Veteran comic Jon Santos’ newest political spoof “Trumperte” is gut-bustingly hilarious and witty

Words by Danielle Castillo
Photos by Paolo Pareno

If you’re familiar with the comedy scene in the Philippines, you’ll know that Jon Santos is one of the best (if not the best) political impersonators in the country. With thirty whole years of experience under his belt, Jon is an incredibly skilled comic whose presence simply dominates the entire venue. His newest political spoof “Trumperte” caps his three-decade-long run in the show business. It will also be a part of PETA’s Stage of the Nation which aims to utilize theatre as a platform for socio-political issues in the Philippines. Its main goal is to make you laugh and think about what’s happening to our country at the same time.

RELATED: PETA Launches ‘Stage of the Nation’: A Campaign on Democracy

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“Trumperte” will be premiered this October 26 and 27, 2018  at the PETA Theatre Center. We were given a small glimpse of the laugh-fest about to occur on those dates and boy oh boy, did we love it. The program first started with an improv performance from Isprikitik which loosened up the audience for the star of the night. They had people give them a word which they then had to turn into “ahrt”.

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Isprikitik’s very “ahrt”-istic improv gave way to the smooth introduction of Jon’s first character. Much to the audience’s surprise, Imelda Marcos had been sitting at the back of the venue the whole time, blending right in with the ‘commoners’ with ‘cheap’ and ‘ugly’ clothes. There was also a dance performance by the blue ladies who Imelda called PIM, standing for Pangkat Imelda Marcos. Alternatively, it could also stand for that one Filipino curse we all know.

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A group called the Mochapals or Stariray Bekis (or Starbeks for short) also went wild on the stage. It was led by none other than, “Mocha Uson”, or as she was named by Jon, Mocha Puson. After the dance number by the Starbeks, Jon made us laugh relentlessly by recounting Puson’s life experiences. Add that to the fact that there was not a single moment in the entire character skit that he was not body-rolling and you’ve got yourself an audience wheezing for air.

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The night could not have been deemed complete without Jon’s impersonation of Melania Trump, which he saw fit to name Manilania Trump. Appropriate to her name, Manilania is more familiar with Filipino words and culture than Melania. There was even this hilarious moment when she said that she only knew TWO words in Filipino but she also knew several tongue twisters like “Minekaniko ni Monika”.

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As teasers for the main event on October 26 and 27, there were also short video clips of Ronald McDonald Trump and Duthirharry shown between the three impressions. I distinctly remember laughing like a hyena when Duthirharry included geography lessons with Mocha in the capital punishments one will get when they cross him. Overall, the entire pre-show was a blast! If the ‘glimpse’ of the real show was this hilarious, can you imagine how funny Trumperte will be?

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What are you waiting for? Buy tickets now from Ticketword! You can also reserve slots by contacting Chii at 0908 883 0595 or by calling 725 6244 loc 22.

See you on October 26 and 27, 2018 at PETA Theatre Center!