Comedian Navarette doubles-up Saipan

Wild laughter and frequent applause filled the Dai-Ichi Hotel Saipan Beach’s Hibiscus Hall on Saturday night as Filipino-American comedian Rex Navarette performed for some 500 people, joking about the Filipino mentality, immigrant experience, and his mother.

Following a short pre-show by Guam’s amateur comedy series champion Frank Rios, Navarette took the stage with nothing but a bottle of water.

For the next hour and a half, he brought to life his famous characters, from his ESL [“English as a Stupid Language”] teacher Mrs. Scott to his Irish high school friend Brian and to his Uncle [or “Tito”] Boy.

Navarette humored the crowd with his stories about his early years in the San Francisco Bay Area, knowing only one English sentence, and having his grandfather for a babysitter. He also told hilarious jokes about the Filipino accent and the many “similarities” between the Irish and the Filipino peoples. [“The Irish were butchered by the English; us Filipinos butcher English.”]

In fact, his mother and her own prejudice against Filipinos have provided Navarette with most of his material for his lampooning and often irreverent routines.

He made fun of his mother’s strange pieces of advice whenever he went traveling to the Philippines: blink your eyes only twice a day so kidnappers won’t think you’re Chinese, and surround yourself with chicharon to keep the Muslim extremists away.

Navarette went on to comment on the practice of Filipinos, or Asians for that matter, of using their bare hands for eating. “Quoting” his mother, Navarette posed the question: “If I used my hand to eat rice at home, I’m Third World; but if I ate at McDonald’s and used my hand to pick French Fries, I’m First World?”

In an interview after the show, Navarette said he had fun performing for the Saipan crowd, which has been receptive to his comedy.

“The audience was excellent. I don’t know if you guys get stand up comedy here often, but it was really nice to perform for the first time here in front of a fresh audience. The people just let go of a lot of stuff,” said Navarette, who has been in the entertainment business for 15 years now.

He said he tries to make his routine universal to get more people to connect with his jokes. The immigrant experience, he said, is one good example of a universal theme.

“Everyone has immigrant experience, making some kind of transition to a new land. There’s a lot of comedy you can find in adjusting and discrimination,” he said.

While he normally has a working script for his acts, Navarette leaves room for spontaneity during his performances.

“I write down ideas, but I don’t necessarily script them all out. I just kind of like use the stage as my work-in-progress board. If [a joke] is good, I keep it. I remember it for the next time and develop it some more. The routines sometimes come on stage, or when you’re walking around, getting some groceries or just observing people,” he said.

Navarette started doing stand up comedy at age 19. In his trade, he has found a venue to comment on things that otherwise would not be mentioned.

“I guess it is my mission to showcase Filipino life and the mind of the Filipino. We’re beyond the United States now. We’re everywhere; we’re really part of the world,” Navarette said.

Nevertheless, he said he does not claim to be able to reach every Filipino through his comedy. He noted that there are some Filipinos who actually find offensive or insulting the things he talks about on stage.

“They’d say, ‘You’re on stage with an accent; we don’t have an accent.’ But yes, we do and it’s okay. You’re the one discriminating against yourself when you start teaching Filipinos to be ashamed,” Navarette said. “That is the sound of my characters. I’m not going to fake it or make it cheap. I’m going to give you the real sound.”

And what does his mother think? “At first, she found me very offensive. But now that I’ve become ‘famous’ in her eyes and her friends’ eyes, she’s accepting it,” he replied. He added that the prejudice against Filipinos he portrays on stage signifies not so much his mother’s own attitude on how Filipinos in general think of their fellowmen.

Organizer Nathan Sablan described Budweiser’s Rexxx Rated Comedy Show as very successful. He said Marpac, which distributes the beer brand in the CNMI, plans to bring more comedy acts to the island.

Other sponsors were Continental Airlines, Dai Ichi Hotel, Aquarius Beach Tower, Budget Rental Car, Coca Cola, Power 99, and The Rock.