A library of comedians
Posted By www.BoyAbunda.net on July 1, 2010
I have always been fascinated by comedy bars. I took refuge in a lot of them when life was hard and bitter. When I had only a pair of torn jeans, an unapologetic Waray accent and an impervious zest for life, I loved the irreverence, the sardonic humor that pervaded in comedy bars. There was the Library in Adriatico, Malate. It was home to many who needed to laugh at themselves, who needed to cry and celebrate the fortunes and misfortunes of life.
Library was freedom land to many of us who were shackled by unfulfilled dreams and socially inflicted inhibitions and insecurities. And there were Jun de Dios of the Music Box in Quezon City, and Andrew de Real of the Library and many others who became my friends for life. I am privileged to have been part of this community that institutionalized brilliant, original comedy in bars where some of the most talented artists are bred and nurtured. Below is the introduction I wrote for the book The Library: 25 Chapters of Laughter.
“It came at midnight like a fab thief. We didn’t quite know how to react to it. Yes, we laughed nervously and many times we cringed. A few drunks kicked tables and threatened hapless comedians who ferociously fought back with vitriol and punches. Side by side with hysterical applause, once a pistol was pointed at the nose of an irreverent comic. This was 25 years ago when stand up comedy in small bars was nascent. There was much excitement and cynicism as to whether it would work with Pinoy audiences who loved to laugh. But would they allow laughter at their expense in front of others? It was a relatively new concept of comedy, almost underground and it was (in the Philippine comedic landscape) created, adapted, performed, nurtured by a bodacious, talented community of comedians. The Library and Andrew de Real were principal players in this movement.
I watched The Library grow wings, take flight and soar from being an effortless, unpretentious little night spot to becoming a trailblazer in the field of live comedy entertainment. It managed to transform, just within a few years of existence, the simple concept of The Comedy Bar into a thriving and throbbing industry.
What was once a risqué concept, it is now an industry. Stand-up comedy found a place in the heart of this country’s pop culture, a niche in the consciousness of a people blessed with a predilection for laughter. And most of us who have been amused and entertained, whose lives have been touched by this gift of comedy bar laughter, could not simply carry on without giving tribute to the man whose contribution to the industry is as significant as humor is to hilarity. Andrew might have had little foresight back then as to the impact he would generate by opening and running The Library but by doing so, he has managed to shape and underscore Philippine stand-up comedy as we know it today. If someone were to write an almanac on the live comedy entertainment industry, no way that he wouldn’t talk about Andrew and his contemporaries.
With the continued success of The Library and several other comedy bars in its league, we are all the more reminded that laughter is a great equalizer. Whether you’re rich or financially-challenged, young or mature, straight or gay, foreign or local, an executive of a multinational or an entry-level employee — whenever you go up that comedy bar stage, exchange witty and nasty jabs with the performers, and sing your heart out like you’re the next big thing to hit Manila — you become one with the audience: Their laughter is your amusement, your joy is their bliss. As long as we Pinoys continue to love laughter, the brilliance of live comedy acts will keep on shining and remain a beacon of the passion and the genius that is the Filipino comedian.”
To Andrew and The Library, Bravo!
First Posted: DIRECTLINE By Boy Abunda
The Philippine Star
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