Trio of legendary Hawaii comedians on stage Friday | News, Sports, Jobs

Andy Bumatai will be part of a bumper trio of legendary local comedy when he brings his “In Denial Tour” to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center Friday, teaming with Frank De Lima and Augie T. Andy Bumatai courtesy photo

One of Hawaii’s most accomplished comedians, Andy Bumatai, remembers his father dismissing any notion that he could ever have a career from making people laugh.

“My father was a welder working construction jobs,” Bumatai recalled. “One of the things that bothered him the most was whenever I was with him, I would be joking around and getting people to laugh. He would say, ëlearn how to weld. You’re never going to make any money telling jokes.’ He said that to me consistently. ëAlways joking. You’re never going to make it.’ Rather than go, you really have a knack for this joke thing. Maybe I became a comic to piss him off.”

Bumatai will be part of a bumper trio of legendary local comedy when he brings his “In Denial Tour” to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center Friday, teaming with Frank De Lima and Augie T.

“It’s not too often we all get to work together, because we aggravate each other,” he joked. “But actually we’re really looking forward to this because it’s not too often that we all get to work together. You need a venue like the MACC for all three of us. We all can’t work stand-up in a little room that seats a hundred.”

The trio offers different flavors of Hawaiian comedy. “I think that’s part of the appeal,” he said. “Frank is very different from Augie and I. It’s like going to a buffet. You’re going to find something garans ball barans that you like.”

So what’s the In Denial tour all about?

“The In Denial tour started out as a joke. Comics when they go on the road, they always think of different names, and I just kept in denial and changed the dates. It started out in 2015. I went on tour and rode a motorcycle in between all the gigs on the Mainland. My wife said, ëyou’re too old for that.’ I said I’m not too old, I’m in denial. So that’s how it started.”

Back in his early days, Bumatai used to open for De Lima. “When I started, my very first gig was playing the breaks at Frank De Lima’s show. It was a huge mistake, because he would do his sets and then in between him and Chuck Tilton would go talk to the audience. I would go up to do my comedy, and people liked talking to them. It was tough, but I learned how to survive in that environment. I’m always grateful to Frank for letting me do that.”

Was he a mentor in a certain way?

“To an extent, but our types of comedy were so different. He was doing musical parodies, and I was doing real stand-up. That’s why I called myself Hawaii’s first stand-up comic, because I didn’t do anything else except stand-up. I realize after the fact that Kent Bowman, K.K. Kaumanua, did stand-up first.”

One of the sharpest, smartest comics Hawaii has produced, Bumatai is known for his insightful, observational style of comedy.

“My influences were Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl, because my mom was a comedy fan,” he said. “She bought those kind of albums. I remember as a kid listening to her and her friends laugh at these vinyl albums. I didn’t know what those guys were saying, but I want to bring that kind of joy to other people.”

Bumatai was the classic funny kid, known for his Bill Cosby impressions. “In fifth grade, for show and tell, I remember playing a Bill Cosby album and pantomiming. The teacher and the kids really seemed to like it. So the next week I memorized bits and did them. I am dyslexic so I had trouble with reading and math and all this kind of stuff. As a mechanism, I created this funny guy comedy thing, like I’m not stupid. I’m just messing around.”

Woody Allen’s movie “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex” was also an early influence. “When I saw what he was doing with film on screen, that’s when it hit me that you could do a fun take and do situations.”

Having worked the Mainland and Hawaii, he said the primary difference is that local comedy is skewed more toward ethnicity. “If you tell a Samoan joke, a Japanese joke and a Filipino joke, somebody will yell out, ëwhat about the Chinese?’ They want to be included. The difference between what outsiders consider ethnic humor and what we consider local humor is insight into the culture. When Hawaiian comics make jokes about ethnicities, they have awareness of who we are.”

These days he is busy broadcasting his hour-long “Daily Pidgin” podcast, joking about local news and events. “I do it with the Samoan bruddah James Mane,” he explained. “During the pandemic, I did 500 shows in a row every day at 6 a.m. at one point. I still get comments, ëthat show helped me.’

“We’re not shooting television shows right now, because I’ve already done 30. We’re taking a little break and then we will start doing them. I’m doing something that I’m kind of proud of, and that’s during the podcast, I’m doing television segments, and then editing those out for television. One of the most important things is to apply your creativity, and that satisfies something in most human beings.”

Bumatai will bring his “In Denial Tour” with Frank De Lima and Augie T to the MACC’s Castle Theater at 7 p.m. on Friday. Tickets are $26, $36, and $45 (plus applicable fees), available at MauiArts.org.

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