Bu La’ia surfaces to join Augie T at Waikiki Shell

"How do I top this?" It’s a question Augie T asks himself on a regular basis.

Every time the high-profile local comedian produces a big concert-style show, he feels the challenge to do something bigger next time. Augie has gone from playing comedy clubs to shows in the Hawaii Theatre to bigger shows in the Blaisdell Concert Hall. And he’s gone from headlining one-man concert events to producing his quintuple-bill 2012 Ali’i of Comedy tour with Andy Bumatai, Mel Cabang, Frank De Lima and "Ace #1 Hawaiian Boy" Ed Ka’ahea — four men who can accurately be described as living legends in island comedy.

Three years later Augie has something that is even bigger: Augie T’s Laugh Under the Stars, Saturday at the Waikiki Shell.

"It’s the biggest show I’ve ever done," Augie said earlier this month. We’d reached Augie on the Big Island, where he has been working with Mayor Billy Kenoi in developing his BRAVE Hawaii program with performances in local schools.

Augie has been going into classrooms to talk with students about issues such as bullying, the importance of recycling and making healthy lifestyle choices.

He credits his daughter, Miss Hawaii Jr. High School America 2014 Mahealani Sims-Tulba, with starting the program and naming it BRAVE Hawaii (BRAVE = Be Respectful and Value Everyone). The program came out of her experience being bullied by girls at her school. She also wrote and illustrated a children’s book titled "It’s Okay to Be Different."

Augie says that BRAVE Hawaii has been doing so well on the Big Island that people have been asking him to expand it. The problem is that taking the program statewide, as some have asked, "takes money."

"Every year I try to do something cool," he says, "but because of taking this job (on the Big Island) and really focusing on making this program work, I haven’t been able to really work on developing a new act, which is OK because I’ve been working on a new act every year for years. It’s nice to kind of focus on something different, but at the same time (doing) stand-up is in my blood."

Doing "the biggest show I’ve ever done" is giving Augie the opportunity to do some new stand-up comedy, raise money for BRAVE Hawaii and present a family show at the Shell.

"There’s all these concerts (at the Shell), but there’s never ever like a family event where people can bring the kids and come laugh and it’s affordable. So with the help of the sponsors I’m getting, everybody can come out (to the Shell), and I can take the message statewide."

And, yes, it is going to be a really big show. Three of the other "alii" from 2012 — Bumatai, De Lima and Ka’ahea — are reuniting to join him in representing comedy. The list of musical entertainers includes Nesian N.I.N.E., Koa’uka, Kolohe Kai, Taz Vegas, Natural Vibrations and Leikia Williams & the Gender Bender Lip Gloss Revue.

"Those are a bunch of my mahu friends," Augie says of the Lip Gloss Revue. "They’re going to do a little drag thing, but it’s a celebration of pride."

If that lineup isn’t impressive enough, Augie has persuaded long-lost local comedian Bu La’ia, whose act startled island audiences back in the ’90s, to come over from Maui as the fifth "alii."

"He made a big dent 20 years ago, so it’s a nice added addition now," Augie said. "I’m excited about having him there and being a part of this night."

Hawaii first discovered Bu La’ia on a local cable television show. From there he become one of the most recognized, albeit controversial, figures in local comedy. Some saw Bu as a local version of the "wise fool" whose "jokes" contained astute assessments of the problems Hawaii was facing. Others saw him as perpetuating the stereotypical character of the ignorant and unambitious local moke.

At his best Bu addressed political issues — the scarcity of poi, the controversies surrounding Bishop Estate and its trustees, and the political legacy of the former governor he called "John Squidwater," to name three. He built on the work of Rap Reiplinger and others with song parodies and character sketches, and also had a prominent guest spot on Robi Kahakalau’s first album.

Bu ran for governor as a Democrat with the slogan "No huhu — vote for Bu." He withdrew after being threatened with criminal prosecution for being too young to run, but it was too late to remove his name from the ballot. He received more than 5,000 votes, and a new bumper sticker — "No Blame Me — I Voted for Bu" — became a mark of protest.

Things began going wrong after that. Bu was arrested after being stopped for skateboarding at Honolulu Airport. His plans to run for governor on the Hawaii Green Party ticket in 1998 stalled when the Greens said he wasn’t a member. He was later charged with damaging a vending machine and hospitalized. Eventually he left Oahu and immersed himself in cultural projects — studying Hawaiian history, learning Hawaiian ("You gotta learn your language"), helping clean up Kahoolawe and growing as much taro as possible, an activity that still occupies him today.

"We gotta feed the people," Bu said, speaking from his home on Maui. "Poi is so expensive in the stores. We also grow our own tomatoes (and) onions, the most expensive vegetables that we eat all the time. And whatever blessings we get we share with the neighbors and our friends, and everybody else shares."

It turns out he has good reason to be interested in the cost of living. The "no huhu" guy of 20 years ago is a father of five.

"From all different moms," he volunteered. "Spread the aloha. Change ’em up, change ’em up."

Bu has been active in the struggle to change water- and land-use priorities on Maui and restore water to taro farmers and other practitioners of traditional Hawaiian culture.

"We got a little bit (of the water) back," he said, referring to a recent court case. "But it’s still sad. They’re building more things over here, but there are so many empty buildings."

Bu hasn’t been doing any comedy club work as such, but from time to time he entertains at his kids’ schools or at friends’ luau. And so, he says, Oahu will be getting some new stuff as well as maybe some of the "old Bu" at the Shell.

"You’ll get a little bit of both, old and new, automatic. We got some new action going and some things up our sleeve that’ll blow your mind. I haven’t done the Shell since we did it when my manager was alive. We did it with ‘Tom Profit,’ and we sold out the Shell. It was crazy and now it’s 20 years later. Chee-hee!"