Client Presentations. Never ending iterations. Over overtime. Campaign of the Year.
Surely, you’ve heard it all; the notoriously competitive industry of advertising that practically defined the 20th century in which a career is considered as high pressure as one in the stock market (or a boiler room). So much so, that there is no shortage of puns to describe the demands of such a career, or the laments and tribulations all over the internet that may sound a lot like humble bragging to anyone outside the ad world if they weren’t usually so witty and hilarious and gain as much traction (if not more) as the viral campaigns that they slave for. In the Philippines and on Twitter alone, multiple accounts offer some comical stress relief in the form of satirical memes to anyone who can relate to #BuhayAhensya, whether they are @CreativesofMNL, @AccountManagersofMNL, @ArtDirectorsofMNL, @EAsofMNL, among others.
So, what happens when this virtual, not-so-tongue-in-cheek parody takes to the stage, performed in extemporized style (otherwise known as improv), to a live audience? This is exactly what we sought to find out as we caught the fourth edition of this advertising-inspired (not to mention adobo magazine and its own Mad About Awards) parody by a small improv theater group called Badly Put at Commune Cafe last August 13. And it was hilarious—to say the least—not to mention, sold-out to an audience comprised of mostly agency professionals, with a handful in the digital, marketing, production spheres, even from the client side.
The current cast is comprised of Barny Rivera, Aih Mendoza, Jason Chamberlain, Baus Rufo, Rayna Vihuela Reyes, Kara Angelli Flores, Elyss Punsalan, Kyo Mendoza, Ria Vita Puangco and Karl Echaluse — who met as students of Third World Improv (TWI) and soon discovered their intersecting worlds of advertising and improv. Since their first show just earlier this year was met with a stunning reception and sold out within a day, they’ve been meeting the demand to continue the parody to a larger audience comprised of both agency and non-agency folk.
We were able to catch up with one of the cast members, Aih Mendoza, who generously ran us through the group’s history, the benefits and fulfillment that the show has brought, and plans for the future:
What can you say about improv in the Philippines?
We truly, truly believe that improv is a big wave that’s rising in the local scene. Internationally, the craft is extremely well-known and respected (think the basis for SNL, Whose Line Is It Anyway, the foundations of many artists like Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Tina Fey, etc.) It’s applied uses beyond theater is arguably even more impactful — companies like Google, IBM, Facbeook, and Microsoft use applied improv workshops to help make their leaders and people more collaborative, connected, creative, agreeable, flexible… I can go on and on.
But locally, the scene really began growing beyond SPIT when they put up Third World Improv around 4 years ago. Since then, there are now maybe 20 or so groups beginning to hone their craft and putting up performances here and there. We’re also really proud to say that the Philippines is one of the largest improv hubs in Asia. In fact, the largest Asian international improv festival is held here every two years. Just this past March, TWI held the Manila Improv Fest 2019 which had over 50 international and local groups perform through 5 days. We’re talking about groups from Spain, Australia, Japan, Colombia, France, Singapore, Venezuela, USA and more.
Personally, I think there’s a great magnetism that brings together Filipinos and improv. Just because we’re natural storytellers and we’re very expressive and performative. We love sharing and connecting. And of course, we have a great sense of humor.
So all of that put together, we believe there is so much in store for the local improv scene. Again, beyond entertainment, I wholeheartedly think that any Filipino can benefit from an improv class. Especially because TWI’s vision is to develop people who are more compassionate, more self-aware, and more playful through improv — as more students take it, they’re the walking, talking proof that improv changes you for the better.
Could you run me through the story behind your improv group; how you guys started, when/where/why, any founding members, any mission or goals?
So “Badly Put” is a mix of two big things in our lives: improv and advertising, but improv came first in bringing us together. A lot of people wonder if we just randomly got together as advertising professionals and said “hey, why not do a silly show and get people to watch?”, but in reality, none of us knew each other until we met through Third World Improv (TWI). TWI was established by SPIT, Manila’s premier improv group and arguably one of the best improv groups in the world. (We’re also lucky to call SPIT our teachers, mentors, and friends!)
Barny and I were in the first and second batches of TWI students. Somewhere in our small talk between classes, we talked about our day jobs in advertising and wondered what it would be like to have an improv show comprised of ad people. As more and more ad people joined TWI, we saw the pattern — andaming hugot! It kept coming up in our scenes and stories. So we figured, ‘Why not channel all this into a performance?’
To be honest, we had only planned on just the one show just for laughs. We really didn’t mean for it to be anything more than that. But after that show blew up (it was sold out in about 2 days), we opened a second show (which was sold out within the first 10 hours!) — we just decided to keep running with it! So far, we’ve had four shows that have all been sold out. To our surprise, we always still have a good mix of new and old audiences.
