Ang Kalatas Volume IV September 2014 Issue | Page 12

12

EDITORIAL & OPINION

THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 4 Number 12 | September 2014

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE

Comedians laugh because they do not want to cry

I

love comedians. I love
watching comedy. Good
comedians, in my view,
are some of the most awesome people in the world.
They can fill a dreary moment
with laughter and lightness, and
gift us with the feeling that all is
right with the world. It’s almost
as if they control the reset button
that can change our disposition
from sad to happy.
Robin Williams was one such
comedian. It is no wonder that
the world reacted with deep sadness and loss when he died last
month. It’s as if a very bright light
in the world suddenly dimmed.
I felt the loss personally. I have
been an ardent follower of his
comedy from his earliest days. I
watched in awe as he shared his
genius on TV and in the cinema.
He was witty, compassionate and
inspiring. He was my idol.
I admired his genius and his
audacity to be completely himself. He trusted his talent and
allowed it to go beyond places
where others dared not tread.
Robin could comment on anything and his takes were always
brilliantly funny, like precious
gems spilling out of his mouth.
He could talk about religion,
politics, social behavior, personalities — anything — and often came up with absolutely hilarious and outrageous insights.
Robin was always spot-on.
Many were surprised that
his sudden demise was brought
about by severe depression. It
was a suicide. While I, too, was
shocked by that, I could some-

how understand it on some level.
Having been in showbiz for
a long time, I have managed
to meet and hang around with
all types of people, comedians
among them. Let me just say that
there is so much more to comedians than you will ever see on
stage.
They come in different shapes
and styles. There are purveyors
of slapstick, the cerebral funny
men, the self-deprecating, etc.
There are also impersonators
and those who get their laughs
by picking on other people. And
there are those who do not need
to do anything since they have
earned the reputation of simply
being funny, so anything they
do elicits laughs from their audience.
For those who do it for a living, comedy is a mode of thinking, and of being. Comedians
turn it “on” when they are performing or are around people.
When they are good, they are
quick and sharp as knives, fabulous, lovable, hilarious, and
completely charming. They have
great timing and can thoroughly
destroy any defense you may put
up against having a good time.
They can conquer you effortlessly like a magician who pulls
large chunks of surprise and delight out of a hat.
But there is a side to comedians that the public hardly sees.
You have to be in close physical
or emotional proximity to them
to experience it. I am talking
about the pain that many comics harbor deep inside. Many

comedians are wounded human beings; I would even use the
word neurotic to describe some
of them. And doing comedy may
be the fastest and surest pathway
for them to deal with the pain.
An Italian writer who once
mused why people do comedy answered his own question
with, “We laugh because we do
not want to cry.”
I have seen many comedians,
big and small, old and young,
newbies and established, on various occasions. They are a study
of contrasts. During their “off”
days, when they are not “performing” for anyone, they can
be very quiet, pensive, somewhat withdrawn, and are often
not eager for conversation, especially when they are expected
to be funny.
Some of them could engage
in serious conversation without
going anywhere near anything
funny. I have seen some comedians get drunk, and believe me,
they are anything but charming.
On such occasions, it’s as if they
are wrestling with their demons.
Sometimes, I feel that their funny moments onstage are their respite from pain.
Comedy is performance. It
involves creating material, timing, confidence, delivery and
showmanship. I know how great
it feels to pull off a critically successful show. It is a high like no
other.
But offstage, it is something
different. One may want to be in
“off” mode. One can be caught
off-guard and not be funny in

Illustration by Rey Rivera

any way. I know a comedian who
seems very friendly but who can
actually be bitingly mean-spirited and cynical. To the audience
that only sees a comic’s smiling
face, it can be shocking to see
one in a foul mood. Social critic and philosopher Mokokoma
Mokhonoana observed: “Ninety eight percent of all comedians
feel obliged to be funny when interviewed. Less than two percent
succeed.”
It has been said that comedy is tragedy, plus time. Given a
few years, everything, even tragedy, can become comedy material. But the comic pays a high
price when he makes a joke out
of tragedy that has not been totally “processed” by the audience.
Up to now, few comics in the US

dare make jokes about 9/11.
Sometimes, just the fact of being a comedian can cost a person.
While others can deal with pain
and suffering in the usual way,
the comic must process his own
pain and somehow make it palatably funny. Or he may deny his
own pain and use the pain of others for his or her comic material.
As the comedian Jim Jeffries pointed out, “Some comedians have to invent crazy stuff
for themselves. I’m lucky. Crazy
situations just seek me out, and
I’ve learned to exploit the bad
stuff for laughs.”
Whatever kind of comedian
one may be, the comic’s job is to
deal with whatever is playing in
his or her life, and squeeze some
humor out of it.

