Review: Margaret Cho’s psyCHO Tour Live in Singapore

5 Maret 2016 adalah hari yang membahagiakan karena gue berkesempatan nonton special-nya Margaret Cho, di Singapura, yang berjudul “There’s no I in team but there’s Cho in psycho” atau disingkat psyCHO. Margaret Cho itu comic perempuan keturunan Korea asal Amerika, isu yang dibawa tentang diskriminasi ras, seks, LGBT, dan soal pemerkosaan. Buat gue, ini kedua kalinya gue nonton special show comic luar setelah Russell Peters.

Dalam satu hari itu, dia show dua kali, pukul 3 sore dan 8 malam. Gue nonton yang pukul 8 malam dan beli tiket yang termurah, SGD88 (belum termasuk booking fee 4 dolar dan convenience fee 1,5 dolar), venuenya di Kallang Theatre, modelnya kalo di Jakarta mirip Gedung Pertunjukan Bulungan tapi lebih tinggi lagi. Jadi gue yang duduk 4-5 baris dari belakang gak keliatan mukanya Margaret. Venuenya yang berkapasitas 1,744 orang malam itu penuh.

Show yang ditulis mulai pukul 8 ternyata baru dimulai pukul 8.20. Dan yang bikin gue lumayan kaget adalah show ini tidak ada openernya. Langsung Unni (Kakak) Margaret pakai kemeja putih dan celana panjang hitam. Gue sangka dia sombong arogan gitu, taunya enggak, biasa aja.

Gue kirain gue gak akan ada masalah dengan bahasa, mengingat gue hampir tidak ada masalah ini sewaktu nonton Russell Peters. Tapi, gue salah. Gue gak begitu nangkep bit-bit pertama Margaret karena beberapa hal. Pertama karena istilah yang dipakai agak asing sama gue (jangan tanya apa, wong nggak ngerti). Yang kedua adalah soal teknis, gue yang duduk nun jauh di sana nggak begitu kedengeran, dan ketika punchline dan orang ketawa, suara ketawanya ngalahin suara utamanya. Kayaknya bukan gue doang yang ngerasa begini, soalnya suaranya langsung dinaikin volumenya. Yang ketiga adalah bit pembukanya yang ngebahas local content. Satu venue pecah banget ketika Margaret nyanyi-nyanyi “China Wine, China Wine” sambil joget-joget, gue bingung apaan. Dan ternyata oh ternyata, dia lagi ngehajar masalah Pdt Lawrence Khong dan istrinya, Sun Ho yang udah bertahun-tahun ini heboh di Singapura. Gue cuma tau-tau dikit, sih. Pokoknya si Lawrence ini pendeta di salah satu gereja Kristen di Singapura, dan beberapa tahun lalu dia kena skandal menggelapkan uang jemaat. Buat apa uangnya? Buat mendanai karir musik istrinya, jadi penyanyi hip-hop di Amerika, dan lagunya judulnya China Wine ini. Skandal ini bikin heboh, karena si Sun Ho ini gak mencitrakan seorang istri pendeta banget. Di video klipnya ini, si Ibu Pendeta pake baju minim dan joget-joget erotis sambil digrepe-grepe gitu. Ada koq di Youtube. Nah balik lagi ke Margaret. Dia protes karena si Lawrence in benci kaum LGBT, dan dia bilang “gue bingung ya, Singapura ini negara yang sangat liberal, tapi sangat kolot dan religius pada saat yang sama” (gue terjemahkan dengan gaya comic Indo gapapa yah).

Referensinya ke budaya lokal sangat keren sih, dan lucu banget. Dia bilang, “Singapur itu bersih banget, di mana-mana bersihhh banget. Tapi di restorannya ga sediain tissue, seolah semua jadi bersih secara ajaib”. Lalu dia lanjut soal marijuana. Dia bilang di Colorado, marijuana itu legal dan bisa ditemukan di mana-mana, kayak Chicken Rice.

