What is fame, and how does someone become famous? After hearing about Japan's obsession with foreign talents, three Aussie filmmakers embark on an outrageous mission to find fame in Tokyo. Along the way, they meet a cast of eccentric characters who have found stardom within Japanese culture as foreigners. This riotous doc explores humanity's craving for popularity in the age of the internet, revealing the darker side of the search for stardom.
Subscribe to Journeyman here: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=journeymanpictures
For more information, visit https://www.journeyman.tv/film/7267
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/journeymanpictures
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JourneymanNews
https://twitter.com/JourneymanVOD
Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/journeymanpictures
Visit our subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/JourneymanPictures/
Walking Fish Productions – Ref. 7267
Subscribe to Journeyman here: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=journeymanpictures
For more information, visit https://www.journeyman.tv/film/7267
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/journeymanpictures
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JourneymanNews
https://twitter.com/JourneymanVOD
Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/journeymanpictures
Visit our subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/JourneymanPictures/
Walking Fish Productions – Ref. 7267
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00:00 [ Music ]
00:00:09 [ Music ]
00:00:38 >> The game used to be an elite club to which only the beautiful,
00:00:41 rich or supremely talented were invited.
00:00:45 [ Music ]
00:00:49 For us ordinary people, it was a distant fantasy,
00:00:52 something we could only experience in our dreams.
00:00:56 But times have changed.
00:01:00 [ Sound Effects ]
00:01:03 [ Music ]
00:01:05 >> Hi guys, so this is my first video blog.
00:01:08 [ Music ]
00:01:12 [ Screaming ]
00:01:14 >> It's going viral on Facebook and Twitter.
00:01:17 >> It's going viral on social media, on video.
00:01:19 >> He's an overnight celebrity.
00:01:21 [ Music ]
00:01:34 >> Hi, my name's Dave and I'm a really ordinary person.
00:01:37 [ Music ]
00:01:43 In my lifetime, I've experienced a celebrity revolution firsthand.
00:01:47 >> Kelly Clarkson.
00:01:49 >> I binged on reality TV, built my first PC in the council of amateur tech gurus,
00:01:55 and saw my soccer captain go viral after getting sent off for a penis ring.
00:02:00 >> Oh, ridiculous, fucking ridiculous.
00:02:03 [ Music ]
00:02:05 >> Having grown up in this strange new era of instant celebrity,
00:02:08 I've also wondered what it would be like to become famous.
00:02:11 [ Screaming ]
00:02:14 And who could blame me?
00:02:17 The pursuit of fame or at least recognition has been normalized
00:02:21 and built into the very architecture of our online communities.
00:02:25 In a world defined by likes, shares and going viral,
00:02:28 fame is not only celebrated but encouraged.
00:02:32 [ Music ]
00:02:34 But is fame really all it's cracked up to be?
00:02:37 What is fame anyway?
00:02:39 And is it reasonable for an ordinary person like me to want it?
00:02:44 [ Background noise ]
00:02:48 >> All right, I'm shooting.
00:02:50 >> This was my home and where it all began.
00:02:52 >> Testing?
00:02:54 >> Testing.
00:02:55 >> That's Lockie.
00:02:56 And behind the camera there is Lewis.
00:03:00 They're my best mates and they're the ones who put me up to this.
00:03:03 >> For everyone who doesn't know who Dave is, this is Dave.
00:03:07 And that's also Dave there.
00:03:09 He's the guinea pig in this little experiment of ours.
00:03:13 His name is Dave, he's 26 years old and he's untalented.
00:03:17 The mission is to make this boy here famous.
00:03:20 It's not going to be easy.
00:03:22 It is really not going to be easy.
00:03:25 Because this is what we've got to work with.
00:03:27 [ Music ]
00:03:34 I think we were obsessed with filming Dave before we even had this idea.
00:03:38 [ Music ]
00:03:41 We've always filmed Dave.
00:03:42 We've been filming Dave for years.
00:03:44 [ Laughter ]
00:03:46 >> Okay, we need to-- we'll find a--
00:03:48 >> I don't know what it is about him.
00:03:50 Even other people who have never met Dave before remember him instantly.
00:03:55 >> What's his name?
00:03:57 >> I got it.
00:03:57 >> I got it.
00:03:58 >> I got it.
00:03:59 >> We call him--
00:04:00 >> There's something about his look.
00:04:02 It's the big thick glasses with the huge eyes.
00:04:05 It's the pale lankiness of him.
00:04:09 It's the otherworldly alien look.
00:04:12 >> Standing right, standing right.
00:04:14 >> So why this project?
00:04:15 Dave deserves to be out into the world for all to see and all to enjoy.
00:04:21 [ Laughter ]
00:04:24 We were a makeshift team somehow committed to the absurd cause of making me famous.
00:04:29 But the question that loomed over all of us was not so much why but how.
00:04:34 >> We need to-- we need to set up a framework.
00:04:37 Otherwise, we're just going to be some guys trying to make some dude famous on the internet
00:04:42 and it could go on forever.
00:04:44 >> Lewis and I had an idea that we haven't run by yet.
00:04:48 >> Okay.
00:04:49 >> But it's like a full on commitment.
00:04:52 >> You have to push the boundaries for what you're comfortable with doing.
00:04:55 >> I'm willing to do whatever it takes pretty much like I'm up for--
00:04:59 I'm up for doing something, anything.
00:05:02 >> Well, how about moving to Japan?
00:05:05 >> Yeah.
00:05:06 [ Music ]
00:05:15 >> What do we know about Japan?
00:05:17 We really don't know much considering we've booked our flights.
00:05:21 But nothing would make me happier in the world
00:05:23 than seeing Dave on a Japanese game show doing something absurd.
00:05:27 [ Music ]
00:05:32 >> For me, this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever done.
00:05:37 [ Music ]
00:05:41 It's going to take balls that I don't even know that I have yet.
00:05:45 [ Music ]
00:05:50 But I'm going to do whatever it takes.
00:05:52 [ Music ]
00:06:10 Got myself a place to live, stationed myself in this nice little suburb called Higashinokano.
00:06:15 I've done my job training.
00:06:18 So, like most foreigners here, I'm going to be an English teacher.
00:06:22 We don't know what the right way to do this is.
00:06:26 [ Music ]
00:06:30 We're going to have to try a whole bunch of different things.
00:06:33 And as far as I know, I don't think three guys have ever sort of sat down
00:06:37 and made it their goal to make one of their mates famous.
00:06:40 [ Noise ]
00:06:44 >> Dave, show us one of the moves.
00:06:47 >> I got coconuts.
00:06:48 I got coconuts.
00:06:50 I got bananas.
00:06:52 I got bananas.
00:06:54 >> Would you want your child coming into a classroom to this?
00:06:56 >> I got coconuts.
00:06:58 I got bananas.
00:06:59 >> So, this is what our life is going to be like, a mixture of this, like,
00:07:03 teaching little Japanese children English and working to get famous in Japan.
00:07:11 [ Music ]
00:07:20 Our goal of making me famous had landed the three of us and our girlfriends
00:07:25 in an unlikely celebrity heartland where it was said that ordinary people
00:07:30 could achieve incredible fame.
00:07:32 But we had no idea if the rumours were true.
00:07:36 I'm trying to become famous in Japan.
00:07:40 >> Famous for?
00:07:41 >> I don't know what for yet.
00:07:42 [ Laughter ]
00:07:44 >> Well, you could be an actor or something.
00:07:46 >> I'm a comedian.
00:07:48 >> Comedian?
00:07:49 >> Comedian.
00:07:51 >> Do you think I can do it?
00:07:53 >> Oh, yeah.
00:07:54 >> Yeah? Really?
00:07:56 >> Oh, yeah.
00:07:57 [ Foreign Language ]
00:08:02 My first interaction with the Japanese public had left me with few leads.
00:08:07 But the phenomenon of foreign celebrity, known as Big in Japan, had existed for years.
00:08:12 It started with music.
00:08:14 [ Music ]
00:08:21 American rock group, The Ventures, weren't exactly top of the charts on home soil.
00:08:26 But in the '60s, they sold more records in Japan than The Beatles.
00:08:30 [ Music ]
00:08:36 Soon, the frenzy spread to Hollywood.
00:08:38 A-listers one after the other yielded to hefty paychecks to appear in increasingly bizarre ad campaigns.
00:08:45 [ Music ]
00:08:48 And finally, ordinary unassuming foreigners were poached by TV shows
00:08:52 to become perhaps the world's most unlikely celebrities.
00:08:56 This could be the perfect safety net for our fame experiment.
00:09:01 >> Who's this?
00:09:03 >> Dave Spector.
00:09:05 >> Spector.
00:09:06 >> In the Japanese showbiz ecosystem, there are gaijin or foreign tarantas.
00:09:12 >> Why is he so popular?
00:09:14 >> He stay in Japan for a long time.
00:09:17 >> And these guys are on TV and they're not really valued for their insight
00:09:21 as much as there's their novelty value.
00:09:24 [ Foreign Language ]
00:09:33 These are people who are just famous for being famous.
00:09:35 They're like the Paris Hilton's.
00:09:37 They're not really an actor or actress, they're just a character.
00:09:41 [ Foreign Language ]
00:09:44 They're just there.
00:09:46 [ Foreign Language ]
00:09:48 >> Where is he?
00:09:50 >> They were names I'd never even heard of back in Australia.
00:09:54 But in Japan, everyone seemed to know them.
00:09:57 [ Foreign Language ]
00:09:59 >> I think he's a fighter.
00:10:02 >> A fighter, right?
00:10:03 >> A Bob Sapp.
00:10:05 >> I wondered if I could become one of these so-called gaijin tarantas.