The short of it, I guess, is that we didn’t think about it too much in terms of a “goal” or a “mission”. We just wanted to put on a show that we felt would be fun to perform and that we ourselves as ad people would want to watch. Also, to have an avenue to turn all these ahensya feelings into something entertaining.
What was the spark that spawned the idea to run an improv show/group on the local advertising scene?
So it was mentioned a little bit earlier, but just to elaborate a little bit more: the advertising flavor just naturally got brought out as we all went through our improv classes.
So improv is a craft we’ve all fallen in love with. It’s honestly like the gym, but for your soul — It’s allowed us to be more playful, more creative, and more connected — and it’s insanely fun. Because it’s the art of creating stories on the fly, you have to use your own truth to do it well. And because a large part of our truth is our #buhayahensya hugot, it made sense to find each other and put it together. Honestly, improv has made us better advertising professionals and even better people at the end of the day. It was just a matter of asking: ‘Hey, why not share this with other people?’
I searched through your FB page and the only description I could find is that it’s an advertising-inspired improv group. Could you tell me more about this?
Like with a lot of communities, solidarity is created because of shared experiences and common pains. But particularly with the ad community, there’s something that’s so potent about it — and the same goes for the people who work in it as well. It’s the mix of snarky self-awareness and a wicked sense of humor that allows us to laugh at ourselves. That’s why we have Black Swan, Ad People of Manila, or Sadvertising. I suppose Badly Put was us wanting to bring that same energy to some sort of theatrical stage.
So yes, all of us are involved in agency life one way or the other. It’s a mix of ahensya people from big agencies, start-ups, digital PR, and even prod. I think it’s important to note that the show wouldn’t have happened if there weren’t enough ad people in improv, to begin with. I think it speaks of the natural overlap between people who are interested in comedy/performing/improv and people who work in advertising.
In fact, I feel the “shared truth” that brought us together is the same thing that brings audiences to our shows. Since we were our own “target market”, we just thought that as long as we liked what we had created then that should be enough. We’re extremely grateful and quite shocked to be honest that the reception was as great as it was! We’re very thankful. I suppose a lot of people related and saw some of their own truth on stage.
Any highlights or anecdotes from previous shows or even prep that you think is worthwhile sharing?
I suppose one was how the shows blew up without us expecting it to. We were overwhelmed by the feedback and response of the audience!
The first show, in particular, was like lightning in a bottle. It was our first time, so we were surprised to see so many people. We had mancom, people from 4As (we think? someone had mentioned!), clients, and even a lot of non-ahensya people.
It was such a joy (and relief) to see even clients laugh at the pains, stereotypes, and even absurdities of the industry. It felt like a safe space where industry people can come together and connect in real life, where you can share a physical space together as well as share in laughter. Too often, we’re connected only through screens or social media. So being gathered in a relaxed environment where everyone is laughing and just letting loose feels like a good change of pace.
Another interesting thing during prep, I think, was when we were trying to take apart what the “key message” of the show was. We were nervous about the feedback at first: Were people going to be offended? How about clients? Stuff like that. But in the end, when we realized that it was a satirical thing meant to give us an avenue to laugh at ourselves, our industry, and just not take it all too seriously — we felt good about what we were doing. It felt healthy, like injecting back that sense of playfulness and silliness we might have lost in the years of work.
Where do you guys plan to take Badly Put in the future? Any plans in the pipeline you’d like to share?
We’re definitely keen on doing monthly shows for as long as the audiences will have us! Something that we saw which moved us to keep going was the great reception from audiences, often peers in the industry. A lot of them would show up wanting a laugh, but there was also a sense of being able to relate, a feeling of “Hey, meron din pala ibang nakaranas niyan.” So, as long as there are still things to explore, stories to tell — we feel there are — then why not!
We’ve also had people reach out to us to do shows for their events, companies, activations (to our flattery!), and at this point, we’re game to explore almost anything and everything. We’re still beginning to discover what more we can do with this and we can’t wait to share it with others.
On the non-performative route, we’re planning on offering improv workshops for advertising professionals within the year. Like I mentioned above, all of us from Badly Put can truly credit improv in making us better industry professionals — be it to make us more creative, less self-critical, easier to work with, and moreå. We think there’s such a great opportunity to share this with others as well. Currently, we’re looking at doing workshops that are open to the public but have also been talking to a few companies who are interested in doing private applied improv workshops for their teams.
We’ll be having a show in September and hopefully an open workshop in October. (Fingers crossed!)
Follow their social media pages to learn more and stay up to date on their
shows: BADLY PUT
FB: facebook.com/badlyputimprov
Email: badlyputimprov@gmail.com
IG: @badlyputimprov
#badlyputimprov
For inquiries regarding bookings for shows or workshops, just reach out:
THIRD WORLD IMPROV
Site: thirdworldimprov.com
FB: facebook.com/thirdworldimprov
Photographs by Mohd Sarajan
