'API' comedy a serious business

'API' comedy a serious business

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If a comedian tells you po-faced that to make people laugh is a serious endeavor and is painstakingly difficult, it's best not to smile -- even if at the back of your mind you wonder if he is setting you up for a joke.

An unsmiling Basuki gave this very advice to a comedy group that also happened to be gravely unfunny, which had just performed on the API talent show -- Indonesia's homegrown comedy version of American Idol. Judging from the would-be comics' expressions, they knew what he meant.

Another funny man, Indrodjojo Kusumonegoro, popularly known as Indro, speaking to The Jakarta Post gave this equally sober advice to prospective API comedians: "Humor is something serious. So making humor is a serious job."

No, he's not kidding.

History here shows that it is only rare talents that can hold onto stardom and manage to remain "funny" for any great period of time.

While what some call the 1960-1970s golden era of local comedy; of Benyamin S, Bing Slamet, Ratmi B29. S. Bagio and Darto Helm; is long gone, these natural talents were later replaced in the late '70s early '80s by a younger generation; the Warkop DKI group of Dono, Kasino and Indro; Jojon and the emergence of one giant many-legged laugh-factory; Srimulat.

In early 1980s, the Bagito group formed by Mi'ing, Unang and Didin, ascended to stardom attracting a modern middle-class audience with their more highbrow political and social satire.

Their dry cynicism and witty jokes gained them a devoted following.

Srimulat however, remained what they were, offering slapstick sometimes off-color jokes heavily loaded with traditional Javanese drama styles, Ketoprak (in Yogyakarta and Surakarta) or Ludruk of East Java.

The group's founder Teguh was a fan of great Western comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Jerry Lewis, Abbot and Costello and the Marx Brothers and it is no wonder that slapstick and physical jokes dominate Srimulat plays.

With the increasing impact of television, which introduced new names and fresher comedians, Sirimulat's stages in Surakarta and Surabaya became deserted.

Bagito ended up having a show playing on RCTI, Patrio's Eko, Parto and Akri ran a show on TPI and, later in 2000, Srimulat debuted on Indosiar but the show later ended after creative differences.

Successful comedians sometimes just come out of nowhere, their rise to prominence a mixture of luck, timing and of course, the ability to make people laugh. Others, it seems, are now being manufactured; this "transparent" and often not-very-funny process part of the TV talent-search industry.

Riding the wave of popularity of Idol-style shows, TPI launched a competition especially for comics late last year. Auditions were held in major cities like Yogyakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Makassar and Palembang. At least 800 individuals and groups tried out for the Jakarta spot where they would be coached by the pros on how to be successful comedians.

"There is already a need for the presence of new young comedians on television screens because we tend to have the same faces appearing on different stations," TPI media relations manager Theresia Elasari said.

"What we hope from this program is that we can present new faces with fresher entertainment."

A panel of judges, comprising of Mi'ing, Gogon, Tukul, Kirun and Marwoto selected 16 groups for coaching and competition to be aired live on TPI.

But despite the high powered panel, the fate of the groups depended on the TV audience who voted via SMS polling.

It seems that slapstick and the more suggestive, smutty humor won out over the more creative jokes, which were surprisingly eliminated from the first rounds.

"Funny is relatively subjective, therefore it is difficult to compare one group to another," Indro said.

He said one of the shortcomings of the program was that it was always designed to appear with a different subject-theme every time it went on air.

"The art of humor art is actually about honesty and we can't fabricate this kind of honesty by using themes. (The competition) will of course create more colorful comedians but not improve the substance of their jokes."

But perhaps, the jokes aren't that important. Shows like TPI are big business for cellular phone operators and for the television stations. API has drawn so much attention that TPI's ratings have given it a No 1 position in it's timeslot from March 27 until April 2, an extraordinary achievement in the station's history. API gave the station a 10.2 rating with 29.8 percent share primarily from viewers in Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, Semarang, Bandung, Makassar, Palembang, Yogyakarta, and Denpasar.

Meanwhile, for any young, budding comedian the Rp 125 million main prize and the promise of future showbiz fame is a big enough lure that we should expect these shows -- if not the laughs -- to continue for sometime.