00:10:09 And I was curious about what such an outlandish experience of celebrity might involve.
00:10:14 [ Music ]
00:10:26 We were due to meet American Bob "The Beast" Sapp, a 6'5", 150 kilogram fighter and gaijin taranta legend.
00:10:34 From being a nobody back in the States, he'd gone on to become one of the most famous foreign celebrities in Japanese showbiz history.
00:10:42 >> But, you know, it's quite funny because growing up, you know, I never even knew Japan existed,
00:10:47 never knew where any of this country was, never knew anything.
00:10:51 And now I have my adult life in a different country doing something I have no idea what to do in the first place.
00:10:57 [ Laughter ]
00:10:59 >> Today, Bob was launching a tell-all autobiography, having spent 14 years in the national limelight.
00:11:05 >> So I must always have to decide whether that girl really wants me or is she falling in love with the character of the beast?
00:11:15 [ Foreign Language ]
00:11:17 >> You could ask her.
00:11:20 [ Foreign Language ]
00:11:23 >> They're asking me, you know, Japan is known for also kind of crazy sex.
00:11:27 So they say, "Hey, did you ever try the girl's penis?"
00:11:29 I said, "Yes, I thought that was great."
00:11:31 I said, "Oh, that's so good."
00:11:32 So I put this in my book.
00:11:34 >> What kind of oshiko play did you do?
00:11:37 >> What kind of oshiko?
00:11:39 So oshiko means penis.
00:11:40 Nothing, it's just the same thing.
00:11:42 They just pee on me in my face.
00:11:45 >> I didn't know what to make of Bob Sapp's pee fetish, but I found his goofy aura intoxicating.
00:11:50 >> Yes, yes.
00:11:52 [ Foreign Language ]
00:11:54 >> And apparently, so did Japan.
00:11:57 After a failed career in the NFL, Bob was recruited here as a fighter back in '99.
00:12:04 The beast was an immediate success, breaking viewership records and charming crowds with his scary yet somehow cute persona.
00:12:14 >> So in between these fights, do you do other things for money?
00:12:17 >> Yes. In Japan, I do everything.
00:12:19 Variety, commercials, television shows, pro wrestling, MMA and kickboxing.
00:12:23 You name it, Bob Sapp's doing it.
00:12:25 They've had Bob Sapp sex products and they've had Bob Sapp books.
00:12:29 >> What's a Bob Sapp sex product?
00:12:31 >> Yeah, that's the wild sap.
00:12:33 So it's a Bob Sapp dildo and the girl's backing on up and drop it like it's hot.
00:12:38 So it sticks to the window and everything.
00:12:41 >> And like when do you bring the beast out?
00:12:43 >> Right, so when I'm in the public, so I'll be, "Ha, ha, ha, this is the beast, Bob Sapp. Ha, ha, ha, ha."
00:12:49 >> You have to have a persona for people to like you.
00:12:52 >> Bob the Beast is big and dumb or big and scary and that usually plays into everything.
00:12:58 I don't understand how that works, but...
00:13:00 [ Music ]
00:13:05 >> What's happening? Are you okay?
00:13:07 You guys waiting long enough?
00:13:09 [ Inaudible ]
00:13:11 >> A few weeks later, Bob invited us to a wrestling match in the southern city of Fukuoka.
00:13:16 It would be my first chance to witness the spectacle of the beast in public.
00:13:21 [ Music ]
00:13:23 >> I'm a little more crazy because this is Fukuoka, so the fans are going to be nuts today.
00:13:29 >> What's the problem with that?
00:13:31 >> They've been doing like a whole bunch of stabbings and stuff over here, so we want to make sure that then you or anyone around me or something like that is safe.
00:13:37 >> Wait, so it's you under threat?
00:13:39 >> Yeah, he's kind of like a wrestler, fanatical kind of person, I guess, so...
00:13:44 >> What?
00:13:45 >> And they just like told me yesterday, so I was in the middle and...
00:13:48 But he was very nice, he came and gave us like some gifts and stuff, but then they were like,
00:13:51 "Okay, you need to stay away from this guy because he's been calling every five minutes, every day and that kind of stuff."
00:13:57 So sometimes you get some fanatical stuff like that and, you know, I deal with that here or around the world, so each one is different.
00:14:04 [ Crowd noise ]
00:14:08 [ Background noise ]
00:14:18 >> Bob's fame was unlike anything I'd ever encountered.
00:14:22 >> Absolutely swarmed, surrounded by people who adore Bob Sapp. It's ridiculous.
00:14:28 >> How do you like Bob Sapp?
00:14:30 >> Bob Sapp fan. The best.
00:14:32 [ Crowd noise ]
00:14:35 >> He was an American who had mastered the art of novelty celebrity with a character of his own creation.
00:14:41 >> You are very strong. You are real beast.
00:14:45 >> [ Laughs ]
00:14:47 >> I think you are [ Foreign Language ]
00:14:50 >> [ Laughs ]
00:14:52 >> [ Speaking in foreign language ]
00:14:54 >> Please give message for Japanese fan.
00:14:57 >> The beast is back. [ Laughs ]
00:14:59 >> I'm still strong. [ Laughs ]
00:15:01 >> And a little cute. [ Laughs ]
00:15:05 >> Bob had revealed to us a bizarre alternate reality of celebrity where sex fetishes are whimsically discussed and being an oddball could generate mainstream attention.
00:15:14 >> [ Speaking in foreign language ]
00:15:16 >> At any rate, Bob seemed to be loving his foreign celebrity and I was ready to take the plunge myself.
00:15:22 [ Background noise ]
00:15:25 >> [ Speaking in foreign language ]
00:15:27 >> Hello. It's David here. I'm a friend of Pop's.
00:15:30 >> [ Speaking in foreign language ]
00:15:33 >> We were at the offices of a foreign talent agency called Bayside.
00:15:36 >> Hello. David. Are you David?
00:15:38 >> Yeah.
00:15:39 >> You called yesterday, huh?
00:15:40 >> Yeah, yeah.
00:15:41 >> Nice to meet you. How are you doing?
00:15:42 >> Yeah, good. Nice to meet you.
00:15:43 >> I'm Pop. Please come in.
00:15:44 >> We'd heard that foreigners from all walks of life could get TV work through agencies like this one.
00:15:49 There were more than a dozen of them in Tokyo alone.
00:15:52 But I wondered if they'd take someone quite as hopeless and untalented as me.
00:15:57 >> Let me introduce you to my staff, okay?
00:15:59 >> Okay.
00:16:01 >> This is my colleague, Mr. David. He wants to be a model in Japan or an actor or whatever he wants to be.
00:16:07 >> Yeah, yeah.
00:16:08 >> This is Kim.
00:16:09 >> Nice to meet you. I'm looking forward to working with you very soon.
00:16:12 >> He's half Hungarian, half Japanese.
00:16:14 >> Nice to meet you.
00:16:15 >> I think he's kind of hungry.
00:16:16 >> Yeah.
00:16:17 [ Laughter ]
00:16:19 >> Good one.
00:16:20 >> Yeah.
00:16:21 >> Okay. Please.
00:16:23 >> Your height, your body, waist, hips.
00:16:25 >> Yeah, you may need it.
00:16:26 >> Okay.
00:16:27 >> You know, for like wardrobe and stuff like that.
00:16:29 >> You're macho.
00:16:30 >> Yep.
00:16:31 [ Music ]
00:16:38 >> You're a very interesting guy, aren't you, Sanjuchi?
00:16:41 >> Everybody that meets Dave has something to say about him. Everybody.
00:16:44 Including my parents, my brother, new housemates.
00:16:48 And they're like, "Dave!"
00:16:50 He's almost like a cult figure.
00:16:52 >> What do you reckon?
00:16:54 >> Brown.
00:16:55 >> Kind of bluey, though.
00:16:57 >> The Daveness of Dave is what makes Dave, Dave.
00:17:01 It's the way he reacts. It's the way he acts.
00:17:05 It's just him.
00:17:07 >> It looks like brown to me.
00:17:08 >> It's for brown.
00:17:09 [ Laughter ]
00:17:12 >> He's got a look that's a little bit different.
00:17:14 So I think he'd do well.
00:17:18 >> It's the first one.
00:17:19 >> Wow.
00:17:20 [ Laughter ]
00:17:23 >> I've got another one with a slide as well.
00:17:25 But it's like a different expression.
00:17:27 After going for a bit of a walk.
00:17:28 [ Laughter ]
00:17:32 >> Okay.
00:17:33 >> I think Dave stands a very good chance of becoming famous.
00:17:36 I have to say.
00:17:37 Because he's weird and crazy.
00:17:39 And he will do anything.
00:17:41 He'll just give it a shot.
00:17:42 >> Off to do some day-to-day stuff.
00:17:44 Maybe do some study.
00:17:45 Might rain later, so I brought an umbrella.
00:17:48 >> Can I ask you a question, Bob?
00:17:51 I was just wondering.
00:17:52 I imagine there's certain people and they walk in the door.
00:17:56 And they're like, yeah, this person.
00:17:57 They're going to get a lot of jobs.
00:17:58 They've got this particular look.
00:18:01 When you first look at David, what kind of roles do you imagine someone like David can be?
00:18:07 >> Wow.
00:18:09 You know, we -- I never know.
00:18:13 We never know.
00:18:14 He can be -- did you see the movie "Forrest Gump"?
00:18:19 >> Yeah.
00:18:20 >> That little boy, he looks like him, you know?
00:18:22 [ Laughter ]
00:18:25 >> Yeah, the little boy.
00:18:26 >> You have a specific look.
00:18:28 You're not like all the others.
00:18:31 For example, you know, I can get like 50 girls in like 20 minutes.
