THE COMEDY HOUR

Looking for an interesting alternative to your regular night out? Try great music and ticklish entertainment at any of the metro’s happening comedy clubs! Anyone?!

No, this is not the be-all, end-all solution to the way things are going nowadays. Sure beats staying at home watching CNN…

The world’s "super power" is still so shaken up by recent tragedy that even the Philippines is feeling the aftershocks. Our country’s been experiencing economic recession for, what, a decade now. The dollar’s up. Morale’s down. Many are jobless, a good majority are undernourished, our leaders are crooks, our heroes persecuted. What else do we have to look forward to?

A lot.

But hope doesn’t spring from sad occurrences, lack of funds or bad government. It comes from joy in the little things experienced everyday. It resides in good faith and great company. It surprises us in the form of a song or a joke that brings an endless smile to a face filled with despair.

And this is exactly what these sprouting comedy clubs offer—a temporary escape from whatever harsh realities you may be facing…and are more than willing to keep way in the recesses of your subconscious.

And if anyone would know this truth better than the rest, it would have to be the Pinoy.

Filipino humor is not necessarily all-out intelligent, but by golly, does it solicit laughter! Our entertainers have this way of injecting great singing and impressive dance moves to add color to a comic routine that—more often than not—finds the lighter side to serious problems our society battles.

Picture a group of raving transvestites, dressed to each one’s Spice Girl of choice. (All a notch higher in terms of pretty faces and flawless legs.) They will dazzle you with flying kicks, imitate the high-pitched shrills of Scary, Sporty and Baby Spice to the tee, and delight you with such hysterical lyrics like:

(NOTE: Please sing to the Spice Girls’ track " Wannabe"…)

"If you wanna be Bin Laden, you gotta get NYC, bomb the World Trade Center, Terrorism spree-heeh-heeh-heeh!"

Admit it. You’re cracking up! Or smiling, at the very least. It’s not about belittling a travesty, but knowing how to cover the sadness with a blanket of jokes…simply meant to draw lost souls out of hopelessness.

We are a country of resilient souls. Amidst misfortune, we find a way to escape, even just for a little while. Whether it be singing away at a karaoke bar, listening to a band, or cackling away at the vocal and comic styling of zany pseudo-exhibitionists, the immediate goal is to forget life’s ills and remember that life isn’t about hardship all the time.

So have a go at it. Order some sisig, have all the beer your gut can take, sit back with some friends and enjoy the comedy show! It might just be what the quack doctor ordered.