8b9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/11/65efacd91feb36bb6080243568ba6486.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-446709" class="wp-caption-text">Downtown&#8221; is facing the front. Standing in front of them are the two members of &#8220;Cocolico. Kazumasa is taking a step back and looking at the four. All staff members wear white (from the December 4, &#8217;15 issue).</figcaption></figure>
<p> What was &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; reporting 10, 20, or 30 years ago? In &#8220;Playback Friday,&#8221; we revisit the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we introduce <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;Downtown &#8216;Gaki Tashi&#8217; New Year&#8217;s Eve Special: This is the Top Secret Location Site,&#8221;</span> which appeared in the December 4, 2003 issue 10 years ago.</p>
<p> Downtown&#8217;s Gaki no Tsukai ya Aahenden!&#8221;, which was popular as a special program on New Year&#8217;s Eve every year until 2008. series (Nippon Television Network Corporation), which was popular as a special program on New Year&#8217;s Eve every year until 2008. Every year, the five regulars from &#8220;Downtown,&#8221; &#8220;Cocorico,&#8221; and Kotomasa Tsukitei (57) face the trap of &#8220;Laughing is not allowed&#8221; in a variety of situations over a 24-hour period.</p>
<p> In November 2003, &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; succeeded in filming this location. The following is a report from that time (descriptions in parentheses are taken from past articles).</p>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> The location site was filled with a somber atmosphere.</span></h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I heard that they were filming &#8220;that program,&#8221; so I went to see it, but the site was surrounded by yellow tape, which prevented me from entering, and there were many staff members patrolling the area, so I could barely see with binoculars from a distance of about 500 meters. A resident of the neighborhood</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> It was a weekday morning in early November. On a weekday morning in early November, an athletic park in Shizuoka Prefecture was enveloped in a stale atmosphere. The people there were dressed in white. They were the production staff of &#8220;Downtown no Gaki no Tsukasa ya Aahenden! (NTV) production staff. On the day in question, the park was the location for the program&#8217;s New Year&#8217;s Eve special, &#8220;Never Laugh at the Great Detective 24 Hours! was being filmed at the park.</span></p>
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<p> This year, five regulars, Hitoshi Matsumoto (52 at the time), Masanori Hamada (52), Shozo Endo (44), Naoki Tanaka (44), and Katamasa Tsukitei (47) from &#8220;Downtown&#8221; dressed as rookie detectives and were challenged to &#8220;never laugh no matter what happens&#8221; in a mission. The location shooting took place in and around Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, with 400 staff members mobilized to stay overnight over a period of three days.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The actual location shooting..."></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">Too hard, too dangerous, too black&#8230; Location site</span></h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> This time, this magazine witnessed the third day of location shooting. The crew began preparations for filming early in the morning at 6:00 a.m., and by midday, the actual recording began.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> As the customary set of skulls watched over them, the five appeared in their orange, pieced-together uniforms. Around them, a man holding a harisen can be seen. When the cameras started rolling, they all began frantically running around the park.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Former manager Hiroshi Fujiwara (45), a familiar face on the show, took the five outside again this time to &#8220;train their basic physical fitness&#8221; and had them participate in various drills,&#8221; said a source close to the entertainment industry.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Apparently, running around the park like this is part of the &#8220;training.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Even so, there was a strange tension in the air at the site. The staff members kept their expressions blank even in the face of the frightened members. Occasionally, a staff member would scold a fellow staff member by saying, &#8220;What are you doing? and sometimes reprimands his fellow staff members by raising his voice to them. &#8230;&#8230; Even the neighbors who had gathered to get a glimpse of the filming had become so intimidated by the tense situation that they did not feel free to take pictures of the film.</span></p>
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<p> The reason why the staff was tense was probably because of the severity of the situation. Even during the preparation period for the program, the staff could not go home, and it was common for the AD to get only 10 hours of sleep in a week. Once the location shooting began, the scene of the tragedy was truly &#8220;laughable.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The only people who were provided with hotel accommodations were the performers and some of the higher-ranking staff members. In the waiting room, a large number of futons are laid out, and when they are sleepy and feel like collapsing, they lie down there. Naturally, there are no baths or heaters, but they are so busy that they don&#8217;t even have time to change clothes, so they don&#8217;t mind the smell or the cold,&#8221; said a production company staff member.</span></p>
