PHOTO COURTESY MEL CABANG

Off-color comedian and
veteran zinger slinger, Mel's
back from the rock

By John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com

Commercials. Video production. Nightclub work and concerts. Mel Cabang is doing all that and more these days, and admits to being busier than ever. Once known for "adult" humor, Cabang has cleaned up his act and has more work than he can handle. He's been doing more than a show a day this month.

"I'm overbooked," said Cabang. "I turned down seven (jobs) already."

Yes, Cabang has returned to the local comedy scene with a bang, but is also visible to couch potatoes as a celebrity endorser for Caesar's Cleaners.

"I do all their TV ads and produce their radio ads. I also produced the 15-minute infomercial that runs in the stores all day, and I produced a 56-minute training tape," Cabang said of his work for the company. He also hangs out at the stores on weekends to gab with the customers.

Cabang has been writing jingles and producing commercials for other businesses with an assist from his old-time associate Bart "Da Basc" Bascone. He joins the Local Divas -- Melveen Leed, Carole Kai and Nohelani Cypriano -- in their rescheduled "This One's For You, Loyal!" concert tomorrow at the Sheraton Waikiki. Cabang will have a 15-minute solo spot and trade quips with Leed in a free-wheeling comedy sketch.

"She's good! Oh she's sharp," Cabang said of the diva who has recovered from a heart attack just two days before the show was to go on Nov. 29. Imagine Leed as a taxi driver and Cabang as the passenger she picks up at the airport. It's a sketch that could go almost anywhere.

Cabang describes himself as "kinda shy" off-stage, but put a mike in his hand and he'll say whatever comes to mind.

Time was when local folks dreaded walking in on Cabang when the show was in progress, knowing they would become targets of his jokes. And pity the person -- usually a woman -- who had to take a restroom break before the show the over! Cabang would zing 'em while the rest of the room went bananas. Cabang was often described as "Hawaii's answer" to Redd Foxx or Don Rickles, but Cabang wasn't trying to be anybody's "answer" to anybody. He just talked "off the cuff" and people responded.

He says people these days don't mind being the butt of a few zingers. "They want to be seen. I did Augie & Lanai's for two weekends and they just walk in or use the bathroom. Before they were frightened but now they don't care. I like that," said Cabang, who returns to Lanai & Augie's Ukulele Cafe in Waimalu on Dec. 28.

A musical beginning

Cabang credits one of his uncles for encouraging his early interest in music. Cabang enjoyed singing in high school and got into entertainment 30 years ago as a singer and musician. He never considered a career as a comedian, but started telling jokes to cover for a sore throat and found his calling. A "crazy" acquaintance began bringing him hand-carved phallic items, and Cabang's show suddenly took off in new directions as Hawaii's crudest comedy star.

"I was embarrassed," he said. "But once you get into the mind pattern it just goes there."

Cabang still speaks his mind -- including those popular ad lib comments about various body parts -- but the props have been retired. Cabang can still go blue but he's worked up "30 or 40 minutes" of "clean" material. He'll be 100 percent "clean" with the Divas at the Sheraton.

"You gotta put it in the right (perspective). If I'm in a nightclub, that's what I do (because) that's what people expect me to do. But when you come outside and it's a general audience you have to respect that (audience) and do a clean show."

It helps that Hawaii audiences have grown up, and material that might have once been R-rated is now considered PG-13.

"They say my (nightclub) show is cleaner now but they've caught up. I don't swear on stage -- I zing people. I say whatever comes to my mind and I talk about anything. If a girl passes by I'll say something in a club but I wouldn't say it outside."

Just say no to gambling

Cabang's current show includes material reflecting the prison time he served followed his high-profile prosecution on gambling-related charges in the mid-1990s. He says he started off gambling with friends and somehow graduated into taking bets and handling the business side of things. Business boomed, friends referred friends, and before long he was taking in big money -- he says he still isn't sure exactly how much -- and couldn't figure out a way to pay taxes on it without incriminating himself on gambling charges.

"They want to hear what I did in there and I tell 'em I made fudge cookies -- and every time I'd do a show for the inmates I'd end up on the rock pile 'cause I would zing the guards. Finally I said I didn't want to do any more shows because I didn't want to go back to the rock pile."

Got any gambling action? Cabang doesn't want to hear about it. The terms of his release prohibit him from gambling or associating with people who do -- which would keep him from associating with most of the people in Hawaii if enforced. Millions of dollars are sucked out of Hawaii's struggling economy and pumped into Vegas, and Cabang won't even hazard a guess at how many millions of untaxed money circulates each year through Hawaii's underground gambling economy.

"Who doesn't know someone who gambles? Half of the people in the state are gamblers, and all I hear is, 'Hey, what's the line tomorrow?' I intentionally don't even look at gambling or watch football. I don't want to be around that after all the hard things that happened to me (but) who did I ever force to gamble?"

Cabang's experiences have soured him on the diversion he once enjoyed. These days he enjoys movies and an occasional bodysurfing session, but work is his priority.

"I'm trying to go forward, better things, help people, and help myself at the same time."

The Local Divas With an appearance by Mel Cabang When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow Where: Hawaii Ballroom, Sheraton Waikiki Tickets: $28, $40 and $50 Call: 922-4422

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