Show Shows Hungarians Wacky, Droll, Fearless

While some studies may show Hungarians to be hidebound, boring and violent, other, potentially more telling social indicators suggest a much different side to the national character. Chief among these is commercial TV station RTL Klub's new show "Benne leszek a tévében" ("I'm Gonna Be on TV!"). While some critics are calling the program a "humiliation show," a closer examination reveals it to be a great opportunity for a nation that is constantly told it is narrow-minded, sadistic and humorless to instead prove that it is actually bursting with courage, laughs and light-hearted fun.

There have been eight episodes of "Benne leszek a tévében," which strives to discover just what the average Hungarian is willing to do in order to be on TV for a couple of minutes. Among the guests so far have been a mouth-drummer, a metal- and glass-eater, a winking champion, a poet inspired by Formula 1 racing, a comedian who stands on his hands, and a musician who was going to play his guitar on the show but changed his mind after pulling an all-nighter before his appearance and instead brought his chainsaw. "Anyone can perform anything on our show, provided what they do is interesting," host András Hajós told Népszabadság.

Before 50-year-old János Kádár of Mezőtúr became a "star" he had worked as a carpenter, a rigger, a toilet cleaner and a grave digger, a job he said he especially enjoyed until he caught a nasty cold at the bottom of a grave. Now he's famous, thanks to his appearance on the show, where he broke a few roofing tiles on his head. "This is how I deal with stress," he explained. (That's Kádár above right, getting his bloodied forehead wiped down by Hajós.) Napsugár Bartha of Debrecen (below) performed a less painful but even stranger act: "belly singing." She said she had learned to talk from her stomach at the age of 10, and after a lot of practice managed to perfect the skill. Her repertoire includes hits by Janis Joplin, Zsuzsa Cserháti and tunes from some famous Hungarian cartoons. (If you want to see a clip of Kádár breaking tiles with his head click here and then on his picture, while you can watch Bartha's oddly compelling act by clicking here and doing the same.)

What motivates people to go on the show? Some of them want to see a TV studio from the inside, some to meet the ubiquitous Hajós, and some to test themselves. And, of course, they want to become famous, for which two-and-a-half minutes on network TV is apparently enough in Hungary. A few days after his tile-breaking act, Kádár was drinking wine at a pub on Route 6 when two men went up to him and asked him for an autograph.

In fact, it appears that the only brake on the fun is put on by the producers, rather than those zany average Hungarians. "So far there's only been one person we rejected," said Hajós. "[He] wanted to eat from a toilet."

No doubt, such things need to be left to the professionals.