It seems the naked man exists as a recurring motif most significantly in Japanese humour. In no other cultures have I found comedians to fall back so faithfully on nudity as a stock humour device.

Even funnier is when the naked man is caught in an inopportune moment. Nothing screams ‘funny’ more than a guy wearing a deer in the headlights look—and only that.

I’m embedding several that come to mind. Better catch them before YouTube pulls them off.

The oily movers
It seems a lady with hardwood floors needs furniture moved. But the movers who arrive need to be doused in baby oil…and inexplicably strip off. Naturally, the temptation to pull each other’s shorts off uh, crops up—pun intended. Of course, nothing this funny is complete without a screaming girl, because all self-respecting Japanese girls must scream at the sight of a naked man.

The oily movers II
They’re back! Only this time, there’s a big staircase involved. Ouch.

Sangaria ad
No nudity here, but a dancing man in briefs comes close, if you ask me. I just wonder how many takes he had to make for the first two seconds of the ad.

D-1 Grandprix
Nothing to do with F1, think of this hidden camera prank show as Candid Camera’s cruel cousin which snuck up behind it, gave it an atomic wedgie, snapped a picture and pasted copies all over school.

First, the show sets up a fake sauna facility for men in the middle of a ski resort. Cue men relaxing in massage chairs before suddenly getting tossed out in the snow, naked as the day they were born. If this happened anywhere else in the world, lawsuits would fly. In Japan, this is solid gold humour.

Next, the show sets up a bunch of porta-loos which have raising floors, activated as soon as the user has his pants around his ankles. It’s hard for passers-by to miss the sight of a shiny bum perched atop a 6-ft high porta-loo. Or zooming by on water skis.

Naked in 7 seconds
A man shows you how to get undressed in 7 seconds. Simple as that!