Trus dia membahas isu-isu terkini seperti Donald Trump, keterlibatan dia di serial TV Fresh Off The Boat (my favorite!) yang adalah serial TV Amerika pertama yang membahas keluarga Asian-American, trus “orang tua” dia di komedi Robin Williams and Joan Rivers. Ada dua bit spesifik yang sangat berkesan yang pengen gue bahas, yang pertama, dia membahas soal kepemilikan senjata di Amerika yang mengakibatkan terjadinya pembantaian di Virginia. Gue langsung deg-degan, “anjir, topik kayak gini gimana dibikin lucunya?” Pembantaian ini dilakukan oleh orang Korea dan mengakibatkan 32 orang tewas. Setelah kejadian itu, Margaret langsung nelpon papanya. “My father was very upset,” katanya. Lalu dia mulai niruin papanya dengan logat Korea yang kental, “thirty two people is too many…” *pause* “one or two is okay”. DARRR.

Lalu yang berkesan kedua adalah ketika dia membahas soal kekristenan, dia bilang Jesus would approve LGBT since he was so gay. HAHAHA. Dia bilang, “Bayangin Yesus jalan-jalan ke mana-mana sama 12 of his boyfriends, and he said, “oh you’re drinking water? Here, have some wine. You’re hungry? Here’s some fishes and bread.” HAHAHAHAHAHA. I’m not offended at all. Trus dia lanjut dengan, “Bisa bayangin gak, gue dulu itu guru sekolah minggu. Yes, me, teaching bible to little kids. Makanya gue tau ada bible verse yang berbunyi, ‘It’s not what goes into your mouth that makes you unclean, but what comes out of it’ *pause* so, swallow.” DAAAAARRR.

I just love it when people quote bible verse correctly and they’re able to make a very relevant joke out of it. BTW, versi Indonesianya dari verse itu (Mat 15:11) berbunyi, “Bukan yang masuk ke dalam mulut yang menajiskan orang, melainkan yang keluar dari mulut, itulah yang menajiskan orang.”

Lalu masih berhubungan dengan kekristenan, dia cerita bagaimana “orang tua”-nya dalam komedi meninggal dalam waktu dekat. Joan Rivers dan Robin Williams. Satu hal yang berkesan banget adalah, dia cerita bahwa Robin adalah orang yang banyak nyumbang ke orang miskin. Ketika dia meninggal, Margaret dan teman-teman galang dana untuk cause yang sama, jadi banyak orang yang ngasih duit ke dia. Suatu hari, ketika dia lagi pegang cash, dia keluar dari supermarket dan ada seorang gelandangan yang maki-maki dia, maksa dia untuk ngasih koin 25 sen-an. Alih-alih ngasih 25 sen, dia ngasih selembar 100 dolar ke orang itu. Orang itu yang tadinya galak langsung berubah, jadi nangis tersedu-sedu sambil bilang terima kasih. Orang itu bilang, “nanti kalau lo mati dan diadili di akherat, gue akan berada di sisi lo dan bersaksi kalau elo udah bantuin gue waktu gue hidup, dan gue minta Tuhan untuk masukin lo ke surga.” Lalu Margaret bilang: Who’s the Christian now?

Lalu dia menutup set malam itu dengan satu pesan tentang pemerkosaan. Dia cerita kalau dia korban pelecehan seksual oleh pamannya sendiri waktu dia umur 5-12 tahun. Gue mikir lagi, anjir, ini gimana dibikin lucunya. Tapi gue akhirnya tahu gimana caranya bikin sesuatu yang lucu dari isu yang sangat sensitif, yaitu: ceritain pengalaman pribadi aja, jangan mewakili orang lain. Kalo yang tadi soal pembantaian di Virginia dia ngebahas papanya, soal pemerkosaan ini, dia ngebahas bagaimana dia jadi nara sumber di acara para rape survivors dan dia malah diomelin pesertanya. Ga terlalu lucu sih, tapi setidaknya aman.

Setelah ngebahas soal itu, dia ngundang satu pemain gitar dan bilang, “sebelum udahan, gue mau tutup dengan dua lagu, lagu yang pertama adalah buat Ke$ha (fyi: Ke$ha lagi kena kasus soal pemerkosaan),” trus yang kedua dia ngajak orang ikut nyanyi bareng, chorusnya berbunyi, “I want to kill my rapist”. Gue sedih dengernya dan gue gak ikutan nyanyi.

