ALEX CALLEJA and THE COMEDY CREW to Perform at Dubai Comedy Festival

I could have made a book out of the conversations we had with The Comedy Crew and Alex Calleja a few nights ago.  Aside from the laughs, we had a glimpse of the serious side of this emerging industry. We got schooled about how they've managed to survive the pandemic and the tough industry per se. Alex is no stranger to comedy, he's been doing this for ages that much of the comedians in his team attested they watched him when they were in primary school (emphasis on he's that old).

Aside from Alex Calleja, The Comedy Crew is composed of Israel Buenaobra, Mak Navarez, Jeps Gallon, Yuki Horikoshi, Winer Aguilar, Doc Ramon Cabochan, Anthony Andres, Dawit Tabonares, Rex Milora, Grease Junio, Schneider Maxino, Marlon Cadag, Franz Opinaldo, Victor Obera, CS Dela Pena, Professor David Blattner, Jimberly Villanueva and Trixie Corpez.

 Here's some serious stuff we talked about first during the press conference

 

Here's where Alex Calleja shared why he should tell new comedians about changing their acts and not commit career ending mistakes early on as part of The Comedy Crew

 Here's some of the jokes they cracked that evening!

Alex is behind the countless comedy shows in different networks. You could say he had his baptism of fire in the late 2000's and learned the ropes. He knew where comedians failed (shared his secrets so they don't make career ending decisions) and made sure no one is left behind. This sparked the formation of The Comedy Crew. These dudes are funny AF, and we had them do a few samples of their kind of comedy during the press conference. Yes, it's quite cerebral. I asked if they see the need to educate the Filipino crowd  but he says "First of all, it's not the fault of the audience if they didn't laugh at out jokes. The fault is ours. There's no such thing as an uneducated audience, it's our responsibility to adjust. If you know your audience, you choose a joke appropriate for them. That's the wrong mentality. It's like having them watch a movie and if they didn't like your soundtrack... it's not going to be their fault. You need to impress them with whatever genre you produce. You are paid to perform and if they don't laugh at your jokes, it's the comedians fault. It's why we have house rules at the beginning of the show. We use our voice most of the time, and we only ask for the audience's attention by turning off their phones for the duration of the show. We also tell them to tell us if they get offended in one or more acts, we also ask much of the crowd to occupy the front seats because it'll be a mess when they arrive late, we don't want that to happen. We only ask for people to be on time, and that's enough. In fact, I didn't know we were going to talk like this during the press con, I almost want to cry instead of promoting our show in Dubai."

It's so nice to see our brand of comedy will be seen on an international stage and these guys are crazy good.

For those who would want to experience their antics and kind of comedy, Alex and The Comedy Crew (Israel Buenaobra, Jeps Gallon, Mark Navares and Imah Dumagay) is performing at the Comedy Masala in Singapore from March 25 to 26 (sold out shows) and at the Dubai Opera this coming April 13 (Saturday) as part of the celebrations of Dubai Comedy Festival. You can get tickets for the Dubai event from dubaicomedyfest.ae. They also have a show in The Astbury in Poblacion on April 6 at 7PM and Laughtrip Olongapo-Subic (a tour) on March 29, 30, 31 at The Palace in Olongapo, Cork Room at Subic Bay and Source Coffee in Subic too. 

You may visit their NEW websites www.alexcalleja.com or www.thecomedycrew.com for more information about their shows. You can also follow Alex Calleja's or The Comedy Crew's official Facebook page for more details about it.

YES MY LOVE Set to Perform in Singapore Today!

The boys from YES MY LOVE

Seeing Niko, Joshua, RZ, Jeff,  Eli, and Brian from Cornerstone Entertainment's boy group "Yes My Love" must have been a dream for a few, but it certainly happened to me a few days ago. It was an intimate performance with only a few peers from media seeing their performance for the first time as they embark in a concert to be held in Singapore (today at 2PM, you can still get tickets at sistic.com.sg) at the Esplanade Recital Studio in the Merlion state. 

