Pooh traces his comedy roots

MANILA, Philippines - Pooh is grateful that he is getting the support of his Banana Split co-stars for his birthday show tomorrow at the Metro Comedy Bar, beginning 8 p.m. The host-comedian said that John Prats, Jason Gainza and Zanjoe Marudo will be among his guest performers and that “they’re even appearing for free.”

He said that the audience can expect brand-new skits, sketches and of course, his signature impersonations, including his hit Manny Poohquiao (after boxing champ Manny Pacquiao). Pooh added that the show is also a reunion of sorts for family and friends from way back when he wasn’t yet in showbiz. The Backroom artist is celebrating his fifth year in the biz, although he began pounding the comedy bar circuit in 1999.

Before all that, he experienced working as a hotel housekeeper and roomboy, then quality controller and sales agent to support his college studies (he first took up Economics at PUP, before transferring to STI for computer studies) because, according to him, he initially wasted his school tuition on other things.

Doing so well as a sales agent enabled him to treat clients to night-outs at comedy and sing-along bars. One time, as in what usually happens in comedy bars, he was picked out from the audience to take on the stage, his natural gift at comedy unraveled accidentally — and as they say, the rest is history.

He admitted fumbling many a time when he was starting out that a senior stand-up comedian would holler at him to come down the stage because he wasn’t funny. But the job — first at Music Box, eventually at Library, then Laffline — appealed to him like no other.

It was at the Laffline comedy bar where he got discovered by talent scouts from ABS-CBN. He was asked to join a segment of the now-defunct show Wowowee, where his Poohquiao impersonation first earned notice. It led to other riotous celebrity impressions as he became more visible on TV and in no time, he won comedy acting honors from Aliw Awards and PMPC.

Told that with his talent, he could have rivaled the current success being enjoyed by Vice Ganda, Pooh, who’s seen in the gag show Banana Split, said that he believes that there are things that can’t be forced. “We all have to wait for our turn,” he said.

Pooh said that he considers Vice as one of the industry’s funniest. And they go a long way back. “We weren’t yet in sing-along bars and showbiz, I knew Visceral (Vice’s real name) already. We would hang out at a certain salon, he in his FEU uniform, and me in my STI uniform, and stay till the wee hours of the morning.”

Pooh also dismissed any form of comparison with Vice. “Kanya-kanyang forte kami ng pagpapatawa. I’m more on scripts rather than impromptu comedy. I really study (my acts).”

He admitted though the Pacquiao impression wasn’t exactly planned. “It was just playtime. Because I’m Waray and Bisaya, I can easily play around the character. Sa awa ng Diyos, nag-hit naman.”

He was even asked to perform the Poohquiao act before the boxing champ himself. “I thought he’d get angry. But after my act, he asked for my bank account and gave me P30,000 on top of the talent fee,” he recalled.

Meanwhile, when asked to sum up the year, Pooh or Reynold Garcia in real life said that while it wasn’t his best, “I’m contented with what happened in 2011.”

“As long as my work enables me to pay for the monthly amortization and the tuition, I’m good,” shared Pooh, who has invested in a townhouse somewhere in Metro Manila and built a house in his hometown in Samar.

He also happily shared that among the six relatives he has been sending to school, two have earned their college degrees already — one finished nursing and the other, HRM. “I grew up with my lolas, aunties and cousins because my mother is based abroad. I’m helping out because it so happens that I am earning more. Natutuwa naman ako. It gives me a different kind of fulfillment.”