Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Alex Calleja is the funniest person in the world, according to the chain of comedy clubs in the United States.
He was the first runner-up in the international stand-up comedy competition, “The Funniest Person in the World,” organized by American comedy club chain Laugh Factory early this month.
He won based on inputs from the judges and online votes, bagging $10,000 in prize money.
Calleja said he draws inspiration from experiences he’s had in life.
“Lahat ng mga stand-up ko, based on true story,” Calleja told The Source Wednesday. “Comedy, pero true story. Ganun lang, hinahanapan ko na lang ng humor.”
[Translation: All my stand-up materials are based on true stories. They’re comedy, but true stories. I find the humor in them.]
Calleja began doing stand-up comedy in 2007.
“Comedy talaga ang buhay. Hindi niyo lang nakikita kasi medyo sineseryoso natin,” Calleja said.
[Life is really a comedy. We just don’t see it because we take it too seriously.]
He said he would conduct “informal” research by observing people and things when walking or riding the train.
“Jojoin ako sa mga nag-iinuman para marinig…Mga kuwentuhan nila, na-aabsorb ko,” said Calleja. “Sa kuwentuhan ng mga tambay, doon maraming nakakatawa.”
[I would join drinking sessions just to listen in… I would absorb their stories. I hear funny stories from the village standbys.]
Calleja was an information technology programmer, but eventually quit his job to pursue comedy full time. He now writes for ABS-CBN on top of doing radio and live shows.
He said his jobs complement each other, but in stand-up comedy the response is “immediate.”
“You say your joke, you hear the laughter,” he said. “Tawa, palakpak tapos may lalapit sayo na may sakit, yung lola niya first time tumawa in a long time.”
[There is laughter, applause, and then someone goes to you who is sick, or whose grandmother is sick, and says it is their first time to laugh in a long time.]
Calleja performs for production house Comedy Manila, which he says is pushing for a more conversational, non-offensive kind of humor.
“We’re trying to promote this kind of comedy na kuwentuhan lang [that just tells stories],” he said.
