BUSINESS BITS

Beer and hilarity
ANNE RUTH DELA CRUZ AND JOY M. CABRILLOS

Stephanie Iwayan wanted to open a restaurant in Bacoor, Cavite, using money she saved working in Singapore for seven years. Instead, she decided on a comedy bar – a place offering food and drinks but relies mainly on stand-up comedy acts to draw customers. Comedy bars have taken over many watering holes in Metro Manila, but there was none in Cavite, so Iwayan, 33, shelled out P2.5 million to put up one in her home province in November 2003. She expects to recoup her investment by the end of this year. “I brought this brand of entertainment to Cavite so the people here no longer have to travel to Manila to visit a comedy bar,” she says.
Asking her sisters Loida and Ria to help, Iwayan leased a former videoke bar in Dulong Bayan that could seat up to 170 people. They had it renovated, rewired, and outfitted with a sound system and a stage. The sisters did the interiors themselves using native material later drew raves from customers. Then they thought of a catchy name and decided on okray, gay term for teasing that borders to insult. They thought it would best describe the playful banter at every performance.

Okray’s 10 stand-up comedians went through three screenings before they were allowed to perform. “My talents have really good voices,” says Iwayan. She urges them to be creative and to reinvent themselves once in a while so customers will have something to look forward to. The comedians start their acts at 9:30 every night. “I tell them to use the time when customers are not yet around to practice,” she says. “It’s also a way of disciplining them so they always perform at their peak.”

Still Iwayan says she’s still studying her market because not all Cavitenos are sold to the idea of patronizing comedy bars. Customers pay P50 to enter Okray, where drinks start at P50 to P100. Although a bit steep, the prices aren’t exactly discouraging patrons. “I think it’s the performances that draw them and the fact that going to a comedy bar is novel experience for them,” says Iwayan.

Okray gets a full house only on weekends and paydays, but its talents have never performed to an empty bar. It surprises Iwayan that more and more men are patronizing her bar even if many people think of it as a gay bar because of its performers. “This shows there’s a growing acceptance of gay talent,” she says. “That is really an eye-opener for me.”

The stand-up comedy bar had its beginning in the tourist district of Ermita in Manila – in a cramped sing-along bistro called The Library. Andrew de Real, its owner, had conceived of the name to describe the bar’s book-lined walls. “We opened the Library on June 21, 1986. at the same time it was the only comedy bar in the country,” says De Real, a theater actor. “Back then the only time you could watch a comedy act was when either Mitch Valdes or Nannete Inventor had a show.” As a result, he felt it was time the public had a regular venue for comedy. And he opened The Library at a time of political, economic and social crises – when people needed comic relief to forget their troubles.

The concept was simple. Each Friday and Saturday night a sing-along master would sing a few songs, perform a comedy act, and then encourage the audience to participate by singing on stage. His ribbing and half-serious roasting of the audience was part of the program – and the audience lapper it up. “In just four months we were doing the whole routine every day,” De Real recalls. And to think Malate was not yet the bustling party district is today. “When we opened, it was just us and Café Adriatico,” De Real says.

His first stable of talents included singer and television personality Allan K. Now Allan co-owns several comedy bars with comedienne Ai-Ai de las Alas and other partners. Allan says their distinct brand of comedy is what lures people to their bars. “They will keep coming back of they always have good show,” he says. He’d decided to go into business about two years ago – after he realized he needed something to fall back on in his twilight years – and opened the first Klownz comedy bar on Quezon Avenue, Quezon City. “I wanted to veer away from the concept originated by the Library,” he says. Instead of letting his patrons some off-key singing by members of the audience, he offered an uninterrupted prime-time comedy act. “Klownz introduced the Prime Time concept, when at twelve midnight, a comedian would go on stage and go through well-rehearsed song number and comedy skits,” Allan says.

Early this year he and his partners put up another comedy bar called Zirkoh in timog Avenue in Quezon City. It packs up to 700 people compared to Klownz’s 200, and in it Allan introduce live band. “I realized that most of the pioneering sing-along masters and stand-up comedians like myself, Ai-Ai, and Arnel, were originally taught to sing with a live band,” he says. “I want Zirkoh to be known not only for its exceptional brand of comedy, but for good music as well.”

Both De Real and Allan K. recouped their initial investement in less than a year. It will take Stephanie Iwayan a bit longer to recoup hers, but of course her comedy bar is a novelty in her home province.