Total set kira-kira 1 jam 50 menit, lebih 35 menit dari waktu yang dijanjikan (75 menit), dan gue cukup puas. Gue senang bisa menyaksikan comic internasional yang sangat professional. Kalo gue boleh menyimpulkan pengalaman gue nonton Margaret Cho dan Russell Peters, yang gue tangkep adalah:

1.       Tiketnya sangat mahal, timnya sangat professional, venuenya bagus.

2.       Mereka pinter masukin local content

3.       Mereka gak pake contekan (or at least ga ketauan sama gue)

4.       Dan karena itu membuat gue merasa… mereka seperti ngobrol biasa dengan spontan. Ini yang menurut gue beda banget sama comic Indo di mana rata-rata masih keliatan banget ngafalnya. Ini bukan issue sih, tapi gue jadi menyadari aja kalau gaya yang ngalir gitu lebih enak ditonton. Menurut gue comic Indo yang deliverynya enak ngalir gitu adalah: Soleh Solihun.

Overall, pengalaman yang menyenangkan. Nonton performance comic-comic luar bikin lumayan seger karena gue lagi jenuh sama comic-comic local Indonesia. Semoga cepet kangen lagi.

Cindy

Singapore, 6 March 2016

Viva La Vida

Kita banyak ketemu orang di dunia ini.

Ada yang kayaknya dia care dan ramah sama kita, tapi ketika kita say no ke dia, dia langsung pergi.

Ada yang kayaknya mau take advantage doang dari kita, tapi sebenarnya orangnya baik.

Ada yang kesannya apa yang dia lakukan buruk banget, tapi kita bisa maklum karena kita semua pendosa.

Ada orang yang gak perlu minta maaf, tapi bela-belain minta maaf.

Ada orang yang udah ngancur-ngancurin hati kita, tapi gak ngerasa salah sedikit pun.

Orang suci bilang, berbuat baiklah pada semua orang, meski pada mereka yang jahat padamu.

Sekarang kalo aku sih, pilih-pilih aja mau baik sama siapa.

Ada orang yang dibaikin malah ngelunjak.

Ada orang yang dijahatin malah ketagihan.

Ada orang yang makin dikasih makin nyakitin.

Ada orang yang makin gak dikasih makin penasaran.

Manusia emang begitu. Semua orang bingung.

Katanya, kalau bingung ya pegangan.

Oke. Aku pegangan yang kuat.

Pegangan sama prinsip.

Prinsip kebahagiaan.

Yang cukup egois untuk membuatku selalu bahagia.

Yang tidak cukup egois sampai menyakiti orang lain.




Jakarta | 27.02.2016 | 02.50pm | Cloudy

Russell Peters “Almost Famous” in Jakarta - Review

Spoiler alert. Beware of punchlines. 

17 February 2016 was the day I first watched a stand-up comedy show by a foreign comic, and I’m glad it was Russell Peters. Although I watch quite a lot of comedy shows in these past two years (all locals), Russell’s show gave me a whole new experience of a stand-up comedy show. Actually, local shows (and probably anywhere else in this world) use the same format, except Russell does it more professionally, bigger and better. And that’s what makes it so memorable.

Let me go through it one by one.

First of all, the venue. The venue was amazing. The audio, light, seating, location were great. (FYI, on Sundays, it is the venue for one of the most “prestigious” church in Jakarta. Imagining praising and worshiping Jesus with those equipment give me goosebumps). The stage is huge with two enormous screens on both sides and there’s a live camera, shooting people’s face when Russell did his infamous riffing. This is great because their we could see the expression and reaction from the victim.

Next, the audience. The cheapest price for Russell’s show is 10-20 times more expensive than a local comedy show. Local organizers sometimes complain they find it hard to sell tickets that cost 50-100k. I wondered, who would want to pay 1-3 million to watch a comedy show? I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t have watched it if someone had not given the ticket for free. I thought, must be expats and diplomats. Somehow it never occurred to me that the main portion of audience was from the Indian community in Jakarta. I think it’s very interesting.

