Fist of Zen
Encyclopedia
Fist of Zen is an MTV
reality
game show
. It was modeled after the Silent Library segment from the Japanese comedy show Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!
, who assigns them rituals they must accomplish to allegedly reach Zen enlightenment.
The show consists of nine "Zen rituals", each of which presents the victim with some form of pain or discomfort, and must be completed in silence, and sometimes in a given period of time.
Each ritual is first presented by its name, which more or less describes the task to be performed, and how many times and/or in what period of time.
The participants then appear seated at a table. They must then get their hand in a cardboard box put in the middle of the table, and get a ball out of it.
In the box there are four red balls and a black one. He who gets the black ball out, is deemed to be the one to perform the ritual.
After the completion of each ritual, the Zen master, who is supposedly monitoring the participants progress through the so-called "fountain of Lin Ui", appears and comments on the participants' performance, be it praising them for their success or bashing them for their failure, often making crude comments comparing them to little girls or babies and calling them cretins.
Each passed ritual accumulates 100 English pounds into a so called "pot".
After they have gone through all nine rituals, the "westerners" are presented with the "60-Second Serpent Snatch".
In this final test, they have to complete some task while their penises (the so called "Snakes") are being pulled (supposedly by the Zen master) with a string that has been tied to them. In at least one occasion, a girl was part of the Westerners' group, so at the final challenge, she was pulled from two strings by her nipples instead.
The task to accomplish can be one of four, varying from show to show:
If they succeed in the final challenge, they win all of the accumulated money, while if they fail, they lose it all.
At that point, the Zen master is shown giving supposedly profound advice to reach enlightenment, which is usually totally random nonsense.
The participants are then shown thanking him for his words.
At the end of the show, the Zen master gives some final words, after which the Chinese man is sometimes revealed to speak English (which he hadn't during all the show), and to be on a chroma key
screen, with all the backgrounds being a montage.
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
reality
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
. It was modeled after the Silent Library segment from the Japanese comedy show Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!
Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!
, often abbreviated , is a Japanese variety show hosted by the popular Japanese owarai duo, Downtown, with comedian Hōsei Yamasaki and owarai duo Cocorico co-hosting. The program has been broadcast on Nippon TV since its pilot episode on October 3, 1989, and continues to this day, celebrating its...
Plot
The show consists of a team of 5 people (usually British males between 20 and 30 years old but sometimes females), under the supervision of a Japanese man, called the Zen master, played by actor Peter LawPeter Law (actor)
Peter R. Law is a British actor and is the father of actor Jude Law and artist Natasha Law.He had the leading part in the MTV show Fist of Zen, where he played a Zen Master. In 2002 he had a brief appearance in the movie Ali G Indahouse as the Mongolian Ambassador...
, who assigns them rituals they must accomplish to allegedly reach Zen enlightenment.
The show consists of nine "Zen rituals", each of which presents the victim with some form of pain or discomfort, and must be completed in silence, and sometimes in a given period of time.
Each ritual is first presented by its name, which more or less describes the task to be performed, and how many times and/or in what period of time.
The participants then appear seated at a table. They must then get their hand in a cardboard box put in the middle of the table, and get a ball out of it.
In the box there are four red balls and a black one. He who gets the black ball out, is deemed to be the one to perform the ritual.
After the completion of each ritual, the Zen master, who is supposedly monitoring the participants progress through the so-called "fountain of Lin Ui", appears and comments on the participants' performance, be it praising them for their success or bashing them for their failure, often making crude comments comparing them to little girls or babies and calling them cretins.
Each passed ritual accumulates 100 English pounds into a so called "pot".
After they have gone through all nine rituals, the "westerners" are presented with the "60-Second Serpent Snatch".
In this final test, they have to complete some task while their penises (the so called "Snakes") are being pulled (supposedly by the Zen master) with a string that has been tied to them. In at least one occasion, a girl was part of the Westerners' group, so at the final challenge, she was pulled from two strings by her nipples instead.
The task to accomplish can be one of four, varying from show to show:
- Using chopsticks, each one of them must put an egg from a bowl into a little cup. In this test, those who finish putting their own eggs into the cups seem to be allowed to help others with theirs.
- They are given special helmets with a funnel and a ball hanging by a cord, and by moving their head, they must get the ball into the said funnel.
- By holding spoons in their mouths, they must pass on lemons to the one next to them, in order to get one (sometimes two) lemons in a bowl at the end of the line.
- They are given headbands with a fishing rodFishing rodA fishing rod or a fishing pole is a tool used to catch fish, usually in conjunction with the pastime of angling, and can also be used in competition casting. . A length of fishing line is attached to a long, flexible rod or pole: one end terminates in a hook for catching the fish...
-like contraption, and have to get rubber ducks out of a water filled case, using the movement of their heads.
If they succeed in the final challenge, they win all of the accumulated money, while if they fail, they lose it all.
Zen words of enlightenment
About every three rituals, the boys look up to the Zen master and ask for their counseling.At that point, the Zen master is shown giving supposedly profound advice to reach enlightenment, which is usually totally random nonsense.
The participants are then shown thanking him for his words.
At the end of the show, the Zen master gives some final words, after which the Chinese man is sometimes revealed to speak English (which he hadn't during all the show), and to be on a chroma key
Chroma key
Chroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
screen, with all the backgrounds being a montage.