<p> (A production staff member) &#8220;In the &#8217;14 broadcast, CO2 gas was sprayed into the performers&#8217; crotches, but there was a risk of low-temperature burns if the gas was sprayed on the performers. The performers had to put their bodies on the line to generate laughs.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> Since the broadcast in 2001, it has become a standard practice that Matsumoto (Hitoshi) is put in a room of confinement in the middle of the program, but this was because he had requested it, saying, &#8220;It&#8217;s getting hard for me to keep running.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Last year, after the recording of a story in which he caught Mi Matamata&#8217;s (48) buttocks in the face, he blurted out, &#8220;I really feel sick &#8230;&#8230;,&#8221; and Matsumoto is now over 50 years old, you know. It may be difficult for him to handle hard location shooting with his energy now.</span></p>
<p> However, the reason why the performers and staff continue to produce the program despite such harsh locations is <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;because of the unfathomable fun of not knowing what will happen,&#8221; according to a program staff member</span>. The quality of this program, which aired for the 10th time this year, was supported by the tearful efforts of the staff and performers.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" There were even resurrection reports."></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">Revival in &#8220;DOWNTOWN+&#8221;?</span></h3>
<p> The &#8220;Laugh Out Loud&#8221; series started in 2003 as a punishment game within the &#8220;Gaki no Tsukasa&#8221; program. In 2006, it was promoted to a special program on New Year&#8217;s Eve, and 15 episodes were aired, with one year bringing the viewer rating close to 20%.</p>
<p> It is also popular for its many appearances by gorgeous guests, and in 2003, when Friday&#8217;s magazine witnessed the production of &#8220;The Detective Who Mustn&#8217;t Laugh,&#8221; Masahiro Nakai (then 43) of &#8220;SMAP&#8221; was the first Johnny&#8217;s talent to appear on the show. It seems that the part in which he appeared had already been filmed, and our reporter was unable to see Nakai, but he was well punished in the show. However, for some reason, it was cut from the DVD of the program.</p>
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<p> In 2009, &#8220;Laughing is Not Allowed,&#8221; which had been popular every year, was suspended due to the COVID-19 crisis, which made it difficult to record the program. However, production did not resume even after the COVID-19 crisis was resolved, and when Matsumoto announced in January of &#8217;24 that he was suspending his entertainment activities, the production of a sequel was considered hopeless.</p>
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<p> However, Matsumoto appeared in a live broadcast on the &#8220;DOWNTOWN+&#8221; paid distribution service that began on November 1. His resumption of his entertainment activities has led some to hope for a revival of the &#8220;Laugh Out Loud&#8221; series. On September 24, &#8220;Gendai Business&#8221; reported that there are plans to distribute a new installment of the series on the channel with the cooperation of Nippon TV.</p>
<p> Will the &#8220;Don&#8217;t Laugh&#8221; series be resumed along with Matsumoto?</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Harsh but hot! Location of Do not laugh!"></div>
<figure id="attachment_446708" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-446708" style="width: 879px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a0c85ce4"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/11/5bfd21f504eb6764c632897b423a99f8.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-446708" class="wp-caption-text">Downtown&#8217;s Matsumoto (right) and Hamada run at full speed as if running away from something. They are smiling (from the December 4, &#8217;15 issue).</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_446710" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-446710" style="width: 1280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5ba9342b"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/11/0059023efa33bcf82e842f1b65683768.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-446710" class="wp-caption-text"> Even though it was the third day on location, the members showed no signs of fatigue. The program staff said, &#8220;No matter how much time is pushed back, the performers never complain about it.</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_446711" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-446711" style="width: 1280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="03600b0c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/11/b6cd80f463203f195ff0d986fa883a8b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-446711" class="wp-caption-text"> The performers and staff worked long and hard hours on location amidst a somber atmosphere (from the December 4, 2003 issue).</figcaption></figure>


 Takahiro Kagawa

 Playback] looks back at what this magazine reported 10, 20, and 30 years ago. The "Don't Laugh" series aired every New Year's Eve until '20. In November '15, this magazine went undercover on location.

Playback ’15] Too black and harsh site…Downtown “Do not laugh” top-secret location shooting!

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