TEENAGE MUTANT Ninja Turtles step aside. Japan's latest superhero quartet on a mission to storm the planet, The Tokyo Shock Boys, boast equally formidable powers and Zen-like strength. But these guys aren't cartoon characters, they're human. Judging by the antics of this comedy foursome, however, it's hard to believe they're made of flesh and blood. One munches on live scorpions, another squirts milk out of his eye sockets and swallows live piranhas, while another lifts weights by a rope attached to his testicles. The Tokyo Shock Boys are undoubtedly the craziest crusaders to leave Japanese shores since kamikaze pilots, but at least they live to tell the tale . . . just. They have a litany of scars and scratches from playing with fire, dangerous chemicals, samurai swords and chainsaws. All four have landed in hospital with injuries from stunts gone awry. But regardless of wounds, the show always goes on, as it has done for the past decade. Having stunned and startled audiences from Edinburgh to New York, the comedy troupe is heading for Hong Kong in November. Last week they gave the press a glimpse into their mad, mad world. Techno music blares as the four - Nambu Torata, Sango Jyugo, Gyuzo and Danna Koyanaki - bound on stage at Wan Chai's Academy for Performing Arts dressed in shocking red and orange wigs with colourful kimonos, bandanas and sunglasses Dame Edna Everage might baulk at wearing. Gyuzo opens the show by wielding a samurai sword to slice a watermelon balanced on Nambu's stomach, cutting it perfectly in half and stopping a kernel's width short of striking his colleague. The tone set, the foursome run through more than a dozen stunts in 20 minutes: Danna takes huge gulps of dry ice, and exhales it through his nostrils like a fire-breathing dragon; Nambu larks about with full beer mugs on his head; Sango lifts a metal drum his palms have been superglued to; and an unfortunate victim from the audience is shrink-wrapped in a giant plastic sheet. But nothing quite has the guests squirming in their seats like the live scorpion - apparently bought in Mongkok that morning - being dangled on a string by Gyuzo. After he pulls out of his first attempt looking worried, he finally squeezes the scorpion into his mouth and closes his lips. After a count of three the scorpion is spat out, Gyuzo somehow avoiding the sting in the tail. He hasn't been stung since 1994 when his face turned green at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. By now, there are a few green faces in the audience, and the sight which follows does nothing to ease their churning stomachs. Danna's infamous milk shake trick draws the biggest reaction - part giggle, part grimace - the type of response schoolboys give a playground wag who turns his eyelids inside out. What start out as milky tears soon become powerful jets of milk propelled more than half a metre across the stage from Danna's eyes, the muscles having developed through years of training. After the show Danna, a former dancer, says he learned the skill (if you can call it that) from his grandfather, who performed it with alcohol. He discovered he had inherited the ability when he once sneezed through his eyes. 'The more I practise, the stronger the beam is,' he says proudly. Danna also swallows piranhas. 'I'm a superhero,' he says. 'People used to eat live goldfish, but we're The Tokyo Shock Boys so it had to be a piranha.' He once failed to bring the fish up immediately, and had to wait three hours before he could vomit it out. 'It emerged covered in blood. Whether it was the fish's or mine, I'm not sure.' The physical gags come fast and furious - they pack 300 stunts into a 90-minute show. Because of the damage inflicted on their bodies, they can only perform once a day. Although TV shows like Endurance, which push contestants to breaking point, have long been popular in Japan, Nambu insists: 'There's no real tradition of comedy like this in Japan. It's original.' Nambu was appearing solo on a TV variety show specialising in wacky performers, when the other three, then working as roadies for pop star Paul McCartney met him and suggested teaming up. That was 10 years ago, and they've since devised hundreds of new ways to shock. Some ideas are picked up from performing overseas alongside other acts, such as percussion troupe, Stomp, which three years ago played to packed houses at the same Lyric Theatre The Tokyo Shock Boys will play. 'We're always thinking of new ideas,' says Nambu. 'When we come up with an idea, first it has to be shocking, and secondly, funny. It must also be original.' And dangerous? 'It doesn't have to be, but many of them are.' 'So far nobody's been killed or maimed,' says Sango. 'But we've got a lot of nicks and scratches from our work.' Nambu says the watermelon stunt can't be done by the others. 'If they did it, I would die.' How funny the acts are depends on your humour. If Beavis And Butthead, Itchy And Scratchy and Bart Simpson wind jokes tickle your ribs, these boys may well split your sides. Sadomasochists could also pick up a few tricks. One of Nambu's favourite tricks is to put firecrackers in a nappy and set them on fire. Another is lifting 50kg weights by a rope attached to his testicles. 'My wife taught me how to do that,' he says with a smile. 'In the beginning it hurt, but not now. The skin was once ripped totally off one of them, and now we don't know if we can have children.' While others wince at the thought, the idea doesn't appear to perturb him. Nambu won't be baring all on stage in Hong Kong, however, as the act is unlikely to pass the city's censors. Gyuzo says their inspiration comes from Japan's comic-book heroes. 'I want to create myself as a cartoon character on stage, that's why I eat scorpions, set fire to rockets . . .' he tails off as if in a dreamworld of animated action. Sango is the quietest of the four, yet acts as emcee in the shows. His act comes closer to traditional legerdemain, such as disappearing acts and conjuring. When he hears David Copperfield was in town recently, he is riled into invective. 'I have much more power,' he insists. 'Copperfield's staff have to sign contracts not to reveal his secrets, but I don't have those because I have real psychic power.' It's unlikely his magic tricks would cause Copperfield to sweat. Although the troupe has performed all over the world and had critics spellbound at the Edinburgh Festival, Gyuzo says not everyone appreciates their brand of humour. 'In New York [where they had an off-Broadway run], the audiences did not come.' But in Japan, they're immensely popular - especially among 17 to 28-year-olds. Is Hong Kong ready for The Tokyo Shock Boys? Well, in a city where people have lapped up all things Japanese from Pokemon and Doraemon (among the Shock Boys' influences) to karaoke and Muji, the highly visual comedy act should prove a sensation. But the Tokyo terrors won't be everyone's cup of sake. Even by Japanese standards, this foursome is way out there. You can judge for yourself when they appear this November, providing they're still alive. The Tokyo Shock Boys. November 13-19, Lyric Theatre, Academy for Performing Arts. Tickets $195 to $395 from Ticketek 3128 8288