00:18:35 But for you, you have a specific look that you don't have to compete with all the others.
00:18:42 >> Okay.
00:18:45 I wasn't sure what to expect from the talent agency.
00:18:48 But the whole process was ridiculously easy.
00:18:51 All I had to do was sign a few forms and get measured up.
00:18:54 Then I was deemed fit for show business.
00:18:57 [ Foreign Language ]
00:19:04 >> So that's it.
00:19:05 I'm a member of Bayside now?
00:19:07 >> Basically.
00:19:08 >> Okay.
00:19:09 >> A freelance member of Bayside.
00:19:11 >> Nice to meet you all.
00:19:12 >> Bye.
00:19:13 >> Bye.
00:19:14 [ Music ]
00:19:22 [ Background Sounds ]
00:19:29 >> So last night I got a call and I have been selected to play an American designer
00:19:38 in a show about the Olympics.
00:19:40 So I'm pretty happy about that.
00:19:44 [ Foreign Language ]
00:19:49 >> My first job had come much sooner than I'd anticipated.
00:19:53 But as an inexperienced nobody who just set foot in Japan,
00:19:58 part of me wondered why I'd been selected.
00:20:01 [ Foreign Language ]
00:20:31 [ Music ]
00:20:45 >> Would you look at this?
00:20:47 >> What is this?
00:20:49 >> This is my work.
00:20:52 I want your friend.
00:20:55 [ Foreign Language ]
00:20:58 >> Now over there I'm being witnessed to one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
00:21:02 Dave has never acted before and he's on a professional Japanese film set.
00:21:08 [ Foreign Language ]
00:21:15 >> Everyone knows what's happening.
00:21:17 The other actor is this professional actor and he's looking at Dave.
00:21:21 And every time he looks at him he's got this little smile kind of creeping up on his face.
00:21:27 Why don't you draw a yukiyo-e?
00:21:30 The director is just getting pissed off because he's had to do the same scene about 80 times.
00:21:36 Why don't you draw an ukiyo-e?
00:21:39 [ Foreign Language ]
00:21:48 >> Despite my casual sabotage of an otherwise professional TV show,
00:21:52 I managed to struggle through.
00:21:55 I didn't have the dreaded feeling that we were out of our depth.
00:21:57 I mean, why don't you try to incorporate the ukiyo-e into your own design?
00:22:03 At the very least, I needed to know if my small time acting gig could lead to something bigger.
00:22:10 [ Foreign Language ]
00:22:35 [ Music ]
00:22:43 >> Today I'm on a set with about 100 foreigners and I'm commenting on funny videos.
00:22:49 After just three months in Japan, I'd already reached the lower leagues of foreign celebrity.
00:22:56 I was an extra, appearing regularly on national television,
00:23:02 something I couldn't have dreamed of achieving back in Australia.
00:23:05 So I'm not sure what my role is today, but I'm in this incredible church with about 10 other foreign extras.
00:23:15 I didn't know if this would lead to fame, but I was having the time of my life.
00:23:19 And more importantly, I could see that the Big in Japan pathway was real.
00:23:24 [ Music ]
00:23:47 >> Japan is unique in the sense that it has this homogenous culture.
00:23:52 When someone gets home from work, they turn on the TV and they want to see something that they don't see every day.
00:23:57 And foreigners are one of those things.
00:23:59 >> For them, a foreigner is a foreigner, especially a white guy.
00:24:05 Oh, they look like each other.
00:24:07 >> You can be famous just for being not Japanese.
00:24:11 So it's really your best shot.
00:24:14 And if you don't make it there, you're not going to make it in your home country.
00:24:21 Anyone can be Big in Japan.
00:24:23 >> Just as fame was evolving, so too was Big in Japan.
00:24:27 [ Music ]
00:24:32 A new generation of Japanophiles, from cosplayers, pop stars, to anime enthusiasts,
00:24:37 were taking celebrity into their own hands by building their fan bases online.
00:24:42 [ Music ]
00:24:47 Kelsey Panagoni was one of them.
00:24:50 At just 19, she'd left Canada to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a type of Japanese pop star known as an idol.
00:24:58 For the sake of my own experiment, I wanted to find out what had inspired Kelsey to take such an unusual path towards fame.
00:25:07 So I decided to visit her at the Rabbit Cafe, where she worked part-time.
00:25:11 >> Hello, Kelsey.
00:25:12 >> Hi, how are you?
00:25:14 >> Good. You're a -- are you a rabbit?
00:25:16 >> I'm a rabbit.
00:25:17 >> That's so cool.
00:25:19 So this is where you work?
00:25:20 >> Yes.
00:25:21 >> Wow. So what's your favourite rabbit?
00:25:23 >> Choro.
00:25:25 >> Who?
00:25:26 >> Choro.
00:25:27 >> Choro.
00:25:28 >> He's my very favourite.
00:25:30 >> Why do you like him?
00:25:31 >> He's got such a little fluffy face.
00:25:33 >> Oh, he seems pretty friendly.
00:25:35 So this is like essentially your part-time job?
00:25:37 >> Yes.
00:25:38 >> Ah.
00:25:39 >> But I have two, so.
00:25:41 >> Yeah, what's your other job?
00:25:43 >> Over there.
00:25:44 >> OK, and what happens there?
00:25:46 >> People take pictures.
00:25:48 [ Camera Shutter ]
00:25:49 >> One thing that really struck me was just how bizarre this whole situation seemed.
00:25:54 A girl taking care of rabbits, with this goal of becoming a famous J-pop idol in Japan.
00:26:00 >> They'll like smell you and they'll be like, "Good."
00:26:03 >> You've got to wonder how that kind of thing happens, you know.
00:26:08 It's not moving to Hollywood to get famous.
00:26:10 It's flying across the Pacific and integrating yourself in a foreign language and culture.
00:26:17 When did you first have the idea of becoming an idol?
00:26:20 >> It started when the chef at my ramen, the ramen shop, said, "You should go to Japan before you're 20."
00:26:28 Because in your teen years, it's very important if you want to be idol or if you want to be a singer or anything like that in Japan.
00:26:36 It should start out in your teens and the older you get, the less of a chance you have, I guess.
00:26:45 But the idea of Japan, I guess, was always in my head.
00:26:49 Like, I don't know.
00:26:51 I was probably in the womb, like, "Japan!"
00:26:54 I don't really know where it started or how it started.
00:26:58 >> I'm really tired and stuff.
00:27:01 And I have my show coming up and I have so many things to do and I've been busy.
00:27:07 >> But you became quite popular.
00:27:09 >> I have 4,000 followers, I guess.
00:27:13 >> That's not a little amount. That's a lot of people.
00:27:16 >> Compared to some, it's a lot. Compared to others, it's not. So I guess, I don't know.
00:27:21 >> Wow, that's so cool.
00:27:23 It was these online credentials that led to Kelsey being recruited by a newly formed idol group called Hajirai Rescue.
00:27:31 Though I'd heard of headline idol groups like AKB48, it occurred to me that I knew very little about what being an idol actually involved.
00:27:42 [Music]
00:27:50 >> This feels a little bit like a pyjama party.
00:27:53 [Music]
00:27:57 >> So you guys must be Hajirai Rescue.
00:28:00 >> Yes.
00:28:01 [Laughter]
00:28:06 >> That looks really hard.
00:28:08 >> It is really hard. Because we just learned it.
00:28:11 >> It's something totally different than I would imagine.
00:28:14 What would you describe it is that you're doing and what kind of group you are?
00:28:18 >> Idol is more like a model than anything else.
00:28:21 >> Right.
00:28:22 >> Because a lot of idols, well, smaller groups, they don't have to actually sing and they don't have to actually dance, but they're supposed to be cute.
00:28:30 >> What's your kind of character then?
00:28:34 >> Well, our group is actually called Hajirai Rescue, which Hajirai means shy, so I'm shy.
00:28:42 But most of the songs are about like, I like you, but I'm shy. I guess we haven't really thought about it.
00:28:50 [Laughter]
00:28:51 >> [Speaking in Japanese]
00:28:54 >> Like flowers, she says.
00:28:56 >> I like that. It's coming spring, so flowers are going to bloom.
00:29:00 >> [Speaking in Japanese]
00:29:02 >> [Speaking in Japanese]
00:29:07 [Music]
00:29:25 >> As Hajirai Rescue waited to take the stage, I was struck by how at ease Kelsey seemed in her new role already, having only been in Japan for three months.
00:29:34 [Music]
00:29:44 >> What had started as a dream on the internet had now materialised into a real-life idol scene, and I was curious about where this new path might lead.
00:29:54 [Music]
00:30:02 >> What do you want to achieve with Hajirai Rescue?
00:30:05 >> Like, I don't want to be a group that just never gets noticed, never goes anywhere.
00:30:11 [Music]
00:30:15 >> I want to be kind of like Britney Spears, or like, if you say that, everybody knows who she is.
00:30:22 [Music]
00:30:32 [Applause]
00:30:34 >> [Speaking in Japanese]
00:30:36 [Applause]
00:30:38 [Background noise]
00:30:51 [Background noise]
00:31:12 >> What's up, Dave?
00:31:15 >> I've got another extra gig. That's what's up.
00:31:22 >> You should be excited, right?
00:31:24 >> It's just, it's just I've got to make that call again.
00:31:31 >> It's David.
00:31:36 >> It had been six months since our arrival in Japan, and the initial euphoria of appearing on television had been replaced by a growing anxiety about losing my teaching job.
00:31:47 >> I'm feeling very unwell this morning. To be honest, I need to be near a toilet all day.
00:31:56 >> Ah. Sorry, wait, wait.
00:32:00 >> With the sick calls as frequent as once a week, I began to question my full-time dedication to the FAME experiment.
