filipino comedian

Pinoy Accent is Funny

So many people find these viral videos with Filipinos doing the “carabao english” or FOB Filipino accent so funny. I did too. When I was 18. Then I grew out of it. For me, it’s an easy way to get laughs. Yes, they’re funny but so is my maid when she tries to talk in broken English, like when she says “Upstair! Downstair! Ober der (over there) in da (the) outside.”

It’s easy because I can do it. Your friends can do it. Your dirty old man (D.O.M) uncle can do it without even trying. It doesn’t take much skill or thought to do it. And yet, it gets laughs. Some comedians call this hacky. I find it corny. Am I a hater of this type of lowbrow comedy? I’d like to say that I’m not. But maybe I am a little bit.

So why do I not like it? For one reason, it’s unfair.

It’s unfair to the comedians who work hard to fine tune their craft and find their original voice. It’s unfair to the artists who take the harder path of crafting jokes that don’t rely on being “loud” to be funny or changing the p to an f, the v to a b, and vice-versa. It’s unfair because the crowd doesn’t know any better. It discourages comedians to take a step further and not settle for the easy jokes. It makes comedians think twice of taking risks of doing something different than the cliche funny Filipino accent.

Here’s a quick test. If you take away the accent, will the bit still be funny? If it’s not, then that means the whole material is just relying on the funny accent to get the cheap laughs. But if it’s still funny even without the accent, then it is truly a well written routine that just happens to have the accent.

My point is not to put down those who do the carabao English jokes. They’re still funny to a lot of people. If they love doing those bits, keep doing them. Don’t listen to me. Keep doing what you’re good at and I wish you more success. I really mean that. But I would just like to point out or at least make the audience aware of what they are laughing about and maybe think a little bit.

And if you’re a comedian like me who shares my opinion, don’t be discouraged. Keep writing and not settling for the easy stuff. Maybe you can do a few easy jokes in the beginning to get the audience on your side then you can take them to the material that you really want to talk about. I believe there is an audience for us too. It’s just a matter of time.