# Tickled documentary on HBO **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2017, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066 "2017-02-28T21:17:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/1 "2017-02-28T21:17:27Z")
Anybody else watch the 2016 documentary that is currently airing on HBO? Synopsis on Wikipedia: [Tickled - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tickled) I won’t reveal any spoilers but basically it’s about two Kiwi documentarians that become fascinated about competitive tickling (think tickling fetish videos), and it takes some bizarre turns along the way. Part of me wonders if all of these guys, Farrier, Reeve, and D’Amato aren’t all in this together as some sort of promotion for the documentary and their tickling websites. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/2 "2017-06-04T17:41:29Z")
I’m surprised no one has responded to your post. I just watched this. It’s very strange. A young New Zealand pop culture reporter attempts to do a story on something called “competitive tickling”, finds himself threatened and harrassed, and ends up finding dark and threatening things going on. I’m skeptical of your spoilered theory, just because there are details that anyone could investigate, and it’s very likely that someone would have exposed it by now. HBO now has a followup “The Tickle King” which documents things that have happened since the making of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/3 "2017-06-04T17:44:24Z")
Yeah that movie was weird. I am like 100% sure the documentary guys were legit and the subject was just a creep. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/4 "2017-06-04T20:49:51Z")
More than just a creep. Assuming it’s all true (and I have no reason to believe it isn’t) the guy has destroyed innocent lives. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/5 "2017-06-04T21:40:42Z")
I’ve seen some strange docs, but that one was right up there. David D’amato, the creep in question, just up and died recently with no cause of death reported. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/6 "2017-06-04T22:37:53Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > I’ve seen some strange docs, but that one was right up there. > > David D’amato, the creep in question, just up and died recently with no cause of death reported. I didn’t know that. I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but the guy seemed to be incorrigible, so it’s probably no great loss. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/7 "2017-06-04T22:47:41Z")
Never heard of it, but it sounds similar (in premise) to Big Boys Gone Bananas. The documentary about the making of the documentary Bananas. They hit so many road blocks along the way they ended making a movie about that instead (or rather, as well). [Bananas!\* - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bananas!)\* ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/8 "2017-06-04T22:53:45Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Never heard of it, but it sounds similar (in premise) to Big Boys Gone Bananas. The documentary about the making of the documentary Bananas. They hit so many road blocks along the way they ended making a movie about that instead (or rather, as well). > > [Bananas!\* - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bananas!)\* I haven’t seen that one but I think that I can safely say that “Tickled” is much weirder, although of overall less social consequence. But thanks for mentioning it. I may check it out. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/9 "2017-06-04T23:13:46Z")
David D’amato’s obituary: [http://m.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=david-damato&pid=184566389](http://m.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=david-damato&pid=184566389) There is, of course, no mention of the tickle stuff. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/10 "2017-06-05T00:35:30Z")
There’s a Reddit thread discussing his death. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=820414](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=820414) Some of the people in that thread are skeptical that he’s really dead. They think that, considering his ability to create false identities, he may have faked his death. That seems farfetched to me. It seems like he’d have to leave most of his inherited fortune behind to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/11 "2017-06-05T02:40:35Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I haven’t seen that one but I think that I can safely say that “Tickled” is much weirder, although of overall less social consequence. > > But thanks for mentioning it. I may check it out. I’m sure it’s different, I just briefly read the synopsis on wiki while on my phone and I just noticed the similarity WRT it being a documentary that seemed to almost be more focused on how hard it was to make due to legal (and other) blockades rather than the actual subject the filmmakers set out to document, but it still looks interesting and I do plan to check it out. For anyone else interested, it’s on HBO GO. On a totally different gear, and I’m just tossing this out there for S&G, if you want to watch an incredibly good movie about the, possibly not based on reality, I don’t know, gay sub culture, go check out Shortbus. I saw it when it came out, well before Hedwig hit mainstream popularity (which I was in about 2001), it’s really good. Warning: like I said, it’s an amazing movie, but even though it has a story line that holds up, it is, no question about it, actual hardcore (but widely released) gay porn. I’m only putting this out there based on you [the OP] watching something about about guys tickling each other…but like I said, it’s a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/12 "2017-06-05T03:06:15Z")
Well, I’m not the OP and I can’t speak for him but i didn’t watch it because I had any interest whatsoever in guys tickling each other, or in gay porn (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I had heard that it was good and was more a meta thing about the attempt to do a story than actually being about tickling. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickled-documentary-on-hbo/781066/13 "2025-12-05T03:15:08Z")
Whoa, found this in zombieland! I just had a free week of HBO and allied channels, and this was on the scheduled. I DVR’ed it and watched it last night. I’m really glad I didn’t check out any of the spoilers beforehand, that’s for sure. The 20-minute sequel is on YouTube, and Mr. D’Amato died shortly after it aired, apparently from a heart attack. At least none of the spoilers were “Dear Zachary” level (IYKYK). As for “Shortbus”, I saw that too in my Netflix DVD days, and while it does have graphic real sex, it also has a plot which is why it’s not classified as pornography. P.S. The MMA fighter from rural Michigan also died, in a motorcycle crash in 2019.