Now let’s talk about the show. The opener, Chris (I don’t know his full name, I even forgot his twitter account that’s displayed throughout his performance). I love him! He walked to the stage with a guitar, his performance was very interactive with the audience. He taught us to sing “I don’t fucking care, no one fucking cares” and he said we’re going to sing it in our hearts forever every time someone tells something boring about their kids, pets, or whatever. He’s right. He also pointed to one audience several times and asked him/her to choose what kind of jokes he preferred: smart, dirty, inappropriate, etc and told the jokes according to what the audience chose. I also love it how he asked us to sing along to Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time. If I’m not mistaken, his set was around 30 minutes. After he finished, he asked those who sat at the back to move to the front, that means: sucks if you paid so much since those who bought the cheapest tickets could sit next to, or even in front of you. Ha.

The moment I saw Russell Peters, I could immediately feel that he was a superstar. He looked confident and professional. We could tell that he had done this hundreds of time. Half of his performance was riffing his audience. It’s funny to see him riff Soleh Solihun, Indonesian comic who’s best at riffing. I guess karma really does exist! Haha! But he got riffed the least, compared to other audiences who sat at the front (the ones who paid the most and invitations). Russell always asked the name of the target, and when Soleh answered with his name, Russell said, “Indonesian names are funny, at the hotel I was greeted by a girl named Kanti, our driver is Budi, and the waiter at the restaurant is Dicky. Maybe next you’re gonna have Titty.” Bam, bam, bam. Then he asked a famous Indonesian musician, Pongki Barata, and he misheard his name as “Bongkey”. He could make a joke out of it right away. Brilliant.

I guess the venue that hosts a church service never heard so much profanity before.

His knowledge about Indonesia is impressive. The more relevant it is, the funnier it gets. He simply said “hati-hati busway” and the ballroom exploded with laughter. He also mentioned “Dolly” and made fun of Jakarta’s traffic.

The way he bridged his jokes with riffing was brilliant. It’s as though all of it was spontaneous. He started with asking the audience whether they have kids or not, and then talking about his daughter and her love for Frozen.

As usual, his jokes were offensive and inappropriate, but still funny as hell. He spotted an 11 year old boy sitting between his parents and he asked him to call his father a “motherfucker”, not in an angry tone but casually, like at a dinner, “Hey motherfucker, could you pass me the salt?” The camera zoomed in the father and the son for quite long time and we could see both of them so uncomfortable on the screen and we couldn’t stop laughing. That’s what you got when you take an underage child to a stand-up comedy show: public humiliation.

Russell didn’t apologize for that, or any other offense he made except for this one.

“Hey there big guy” (camera shot to a big guy, a 20-something Indonesian Chinese)

“What do you do for a living?”

*inaudible*

“What? Training? What are you training for? Definitely not marathon. Haha!”

*room burst into laughter*

“I’m sorry, what an asshole thing to say, I apologize”.

He didn’t apologize making fun of someone’s race, outfit, or name, but he apologized for making rude comments about someone’s weight. And by the way, that guy was actually saying “trading”, not training.

The laughter was so tense at the beginning (or people say “LPM”), and it gradually loosen as he did more story telling with long setups. And just when I felt more comfortable with the pace, he closed with “Thank you, Jakarta”, and finished the show at around 10.20 PM.

Overall, it was a great experience. Normally when I write reviews, I mention things that need to be improved. But I couldn’t find any flaws except that the ticket was too expensive. Apart from that, it was very enjoyable. Thank you, Russell Peters!

Cindy Kusuma
Jakarta, 19 February 2016

Two Cents from a Stand-up Comedy Fan

It was just a little over two years ago, I said “I’m not a big fan of stand-up comedy”. Then suddenly you can find me at most of stand up comedy shows in Jadetabek. People outside this circle says I’m crazy about stand-up comedy because I watch so much of it, but if compared with others who might write “stand-up comedy addict” on his/her bio and @Standupindo_[his/her domicile] and comes to open mic night at least once a week, I’m no more than a shy spectator.

