Jessica Sanchez. Megan Young. Just two examples from a vast list of proud Pinoys who managed to reach the top with a lot of help from Filipino netizens. Proof of how we overwhelmingly support our kababayans was how the Philippines was actually banned from online poll voting in the last Miss Universe pageant.

So that’s why I was stoked to receive news a couple of weeks ago that my video: “Junjun: Ang pulubing active sa Social Network“, made it as the ONLY Pinoy finalist in the America Meet World comedy video contest where the winner would eventually get to pitch ideas to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I mean our country as the “social media capital”…me as the lone representative…it’ll be a cinch right? But now, with less than two weeks to go for voting, and still trailing my competition from South Africa, it was beginning to feel like the joke was on me.

You can obviously cross out Jessica’s vocal chops and Megan’s queenly curves off my resume. Whether the challenge of getting people to vote was courtesy of the nation’s crappiest internet services, or being overshadowed by the highest rating “punta ka condo dala ka foods” telenovela, only the comedy gods can tell.

However, at this point, kindly indulge my character Junjun Pulubi at what he does best and allow me to beg…Beg to differ that our brand of comedy does not deserve international recognition, since why else would we be dubbed the happiest nation in the midst of all the calamities that come our way?

The resilient Filipino spirit that the entire world is familiar with now is initially triggered by our innate ability to laugh at anything, making comedy our most priceless commodity. If comedy stems from tragedy, then our country might as well be the Charlie Chaplin of Southeast Asia.

I hope I’ve managed to perk up your interest in this not so glamorous field I’m representing, enough to eventually put us on the global comedy map. Otherwise, might as well start practicing my triple axel and triple toe loop jumps in the nearest SM skating rink.

Please vote for my video a maximum of 10 times and share at this link: https://www.americameetworld.com/submissions/355