00:32:07 >> I'm not only treading on thin ice, I'm also worried that I'm upsetting people, which I have a big problem with.
00:32:18 >> I've been teaching this kids' class. It just started up a few months ago, and this kid's just started to trust me, and her English has been improving so much.
00:32:28 >> How old is this girl?
00:32:29 >> She's four.
00:32:30 >> Sorry.
00:32:33 >> Yeah, right? But she's gotten used to me as a teacher. Sub comes in, she won't go in the classroom. And I don't like lying either. I don't like the campaign of lies.
00:32:44 >> When the documentary finishes, you'll be out of Japan. You won't ever meet these people ever again. Why does it matter?
00:32:51 >> I don't think it's right, what I'm doing. What would you do in my situation?
00:32:56 >> I wouldn't give a fuck about any kid. I'm in Japan here to shoot a documentary. That's my priority. That's what I want to invest my emotions in.
00:33:03 >> That's what I want to invest my energy, my effort, all my time. Teaching English allows me to do that.
00:33:10 >> Clearly, we were all feeling the pressure. But there was an even bigger problem at hand.
00:33:17 >> As an extra appearing for a few seconds in the background of TV shows, I wasn't getting any closer to FAME.
00:33:25 >> If we were to make any further progress in our FAME experiment, we would need a new approach entirely.
00:33:30 >> Alright, so we're gathered here today to talk about how to make you famous, Dave.
00:33:42 >> We need to take a more systematic approach as well, to figure out the different ways people do become famous. And I've created a list of those ways.
00:33:52 >> So one of the biggest considerations coming up in this list is, what can Dave do?
00:33:56 >> Yeah, not a lot. There's a lot of things I think we can just cross off the list. He's not a Brad Pitt, he's not even a Michael Cera.
00:34:05 >> But he doesn't have a Nobel Prize in him.
00:34:07 >> No, he doesn't have a Nobel Prize. He's not a Rain Man.
00:34:10 >> So the first three I've got are probably the typical ways people become famous. You achieve something.
00:34:18 >> You could invent something, you could cure a disease, I don't think you could do that.
00:34:22 >> Not that one.
00:34:23 >> Being the best. Are you the best at anything?
00:34:25 >> Um...
00:34:27 >> Alright, we'll cross that one off.
00:34:29 >> And do you have some kind of talent?
00:34:34 >> Well, that's the point, isn't it? I don't have any talent.
00:34:36 >> Yeah, I think that's the point. Yeah, so the first three, we'll cross them off.
00:34:39 >> I think we need to think practically about this. What are the tools available to us? What are the platforms? And how can we build a fan base?
00:34:47 >> Alright, so the next point is I think it's the quickest way to become famous, it's the most effective way and we don't really have to do much.
00:34:54 >> It's to go viral. And I think a classic example of this type of fame is Alex from Target.
00:35:00 >> He's a normal guy, a little bit attractive, and then he wakes up in the next morning and he's got 300,000 Twitter followers.
00:35:06 >> And now he's going on a YouTube tour.
00:35:08 >> Hey guys, what's up? Welcome back to my YouTube channel.
00:35:11 >> We shouldn't dismiss the viral thing.
00:35:13 >> Question mark?
00:35:14 >> Yep.
00:35:15 >> This kind of leads to the two things that I think we should try and do which actually involve hard work.
00:35:21 >> And one was based on what Bob was telling us, you know? Create a persona.
00:35:26 >> And amplify it.
00:35:27 >> Amplify it. Times a hundred.
00:35:29 >> So what have you got?
00:35:30 >> Well, he's got big fucking glasses.
00:35:32 >> I began with this sketch which doesn't look like Dave at all. So I just ended up being like an obsessive girlfriend, drawing his face heaps and heaps of times.
00:35:44 >> Given our desperation to build an audience, we needed to give my persona license to do anything in the name of fame.
00:35:51 >> We eventually hatched Mr. Jonesu, a wild and eccentric version of me, built for the Japanese market.
00:35:59 >> Me and Lewis walked in here about two minutes ago and found you like this. What's up?
00:36:07 >> I don't think that's very fair because you pretty much forced me into this situation, Lachlan.
00:36:12 >> Mr. Jonesu was my twin brother, separated at birth and raised by viral videos.
00:36:18 >> There are a lot of people in that space making videos. A lot of those videos are weird. Let's make weird shit and let's make it weirder.
00:36:25 >> Inspired by Japanese pop culture references, the Jonesu franchise included an obsessive nose-bleeding tourist and a daikon.
00:36:33 >> I'm not discriminating against anyone.
00:36:35 >> Who would eat anything out of a blender.
00:36:37 >> You're so honest.
00:36:39 >> For our wildest creation of all, we took inspiration from the onigiri, a common Japanese snack made of rice and seaweed, to create Japan's weirdest superhero, Onigiri Man.
00:36:50 >> Let's see what I look like.
00:36:57 >> Shit!
00:37:01 >> Oh no!
00:37:04 >> It's bringing him to that line, the boundary that he's set for himself, that every human sets for themselves and then pushing him over it and going, "No, that's not your boundary, mate. Keep going, keep going."
00:37:15 >> Oh my God!
00:37:17 >> Holy shit!
00:37:29 >> Oh Jesus!
00:37:31 >> I don't know. I don't know what I look like. >> We're doing this.
00:37:35 >> Oh my God. I already am kind of pushing boundaries a bit.
00:37:40 >> That's true.
00:37:42 >> Whether I liked it or not, Onigiri Man was to be launched later that very day at one of the busiest places in Tokyo.
00:38:00 >> You ready now?
00:38:02 >> Sorry.
00:38:04 >> You're nervous.
00:38:06 >> A little bit. Once we get started, I'm going to want to be as fast as possible. In the event that we are, I am kind of, I mean this is an extreme case, but in case I am arrested or something, you guys have got my, uh...
00:38:19 >> It's not full nudity, is it?
00:38:21 >> No, it's not.
00:38:23 >> Right.
00:38:25 >> Hey, yo, yo, do it. He's off.
00:38:28 >> Yeah, I'm out.
00:38:29 >> Can I give you a little time?
00:38:38 >> So just one thing. When you were put forward as the one woman that has to be the proudest of, would you have allowed that to happen as you know then what you know now?
00:38:56 >> That's a good question. I said I would do anything and that's been the premise behind it.
00:39:05 >> I want to become famous. I have to put everything out there. Do you think I'm making a mistake?
00:39:22 >> No, I think you're fine. No, I trust you.
00:39:26 >> Am I making a mistake?
00:39:32 >> No, you're not.
00:39:34 >> Hello.
00:39:37 >> What are you doing?
00:39:39 >> What are you doing?
00:39:41 >> You're not so bad, right?
00:39:43 >> It's alright. I'm just not looking at the people.
00:39:47 >> Mr Jones's launch loomed. It dawned on me that what I was about to do was irreversible.
00:39:52 >> Okay, so we've got Mario, we've got Ampanman, we've got beers and we're about to launch Mr Jones.
00:40:05 >> This is maybe the craziest thing I've ever done. Give me a pity like as I sell my soul to the internets.
00:40:16 >> Cheers.
00:40:18 >> The release in the end was oddly cathartic. Mr Jones was a character, just a character.
00:40:29 >> And I took comfort in the fact that he wasn't really me.
00:40:33 >> We began to take YouTube very seriously, imagining ourselves as an agile, fame-building unit.
00:40:44 >> So we've snuck into one of the parks in Tokyo because it's got this nice forest and if we're caught we're fucked.
00:40:50 >> And action.
00:40:52 >> And for the first time, we felt like we had complete control over our destiny.
00:41:01 >> What the fuck I felt last time.
00:41:07 >> But no one watched our videos.
00:41:11 >> We're still under 100 subscribers after two months on YouTube.
00:41:15 >> That was pretty pathetic. >> Fucking deflating.
00:41:21 >> We need some kind of support beyond just our friends which are our 98 supporters so far.
00:41:28 >> And beyond the advertising we've poured into it ourselves.
00:41:32 >> I think most of the views are from paid advertising.
00:41:37 >> When you consider that 2.3 billion of us now use social media, it's not surprising that our efforts barely registered a ripple.
00:41:45 >> Alright, so here we are in front of the elephants.
00:41:48 >> Cool thing about these guys is that...
00:41:51 >> Since YouTube first invited us to broadcast ourselves back in 2005, hundreds of millions of us have answered the call.
00:41:59 >> Hey guys, it's me.
00:42:02 >> It begs the question, when everyone has a platform, how are you meant to get recognized?
00:42:08 >> Well, right on time. How are you doing? >> Good. Nice to meet you.
00:42:12 >> Wow. I expected you to be nude.
00:42:16 >> An onigiri. >> Yeah, yeah.
00:42:19 >> In search of advice, I'd hunted down an American YouTuber called Gimmeabreakman.
00:42:24 >> He was the self-proclaimed godfather of a community of foreign YouTubers in Japan known as Jvloggers.
00:42:31 >> We're just having fun, you know. We have parties, we invite each other to these parties and we get these get-togethers.
00:42:37 >> And you'll see an overlap. A lot of people appear in many other people's videos.
00:42:41 >> So I guess the last thing I mainly wanted to talk about was my own channel. It's not doing incredibly well.
00:42:48 >> Right. Let me see. Your total views are only 3,000... 8,000 views here.
00:42:54 >> Okay. >> 98 subscribers. Did I stop here? I'll subscribe to you now.
00:43:00 >> Appreciate it. >> How to get more views? You know what?
00:43:04 >> You know, if you wanted to introduce yourself to the whole YouTube community, it's at Pember 6.
00:43:09 >> It's a YouTube party in Tokyo. >> Ah. >> If you can make it to that...
