How to be funny but not offensive

If there is one comedy show that lives up to its name, it’s Nuts Entertainment, which airs Wednesday nights on GMA 7. It’s nutty — crazy — entertainment where anything goes.

I always have a ball watching it on TV, but nothing compares to the fun I experience taking part in it — on the very set of Nuts Entertainment itself.

My first time in Nuts was in the Balakubak portion and I only agreed to appear as guest there after executive producer Joshua de Guzman poked a gun at my head. But I was glad he did because it turned out to be one of the most fun moments in my otherwise boring life.

Lately, I’ve been making myself visible there again to judge one of the games where the mainstays play around with names of celebrities. For instance, they give you the name Arnel Ignacio. You choose to work around either the first name or family name and come out with something that would make sense with each letter. To impress the contestants, I volunteered — even if I wasn’t required to — to participate and worked around ARNEL. This was how it went: ARNEL — ABS-CBN Raw Nuon Eh Lumipat.

Of course, trust the Nuts Entertainment mainstays to actually come out with crazier combinations that I wouldn’t even dare repeat here. Some are out-of-this-world, while the rest are simply insane.

Joey de Leon hosts this segment and sometimes I feel like we are on Startalk already, except that it’s in the evening and it’s not Saturday yet. Also, the scenario is more riotous and I can’t think of anything that can have more unrestrained merriment than Startalk.

On the air, Janno Gibbs and I have this mock argument because he feels like I always find fault in his and his teammates’ answers and begins questioning my authority as judge. We fight a lot during the game proper, but away from the camera, we respect each other. At least, I respect him, but I don’t know if the feeling is mutual.

With Janno Gibbs, Anjo Yllana, Pekto, John Feir (Belly Flory) and the Joey de Leon there, Nuts Entertainment can be naughty and even racy. But for a show this nutty, I have to give it to them for not being offensive.

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What is offensive to the Thai government and its people is the content of a particular website that makes fun of their much-revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

When I read about it in the World section of this newspaper, I wasn’t surprised anymore that the Thais are howling in protest. Unlike Queen Elizabeth II and her children, who are forever being pounced on by London tabloids, Thai royalty is treated with respect and reverence in their country.

Some three decades ago, the Thai embassy here in Manila also complained to a local ad agency over a Superwheel TV commercial that supposedly mocked the King of Thailand.

That television ad was actually inspired by The King and I — with Gloria Romero as English schoolteacher Anna Leonowens and the late Aurelio Estanislao as the Siamese King. Since the commercial had to work around the detergent’s slogan, "Isang kuskos, ayos," Ms. Romero was shown polishing Estanislao’s head with a piece of rag. That TV ad that was deemed offensive to the Thais was immediately re-edited.

I guess the ad agency that conceptualized this commercial had no intention of offending anyone — not any race, creed or religion.

Unfortunately, in our desire to be funny, we sometimes offend people in the process — without our meaning to and so comedians and writers of comedy shows have to be careful with their materials.

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Funny, but never offensive is the humor of Allan K. In all the years he has been on television, I have yet to catch him say something derogatory or insulting to viewers or even studio contestants. It seems like he’d rather poke fun at himself — at his nose in particular, which he jokingly refers to as "Ang Pambansang Ilong."

Three days ago — during the shoot of the new GMA 7 Station ID — we were given markers to stand on and I found myself some two feet away from Allan K. who all kept us entertained with his jokes.

At one point, Lolis Solis caught the child star Charming playing with her nose. Charming was twisting it to the left, to the right and sometimes flattening it. "Huwag mong paglaruan ang ilong mo at baka mapango ng tuluyan ‘yan, ‘no!," Lolit barked at the girl.

I didn’t exactly get what Charming said, but the essence of what she said to Allan K. was that she wasn’t very happy with her nose. To that, Allan K.’s quick response was: "Gusto mo, palit tayo ng ilong?"

Bing Loyzaga and I had a good laugh over that one — and Charming, too. The child star, who is often played up to be the ugly duckling on TV, must have felt good about herself for once — all because of Allan K.’s clean, kind and yet effective humor. Yes, he’d rather make fun of himself, which is the safest. If there were more like him on television, there will be more peace and happiness in showbusiness.