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On the brink of bankruptcy due to mounting medical bills, comedian Andy Bumatai returns to stand-up comedy when he debuts at the Blue Note Hawaii club at 8 p.m. tonight at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort.
“I feel pretty good, despite a second mass of (cancer) cells that has been detected,” he said. “But it was time to go back to work.”
Speaking in a softer-than-usual tone on the phone, he chuckled, “I’m one of the few guys in showbiz who can fall back on comedy when my day job doesn’t work out.” (At one point he operated a chain of cellphone stores.)
Bumatai, 63, hits the stage in a show dubbed “Damaged Goods,” which also features his buddy Kaleo Pilanca. The theme, he said, has a subliminal message: “Please lower your expectations.”
He’s joking, of course, but admits that standing in the spotlight with a microphone could be threatening.
“It’s going to be challenging, and I’m a little worried about it because I haven’t done stand-up in a while,” he said. There was a private gig recently, at the Koolau Ballroom in Kaneohe, where he admits he ad-libbed a bit, but tonight’s stint is the stuff of his craft: a bare stage, where words elicit laughter from folks listening and watching.
“It’s not so much the energy, but a lot about trying to recall (the gags),” Bumatai said. “I was asked about new material. … I can’t remember the old stuff.”
He promises some of his classic lines and expects to weave in fresh material culled from his current reality of doctor visits and the financial burden of battling cancer, which was found at the base of his tongue and in lymph nodes on the side of his neck.
“It’s a situation I have to deal with the rest of my life,” he said.
But there’s humor in his situation. “I love to eat but it’s not fun anymore. The cancer has affected my taste buds so food doesn’t taste the same,” he said. “I am about 160 pounds now, where I was 210 before, and my doctor used to tell me I have to get taller or lose weight. So there’s been some good.”
And: “I work on my motorcycle often, but since I’ve been injected with radioactive fluid that circulates through my whole body, weird things have happened. I used to get bitten by mosquitoes; they still come but they leave me alone.”
He’s grateful that friends, fans and even strangers earlier donated $35,000 to an online GoFundMe campaign that helped him with a $25,000 medical bill.
“Cancer is a very expensive hobby,” he said. So Bumatai is ready for a Blue Note paycheck.
Tickets: $25, at 777-4890 or bluenotehawaii.com. …
SHE’S GOING FAR
Auli‘i Cravalho, 16, who sang the Oscar-nominated song “How Far I’ll Go” from Disney’s “Moana” film, in which she voiced the title role, looms as the current “it” girl. She appeared onstage Feb. 26 with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote “Far” and performed an introductory rap he composed. They’re now friends, and yes, he’s the brainchild behind the Broadway phenom “Hamilton.”
The day after the Oscars, Cravalho learned she landed the lead role of Lilette in an NBC pilot titled “Drama High.” The show is a “Glee”-like endeavor set in a high school based on a Michael Sokolove book by the same name, centering on a drama teacher and his working-class students. Jason Katims is scripting the show with Michelle Lee; Jeffrey Seller, producer of “Hamilton,” is also involved. Considering Cravalho is on Disney’s radar and has new visibility with the “Hamilton” creative team, one wonders: Will films, Broadway shows and recordings come calling, too? …
And that’s “Show Biz.” …
Wayne Harada is a veteran Honolulu entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or email wayneharada@gmail.com.
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