00:43:14 >> Of course, I went as none other than Onigiri Man.
00:43:18 >> You've got guts. I'm really impressed. >> Thank you, thank you.
00:43:25 >> How often do these events happen? >> At least once a year.
00:43:29 >> This is my event with Hiko Sae and the Return of the Havoyages. We do this once a year.
00:43:34 >> And this is the fourth year now. And this is the biggest turnout we've ever had. Actually, it doubled over last year.
00:43:39 >> You guys are like the father figures of this community, right? >> Yeah, we're old.
00:43:44 >> You know what I think it is? People think, "If he can do it, I can do it." And it's true.
00:43:52 I wasn't sure what I imagined YouTube's celebrity to look like, but a bunch of seemingly ordinary people
00:43:58 hanging out in a run-of-the-mill sports bar was not what I expected.
00:44:02 I had to remind myself that some of them could fill multiple stadiums with their subscribers.
00:44:08 >> I think the big difference between the way that fame moves now and fame maybe moved prior to 20 years ago,
00:44:17 but even further back, is that it has become pandemic.
00:44:22 >> Your interview style is so unique and amazingly awesome.
00:44:27 >> What's the overall goal? >> As many things as possible in my head, I guess.
00:44:33 >> It doesn't situate itself entirely within the 200 or 300 people that we could name without even thinking about it.
00:44:45 [Speaking Japanese]
00:44:52 >> Social media has more or less produced the consequence that many, many people are working
00:45:04 and producing and laboring to become famous.
00:45:10 >> Don't be a fellow and just shut the fuck up for fuck sake.
00:45:17 >> I didn't want to be famous. I really didn't want to be famous at first.
00:45:21 I just wanted to make videos that would entertain people and educate them.
00:45:25 >> Having met these modern celebrities, I felt reassured that as an untalented nobody,
00:45:31 I was perfectly within my rights to seek fame.
00:45:36 But on the other hand, I was a semi-naked lunch food with a fraction of their subscriber count.
00:45:41 >> What would you recommend for someone like me? >> Who are you targeting? Who's your target market?
00:45:45 >> That's probably the main question, isn't it? >> People that like the look, yeah?
00:45:51 >> At the very least, we needed a better strategy.
00:45:59 >> I have a... I have to take my hiccup medicine.
00:46:04 >> So Bob, where are we going today? >> Well, today I have another commercial shooting.
00:46:13 With a great friend of mine, Dr. Takasu. He's also my sponsor.
00:46:18 And so he puts me in some of these kind of wacky type of commercials.
00:46:23 >> Now he's checking his body for TV commercials.
00:46:27 >> This is him tweeting, he's talking about what his body looks like for today's commercial.
00:46:31 So we'll both have our shirts off, I'm quite sure, and he'll be doing that on the commercial.
00:46:36 >> One more time, yes, together. Yes, cheese.
00:46:41 >> Great. >> I'll upload it on Twitter. >> Yes, yes, great.
00:46:46 >> Good morning. >> Good morning. >> Good to see you. How are you?
00:46:51 >> Out of nowhere, the universe delivered my newest inspiration.
00:46:56 >> My name's Ladybeard, this is my photo. >> It's awesome. >> Meet you, Ladybeard.
00:47:00 >> Hi, lovely to meet you.
00:47:02 >> Rick "Ladybeard" McGarry was a 31-year-old Australian
00:47:06 whose repertoire included cross-dressing, wrestling and heavy metal singing.
00:47:11 As a countryman and fellow weirdo, Ladybeard seemed like the ideal mentor for Mr. Jonesu.
00:47:18 >> I think when you're making a documentary about foreigners in Japan
00:47:22 and a man, a fully grown man walks through the door and he's got a beard and a red dress on,
00:47:30 you thank the documentary gods and you go with it.
00:47:34 >> Despite only being in the country for two months, Rick had amassed 20,000 followers on Twitter.
00:47:41 >> So he's doing, just to put this in perspective, he's doing 50 times as well as I am.
00:47:48 >> I wanted to find out more about Ladybeard's self-made celebrity and how he ended up here in the first place.
00:47:55 >> Are you boys heavy metal boys?
00:48:00 >> Cool, alright. It is hot as shit back here, isn't it?
00:48:13 [Music]
00:48:20 >> Strangely enough, it wasn't in Japan that the Ladybeard story began.
00:48:25 >> When I first did it for the first time in Hong Kong, people lost their minds.
00:48:28 >> You are the funniest guy I've ever seen in my whole life.
00:48:31 >> Funny, funny, funny, funny guy. You're so crazy.
00:48:35 >> They couldn't believe it.
00:48:37 >> And people seemed to love it so much and it made everyone so happy that I was like,
00:48:42 >> "There's got to be a thing in this, you know?"
00:48:44 >> And so I kind of, then when I started wrestling in Hong Kong, I needed a character.
00:48:49 >> And I was like, "What if I put on a dress and I call myself Ladybeard?"
00:48:52 >> It was during a 2013 tour of Japan that Rick discovered an audience who simply couldn't get enough of his adorable destruction.
00:49:00 >> Ladybeard the brand had found its critical mass.
00:49:10 [Music]
00:49:22 [Cheering]
00:49:26 [Music]
00:49:46 >> Come on, Ladybeard!
00:49:51 [Music]
00:49:56 [Cheering]
00:50:00 >> Thank you very much.
00:50:02 >> Wow!
00:50:03 >> Thank you for coming.
00:50:04 >> I've seen nothing like that, man.
00:50:06 >> Cool. That makes me happy. That's what I go for.
00:50:08 >> But I'm an idiot. Like, I can't do anything. I can do what you saw on stage.
00:50:13 >> I can get in the ring and do some wrestling. That's it.
00:50:17 >> At real life, I suck so much. Very bad at real life, you know?
00:50:21 >> So the fact that people appreciate the one thing that I can do, it makes me very, very happy.
00:50:25 [Music]
00:50:27 >> Though he played down his popularity as good fortune, I was left wondering,
00:50:31 >> how could Rick from Australia know what resonates with a Japanese audience?
00:50:36 [Phone ringing]
00:50:40 >> We were at the photo studio of Ladybeard's manager, Naoko Tachibana.
00:50:45 >> Oh, cute!
00:50:47 >> Oh, nice, nice.
00:50:49 >> A world-renowned photographer of cross-dressers, Naoko took a huge risk in partnering with Rick,
00:50:53 >> in the hope that Ladybeard would make it big.
00:50:56 >> Oh, nice!
00:50:58 [Laughter]
00:51:00 >> I like this one.
00:51:02 >> My friend introduced me to Ricky.
00:51:05 >> When I first saw his photo, the one from Hong Kong,
00:51:11 >> I thought it was really interesting, but this style wasn't cute, so I thought it was difficult to succeed in Japan.
00:51:19 >> It's cute.
00:51:21 >> I understand everything about cross-dressers, and I understand Japanese "kawaii" and "otaku,"
00:51:30 >> so I said, "I'll lend you a costume."
00:51:34 >> Yes, yes, yes, good!
00:51:36 >> So I took a picture and asked him to use it.
00:51:39 >> Ah, good job, Nao, good job!
00:51:42 >> Good job, Ricky!
00:51:44 >> Normally, if I get 100 or 200 likes, it's great, but...
00:51:50 >> Nice!
00:51:52 >> So I retweeted 3,000 times, and I thought, "This will definitely get more popular."
00:51:58 >> Oh!
00:52:00 >> Naoko's photos were just one component of Team Ladybeard's strategy.
00:52:05 >> The second component involved regular public appearances in subcultural hotspots around Tokyo.
00:52:12 >> All right, here we go.
00:52:15 >> I know!
00:52:17 >> I know you!
00:52:19 >> How you doing? You good?
00:52:21 >> You're having a good day. I can tell from your face.
00:52:25 >> He's walked literally about 10 meters into the street, and he's already making a show.
00:52:35 >> Existing fans and newcomers alike were flocking to get a glimpse of the Ladybeard show.
00:52:40 >> It's crazy. All kinds of people, children, adults, babes.
00:52:45 >> What we didn't see at the time was that an entire other scene was escalating and unfolding online.
00:52:52 >> I follow him on Twitter. I follow him on Twitter.
00:52:55 >> Do you follow him, Ladybeard?
00:52:57 >> Team Ladybeard's grassroots approach showed me that when properly designed, fame could be built from scratch.
00:53:03 >> We've gone from 10 meters in to about 15 meters in now.
00:53:07 >> I don't think we're going to reach halfway.
00:53:09 >> It's not just about creating a persona. It's about knowing and responding to an audience.
00:53:15 >> What a cute ponytail!
00:53:17 >> It's so cute!
00:53:20 >> What makes Ladybeard so special is that she's big, has a lot of beards, and doesn't look like a girl at all, but she looks great in a girl's outfit.
00:53:29 >> And people are really thinking about what it means to be cute.
00:53:37 >> Not many people get to experience that kind of recognition on the street. What does it feel like?
00:53:42 >> It's awesome, and at the same time, you've got to be on all the time.
00:53:46 >> Even right now, I still have to be mindful of all these people talking.
00:53:49 >> So it's continuous, non-stop work.
00:53:54 >> Do you think there'll be a time one day when you can't do this?
00:53:57 >> Do you want me to come out in public like this?
00:53:59 >> Yeah.
00:54:00 >> I hope so. I hope I get famous enough that it's too much of a non-stop.
00:54:03 >> This is awesome. These are the zombie brides. Check out the zombie bride on camera.
00:54:07 >> Aren't they cute?
00:54:09 >> Thank you. They're cute.
00:54:12 >> No, I hope that happens very soon. I hope it's, you know, I can't go anywhere or do anything without getting recognized, and I can't go to the grocery store without getting recognized.
