A laugh is a good thing that relaxes people esp. people who are stressed.. Every evening after I come back home carrying the stress of office, I look forward to half an hour of good fun in POGO channel. My children and I religiously watch a program called - Just-for-laughs Gags. This program is all about using hidden cameras and creating situations which take ordinary people by surprise.
Of course, I have seen similar programs before - one called MTV Bakra and the other was a similar program in Star TV.. The only difference in POGO is that this is virtually non-stop.. They use imaginative ideas and in most "spoofs" they do not use any words. Only action is seen and the whole game plan is so simple that even children enjoy the show. Even though some of the scenes and settings are different from what one is accustomed to in India, it is very easy to follow the scheme of things and laugh.
My favourite spoofs are many and I will share a few of them in this review.
At a toy shop, a lot of masks are displayed. Many of them are scary ghosts etc. People must be buying such stuff and using it to scare others. The actor (person who is playing the spoof on others while we are watching the show from hidden cameras) actually wears the mask and hides behind the display. Only his face is visible to customers and his body is hidden. Customers routinely come and see the masks and suddenly the actor jumps out with a loud shout and acts as if he is a ghost pouncing on the customer. Most of the customers are scared silly and shell shocked for a brief moment. This results in hillarious laughter among the audience (me and my kids).
An actor posing as a tourist asks other tourists to click his photo from his camera. He is wearing an overcoat and looking serious. Just as the genuine tourist is about to click the photo, the actor opens his overcoat in a flourish and reveals his almost nude self (except for his private parts) and gives a broad smile. The tourists are flabbergasted and find it hard to control their laughter (and we ours !!!)..
An actor hides behind a bush dressed as a bear and another actor keeps pulling a rope and shaking the bush when any person is walking around.. There is also some animal sound coming out of a speaker hidden nearby. As the pedestrian comes close by, the "bear" jumps on him / her and pretends to attack.. Scares the people around and they run helter skelter... And we (the audience) roll down on the floor with laughter..
A female actor waves to any man across the street and flirtingly asks him to come over. When he comes with a hope and a big grin on his face, he is followed by another male actor and the female actor pretends that she was actually waving to the male actor. The guy who came with a hope is embarrassed and quickly covers it up by walking away.. And we grin silly :-)
Many more such stuff in rapid succession and we never realise how half an hour has sped us by.. As they say "laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone" and that "laughter is the best therapy".. This program is a nice tonic to drive away your woes and keep you smiling till the next morning..
Try it, you wont regret it...
Vish