Comedian Eko has a way with words

Comedian Eko has a way with words

Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A bunch of excited young women, mostly high school students,
streams into Studio 3 at private station TPI's headquarters in
Pondok Gede, East Jakarta.

They are the studio audience for the shooting of Ngelaba, the
weekly show which has made stars of comedy trio Patrio Group.
Like most of the show's topics, this week's focuses on a current
issue, the increase in electricity rates.

Notable guest actors include actress Jihan Fahira, as a
materialistic wife who just wants her AC and VCD, singer Sarwah,
hamming it up as a Makassar student who runs amok when the
electricity cuts out, and child entertainer Mega, the token
precocious kid (granted, she acts better than most of her cutesy
peers).

The regulars, with one notable absence, are Parto, a quiet,
rather subdued presence until he switches into a heavy does of
physical humor as a hapless vacuum cleaner salesman, and Eko,
better known as Eko Patrio, as Jihan's long-suffering hubby
trying to fulfill her every grasping wish.

It's the extroverted Eko who is really the center of
attention, and he keeps his fans happy by showing his classic bag
of verbal tricks. He serves up a quick repartee of one-liners and
his famous quotable quotes, most notably catat ("make a note of
that") as the storyline reaches its conclusion.

But the final moments of the shoot, with a fuse box exploding
after the electricity system is overloaded, is a reminder that
October has been no ordinary month for Eko and the rest of Patrio
Group.

Eko and Akri, the third member of Patrio, were injured when a
bamboo torch flared up and burned them while they were filming a
TV commercial. Eko sustained minor injuries to his arms, but Akri
was more seriously hurt and remains hospitalized.

"All months are precious for me, but, yes, October has been
particularly special, because there has been so much going on,"
Eko said during a break from rehearsal for the show on Tuesday.
"On October 1, I suffered a misfortune, when Akri and I were
burned, and then on October 12, I had my marriage ceremony. On
the 26th, we will have our reception."

He says work is now "busier" in the absence of Akri, who is
expected to take about two months to recuperate, but he does not
see any omens in the accident.

"For me, what happened could happen to anyone, a misfortune is
simply that, misfortune. Before I got married, I was pickpocketed
in April, in February my car was broken into. But, maybe, we just
have to be a bit more careful."

Accidents or not, Eko has good reason to be happy. Aside from
his popularity with Patrio Group, he has also made a successful
career for himself as a TV personality, first as the host of KISS
on Indosiar, taking over from Indra Safera and making the gossip
show his own, and now cohosting a breakfast TV program with
comedian Ulfa Dwiyanti.

Tellingly, when the girls arrive in the studio, and also when
they try to sneak into the dressing room, it's Eko, not Parto,
who they make a beeline for.

Born Eko Hendro Purnomo in Surabaya 30 years ago, he grew up
in Bandung (hence his distinctive Sundanese accent), in a
military family. He says his family was "serious", but he loved
making people laugh from the time he was a kid.

"For me, being humorous is actually from something I wish for,
not from natural talent," Eko said. "Talent, for me, is 10
percent of it, the desire to succeed 90 percent. So, the desire
makes up for the rest, with socializing with friends, reading,
looking for materials."

Eko's comic idols were Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis, and from
Indonesia the late Benyamin S.

"For me, being a comedian is not just about getting laughs ...
it's about how the person can adjust himself to what's needed.
For instance, if we are performing for the advertising community,
then we have to know how they write an ad. If we are performing
for doctors, then we have to know what they know. It's about
managing our humor, and also managing your time."

He calls himself a "professional" who is selling a service. A
comedian, he believes, must always be a little ahead of the
audience. There are lots of funny people in the world, he notes,
from the wisecracking guy on the street to the office cutup, but
they don't know how to channel that humor.

"I have a motto. When people are still thinking, I've already
taken a step. When they take a step, I'm already on my second
run. So, we're always out in front. That's why I always have
jokes, like catat, which the public can latch onto."

Patrio Group has been going since 1988, when the group began
on the radio and Eko was still in university. They landed the
series on TPI in 1994. Each member has a particular flair: Parto
with his physical humor and Akri his cheeky rib-pulling.

Eko acknowledges his own bread and butter is his way with
words, his quick ability to take a sentence or word, turn it
around and provide it with a whole new meaning through an
inflection here or change of tone there.

"For me, I always use words, it's all about verbal language,
playing with words. If I use some physical stuff, it's only a
little, and then it's mimicry."

There is room for all types of comedy, he says, but he draws
his own personal line at "SARAP" when it comes to topics. The
acronym is taken from the old New Order regime dictate against
irreverent discussion of ethnic groups, religion, race and
societal groups. He also includes pornography on the list.

"We can draw on so many things without going into them. What's
more, stuff that is pornographic, vulgar, that's the easiest
thing to resort to."

In the future, Eko wants to produce a TV comedy quiz show.

"It won't be like Patrio Group, but at least I want to get
five smiles and one laugh from the audience," Eko said in
parting, taking the "smile" line from the Indonesian government's
nutritional advice. Naturally, it's a play on words.