00:54:24 >> Having met Ladybeard, we realized that if Mr. Jones was ever going to get big on YouTube, we had to turn an open ear to our audience.
00:54:34 >> But despite our new grassroots strategy, my first real taste of fame came from an avenue we'd long since neglected.
00:55:02 >> Hello.
00:55:02 >> Hey.
00:55:03 >> Hey, how you doing?
00:55:04 >> Good, good, good. You get a big one now. It's confidential, so I can't say the name, but Tea Company from Cars. You know, Japanese tea company. It's fucking huge.
00:55:15 >> Yeah?
00:55:16 >> You get almost a month's, more than a month's salary in two, three days, right?
00:55:22 >> Why is it so huge?
00:55:24 >> I don't know, because it's worldwide.
00:55:26 >> Worldwide?
00:55:27 >> Yeah, probably, yeah.
00:55:30 >> You get a big son, I hope.
00:55:31 >> All of a sudden, the floodgates had opened.
00:55:34 >> Ross!
00:55:35 >> Cop Adele Jones, we're here today.
00:55:41 >> I'm very, very surprised that Dave is getting these jobs.
00:55:46 >> I never know whether I prefer watching the actual ad he's in or watching Dave watch the ad.
00:55:51 >> Hurry up!
00:55:53 >> It's like watching one of those videos where the gorilla realizes it's him in the mirror. It's Dave like, "That's me on TV!"
00:56:00 >> It's a drug. It is addicting. And once you get a little taste of that sweet mama fame, I want more! I want more of that!
00:56:22 [Music]
00:56:40 >> Merry Christmas!
00:56:45 >> By Christmas of my first year in Japan, my extra work seemed like a distant memory.
00:56:50 >> I'd found my calling as an idiot foreign nerd, and I was getting paid thousands of dollars to star in primetime television commercials.
00:56:58 >> Who could complain about that?
00:57:00 >> It's actually pretty surreal.
00:57:05 >> I was taken to the same studio that Godzilla was filmed at.
00:57:14 >> It's trippy and it's exciting and it's cool. But you do kind of feel a bit special.
00:57:19 >> We've been here probably eight months. Is this kind of where you expected we'd be at when we started? Did you expect we'd get this far?
00:57:27 >> I don't know what I expected, really. I just did it.
00:57:34 [Laughs]
00:57:39 [Music]
00:57:56 >> A year into our experiment, I was well and truly hooked.
00:58:01 >> My pursuit of fame initially felt frivolous and ridiculous, but the perks were indisputable, and I couldn't deny that I wanted more.
00:58:08 >> Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
00:58:15 >> But as it turned out, I was only really skimming the surface of what true fame actually involved.
00:58:23 >> I may have overdid it a little bit. My legs feel so numb. I think I will actually just cancel and just sit down.
00:58:32 >> I thought you were a human at one point, but this is proof that you are human.
00:58:37 >> Yeah, yeah. The beast is a kitten.
00:58:43 [Laughs]
00:58:45 >> Wait, wait. What just happened?
00:58:49 >> All I know is Bob hasn't been getting enough fluids. He's had to go to the hospital and cancel the rest of his New Year's event.
00:58:59 >> Thank you all. Good night. Happy New Year.
00:59:03 >> [Speaking in foreign language]
00:59:08 >> Bob's out.
00:59:18 >> [Speaking in foreign language]
00:59:22 [Music]
00:59:35 >> Months later, we were back on the road with Bob. He'd barely had a day's rest in a hectic year in which he'd reportedly earned three million US dollars.
00:59:45 After seeing him crash out of the New Year's event, I wanted to know what effect his work had on his personal life.
00:59:52 >> Do you spend more time as the beast than Bob Sapp?
00:59:56 >> I think it's correct. That's right. And so that's why on my Facebook, I have a picture of me and my dog and me and an elephant in the background, okay, because I want people to know, listen, I'm really a normal person, guys, because that's right.
01:00:10 When I leave, everybody wants the beast. When I walk through the mall, they want the beast. It can get, you know, tiring.
01:00:16 >> So what about your friends and family? Are you happy with your relationship with your close friends and your family at the moment?
01:00:24 >> Family members are going to be, they've got to stay their distance. So within about almost a little bit over ten years, I haven't got to see anybody in my family or really speak to anyone.
01:00:34 It's really hard because, you know, they want to be a part of what's going on so much that it's to their detriment. That stuff makes me go nuts.
01:00:46 >> And then I just do here and then...
01:00:49 [Cheering]
01:00:51 >> It's a blessing and a curse.
01:00:53 >> How do I get to know somebody? Oh my goodness, jeez. You tell me I have over a thousand plus emails over there a day, a week, or a month, ten thousand emails.
01:01:03 How do I get to know anybody? You know, everybody's saying the same thing. I really like you for you and everybody's for me, but I really like you for who you are instead of what you do.
01:01:13 Everybody says it. Everyone says the same thing.
01:01:16 >> So what does it take for you to care about someone?
01:01:18 >> That's a really good question. I haven't really thought about that. I guess I do more caring for them than I really want them to care for me, I think.
01:01:25 That's probably how that works. So I have my animals that I really care for, my friends that are closer to me, which is very few.
01:01:31 And then that's about it, you know. So what it takes is really somebody that has just the stamina and the wherewithal to understand all of this.
01:01:40 >> Bob Sapp had lifted the veil from his larger-than-life character to reveal a reality of self-imposed isolation and hard work bordering on workaholism.
01:01:55 I'd once found his stardom inspirational, but now I wondered if hardships such as Bob's were part of the general baggage of being a celebrity.
01:02:04 [ Background noise ]
01:02:31 I was with Sasa, one of Hajirai Rescue's most passionate supporters and a keen admirer of up-and-coming idol Kelsey Panagoni.
01:02:39 >> Mini-photograph.
01:02:41 >> Yes.
01:02:42 >> My favourite JK is this one.
01:02:44 >> My favourite member is Kelsey.
01:02:48 >> Is Kelsey important to you?
01:02:51 >> Yes, she is.
01:02:53 >> Why is she important to you?
01:03:00 [ Foreign Language ]
01:03:25 Since arriving in Japan eight months ago, Kelsey and her group, Hajirai Rescue, were now on the cusp of mainstream status.
01:03:32 It seems like you're at least getting more of those dedicated fans. How often do you see them?
01:03:39 >> Every life, every single time.
01:03:41 >> And then they come to your stall and they buy everything?
01:03:44 >> Yes.
01:03:45 >> Ah!
01:03:46 >> You know, just to see like that much dedication, it's like, oh my God, thank you.
01:03:54 But success in the highly lucrative idol industry often involves sacrifices that many in the West would consider unreasonable.
01:04:01 >> Idols, once they sign a contract with an agency, are essentially the property of the agency.
01:04:09 And they don't have private lives, basically. And there was a case, a girl from AKB48, she had the unmitigated audacity to have a date with a boy.
01:04:23 And she was ritually, publicly humiliated, shamed.
01:04:28 And she shaved her head and she put herself up on YouTube and made this confession.
01:04:34 Here's a girl who's just going on a date with a guy.
01:04:37 [ Foreign Language ]
01:04:45 But the point is, these girls are supposed to portray this image of virginal purity,
01:04:53 mainly to satisfy the sublimated sexual urges of the middle-aged men who are, in large part, the fans.
01:04:59 >> I wasn't sure if Kelsey was subject to such stringent conditions herself.
01:05:06 [ Music ]
01:05:08 But I was curious about how she was getting on, having immersed herself in an entirely different system of celebrity.
01:05:14 [ Music ]
01:05:18 To find out, we joined her downtown for a classic session of Japanese karaoke.
01:05:23 >> What have you been up to lately?
01:05:25 >> Well, we just had our CD release in Tower Records.
01:05:29 >> Oh my gosh.
01:05:30 >> So, that was really surprising. There were a lot of people there, actually.
01:05:36 So, because that day we actually had an event where if you buy one CD, then you get to shake her hand.
01:05:42 And then if you buy two, you get a free Polaroid picture.
01:05:45 >> Some of the fans like that little bit of contact, right?
01:05:49 >> If you know AKB, they actually have events just for shaking hands.
01:05:53 And you have to pay to get in those events.
01:05:55 >> Jeez.
01:05:56 >> Exactly. It is crazy.
01:05:59 >> How do you feel at that moment shaking the hand of someone that has bought that handshake, essentially?
01:06:05 >> It kind of feels surreal, I guess.
01:06:07 Like, it's definitely weird, but it's not something I'm really uncomfortable with, I guess.
01:06:13 [ Music ]
01:06:16 Anywhere in the entertainment industry, you're kind of like, you're more of an object.
01:06:21 Especially with Idol, though, it's all about image.
01:06:23 Like, you're paying to have contact with me.
01:06:29 Like, I don't think, like, I don't know, I'm a pretty normal person.
01:06:35 But, I don't know, it takes getting used to, I guess.
01:06:40 >> But you're not allowed to have boyfriends in Idol, right?
01:06:42 >> No.
01:06:43 >> What do your parents think about what you're doing?
01:06:45 >> I don't know if my parents really understand fully.
01:06:49 Because it's, like, I'm pretty sure in Australia it's the same thing.
01:06:52 It's just like, what is Idol?
01:06:55 Like, what, you can't have a boyfriend?
01:06:58 What is, like, and I think the biggest thing is, like, you can't have a boyfriend.
01:07:01 And you have to be in, like, a bikini.
01:07:04 And it's also, like, sexist or something.
01:07:05 I get that the most, I think, from, like, English bloggers will, like, send me questions.
01:07:10 And it's just, it's a really different way of looking at it.
