Category → Commentary
Comikazee: University of the Philippines Leg
Come watch Comikazee - the Comedy Cartel Campus Tour 2011 in UP this Friday! For tickets, call 0922.8596144. Hope to cu there!
Come watch Comikazee – the Comedy Cartel Campus Tour 2011 in UP this Friday! For tickets, call 0922.8596144. Hope to see you there!
Dat Phan Jokes About Pacquiao and Alan Pineda
I’m not really a fan of Dat Phan but I found this routine entertaining. Maybe because he mentions Pacquiao and Alan Pineda. Finally, Filipinos are becoming household names in sports and music. Thanks, Dat Phan. More success to you, even if I’m not a fan.
Manny Pacquiao’s HP Commercial
I just thought this was funny in a good way. Can’t wait for his fight with Mayweather.
5th Annual HK International Comedy Festival
The 5th Annual HK Comedy Festival and Competition is on this October 5 to 15, 2011. Last year, the Philippine based Comedy Cartel’s very own GB Labrador placed 1st runner up and in 2009, Comedy Cartel’s Noel Gascon got into the finals as well. So if you have what it takes, you can be the first Filipino comedian (or whatever ethnicity you are) to bring home first place. It might not be an Olympic gold medal, but I’m pretty sure you will stil make us proud.
Check out the official site for details. I heard the winner this year will get to do a gig in New York. Download the application and send it in. Good luck!
Singapore’s Pinoy Pride Fair 2011
pinoy pride fair 2011 in Singapore
If you live in Singapore are in Singapore on June 11, 2011, come check this event out. It sounds pretty exciting. Venue is The Rock Auditorium– our chosen venue for The Pinoy Pride Fair 2011. A multi-purpose indoor venue, The Rock Auditorium is located on the 3rd level of Suntec City Mall, in between towers 3 & 4.
Check out Tag Event Concepts to learn more details about this.
Who Will Be the Next Dolphy?
Dolphy the King of Filipino Comedy
Most Filipinos, but not all, consider Dolphy to be the king of comedy. And recently, he as given his blessing to his son, Vandolph, to remake all his movies. Now this could be a good thing or it could be a horrible thing. It really depends on how they remake the old movies. It remains to be seen if they can take a fresh approach to the old gags that have withered over time.
I’m not really a fan of Dolphy. But wait, before you send me your hate mail – I’m not saying that he didn’t do anything for Philippine Comedy. I respect the guy and he has made significant contributions in his time to Philippine cinema and Television with his comedy. I’m sure he deserves the title of king of comedy and during his time, he was probably the best. But times have changed and his gags haven’t.
I remember watching a show of his on TV and some bits from his movie Father Jejemon. I have to say that the jokes were very dated and made me squirm a bit. They were formulaic and predictable. If it wasn’t for his endearing quality, the jokes would have fallen flat. I personally didn’t really find them funny. That is just my opinion. You could argue against me, but then this is my blog and I get to voice my opinion.
I know Dolphy is a sacred cow and I’m sure the haters will start sending me a piece of their mind soon enough after I publish this. But I think instead of asking the question, “Who will be the next Dolphy”. One should ask, “How can we push Philippine comedy to a higher level that will put a mark on the global map?” Instead of trying to be the next King of Philippine comedy, we should be striving for something even bigger and less self indulging. We should start providing comedy that makes people laugh and think at the same time. Enough of the mindless “acheche!” type of comedy that exploits the easiness of slapstick, not that slapstick is inferior. In fact, slapstick can be done in a very smart way. The best example is Mr. Bean. He is the epitome of smart slapstick (that sounds like a paradox, I know).
So the real question is not who will be the next Dolphy but rather, who will push Filipino comedy to international recognition. I think we have the talent. We just need to believe and start making things happen.
The State of Philippine Comedy
Here’s the way I see it: Dolphy, the supposedly king of Philippine comedy, is ancient. No disrespect to the man but his gags are old. I think he should retire and spend his remaining years with his loved ones. I acknowledge his contributions to the comedy scene but he is from a different era. Vic Sotto and Joey De Leon, while still in their productive years, are not really offering anything new besides the old and tired “acheche!” punch line. Willie Revillame, if you can even call him a comedian, has a style that is irritating to the educated but for some strange reason appeals to the masses who don’t know any better. Same goes to Ai-ai. How many times can you play with the title “Tanging Ina Mo”? The horse has been dead for years and she still beats it. Speaking of horses, Vice Ganda’s horse jokes and condescending comments to dance contestants might be funny to an audience that doesn’t think much but it really doesn’t enlighten anyone.
So what is the future of Philippine comedy?
