'There is a reason why aspiring comics like me come back to do open-mics, even if we bombed the last time.'
It is almost nine in the evening at Mow’s, a bar at the basement of a Chinese restaurant in Matalino St., Quezon City. In front of the seats is a mic stand. Beside it, a stool. It is Wednesday, which means tonight is Comedy Manila’s open-mic night for stand-up comedians.
Observational stand-up comedy in the Philippines has been around long enough to develop a community of comics and followers, long enough to have produced its own established personalities: Rex Navarrette, Tim Tayag, Mike Unson, Alex Calleja, and GB Labrador, who founded Comedy Manila.I bum a cigarette from Ese, the doorman for the night. He’ll be performing later too. In fact, many if not most of the people here come from their day jobs and homes to tell jokes.
It almost seems anathema to a lot of people’s sensibilities to hear that comedians need to practice. After all, we are so used to finding funny things “in the moment.” Eat Bulaga’sisn’t scripted. Some people after shows have even asked me why stand-ups repeat jokes they’ve already told elsewhere, as if they were being duped. My answer is always that you wouldn’t want Aegis to only play new songs in their shows. Because that’s impossible, and the old stuff is good.
Even international acts are taking notice. In 2020, even before the pandemic, comedy legend Dave Chapelle filled Solaire Theater’s 1,740 seats in his first-ever 80-minute set in the Philippines. In 2022, world-renowned Fil-Am comedy rising star Jo Koy filled the Mall of Asia Arena. And just last March 2023, Jim Gaffigan performed in the Music Museum, where the aforementioned Fil-Am comedy pioneer Rex Navarrette also performed on Saturday, July 22.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
From Filipino food to acting, Kim Seon-Ho shares what he wants to try nextThe South Korean actor says he is 'blessed and grateful' to be back.
Read more »
SWS: 45% of Filipino families rated themselves as poorThe poll also found that 33% of families rated themselves as 'borderline,' or between poor and not-poor, while 22% described themselves as not poor. Read more:
Read more »
Filipino Baldonado makes weight in Inoue-Fulton undercard bout versus Japanese opponentFilipino prospect Ronnie “Lindol” Baldonado is all set for his battle against Japanese Yoshiki Takei in the undercard of the Naoya Inoue-Stephen Fulton world title unification showdown in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. CDNDigital
Read more »