It's called SPECTACLE! which they will do together with other PPOP and SPOP groups namely Estelle Fly, Alfred Sun, BINI, BGYO and XOXO. For those who don't know, Yes My Love was just formed a few months ago comprised of the defunct members of TOP Class and a few artists they put together from Cornerstone Entertainment's pool of talents. I didn't have to research much on their legitimacy because as soon as they opened their pipes, I just said WOW, these guys can really sing! Plus the fact that they were doing it with a routine that has so much vigor, sexy vibes, reminiscent of RnB and boyband groups in the 90's, but still have that energetic technical prowess and moves you would see in PPOP which makes them quite different from their peers in the business. Here's a two part interview we did with them after their short program, I hope you get to know them even better after this!

(My apologies in advanced as some parts may skip because resources on my phone might have caused it, I was uploading videos as I was recording and I only noticed when someone pointed it out on YT comments ha!)

Then we had a few naughty questions asked, something fans (143's which love them) would absolutely adore. 

I would like to take this bit and thank everyone at Cornerstone Entertainment for arranging this very intimate press conference so we'd be able to get to know the boys of YES MY LOVE. I can't wait to see them get the attention they deserve especially now that they have an international stint in happening in Singapore. As an extra treat, here's some post event shots from the nice boys of YES MY LOVE!

Now make sure you follow Cornerstone Entertainment's and YES MY LOVE's social channels for a good dose of love from these boys. Let them sing and dance their way to your heart now, and don't tell them that I already have my bias LOL. Again, if you're in Singapore, you can still catch them today!

GARY VALENCIANO Set to Perform in "riSing Together" and "Celebrate Christmas In Singapore"

The holidays are certainly here and together with that, Mr. Pure Energy Gary Valenciano is set to perform in two international events this month. One is Gawad Kalinga USA's riSing Together, a virtual celebration of hope through world class music of Filipino artists. He will be there with the maestro Ryan Cayabyab, the Ryan Cayabyab Singers, Kiana Valenciano, AJ Rafael so they could share their voices to inspire, spread happiness through music. The other one called CCIS is an annual Christmas outreach program that aims to bring the message of peace and joy this holiday season. They used to do this 8-10 days in Orchard Road but because of restrictions, they'll be doing it differently without shortchanging in having talents like carol singers, performers spreading the message of joy, peace and love for Jesus. It's much awaited in Singapore. Last year, they have done this in social channels and had featured The Crosby Family, GENTRI among a throng of other international artists.

Gary knows CCIS shares his vision of spreading the message of hope through a global audience, they had 2.5 Million views last year and there's no way to go but up! Gary also is the first Philippine brand ambassador for US based religious app Pray.com which garnered over 1.5 Million downloads in the Philippines. Gary says "I'm very honored and excited to be part of these international events that promote unity, love and compassion, especially when you know its needed. We have so many challenges to face today but with prayer, we can still thank God for it. I pray that he continues to shower us his blessings every day."

Gary also has had miracles in his health when he had undergone a double cardiac bypass, then discovered he had kidney cancer, a knee surgery, while still battling Type 1 diabetes and other challenges. But he continues to gain victory over it, God has worked wonders for him, and for that, he is thankful!

riSing Together will be on December 11 at 4PM PST, 6PM Central and 7PM EST, that's 8AM on December 12 in the Philippines. You may register via gk-usa.org/rising-together. You may also donate via the same site to support Gawad Kaling's different projects. CCIS will have their program streamed on YouTube this coming December 19 at 8PM so make sure you're there when it happens! If you want to know more, follow Gary V's different social channels and their website garyV.com. You can also follow him on the KUMU app where he shares his music and performs too. You can also download the Pray.com app (on Google Play and App Store) and stream his music on various platforms, just search for the track "Make Us Whole Again" and feel why we're so blessed to see him perform to this day.