It’s definitely not Jojo A, who tries so pathetically hard to copy Conan O’Brien but has no idea what a punch line is if it bit him in the ass. He just thinks that mimicking Conan’s moves and corky face is about what it takes to get a laugh. Although I must admit, he is funny in a not funny way, if you know what I mean.
The future of Pinoy comedy is actually already here and starting to blow up. It’s point-of-view comedy and it’s being pioneered by a group called the Comedy Cartel. It’s pretty much still an underground movement if you compare it to the mainstream comedy that we’ve been forced fed. But it won’t stay that way for long. With regular gigs on Wednesdays at Votre Bar in Quezon City in the ABS-CBN area and shows at Spicy Fingers in Greenbelt 2 every other Mondays, the group’s following is growing by the hundreds. What they offer is insightful, funny, and revolutionary comic performances that is changing the way people appreciate comedy.
If you dont’ believe me, come check them out for yourself. But I’m willing to bet my Porsche Panamera that you will agree with me. Of course, I have yet to buy the Panamera.
Let me know what your thoughts, comments, violent reactions, etc. are.
Comparing Comedians
After a mediocre gig the other night, I started thinking if I could’ve done a better job as a comedian. I got some laughs and was still able to pull off a decent closer but the comedian before me got a bigger response. That got me thinking if you can actually compare comedians and say that one is better than the other.
Of course, there are such things as experience, stage presence, good writing, timing, control of the crowd, and so on. But can you really say that a certain stand up comedian is better than the other? Is it like saying that Picasso is better than Van Gogh? Is it all a matter of personal preference, like choosing between apples and oranges? If so, then how do you measure a comic’s success?
If you go by laughs per minute, then even a hack could make it as the best one. Is a laugh elicited by an easy dick joke weighed more than a chuckle from a carefully crafted insightful observation that changes one’s point of view? Is a rapid fire panderer considered funnier than a performer with integrity that sticks to his/her guns?
If your criteria is originality, then would you consider a Mitch Hedgeberg type of comic that only gets giggles better than a high energy Dane Cook wannabe who steals jokes from others? I would. But the unsophisticated comedy audience won’t. I’ve seen it happen.
But then again, I might be a comedy snob because I have been exposed to a lot of stand up. And after all, isn’t comedy part of show business and isn’t the customer the ultimate judge on who is funnier? Is a joke still a joke if only the teller finds it funny?
What do you think?
Why I Don’t Think Vice Ganda is Funny
“May nag text, insert insult here!” That’s pretty much the formula that Vice Ganda and most run-of-the-mill gay comedians use in their routines. It kinda reminds me of the sketch on Saturday Night Live way back when, where two guys who I think were from Jersey (or could be New York) would just hang out on the street and just make insults by saying, “Hey, Oprah just called, she wants her weight back!” Or how about, “Hey, Donald Trump called, he wants his toupee back!” Which makes me wonder if Vice Ganda actually stole her routine from that sketch and just made it Tagalog.
There’s really nothing original here. In fact, it’s very easy. All you need to do is pick on a physical defect and just milk it. So why is it that Vice Ganda and similar comedians get so much praise for low-brow cheap shot comedy? I’m not sure but I think it has to a lot to do with the media machinery that proliferates and perpetuates this type of insult humor that maybe amusing but doesn’t really enlighten or uplift the type of comedy that Filipinos are known for. But I guess there’s a market for this since people watch this type of crap and consider it stand up comedy.
Call me a hater, which I’m really not because I’m not jealous of Vice’s success. Shit, I wouldn’t want to be successful on those terms doing lousy jokes that require no wit. I could easily do it that way if I wanted to sell out, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I have what a lot of these gay comics don’t have – integrity. Now, I’m not gay bashing, in fact, can I even be accused of that since gays are not really a minority in this field of entertainment? I’m gay comic bashing. There is a difference because Pokwang falls under this category even though she’s a woman.
So what am I driving at? Well, I just wish that the powers in the media would give real stand up comedy a chance. It is out there. The Comedy Cartel does it: observational, point of view comedy with actual writing to back it up. But what’s the incentive for these big networks to gamble on this new type of comedy? Why try something new when this old formula of putting a gay comic in drag or maybe a female comic who looks like a gay comic in drag works? I guess there is no incentive until they realize that this next wave of comedy is the next big thing. And mark my words, it is about to explode.
So if you’re tired of the same old insult, shock, mindless comedy, there is an alternative. There is a point-of-view stand up comedy out there that will entertain you without disparaging the audience. On Mondays, there is Spicy Fingers in Greenbelt 2 @8:30pm and on Thursdays there is the Votre Bar near ABS-CBN above East St. Louis that starts at 930pm. Give it a chance, you won’t regret it. And I dare the big networks to have the balls to push and promote this type of comedy.
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.