Make me laugh

Making an audience laugh is probably the toughest gig you could ever get. Ask any filmmaker – at least the ones who are unpretentious enough to admit it – and they’ll agree that, of all the genres, comedy is more difficult to pull off than drama, horror or action. (Basically for the first two you can have varying degrees of success, depending on how much abuse you inflict on your women characters. Action is usually gauged by its depiction of violence towards men. Of course, there are exceptions but the gamut of films so far will carry the observation well enough.) To elicit laughter cannot be simplified in such comfortable assumptions. Comedy requires a special and quirky kind of genius.

If I were to take the case of one Filipino director in particular, RA Rivera, the point is clear enough. The wayward talent behind Radioactive Sago’s Astro, the spoof Dan Michael: Master Magician and The Jun Jun and Got Got Trilogy makes it seem so easy – even with all the off-kilter culture references and loopy logic. But the fact is, despite several attempts by other filmmakers to emulate Rivera, there is no one else I can think of who can do it and still be funny. Most of the time, it’s just pathetic and goes to show why even someone like Quark Henares has declared Rivera his favorite Filipino director.

Directing comedy is hard but I can safely say that writing a sitcom is not. Especially if you’re lucky enough to be involved in a hit series like Channel 2’s Let’s Go! Airing every Saturday at 4 p.m., the show revolves around the lives of 12 students and the goings-on in their college dorm. It’s an eclectic cast of characters that sometimes becomes a daunting balancing act. There’s your requisite socialite, her sycophant, the gossip, the bully, the princesses and their prince, the jesters and a closet homosexual. (Phew! That was a mouthful.) But then again, it’s easy to dream up these people because in one way or the other I’ve known them all my life.

What makes it even easier – and this is honest truth – is that we have such a great cast to work with. Every one of them makes those of us behind the camera look good. There is a certain sense of magic and awe when you watch a scene performed that works so well – especially if you are the writer of said scene and know in your heart that it isn’t half as funny on paper as it is interpreted by these young actors. I believe that they are those characters to the point that I have a hard time calling them by their real names. (I still call Catherine Gonzaga Alex no matter what mental jujitsu I perform to correct my error.) What’s more, all of them are relatively newcomers to show business. It was our series creator/director’s decision to cast actors with no set public image.

Also, writing lines – even if they’re just slightly humorous – for actors like Smokey Manoloto and the other veterans on the show is really almost cheating. Although I must admit that before working with them I didn’t care much for their previous roles, I’m amazed at how easy they turn my prosaic sentences and somehow make them comedy.

Thankfully, we’ve got more talented writers working on the show like – among them comedy professionals like Roel Raval and Earl Ignacio. It all works out.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s hard work. In fact, it’s 6:48 a.m. as I’m typing this sentence. I’ve been working almost nonstop since last night with my partner-in-crime since college, Frasco Mortiz, on the script to be shot… today. (I’m writing this Wednesday morning.) Just got home and decided that I must as well tell my three loyal readers about what’s been keeping this writer busy. (I also got to see a cut of Rivera’s new video for Radioactive Sago for their upcoming single Wasak recently and am still flabbergasted at how good – no, great – it is!) My only hope is that no one notices that I don’t have a sense of humor. Really, ask my wife.

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Speaking of my wife, Yvonne Quisumbing-Romulo, let me beam with pride now that pictures of her solo show Infernal Desire Machines have been put online by internationally acclaimed comics writer Warren Ellis in his live journal. The writer of Transmetropolitan stumbled upon her photo blog account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/yqr/) and was gracious enough to put it up. According to comics authority Ramon De Veyra, Ellis’ blog gets about 8,000 hits a day and frequent visitors include William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Admittedly, this may seem a bit geeky to everyone else, but hey, it makes me very happy – enough for me to flaunt being uncool (as if this column and "Radio Dredd" weren’t enough). If you’ve got time, check it out.

Congratulations also to Poklong Anading for winning big at the recent Ateneo Art Awards.