MY BROTHER AND HIS WIFE brought me and Mahal to a JoKoy concert in Auckland (we were still based in Wellington then) late 2010s and though we didn’t know too much about him then, we were about to be pleasantly surprised.
We learned that JoKoy was an A-list comedian who had made it in America, performing before sold-out audiences worldwide, but especially where there Filipino communities, and of course New Zealand was no exception.
As he was starting his standup, Jokoy was in his element, brimming 100% with confidence. He was master of his realm, lord of all he surveyed. It was IMPOSSIBLE for him to have bombed or failed to entertain, as he we’ll get to very soon.
His timing was perfect, his jokes all resonating with the audience, who were probably 95% or more ethnic Filipino. He didn’t actually even have to make jokes, mostly it was stories about his mom raising him, the Filipino cuisine, and, paying it forward, his anecdotes about raising his own son.
In short, it was about himself. He talked about the back story of everyone else in the room. And, needless to say, he was a hit and then some.
Which brings us to more recent events, namely his emceeing of an awards event broadcast all over the country and the rest of the world. As most of us know (unless you’re living in a cave or fasting for 40 days in the desert), our kabayan didn’t do too well.
This is not to defend him, but not attack him either. He has already had too much of the latter (sadly I’ve heard, not the least from kabayan), and too little of the former.
But the empirical and reduced to the ridiculous observations from this amuyong are:
He was entertaining a new crowd. Not hostile ha, pero not used to his brand of humor. He wasn’t in Auckland (see above) where everyone was PREPARED to laugh at his jokes. Hell, we already KNEW what his jokes were gonna be, and most of us were still there to hear it for the nth time.
The butt of his jokes were not well thought out. Of course hindsight is 100%, but looking back, did you have to target Tay-Tay and young Don Vito Corleone, icons of multi-generations, in one spray of saliva? At least be a little more flattering with the jokes if you’re gonna do it at their expense.
What the camera catches is a tricky thing. The whole world now knows how Taylor Swift and Mila Kunis instantly reacted (or not reacted) to JoKoy’s opening monologue. What we can’t know is whether that instant reaction was representative of their whole reactions. What the camera catches is a tricky thing.
There, yun lang ang gusto ko sabihin.
Oh, that undeniably, JoKoy is gonna survive this and do well many times over. Entertainers have done far worse and have recovered many times in the past.
Whatever and however we feel for JoKoy.
Mabuhay!
