Two formats showcase Hawaii comedy
Hawaii's Comedy Stars: various artists (Quiet Storm) 2-CD set and video cassette
ALL but one of Hawaii's major working comedians joined forces last August in a charity fund-raiser benefitting ventriloquist Freddie Morris. Kehau Baijo, Frank DeLima, Rufus DeMarco, Gregg Hammer, Bo Irvine, Kento, Paul Ogata and Michael Staats performed at the Ilikai Hotel for over 500 friends and fans of Morris and his bushy eyebrowed sidekick, Moku Kahana. (Morris, a single parent, is suffering from an undiagnosed but serious ailment.)
A 60-minute video of excerpts from the show was released in November. The 90-minute double-disc album came out just after Christmas. Together or separately they offer a cross-section of what's happening these days in local comedy, although DeLima's presence is limited to separate 60-second fragments of his 1996 "Macarena" parody.
For reasons known only to producers John Dobovan and John Iervolino, the two versions of "Hawaii's Comedy Stars" offer distinctly different perspectives on the show. The acts appear in different order and several get much more exposure in one medium than the other.
DeMarco is seen for barely 90-seconds in the video; he gets almost 10 minutes on the disc and clearly deserved more video time (He is also the only performer not pictured on the cover art).
Several of Staats' best bits aren't part of the video version either; almost all of what Kento and Ogata do on the disc is seen in the video.
Hammer isn't credited as such but served as announcer as well as being one of the performers; he has a single 5-minute segment on the video but is heard all over the disc.
Morris is barely present on the disc; he and Moku sing their signature, "You And Me Against The World," and that's it.
In fairness to Dobovan and Iervolino, some of his best moments on the video involve the misadventures of a cameraman named "Mud" and wouldn't work as comedy without the visuals. However, there should be more of Morris in both formats.
Morris' fans are extremely tolerant of crude language, toilet humor and ethnic stereotypes. The disc contains larger amounts of all three than the video.
It isn't perfect, but in a year pretty much bereft of local comedy recordings this double-format project is a landmark.
Proceeds go to the Freddie Morris Trust Fund.
See Record Reviews for some of John Berger's past reviews.
See Aloha Worldwide for locals living away.
John Berger, who has covered the local
entertainment scene since 1972, writes reviews of recordings
produced by Hawaii artists. See the Star-Bulletin's Home Zone
section on Fridays for the latest reviews.