 

One Stand-up Night after another, several comics and “people inside the circle” start following me back on twitter, we start to talk and mention/reply/RT on twitter and in person. Suddenly I’m no longer a girl who only comes, enjoys the show, and leaves after it ends. I find myself mingling, talking to them in person without stages and chairs between us. In reality, it is no different than befriending other people, because they’re comics only when they’re on stage. Outside of it, we’re just a bunch of people around the same age, with common conversation topic.

 

I also find out that, mediocre comics sending DM to their female followers and try to sleep with them is not a myth. One thing that has not been confirmed is whether this kind of girl who says okay to whatever comics hitting on them, actually does exist. And although this kind of practice can be classified as a serious sexual harassment and can lead to a major scandal, I don’t take offense. When it comes to comics breaking their hearts, intentionally or not, is another topic for another day. It’s a challenge to be a female in this male-dominated group.

 

Then things inevitably get more complicated. Things are complicated because people are confused. The comics are confused, the fans are confused, people who are newcomers to this industry are confused, even sometimes TVs are confused. We are confused of many different things. Some comics get unprecedented amount of attention, and maybe money and other incentives. I know they love the attention and appreciation, but at the same time they start to draw lines, making boundaries between them and their fans. Consequences of this growing industry (or “art”, whatever), start to take effect for everyone in every aspect.

 

We start to hear terms like “social climber”, which according to them, means “people who think they’re friends with the comics, always around them and get the attention from other people, but have no real works/achievements”. One of the features of a social climber is always around those famous people, likes to mention them on twitter and enjoys the attention. They hate social climbers. Not to mention those who are “sok asik”, and “star syndrome”.

 

I don’t think I am one, but I don’t know if there is someone who thinks I am. I don’t need to clarify those things but sometimes I feel insecure about it. Why? Because people are mean. I care about my reputation. I don’t like being badmouthed for something I don’t do or I am not. And knowing there are many judgmental people or even haters. I can’t deny the insecurity. Every time I finish watching someone (on TV/movie/live), reading their books, funny tweets, or anything, I often feel reluctant to respond. If I tweet “hey, I really enjoyed that, good job”, will they feel motivated and appreciated, or the other way around: so annoyed?

 

Saying nice things to them already makes me nervous. Criticizing them needs extra courage and preparation, just in case it backfires.

 

“[I paid and drove 40 kms just to watch you perform], your set was disappointing.”

 

And get prepared to receive this kind of response, “Do you know how hard it is to write a set? You only sit and watch, you don’t know my effort and struggle.”

 

Clearly you don’t know my effort either. Not to mention my hopes and expectation towards you, my favorite comic.

 

 

As a fan, my homework is to be less insecure about other people's opinion and enjoy this art without worry and hesitation. And allow me to be sharp, I'm not the only one who has homework to do.

 

Comics care so much about originality and the effort to write. I totally agree. I feel angry too if a random instagram page steal their jokes and gets viral. They emphasize the importance of community, open mic, and discipline in writing. But yet, often they are already on their way to a paid gig/taping but they don’t know what to say. One day they preach about idealism and refusal to be whores for television giants, the other day you see them wearing silly costumes on TV.

 

In my opinion, things are starting to be too one-sided. Industry players don’t know, or don’t bother to find out what we want. We become selective, we label those into different categories, by TV, by age, by gender, by origins. In banking industry, there are board of commissioners, audit committee, and regulators to ensure this industry is healthy and beneficial for everybody. I think stand-up comedy needs one too, at least a focus group, consisting of people inside and outside the industry.

 

So complicated, huh? In reality, maybe it’s not that complicated. Or maybe it’s waaaay more complicated than this. I don’t know.

 

It needs big commitment to sustain something big. The bigger it gets, commitment will no longer be enough. It needs hard work to escalate or people will leave.

 

And the root of commitment? Consistency.

 

Be consistent. Once you’re consistent, be committed. Once you’re committed, escalate.

 

Thank you for entertaining us.

 

XOXO,

 

 

Jakarta, 15 February 2016

Cindy Kusuma