Two Friday’s ago; I was able to fulfill one of my lifelong wishes. I was able to catch visiting US based Fil-Am stand up comedian Rex Navarette when he performed live in SM Megamall during the live DVD taping of his “Badass Madapaka” comedy show.
I first found out about Rex when a friend lent me a copy of his shows in mp3 format four years ago. He was still virtually unknown here in Manila mainly because his comedy albums were not locally available. I instantly became a fan after laughing my guts out on his now classic “SBC Packers” routine. I loved how he poked fun at Philippine pop culture, our butchering of the English language, and our customs and traditions that quite often we never really realized how funny until it was delivered in a comedy routine.
Unfortunately I had to watch the show alone, which I totally didn’t mind. Cathy, who bought me the ticket as a really cool surprise had to be at a party. It was extremely short notice. I actually didn’t know he was in Manila until a few hours before his show.
When Cathy and I bought the ticket two hours before the show, already a good 50 people where already falling in line. So, wanting to get the best seat possible, I screwed my plans of eating dinner sitting down and asked a nice lady to save me a spot in the line as I ordered take out.
The show unsurprisingly started fashionably late. The opening act was local comedian Mike Unson, from the talk show “Jojo A... All The Way”. It was my first time to see him, he had good funny original material and was actually a not so bad appetizer for the main course.
When Rex was introduced and he took the stage I was so glad I fell in line two hours ahead of most people in the theater. The seat I got was facing dead center of the stage, right smack in the nearest non-VIP reserved rows! Actually, it was a surreal experience seeing him perform live. I mean after hearing him from mp3’s that gets passed around, it took me a while to resolve in my head that the voice actually belongs to the brown husky dude on stage and not some straight off the pages of GQ magazine looking boy band hunk.
I won’t give you too much details of the actual show. I wouldn’t want to spoil it for all you losers who didn’t get to be there to enjoy it live and would have to wait for the actual DVD to be released. But I do assure you, it was so much fun and was worth more than the 500 pesos I paid for. But as a teaser, some of the funniest moments were when he did a new bit involving your favorite Pinay domestic helper Maritess, the bit about his Scottish boyhood friend Brian O’Brien, the one about his Tito Boy’s 56k internet connection, and the new and improved SBC Packers routine which he ended the show with.
Stand up comedy in the Philippines as Rex pointed out is still indeed in its infancy here in the Philippines. For some reason, our idea right now of stand up comedy is having singing drag queens come up on stage and just randomly insult and make fun of poor helpless audience members with their vulgar and distasteful brand of humor, which amazingly some people find funny.
I personally haven’t been in any club where this type of stand up is performed; in fact the only way to get me to watch one is if someone held my loved ones hostage and watching a show would be part of the negotiation demands. But I have seen a preview during one of our company out of town team buildings where they hired one of these gay comics to host part of the night’s program. Part of the program was sort of a beauty contest. When the comic went on his usual attack on the contestant’s defenseless dignities, the organizers had to cut the bit short and queue to a song number. Well, what can I say? There’s a reason why Andrew Dice Clay was banned on MTV, and he wasn’t even gay.
I once heard a local actor-comedian say that we Filipinos have a discriminating taste for humor. He said that it’s generally difficult to make Filipinos laugh. I don’t think that’s completely the case. Being conditioned daily by the slapsticks of noontime shows, the general populace’s basic concept of funny and entertaining is watching a bunch of lame hosts out do each other by cracking witless jokes that will eventually be concluded and reinforced by the throwing of pies before the commercial break. Kind of reminds me of the cheap ass clown-magician I hired for my daughter’s first birthday party.
Like poetry reading, stand up comedy is definitely a form of performance art. I’m referring to “real” witty stand up comedy here, not impromptu audience bashing sessions like what some so called comedy clubs in Manila try to pass off as funny. Stand up comedy is serious business. I appreciate the time, effort and skill it takes to make out the details and ironies of everyday life and deliver it in exaggeration to a room full of people. There is a certain degree of IQ requirement to be able to write bits like that and a lot of talent and confidence to be able to execute it too with impeccable timing.
I sure hope that there is a sustainable future for real stand up comedy here in the Philippines, here where what’s hot today may be on sale just a few months down the road. I honestly used to think that stand up comedy is simply too western for Pinoys to develop a taste for. I guess with the response I saw last September 23 and seeing local comics like Mike Unson in the profession, I was definitely proven wrong.
If you haven’t heard of Rex Navarette yet, be glad to know that his albums are locally available and that there is an alternative for the gay dominated stand up comedy scene here in Manila. Look him up. Grab a copy of his CDs. Laugh at Maritess, Tito Boy, Rex and probably, even laugh at yourself!