01:07:14 So I have no idea what my parents think.
01:07:18 >> Kelsey had made astonishing progress towards her goal of becoming a Japanese pop icon.
01:07:24 But giving up basic freedoms to play the role of an Idol, to me, seemed like an extreme price to pay for fame.
01:07:33 I could see now that a serious pursuit of fame was not a harmless endeavor, but a major life decision with real-life consequences.
01:07:41 We were well into our second year of living in Japan, and my showbiz success had come to a crippling halt.
01:07:59 With time ticking away, we decided to return to our original plan of hustling for an audience on YouTube.
01:08:05 I want to become famous in Japan.
01:08:08 So, I'm going to need your help.
01:08:28 I'm fucking nervous, man.
01:08:29 What are you worried about?
01:08:56 But as I found myself subject to the escalating whims and demands of an audience, my tolerance as famed guinea pig finally began to wither.
01:09:04 This is desperation to get famous. This is what this is. It's not fucking easy.
01:09:12 [Whistle]
01:09:13 Jones, you're going to go to the Yuhi Falls and do a five-minute waterfall show.
01:09:26 This is your next challenge.
01:09:28 It's going to be ridiculously cold. It's going to be like minus two degrees.
01:09:38 We deliberately had a look for like, "Which waterfalls will be frozen?"
01:09:42 That was the main criteria for finding a waterfall for the day.
01:09:45 Can we safely guarantee that this is the most extreme thing?
01:09:51 No.
01:09:52 The extreme things are the only way that people will take notice of you.
01:09:56 Yeah, but according to who?
01:09:58 You want a video that people might share or like, "Let's make a ridiculous character. Let's make Onigiri Man. Let's make him get naked and go in public."
01:10:07 This is funny. Yeah, but that's because you think it's funny. You think it's funny to see me doing those things.
01:10:12 But actually, we don't always need to make something that's extreme just to get people's attention.
01:10:20 Are you all right there, Dave?
01:10:26 I don't know what to say. I just don't want to do it anymore. I don't want to be doing this today. I'm doing this only for the documentary.
01:10:34 [Snow crunching]
01:10:38 There's a nice bit of snow there just to kind of indicate the temperature.
01:10:41 I'm feeling so nervous. That coffee I just drank, it's all swirming around my stomach right now.
01:10:50 We've got everything ready. Hopefully you don't have a heart attack.
01:11:01 [Laughs]
01:11:03 [Laughs]
01:11:06 I feel like this project in a way has kind of come to define me. I've got people in every aspect of my life kind of seeing me for this documentary.
01:11:20 Seeing me as Mr. Jonesy. People call me Mr. Jonesy.
01:11:23 Three, two, one.
01:11:26 [Speaking Japanese]
01:11:28 It's actually suffocating.
01:11:31 [Sounds of water]
01:11:40 [Screams]
01:11:42 [Screams]
01:11:46 [Screams]
01:11:53 I'm swimming. I'm swimming.
01:11:57 [Screams]
01:12:08 Surely there was more to modern fame than this.
01:12:11 Fishing for likes, shares and seconds of online attention.
01:12:16 We were presenting ourselves like small brands.
01:12:23 Whether we were doing dangerous things, showcasing our picture perfect lives or hurling ourselves into icy waterfalls.
01:12:30 Experiment or not, it was too much.
01:12:33 And I felt like I couldn't continue until I could answer the crucial question of why.
01:12:39 Oh my balls!
01:12:41 [Screams]
01:12:43 I can't do it. I can't.
01:12:46 Oh come on Dave.
01:12:48 [Screams]
01:12:49 Dave, Dave, go back.
01:12:52 Oh my balls!
01:12:53 Dave, go back.
01:12:55 Dave, you were almost there.
01:12:57 Fuck off! You don't know what it's like.
01:13:00 You have no idea.
01:13:02 I kind of felt like that was a pretty feeble effort.
01:13:05 Yeah.
01:13:07 It was a poor effort.
01:13:10 It was a pretty poor effort.
01:13:12 Oh, you guys are mean.
01:13:15 [Rain]
01:13:25 [Laughter]
01:13:27 Um...
01:13:31 [Knock on door]
01:13:44 [Speaking Japanese]
01:13:47 Aw, bless my fans. They're so sweet.
01:13:50 I love them.
01:13:52 You're Ladybeards, huh?
01:13:54 Hello, how's it all going?
01:13:56 I hope my lettering gifts find you in good health.
01:13:58 Oh, that's nice.
01:14:00 I'm poor at English, but I'm studying English again to write to you.
01:14:03 Oh my god, that's so sweet.
01:14:05 And you are trying hard in the foreign country, in Japan, that's correct.
01:14:09 That's amazing.
01:14:12 When I first met Rick and Naoko, Ladybeards' Twitter following had more than doubled
01:14:15 thanks to their tireless work and huge personal investment in the brand.
01:14:20 With my motivation for the fame experiment now at an all-time low,
01:14:25 I was curious about what fuelled Rick's incessant hunger for fame.
01:14:29 So what do we want to find out today then?
01:14:32 Well, I think one thing that's for sure is that what Rick's doing isn't normal.
01:14:38 I guess I'd like to find out what drives someone like Rick to come all the way to Japan,
01:14:42 put on a woman's dress and try to get famous,
01:14:46 which is not a very normal thing to do. It's a pretty extreme life choice.
01:14:50 I think anyone who's getting into the entertainment industry generally,
01:14:57 especially as a performer, has some level of, not necessarily insecurity,
01:15:04 but to an extent they enjoy being objectified.
01:15:07 In the sense they enjoy performing and they enjoy people watching them.
01:15:10 Did you have any insecurities when you were younger?
01:15:14 Yeah, tons. Tons. Bags full.
01:15:17 I think that's a massive reason why I'm doing all this now.
01:15:21 In fact, I remember doing a goal-setting workshop several years ago
01:15:25 when I kind of said to myself,
01:15:29 "I sort of need to get famous because I'm never going to feel worthwhile if I don't."
01:15:33 Later that night, I visited Rick at his apartment.
01:15:44 I wanted to know more about his past and how it had shaped his fame ambition.
01:15:49 Australia, I find very strange in that I've never properly been able to get things done in Australia.
01:15:58 I've never really felt accepted amongst other Australians, which is why I left.
01:16:03 My main memory of growing up is that I was fat and nobody liked me for that reason.
01:16:13 That's my main memory.
01:16:16 The world repeatedly communicated with me that I was a shit human being because I was fat.
01:16:24 When did you first start seeking that acceptance?
01:16:27 I guess when I was 14, when I started cross-dressing.
01:16:30 I found being funny was the only approval I normally got from people.
01:16:34 If I was funny, then even the guys who were pulling me would laugh.
01:16:38 When I first came up with the name Ladybeard,
01:16:41 it was a code name for the party version of me.
01:16:45 Because essentially it was what I would do when I went and partied.
01:16:49 It's so often, so regularly that people just knew you as Party Rick.
01:16:56 That's Ladybeard.
01:16:58 Yeah, that's right.
01:17:00 But then the name Ladybeard I didn't create until much later, until I was living in Hong Kong.
01:17:04 So people just knew me as Rick, the dude who's wearing the dress.
01:17:07 And I'm still surrounded by girls because I'm wearing dresses.
01:17:15 (Laughter)
01:17:18 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:20 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:23 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:26 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:29 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:31 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:33 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:35 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:37 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:39 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:41 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:43 (Speaking Japanese)
01:17:45 I could see that fame had awarded Rick a happiness that perhaps he couldn't get otherwise.
01:17:50 And that beyond the likes and shares and signifiers of fame, there were real human connections.
01:17:56 (Speaking Japanese)
01:18:08 Perhaps this feel-good factor was what my fame experiment was lacking.
01:18:14 (Speaking Japanese)
01:18:16 I was willing to give my online celebrity one last shot.
01:18:20 But this time, I was going all out.
01:18:23 Alright, today's a big one. I'm at Comiket.
01:18:26 So far, my fame attempts have got me 500 fans.
01:18:29 Today I'm ready to take it to the next level.
01:18:31 When Ladybeard came here, he got 10,000 fans in one day.
01:18:35 So today I'm aiming for 1,000.
01:18:38 Team Dozy have taken this to the next level.
01:18:42 We've created a hand-drawn sign.
01:18:43 And on it, it says that if we get 1,000 followers on Twitter or subscribers on YouTube,
01:18:49 Dave's going to take off his loincloth.
01:18:51 You know, there should be some people who want to see that, hopefully, in winter.
01:18:55 Every year, almost half a million people come to manga and anime festival Comiket.
01:19:03 We should just find the changing rooms, because this is mental. I don't know.
01:19:08 Just...
01:19:11 Comiket is hosting an enormous comic market.
01:19:13 Comiket is widely regarded as a place for aspiring stars to connect with new fans.
01:19:18 It seems like judging from the guy right next to you, this is the place to go.
01:19:22 I'm not the only person doing this. I mean, we're all trying this.
01:19:25 We all want to get known.
01:19:27 Where are you from?
01:19:29 I'm from Onigiri.
01:19:31 Our technique may have seemed crude, but we were gambling
01:19:40 that fans of Onigiri would appreciate a fake superhero in Onigiri Man.
01:19:44 The idea was to appear in as many photos as possible to advertise our special offer.
01:19:51 Am I going to be chastised for this?
01:19:53 You may.
01:19:55 Go!
01:19:57 [Music]
01:20:20 How's it going?
01:20:22 You're getting a bit more attention than a lot of these people, actually.
01:20:25 I feel like I'm getting my poses right, you know?
01:20:27 We had like 30 people just taking photos of me.
01:20:29 It was like he was one of those naked women.
