He’s baaack You're only as good as your last joke," Andy Bumatai said last weekend as he waited to perform as a special guest of Lanai and Augie T at the Comedy Shack, where the crowd got an unexpected bonus when Bumatai decided to work out some material before his double-header with Tommy Davidson at the Hawai'i Theatre tomorrow night. Bumatai was delighted as well.
Andy Bumatai's ready
to rollick and rollBy John Berger
"This (crowd) reminds me of the time where there were clubs all over the place. When was the last time you saw 400 local people packed in a room like this? It harkens back to the day when there was a lot of fun out there. You gotta give these guys credit," he said of Lanai and Augie, and their sidekicks, Eddie L, Big Ed and All Star Richard.
After spending several years concentrating on unrelated business interests, Bumatai is becoming visible again as a local entertainer.
"What I'm happy about, compared to 20 years ago, is when you say 'stand up comedy' people don't go, 'Well, what is that, exactly?' I remember asking Robin Williams one time what it was like being Robin Williams -- and wasn't that a dumb-ass question? -- and he said, 'It gives you a free minute-and-half in the beginning of your set, but after that it's back to stand-up.' "
Young comics listen up when Bumatai shares his observations on the serious business of stand-up comedy. Bumatai has been there, done that, and knows first-hand how quickly things can change on you. Back about 20 years ago he was one of the hottest and hippest acts in local entertainment and the star of a local TV special, "All in the Ohana." A few years later and it was, "Andy Bumatai? I remember him, he used to be somebody."
"I tell Augie this, and (other) comics, don't make decisions based on just money. That's what I did. Kimo certainly spread my name out there and he certainly did wonderful things, but I should have stayed in that little dump I played," he says, referring to the late Kimo McVay, then his manager.
The rest of the story is this: Bumatai had been paying his dues and learning the nuts-and-bolts of stand-up at Mel Pinzari's club, Kojack's, an unpretentious local bar in midtown Honolulu. How could he turn down the opportunity to go from there to headliner status in one of the most prestigious show- rooms in Waikiki, at $1,000 a week?
"The thing is, Mel Pinzari, who owned that club, said, 'Hey, you little punk, you think you're ready?'" The move to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel's Monarch Room took Bumatai's career as "Hawaii's First Stand-up Comic" to stratospheric heights. He enjoyed parallel success as a local recording artist and TV actor as well. It wasn't until the Monarch Room engagement was over, and Bumatai had moved to the mainland, that he began to understand what Pinzari had been saying. The skills and experience necessary to turn a stand-up comic into a national celebrity take years to acquire.
By the time Bumatai finally came home he was years ahead of the local comedy scene. He had begun his odyssey as a local comic and returned as a versatile comedian able to work a crowd almost anywhere in the nation. Now he's sharing his knowledge with Augie and enjoying his time on stage.
"Twenty years, looking back, it's nice to have had some impact. Now I do the fun gigs. Working with Tommy Davidson is fun. I come here working with Augie. That's fun. And I'm trying to get back on TV."
There are at least two local television projects on Bumatai's list. One is about motor vehicles and is tentatively titled "Wheels." He'd also like to put something together on Bu La'ia.
As for tomorrow night, expect Hawaii's first stand-up comic to deliver an excellent set. Several hundred local comedy fans roared last week at the Comedy Shack as Bumatai shared his thoughts on pierced tongues, why stores label individual apples, and shared his opinion of local showoffs who drive cars that sound like "turbo-charged sewing machines."
"Somebody'll probably call it a 'Return Performance,' Bumatai said of tomorrow night's double-header with Davidson. "When you don't seem to work a lot, and then you do, it's always a 'Return Performance,' but how long has it been since I was away?"
When: 8 p.m. Saturday Tommy Davidson
and Andy Bumatai
Where: Hawai'i Theatre
Tickets: $27.50 plus service charge
Call: 528-0506
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