The ‘but’ of jokes

I never got the punch line of many practical jokes. I was never a fan. Like pulling the chair away from a person who is about to take a seat — what the hell is so funny about that?

I always thought that my lack of enthusiasm for pranks made me a bit of a downer. But I never understood what could be so funny about another person’s discomfort. Surely, there are a great number of funnier things in the world. 

A lot of Filipinos’ concept of comedy relies on this kind of humor. But the strain of laughter in some of our local material really urges us to sometimes question their ethical nature. How long are we going to laugh along when the joke is running dry?

Just for fun, I’ll throw out a bunch of situations, and because I place them in the context of comedy, you just laugh when I tell you to laugh. And you better find it funny.

Let’s take two people with dwarfism and place them on a show and ask them to dance and sing and do all kinds of tricks. Let’s ask them really uncomfortable questions and let’s laugh at them because they’re shorter than the ordinary person. Let’s make it even more hilarious by poking fun at the idea that one of them might possibly have a sex scandal. Let’s call them Mahal and Mura. Let’s package them like twin sisters when, in reality, one of them is male. His name is Allan Padua and he claims the only reason he agreed to be packaged as a girl was because it was his only way to penetrate showbiz. Are you laughing yet?

This six-year-old-boy says his dad knows how to macho dance. His name is Jan-Jan and because we think the idea of a little boy gyrating is cute, let’s ask him to dance for us. He’s really dancing, oh God, this is so funny! Wait, now he’s crying. Ah well, let’s just ask him to keep doing it for as long as we like because it is so hilarious and not disturbing at all, even though that kid is clearly not having a good time. Meanwhile, the studio is filled with the sound of laughter, so I guess it’s still funny. 

Let’s laugh at this senatorial candidate because her skin is brown. No one mention that as a race and as a people, Filipinos are dark-skinned anyway. Let’s just totally overlook that fact and let’s pretend we’re better than Nancy Binay because we find the comparisons of her to the Black Nazarene absolutely ROFL-worthy. Let’s just laugh at her! She’s one to laugh at!  

Your dog ran away. Your husband is cheating on you. My boyfriend beat me up. I’m pregnant. Your daughter was in a plane crash. 

Psyche!

I was totally kidding. That was funny, right? I got you. Laugh! Laugh, you imbecile, it’s funny!

Let’s laugh at a certain respected journalist like Jessica Soho. If she were to get naked, she would need to be gang-raped all the time… because she’s fat, get it? Laugh out loud, I am so funny. I am a genius of my craft. Cue the canned laughter so people will know they can laugh now, and enter stinger music to fill dead space. Everyone should be reminded to take this lightly. 

Where do we cross the line and at whose expense?

Vice Ganda’s gang-rape joke didn’t sit too well with people. His punch line? It would be difficult if Jessica Soho were to do bold movies, she would have to be gang-raped all the time. While his joke garnered guffaws on concert grounds, people thought otherwise. 

A sense of respect is what was lost in the joke. Not only to Jessica, but to the victims of rape, too. It’s not a laughing matter at all. But Vice’s comedy has always relied heavily on laughing at the pain of other people. It’s not rich material for comedy, but this is the way comedy has been packaged in the Philippines for a long time, and its about time that these principles are questioned, especially since comedy takes up a large chunk of the entertainment industry. Are we going to keep allowing offensive and sensitive natured jokes, as long as we put a disclaimer that “it’s a joke”? We might as well put up racist comedy bars, sexist concerts shows, and child labor circus acts.

Perhaps an amusing irony in the world of comedy is that comedians are more intelligent than most of them let on. And they should be, if they’re going to be yapping and poking fun. It really does take a levelheaded person to know where the lines are crossed. 

Some of the most well known standup comics in America are bright and well read. Their jokes are imbued with social commentary. My favorite comedian, Conan O’Brien, was a graduate of Harvard. The late George Carlin was sought out as a social critic, just as much as he was considered a jokester. Lenny Bruce was also popular for his monologues that often integrated talk about politics, religion and sex. Even comedians who tackle something as sensitive as race ground their jokes on personal insights about the diversity of culture. 

We have to tip our hats to beloved local comics like Michael V and Dolphy. Michael V, creative director of the longstanding gag show Bubble Gang, has been building comedy that is truly Filipino, deeply ingrained in our everyday culture, for years. While Dolphy, hailed as the king of comedy, was able to make people laugh for decades and decades sans any kind of ethical controversy.  

As long as the canned laughter is cued, the bright lights shine, and that annoying stinger music plays every time there is an awkward silence, people will be made to believe that offensive humor in our local comedy is okay, and still within the realm of fun, because it is all still just a show. It’s just a joke, they remind us, as they urge us to laugh on cue to their punch lines.

But, if it’s just a show, then why is no one laughing?