01:20:32 Even though he's freezing, he's loving it, you know?
01:20:36 By the end of the day, we had registered 200 new Twitter followers,
01:20:46 800 shy of our target.
01:20:49 Our tactic had failed.
01:20:54 But on the upside, it was the first time I could really say I felt comfortable as Onigiri Man.
01:20:59 It feels good to just be liked, like, by strangers.
01:21:06 Never had that before.
01:21:08 Even though we didn't get our goal,
01:21:10 we got something that we haven't been able to get so far,
01:21:13 which is people loving what I'm doing.
01:21:16 If you didn't have to get naked in the middle of the winter,
01:21:21 and people just liked you like this all the time,
01:21:23 imagine what that would feel like.
01:21:25 That would be incredible.
01:21:27 I can see why people would want that.
01:21:30 [Laughs]
01:21:40 It just doesn't stop.
01:21:42 Alright, we went to bed last night with 250 followers on Twitter.
01:21:49 Over the past hour, or few hours, I've just got
01:21:52 hundreds and hundreds of new followers,
01:21:55 and there's this photo that's been retweeted 12,000 times.
01:22:00 It's amazing.
01:22:01 It's amazing. It's ridiculous.
01:22:03 I don't even know what that means in terms of viewers, but it's just amazing.
01:22:08 I haven't looked at my phone for the last hour, but
01:22:11 I have a feeling I'm going to have to take off my Funtoshi.
01:22:15 Let's have a look.
01:22:18 [Laughs]
01:22:19 Just now, it appears I do.
01:22:23 Yeah? What do you got? What do you got there?
01:22:25 1248.
01:22:27 Oh, no way!
01:22:29 Oh my god!
01:22:31 What are you going to do?
01:22:33 You're going to have to take your Funtoshi.
01:22:35 Now?
01:22:37 [Laughs]
01:22:39 [Laughs]
01:22:41 [Music]
01:22:46 [Laughs]
01:22:48 Stop it!
01:22:50 Stop it!
01:22:52 [Laughs]
01:22:55 14,000 retweets meant that more than a million people
01:23:00 had seen the photo,
01:23:02 making it one of the most popular tweets in Japan that day.
01:23:06 It was an incredible viral achievement, but it didn't stop there.
01:23:11 In the weeks that followed, I began to amass my own crew
01:23:15 of Jonesu Believers on YouTube.
01:23:17 Here's a good one.
01:23:19 I just had a marathon watching all your videos.
01:23:21 You're amazing, funny, and with a lot of talent.
01:23:24 It's kind of cool that you've got these, like,
01:23:26 minions of fans that just, like, write to you.
01:23:29 It is cool.
01:23:31 Have you ever met with a fan?
01:23:33 Well, I bumped into a fan once.
01:23:35 I'd never met him before, and I was walking through Shibuya,
01:23:38 and he yells out, "Mr Jonesu!"
01:23:41 [Laughs]
01:23:44 We were now pushing over a thousand subscribers on YouTube,
01:23:47 and I couldn't deny that it was strangely addictive.
01:23:50 He loves looking at you guys all the time.
01:23:53 He goes and reads the analytics.
01:23:56 It's like we've gone up to subscribers.
01:23:58 Three people have commented, and then he replies to the comments.
01:24:01 But our girlfriends had returned to Australia,
01:24:03 and after spending two years of our lives in Japan,
01:24:06 it was hard to ignore the elephant in the room.
01:24:09 When do we go home?
01:24:13 Does 1,000 subs sound famous to you?
01:24:15 No, but we...
01:24:18 I think 20,000 does.
01:24:20 20,000 is the size of a small town.
01:24:23 [Laughs]
01:24:28 Oh, shit.
01:24:30 So you want a small town following you?
01:24:33 Is that how you're gonna do it?
01:24:35 Let me tell you about this through the statistics.
01:24:39 Oh, Jesus.
01:24:42 It looks great, and I know maybe in reality we are at that point,
01:24:45 but when do we stop?
01:24:47 Because the girls have left us.
01:24:49 We're all just working enough to survive.
01:24:51 When do we say, "Okay, that's enough. Let's stop."
01:24:55 When I have enough of a following that you can call me famous.
01:24:59 [Laughs]
01:25:00 That's a big goal, man!
01:25:02 I know that's our goal, but otherwise what are we doing?
01:25:06 What we're doing is we're living in filth.
01:25:08 We're barely making enough money to survive.
01:25:11 And we're pushing on with this project,
01:25:14 and at some point it's gonna be like,
01:25:17 "Just relax, okay? It might not happen."
01:25:21 It occurred to me that I might never be satisfied.
01:25:28 On my mission to become big in Japan,
01:25:30 I'd become a regular on Japanese television,
01:25:33 starred in national and international ad campaigns,
01:25:36 and cultivated a half-decent following on the Internet.
01:25:40 And yet, I still didn't know if I was famous.
01:25:43 Is famous being recognized on the street in Japan?
01:25:47 Is it walking around and having paparazzi constantly following you?
01:25:53 It's a hard thing to describe and it's a hard thing to define.
01:25:57 But I guess it's just the essence of being complimented
01:26:02 for something unique about you.
01:26:05 And in a world with so many human beings on it,
01:26:09 it's just something that makes you stand out and feel special.
01:26:12 I'm Keru, the leader of Hajirai Rescue.
01:26:15 I'm from Canada.
01:26:17 Please don't kick Keru. Please remember him.
01:26:20 I think everybody that does performances and stuff,
01:26:24 I guess they kind of want to get bigger.
01:26:27 That's kind of the point. You want to show it to everybody.
01:26:31 Fame has become the commodity that more or less establishes
01:26:37 our internal value.
01:26:40 People imagine that their identity is going to last
01:26:48 or is only enduring by their production of these versions of fame
01:26:54 because that is seen as the real value in a culture
01:26:59 and the real legacy of who you are.
01:27:02 So I'm the most famous in history of this sports entertainment,
01:27:06 in history of this country.
01:27:09 I guess I'm just a legend forever.
01:27:12 The only value I can present to the world
01:27:23 is making people really, really, really happy.
01:27:26 So I'm going to have to hit that as hard as I can.
01:27:29 Rather than just being someone who was alive once and then died.
01:27:36 [Sounds of traffic]
01:27:38 What have we got here?
01:27:49 [Yawns]
01:27:51 Leaving tomorrow.
01:27:56 Well, leaving in five hours and I haven't been fucking packed.
01:28:00 [Sighs]
01:28:03 I don't know where Dave is. I think he's out there having a smoke.
01:28:05 What are you doing?
01:28:07 I'm just enjoying the last moments we have in Japan.
01:28:11 This is it.
01:28:13 It's a nice night.
01:28:15 -Standing on the balcony. -It's a beautiful night.
01:28:17 It's a new season. New talent coming through soon.
01:28:20 [Laughs]
01:28:22 It's kind of sad, isn't it?
01:28:29 [Sounds of traffic]
01:28:32 Are you going to miss Japan?
01:28:44 I'm going to miss trying.
01:28:47 Let's hug it out.
01:28:53 Get in here, Lewis.
01:28:55 Get in here.
01:28:57 Hug it out.
01:28:59 It's ending in five hours.
01:29:02 [Laughs]
01:29:05 I'm going inside. I need to pack.
01:29:09 What have we achieved over the last few years of our lives?
01:29:19 What have we achieved?
01:29:21 What have we set out and done?
01:29:23 It's cracked.
01:29:25 Dave has finally cracked.
01:29:27 What have we done?
01:29:29 What's happened?
01:29:31 I don't know either.
01:29:33 In recent years, the floodgates have opened
01:29:49 and ordinary people are free to pursue fame like never before.
01:29:54 If you're true to yourself and prepared to do the hard yards,
01:29:58 fame can be a euphoric and rewarding experience.
01:30:02 But like any drug, it has a price.
01:30:06 Whether it's seriously hard work, sacrifice,
01:30:10 or in my case, public humiliation.
01:30:13 [Screams]
01:30:15 Though I enjoyed my fleeting moments of celebrity,
01:30:18 I took much more from the real-life adventure
01:30:21 I had with two of my best mates.
01:30:23 As more and more of us find ourselves on the podium
01:30:26 in this strange new era of instant celebrity,
01:30:29 I wonder if we're forgetting one of our greatest freedoms of all.
01:30:33 The freedom to be ordinary.
01:30:36 So now we are 100% retired from everything.
01:30:52 So now we just live off of the over $7 million that we earned.
01:30:56 So I thought there was going to be some big retirement fight.
01:30:59 What retired me is by looking at how much money I saved.
01:31:03 I don't know what I'm going to do from now on.
01:31:20 I'll figure it out though.
01:31:22 I gotta cook.
01:31:23 I'm just a little fella from a little place
01:31:39 who came to a big place with a ridiculous idea
01:31:42 and tried to get up a hill with it.
01:31:44 And now it seems I'm part way up the hill.
01:31:48 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:31:51 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:31:54 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:31:57 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:00 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:03 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:06 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:09 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:12 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:15 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:18 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:21 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:24 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:27 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:30 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:33 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:36 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:39 I'm a little fella from a little place.
01:32:42 Goodbye Tokyo, our little town.
01:32:46 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:32:50 Once upon a time, we loved this town.
01:33:11 Sayonara Tokyo, bye bye.
01:33:15 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:33:31 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:33:39 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:33:42 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:33:48 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:33:56 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:34:04 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:34:08 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:34:19 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:34:27 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:34:34 Goodbye, goodbye,
01:34:37 Sayonara Tokyo, bye bye.
01:34:52 [laughter]
01:34:55 Ah, my balls!
01:34:59 [applause]
01:35:01 [silence]
01:35:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]