This article first appeared in the September 1994 issue of TOKYO JOURNAL

In keeping with the risks they take on stage, the Tokyo Shock Boys love to gamble. For Sango and Nanbu it's horses; Gyuzo flutters on roulette, and Dan'na splurges on everything from boats and dice to pachinko and mahjong. Since coming together from separate backgrounds in theater, television and standup comedy five years ago, the Shock Boys' stunts, like their bets, haven't always paid off.

But from Melbourne to Las Vegas, the Shock Boys continue to grip crowds in morbid fascination. In August of this year they took their show to the Edinburgh Festival before moving on to London's West End, where they are performing now. Their repertoire--a smorgasbord of idiotic slapstick, audience participation and repulsive acts--presents them with the constant challenge to come up with the right combination of horror and humor.

They don't swallow goldfish. But Dan'na did once swallow a live piranha for a TV variety show. "It was supposed to come straight out again, but it didn't," he says. "I took some laxatives, then eventually I vomited, but I couldn't tell if the blood in there was mine or the fish's." At a medical checkup six months later, he had to explain to his doctor that the strange marks on his stomach X-ray were, "Where a piranha bit me."

According to Nanbu, "If we injure ourselves, we've failed." That explains a rule that seems to govern the Shock Boys' game: "We never say, `That hurts,'" says Sango. Foolhardy bravado or unique entertainment? "We're not freaks," insists Nanbu. "I'm sure there are people who can do these stunts better than us. But we like to get the audience involved; invite them up on stage, and make them laugh."

Personal injury is not the only yardstick of success or failure. "We once had a trick in which we coated ourselves in wet cement," says Nanbu. "It was supposed to dry while we danced butoh, like Sankai Juku. But cement takes such a long time to dry. The audience got bored. That was a flop." In another spoof of the butoh group, members emerged from a large plastic bag in which they had set off a fire extinguisher; the stunt was dropped when they discovered that fire extinguishers are not, in fact, good for you at all.

But then, few of the Shock Boys' stunts are. They find such things as health warnings on consumer goods irresistible. "Keep Out of Reach of Children" is merely an invitation to experiment. So is the fireworks warning, "Point Away From Body." A regular stunt of Gyuzo's involves setting off a Roman Candle clenched between his buttocks. "Once, on tour, Gyuzo burnt his butt so badly he couldn't shit for days," laughs Nanbu. "But at the time, he just kept saying "Daijobu." I was a bit concerned so I went to his room. He had his butt in a cold shower--he was leaning against the wall sobbing."

"Sometimes we call the manufacturers to check out a trick," says Sango. "We say, `Excuse me, but my child just swallowed one of your products.' If they say, `Well, it should be okay, but if he doesn't feel well, maybe he should go to hospital,' we think, `This one's not so dangerous.' We did that with mosquito coils--they turn your mouth an incredible green."

Another challenge for the foursome is keeping ahead of their fans. "A drunk in Australia demanded to know how I did `Crying Milk,'" says Dan'na. "And he did it really well on his first try. I'll have to do better. Maybe coffee and milk. Hey--cafe au lait!"

The Shock Boys find audiences abroad more satisfying than at home. "Their attitude is better," says Sango. "They seem to think, `We paid $20, so let's enjoy ourselves. Here it's like, `We paid Y2000--what are you going to do?'" "We're definitely worth paying to see," says Gyuzo, confidently. But while foreign crowds applaud this Tokyo troupe, an overseas move is unlikely. "I'd never live in America," says Gyuzo. "Too dangerous."