Mitch and Nanette share why doing comedy is harder these days

October 4, 2024 | 12:00am

Seasoned singers and comediennes Mitch Valdes and Nanette Inventor couldn’t agree more that comedy has seen a remodeling over the past years. The present creative trends and the new approach to comedy indubitably reflect the changing tastes of audiences.

Mitch and Nanette are my friends. I was their publicist for many years. The former initially had her first taste of performing on stage at St. Scholastica’s College in high school. If my memory serves me, Mitch first made her way to the performing stage through Repertory Philippines as a props girl. The rest is history.

Nanette, on the other hand, studied at the University of the Philippines-Diliman intending to become part of the Philippine diplomatic service. She began singing in a church choir and went on to continue training in classical music. With singing as her forte, it’s no surprise that Nanette is a UP Concert Chorus alum.

After establishing herself as a professional singer, Nanette became a radio and TV commercial artist until she rose to fame as Doña Buding.

Mitch went viral on social media for her British accent newscast act. What followed was the various amusing takes by netizens on the said act using Mitch’s voice.

“I was so shocked, parang out of the blue bigla kang nag-viral na wala ka naman ginagawa,” quipped Mitch before she proceeded to show the impressive, sidesplitting act once again.

While Mitch and Nanette continue to dabble in many different things that exhibit their talent in comedy, they have observed that it is more difficult to do comedy now than before.

“It’s because ‘yung mga tao ngayon napaka thin-skinned and they can give their opinions at the drop of a hat,” remarked Mitch. “They can insult you from head to toe and then you will lose your supposed fans, and then everybody would say, ‘I’m offended.’ Also, parang you cannot say anything more without turning off a certain sector, political correctness killed comedy,” she furthered.

Mitch and Nanette can still vividly recall the best fan reaction they got in the early years of their rosy careers.

“I got hurt while I was doing ‘Fat at FAT’ (Folk Arts Theater),” shared Nanette. “I was in character as Dona Buding so I was wearing pieces of jewelry and I had glitters and then when I came out to go to the comfort room, a woman angrily approached me. She grabbed my collar and began to strangle me. Sinasabi niya na ang dami kong alahas bakit hindi ko ipamigay sa iba. I told her they were fake, PNB (read: puwet ng baso). The guards saw us and they quickly picked her up. But I ended up at the San Juan de Dios Hospital because I got wounded.”

Mitch could never forget how truly devoted her fans were when she was hospitalized. “My first year in showbiz, I got very sick. I was confined at Capitol Medical and then some fans came and slept on my bed kasi daw they will watch over me. I said thank you, I don’t need it. You know how private I am,” shared Mitch who also revealed how she would vomit before a performance due to stage fright.

With their respective careers blooming, one would assume there was professional rivalry between Mitch and Nanette but no such thing happened.

“We couldn’t have a rivalry because we only met in comedy. She had her singing and recording career then ako naman, I did movies,” said Mitch.

“First and foremost, I am her fan,” declared Nanette. “I told her that when we first met in ‘The Threepenny Opera’ at the Metropolitan Theater. She was doing Lucy Brown and I was doing Mrs. Peachum. She (Mitch) was vomiting in the ladies’ room and I asked her if she was okay. Sabi ko, ‘Fan mo ako.’ We became friends from that time on. She would throw up when we’re doing shows, tapos ako naman, I was having runs sa banyo,” she amusingly recalled.

Mitch said her stage fright would cause her to throw up “pero namenos na ng 50 percent because of old age but until now, my stage fright never goes away.”

With the kind of humor they deliver, Mitch is certain they never get overboard doing comedy. “There’s still respect in humanity.”

Among today’s comedians, Nanette admires Michael V the most while she sees Kathryn Bernardo’s acting talent as impressive.

Mitch confessed that she’s not familiar with the young generation of comedians “pero sa mga nakasama ko na mas bata sa akin si Jon Santos, he’s brilliant and if I may add, Arnell Ignacio is very witty.”

While we see them happy and funny onscreen, Mitch and Nanette are sensible individuals whose respective life mottos are deep and meaningful. Mitch believes it is worth “to live life every day to the max.”

Nanette, in turn, stated, “I’ve always believed that life is a script written by your heart.”