It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Sounds contradictory, but if you’re talking about comedy, the worst of times IS the best of times! The more serious the crisis gets, the lower the peso sinks, the more bullshit that politicians dish out… the greater they want… no, the NEED to laugh.

Hence, all those text jokes-more than a million sent daily-double the number that even the whole of Europe sends! And all those successful live shows that feature political humor or impersonations. (Yep, all the best ones are done on a live stage; television it seems, had never been truly comfortable with political issues outside of the newsroom.)

Jim Paredes, one-third of the Apo, famous for such biting political commentary in the form of song and one-liner spiels, sees the way Pinoy armed with humor…”like the kid in the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. The irreverent kid is this common tao making a comment about the highest person in the land- the Emperor. But his observation is not empty; it’s a truth that made the people go, ‘oo nga ano!”

Jon Santos, best loved for spot-o impersonations of politicians, not notably Erap, observes, “Parang gusto ng tao gumanti. When we hear or make a political joke, we feel some relief. Humor doesn’t cost a dollar, thank God, but it’s the only thing saving our sanity. We’re so non-confrontational kasi. We hit every way but direct.”

Mitch Valdes, known for potshots at modern living, society, and trends has lately added more political elements and jokes into her live act.

Fore her, it is both a gift and a curse, this ability of us Pinoys to laugh at practically everything, especially political issues.

In the positive sense, it gets us by. Says Mitch, “I think humor is the only thing that is keeping us from killing each other or killing ourselves. It is what’s keeping us from becoming another Indonesia (East Timor). If you look at our headlines – what we have to put up with, kung gaano kagarapal ang bolahan.. my God, other countries have gone rioting over so much less!

“But in the negative sense, what’s worrying is that… baka tawa lang tayo nang tawa at walang ginagawang solusyon. We survive through text jokes. But is that all we’re going to do?”

This is why, Jim says, they (the APO) try to deliver jokes that “are malalim somehow. The humor should produce not just a babaw insight; but something that makes them think outside our show. Of course, that’s as much as possible. Sometimes din kasi, the funniest jokes are the silliest, mababaw, sheer pang-aalaska lang. And those jokes work kasi sobrang pikon yung nasa taas. Ang sarap asarin kasi pumaatol! In denial a rin kasi.”

For Mitch, entertainment is its own noble intention; a show and a performer can not be tasked to do 100% of the education of the people regarding the issues. But to at least get the audience to think, Mitch tries to hit the issue, and not the person.

If she can help it, she tries to veer away from jokes that poke fun on a person’s physical imperfections. “Hindi naman kasi kasalanan yung pangit, mataba, at may anak na bading ang tao,” says Mitch. “Ang kasalanan yung magnanakaw at babaero tapos… pangit, mataba, at may anak na bading pa!”

So how do these great live performers see the text joke phenomenon? “ I find it very entertaining!,” Jim declares. “At ang ganda-ganda na ng quality ng jokes- yung crafting, yung double meaning, yung surprise punchline minsan. From the pont of view of a (professional) creator of jokes are… wow! It’s also a great way for testing material. I’ve sent jokes that I made or I’m sure are original APO. If they come back to me—that means it’s a great joke. Nag-circulate na kasi!”

Jon for his part says, “Nakaka-preempt kadalasan. Sasabihin mo pa lang yung joke, may tao na sa audience na sinisigaw ang punchline. So it keeps comedians like me on their toes. There is always that very real possibility that your audience is actually funnier and more brilliant than you. You have to update your material – dati by the week, ngayon by the day!”

He adds, “It raises the standard of joke telling. Text jokes are just words-unaided by delivery, action, funny make-up, rubber chickens or falling down on a banana peel. A text joke force you to think, to imagine the speech patter of, say, Erap. At dapat up to date ka sa issues para makuha mo. Who says the Pinoy is just slapstick? Text jokes are very cerebral.”

Adds Jim, “To me text joking makes every person a media entity. It’s more instant than even television A person sending a joke is ‘broadcasting’. It has a propagandizing effect. It’s a very potent tool to make people conscious of an issue.”

Indeed, how many of us, who never cared for the news, are now reading newspapers… just to get the more obscure text jokes!

It’s quite difficult to assess whether too much laughing at this point is actually bad, so we get a historical perspective. In hindsight, was humor a positive or a negative in 1986? Did it help or hinder the causes of the people power revolution?

Jon recalls, “It helped a lot in making people aware of the issues – kasi totally walang freedom of the press noon. But most of the really memorable jokes were not jokes at all – we just repeated the news, quoted it, and it was funny na!”

Jon adds that in EDSA itself, humor entertained and thus raised the morale of the troops – that’ us the people.

We were total strangers out there on the street – but we bonded like a true Pinoy barkadahan, sharing each ot5her’s food and transistor radios, telling each other “subversive” jokes.