I think, therefore I laugh: What now for Pinoy satire?
Veteran comedian Jun Urbano, who created the comic character Mr. Shooli in the 1980s for his hit show “Mongolian Barbecue,” agrees with the observation. So does former Film Academy of the Philippines deputy general Leo Martinez, who popularized the character Congressman Manhik Manaog.
Asked to weigh in on the issue, film-TV director Jose Javier Reyes said, “Satire, which is high comedy, is supposed to make people laugh, then think. Problem is, people just want to laugh and don’t think.”
Meanwhile, public anthropologist and film critic Tito Valiente agrees that political satire as an art form in the Philippines “needs saving,” and that “we can no longer use it as a weapon” these days.
For sociologist Josephine Aguilar-Placido, who’s focusing more on “that big paradigm shift” that the Filipino audience experienced recently, viewers have now “reached their saturation point” and are now “looking for new faces and flavors.”
Just silly stuff
Urbano, son of the late National Artist for Film Manuel Conde, recently created a YouTube channel and has been regularly uploading vlogs featuring Mr. Shooli, the character he’s most famous for, expressing views on social issues “in a funny way.”
However, Urbano would feel disappointed whenever he’d look at the low number of views per video. “Meanwhile, vlogs that feature people doing silly things get more clicks than mine,” observed Urbano.
Mr. Shooli predates the unapologetically tactless Hollywood character Borat, made famous by Sacha Baron Cohen. Critics say Shooli’s observations parallel Borat’s confusion with the American way of life. In 1991, Urbano’s film “Juan Tamad at Mr. Shooli sa Mongolian Barbecue” was an entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival, where it won six awards.
‘Pikon’ politicians
Other examples of shows that utilized politics as a form of entertainment include “Sic O’Clock News,” (1987-1990), which featured Jaime Fabregas, Pen Medina and Ces Quesada; and “Abangan ang Susunod na Kabanata” (1991-1997), starring Nova Villa, Tessie Tomas, Noel Trinidad and Freddie Webb. Read More…
