Comedy and Laughter in Manila

I recently found out about the Grillery Cafe & Gallery and their superb buffalo wings (my review here). What I like about this place was a stand-up comedy show was staged upstairs while I was there. It was a night of fun and laughter accompanied the great simple food and cozy ambiance. I've seen a couple of stand-up comedy shows and this one included a mentalist and a ventriloquist who both have a sense of humor too. It was the launch of The Suplado Show of Stanley Chi.


For the front act, Jeff and I were so charmed and tuned in to the Mental Assassin himself Mr. Justin Pinon


Here he was doing his duct tape act and figuring out the serial numbers and denomination of this peso bill.


I decided to go up to him for a close-up one-on-one mentalist experience. I asked him, "can you read my mind now?"


He asked me to think of a 2-digit number and the thought of how he got it right was with us during our trip home.


There's a 24 there written in light pencil. It was flashing in my head continuously and the experience was weird.


Pretty good, Mr. Mental Assassin. We'll probably go mental figuring it out for ourselves without you beside us to tell us what really happened.


Next up was the Philippines' Primier Ventriloquist Mr. Ony Carcamo and Mr. Parley, the most ill-fated person/perpetual drunk in the world.


I used to stay away from Chuckie-like situations.


This experience allowed me to see a real puppet and puppeteer who has rare talent, perfectly rehearsed punch lines and love for his art.


Even the misses were made into funny hits and the sarcasm to people was natural and hilarious through Mr. Parley.


"They" managed to squeeze in music into their duet act as a finale too.


For the final act, Mr. Suplado himself gave us stand-up comedy. What made his punch lines funny for me was that I could actually relate to the things he was saying as a Chinese-Filipino raised in the Philippines.


It's funny to reminisce about our long-forgotten childhood and teenage years and what we used to do back then or what we experienced as we were growing up. Things that irritated or hurt us before has turned into a thing of the past and it is now natural to laugh at how we were and how we acted when we were young.


I have never laughed so much in a long time. I remember wishing we could have more laid-back Friday nights like these in the metro. I probably just don't know where to find them yet. For now, I'm happy to have been a part this.