Willie Nep’s not-so-obvious talents

After years of staging shows in which he impersonated various personalities, Willie Nepomuceno showed one more talent that he had not used much. The venue was the Music Museum last Friday during Willie’s latest show, titled “Stop, in the Name of Laugh.” There was plenty of laughter, all right, as the celebrated mimic impersonated six Philippine presidents in a press conference called “The Press Meets the Pres” with well-known broadcasters asking the questions.

The impersonated presidents were: Ferdinand Marcos, risen from the dead; Cory Aquino, also resurrected in her signature yellow dress and “L” (for Laban) finger sign; Fidel V. Ramos with the inseparable cigar in his mouth; Joseph Estrada with the pompadour; of course the big little woman who stole the presidency away from Erap and his compadre, FPJ; and finally the incumbent President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, balding head and all. They were asked by the broadcast journalists what they had done during their administrations, and the answers were varied, and funny, except for the last question: What happened to the report by investigators, dating back to the Marcos presidency, on the killings of journalists who, at the rate they are being forced to write “30,” have become an endangered species in the Philippines? They are still investigating until now.

(Perhaps I should first explain that the show was a fund-raiser, produced by broadcaster Kay Dacer, for the benefit of the families of journalists who were victims of violence.)

All the presidents’ answers to the last question were the same. Each of them endorsed the report to another team of investigators for another investigation. Which is a reflection of what happens to investigative reports in the three branches of government, executive, legislative and judiciary, in the familiar game called “Passing the Buck.” There are still many investigations by congressional committees, in the Senate especially, where no final reports are submitted. It seems that after media coverage wanes, legislators lose interest and forget all about it because they are engaged in another investigation.

But what is Willie’s little known talent? Willie is known as the “man with many faces and many voices” and he can indeed mimic, like a mynah bird, anybody who was ever born in this world. And, with the aid of wigs, prosthetics and costumes, he can make himself look like anybody. That is not all. Willie also studies the body movements of the people he impersonates—their manner of walking, their little gestures—so that you almost believe that it is the real McCoy who is on the stage.

But Willie’s hidden talents (finally) is as a stand-up comic, his singing ability, and his ability to mimic sounds (like a mynah bird, I repeat): musical instruments, sound effects, etc.

During the last half of the show, Willie held the audience entranced as a stand-up comedian, telling them how, as a boy, he began to imitate sounds and started wanting to be in show biz by listening to the radio and watching movies. In fact, he took them back in time, on a memory trip to the years when he was a boy—the era of the jukeboxes, the old radios, the new television sets, the clothes and social mores, which entertained the senior citizens no end and opened the eyes of the young folk so they could say, “Ah, ganoon pala kayo noon.”

Willie also entertained the crowd with his singing, in various voices and styles of course, depending on the singer he was impersonating. (But when he sings Frank Sinatra standards in the Sinatra style, do not think that he is mimicking Ol’ Blue Eyes. He is not. That is his real, natural voice and singing style.)

Finally, Willie closed the show, as he did almost all his other shows, with his favorite and very optimistic song, “Smile.” It is an indication of Willie’s own optimism and positive outlook on life. It is full of hope, of which our long-suffering people need plenty.

It is a beautiful song, with a melody that is easy to sing. But pay attention to the lyrics:

Smile when your heart is aching,

Smile even though it’s breaking.

When there are clouds in the sky

You’ll get by.

If you just smile

Through your tears and sorrow

And maybe tomorrow

The sun will come shining through

For you.

Wipe off the tears of sadness,

Light up your face with gladness.

Whenever a tear

May be ever so near,

That’s the time you must keep on trying.

What’s the use of crying?

You’ll find that life is still worthwhile

If you’ll just

“Smile.”

* * *

Members of Congress, and Malacañang, should listen to the position paper of Ang Kapatiran Party filed with the House committee on public order and safety, which is discussing a bill that would increase penalties for crimes related to firearms, light weapons and ammunition.

We must all wake up to the reality that the Philippines is fast becoming another Wild Wild West with almost everybody toting, and oftentimes using, a gun.

Crimes committed with the of use guns (robbery-holdups, murders and homicides, kidnappings and car thefts, etc.) are at an all-time high because of our very liberal gun laws. We are running out of cemetery plots for all the victims of assassinations. The Maguindanao massacre would not have been possible if we had stricter gun control laws.

Maybe it is fantasy to expect strict gun laws during the administration of P-Noy, he being a gun fancier who prefers the friendship and company of the third “K” in his KKK (“Kabarilan”). But let us give him the benefit of the doubt as to his sincerity in wanting a peaceful country. His own father was killed with the use of a gun. After all, his constituents are rapidly being depleted because of guns.