chocnut

they say that there are some night-outs that were fun but you quickly forget what the fun was all about. well.. this night, mark's 29th birthday party, was the exact opposite of that. you see, mark turned 29 in july 29... but since then, we haven't got over that night's merrymaking all in the name of comedy bar's biru-biruan, i think. we still joke around with each other using lines from those comedy stand-outs while obviously remembering all their crazy antics. i guess sharon's recent (replay) episode featuring these stand-up comedians also helped. i've been to these comedy bars before so i understand mark's fascination that gets him to do this on a weekly basis. as for me, the trip to bar uno was a welcome deviation from our mark's so-called sign-of-aging dinner + coffee night outs! wahahahaha!

the night's program started with regine (not the asia's songbird of course) doing some belting to the best of her vocal ability. while she doesn't have the voice to match the orig regine, this regine got all the mannerisms perfectly. and then iya (who really looks like iya villania) followed, singing not iya-type songs but old school frankie songs coz his (her) voice is hoarse baritone. then kulafu did his somewhat janno gibbs set, followed by chocnut who did mostly jaya songs. of course, this won't be a comedy bar if they don't get rousing audience participation. and participation means that the would-be-hapless member of the audience gets up on the stage, sing a song via videoke, that is after getting the tongue-bashing of their lives!

the humor of course is far from the disinfected late night shows we see on cable. vulgarly green, these stand-up comedians throw out any precaution to the air and do not bother bordering on making half-meant jokes. rather, they directly hurl comedic verbal assaults to the patron who gamely and bravely went up the stage. these jokingly and "all in the spirit of fun" banter makes fun on just about anything, from the patron's sex & lovelife, work, personality and of course the main event of it all, the physical appearance, which i think is every pinoy's penchant, given our very own dolphy-like brand of comedy. speaking of dolphy, these stand-up comedians also put on a hilarious silent and slapstick comedy (behind the singing patron), which really made me laugh my heart out! chocnut's over-the-top impersonation of how sharon cuneta sprays her singing when trying to reach high notes and then quickly jumping to another celebrity like jaya, vina morales, jessa zaragoza, even rosanna roces & katrina halili, and doing sharon, jaya and all the other all over again while performing mystica's splits and strut was just so brilliantly funny! his being not too bright and all was also part of the skit (although they seem not to have any script at all), blurting out lines like "ah ganun ba? bago na? di ako na-inform!", when he doesn't know anything at all about the topic. one major highlight of the night was when an OA call center agent took to the stage. this one got the beating of his life, primarily because of his kris aquino-way of speaking elizabeth's tongue. i guess reg and her cohorts are irritated with individuals who really go out of their way just to make an impression, even to the point of bringing their unnatural and call center acquired way of speaking. to his horror and to our delight, the comedians poked fun on him by over-OA-ing his already OA speech.

the bummer was when the comedians lipsynched dreamgirls songs, while the low point was when kulafu made his supposedly beyonce set but turned out as if you're watching a construction worker gone amok! the night was enjoyable... maybe because to my delight, i wasn't one of the poked and butchered patrons that night. hey, it's more fun being a spectator, especially since the comedians always say, "wag kang (the guest) tawa nang tawa, ikaw nga ang pinagtatawanan eh!". i'm not too sure if i'll get up when called... but who knows, maybe next time! all for fun, anyway. (",)