JIM PAREDES
is a multifaceted creative. He sings,
composes, writes articles and books, teaches
at the Ateneo De Manila University, designs
and facilitates various types of workshops.
He is also a writer of books, a widely read
columnist for the Sunday Life section of Philippine Star, and a
well-known photographer.

PROCEED WITH CAUTION
JESS DIAZ
DANNY
DINGLE
ALLAN
ESPINOSA
JIM PAREDES
GIL MARVEL
TABUCANON

A touch of secularism

N

ews that the
D e p ar t me nt
of Education
(DepEd) deleted the phrase
“God-loving” in its vision-mission drew flak from religious organisations in the Philippines.
A secular group called Filipino
Freethinkers wrote an open letter last February to Bro. Armin
Luistro, DepEd Secretary, to protest what it calls "clear violations
of the principle of secularism."
The 1987 Philippine Constitution declares in Article II, Section
6 The separation of Church and
State shall be inviolable.
The original DepEd vision
mission was as follows: “By 2030,
DepEd is globally recognised for
good governance and for developing functionally-literate and
God-loving Filipinos.”
Yet starting September 2013
the vision mission now reads:

"We dream of Filipinos who
passionately love their country
and whose values and competencies enable them to realise
their full potential and contribute meaningfully to building the
nation."
This decision for and towards
secularism is a surprise given the
fact that almost, if not all, Philippine government buildings are
decked with chapels, statues of
Virgin Mary, Jesus and the weekly Masses, and its tenants can’t
get enough of religious expressions. Yet even in a rare occasion
when a minority of unbelievers
get recognised, the religious lot
still manage to portray this as an
assault on their religious freedom.
Catholic group Filipinos for
Life spokesperson Dr. Ricardo
Boncan thinks that some in the
Department were “influenced”
by the non-religious group,

who argue that “belief in God is
harmful and therefore violates
the Constitution.” Boncan argues that belief in God is consistent with the Constitution since
it is enshrined in the Preamble
and nowhere does it say preference to a particular religion.
I believe this decision is a step
towards the right path. After all,
unbelievers are part of any society and we are here to stay. All
we are asking is fairness and
equality in society, not sectarianism where a particular religion is given special privilege
and rights over others. Whether you are Catholic, Protestant,
Iglesia, Aglipayan or atheist, you
are not to be discriminated and
vilified by the government especially one that promotes education like DepEd. Values of secularism start in that Department.
Coincidentally, last month, I
had an opportunity to engage the

good Cardinal Tagle to a discussion about secularism and atheism. Unfortunately for me, partly due to my inexperience in a
press conference, I was cut off by
the moderator midway through
my two-minute long question.
I was able to deliver the crux of
my question, but I did not expect
the Cardinal to dodge the question saying it would be better to
answer this question in one semester. It sounded condescending and superior. Why would he
dodge it?
We cannot know. Only the
Cardinal can answer that and I
would not claim to know what
he was thinking at the time. As

one commenter in my blog says:
“It was a perfectly valid question
- one that is relevant and affects
the lives of our people today.”
And not just the lives of Filipinos, many parts of the world is
convulsing with religious hatred.
As we speak, ISIS militants conduct beheadings and crucifixion
of Christians and other religious
minorities in Iraq and its goal is
to convert the world into one Islamic Caliphate.
Secularism is the perfect antidote to religious fanaticism
because it promotes equality of
all religions, and where all religions have a place in the table of
society.

ALLAN ESPINOSA
lives in Canley Vale NSW. He finished
philosophy in Notre Dame University in
Cotabato.
Follow Allan on Twitter @atheistpapa.