‘MR. SHOOLI’ GOES ONLINE

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

Blame it to the pandemic.

Veteran comedian, director, and pundit Jun Urbano, aka “Mr. Shooli,” was doing nothing during the lockdown arising from the pandemic caused by the so-called China-Duterte Virus (or Covid-19) when he had thought of reviving the famed “Mongolian Barbecue,” the TV satire program of the 1980s.

“Wala akong ginagawa (I was doing nothing). I was unhappily retired,” Mr. Urbano says when asked what has motivated him to revive the TV satire program and Mr. Shooli, the loquacious but intelligent main character of that TV program.

Mr. Urbano says he wants to contribute his share to the national discourse on nagging issues confronting the country, but “I do not want to lecture.” That is the reason he had thought of bringing back Mr. Shooli to the public limelight. He has decided to talk through Mr. Shooli.

But reviving Mongolian Barbecue and bringing back Mr. Shooli to public consciousness were easier said than done. No TV network was willing to gamble on a TV program that has been out of public view for three decades. The commercial aspect was too obvious to ignore.

Besides, Mr. Urbano admits he is now 81. Young people, or the –so-called “millennials,” hardly know him. They have a vague idea of Mr. Shooli, the character whom he had created when he was 50 years old. But he is determined to reintroduce himself to the new audience by being truthful and politically correct. He knows he is on the right side of history.

Mr. Urbano admits he has no big money to spend for the return of his baby. The only choice is to go online, where production cost is much lower. Why not tap cyberspace for this new venture? It appears to be the perfect communications platform for its revival.

When friends have learned of his project either by reading his post or word of mouth, friends from various walks of life came to his rescue. Showing the much vaunted spirit of volunteerism among kindred spirits, they have volunteered their services – mostly free – to ensure its return on a new medium and platform in the cyberspace.

For instance, veteran music composer and arranger Nonong Buencamino, also a social media denizen, has volunteered to compose a jingle – free of charge – for the program. Mr. Buencamino has composed a new jingle, of which Mr. Urbano was already satisfied, but says he is not satisfied, as he intends to produce a “better one,” according to Urbano.

Friends of his sons have volunteered the use of production equipment – also free of charge, lessening the burden of initial outlay. He had heard several offers, including its marketing from his friends in the advertising industry. In the past, Mr. Urbano directed commercials under the auspices of those advertising agencies, which had corporate clients.

Mr. Urbano says he would not digress from the old formula that had made Mongolian Barbecue a successful TV program during the days when Cory Aquino dismantled the Marcos dictatorship and provided a much wider democratic space for the living arts. The revived Mr. Shooli would address the burning issues, including controversial political, economic, and social issues.

Mr. Shooli intends to inject humor in the program. Since the revived program is still having birth pains in this age of the pandemic and social media, Mr. Urbano says netizens would see the program being dominated by him. He intends to bring old characters like sidekick Kuhol in later episodes, as the revived program takes root in its new platform in the cyberspace.

The revived Mongolian Barbecue would have its maiden episode on Sunday (Nov. 1) on Youtube. They have yet to set the time.

Jun Urbano’s politics is essentially left-of-center. Since his days at the Ateneo University, where he completed his elementary, high school, and college education (he finished journalism), Urbano had come to relish and appreciate the value of public criticisms and the importance of instituting changes. Politics has been a staple stuff even in old Mongolian Barbecue and Mr. Shooli as its lead character did not hesitate to criticize and pontificate at times.

Mr. Shooli had blinded objects of his criticisms with his unrestrained combination of science and humor, endearing him to the TV audience. He had mocked and laughed at genuinely powerful people and those despicable characters, pretenders, and hangers-on who kept on strutting along the corridors of power.

Mr. Urbano feels the Filipino people are hungry for these stuff. They have not lost their sense of humor despite the grueling challenges of the pandemic and inept rule of the current leadership. While saying he was not that partisan, he has likened politicians to a series of tropical storms, which keep on coming over.

“Parang mga bagyo ang mga pulitiko. Mananalasa at maninira, at aalis. Pero eto na naman ang panibagong bagyo (Politicians are like storms, which come to destroy and leave),” Mr. Urbano says, as he expressed dismay over the vicious cycle of underperforming politicians. “Kanya-kanyang bata sa pulitika dito (it’s politics of patronage here).”

Mr. Urbano is aware that his new project could meet resistance from people with whom he did not see eye-to-eye. But being truthful has its own dividends, he says. He is hopeful that commercial sponsors would come to help the program to expand and stay in its new platform.

As Jun Urbano embarks on a new venture rightfully at the sunset of his life, he could not help but feel that staying at home and doing nothing at the height of a pandemic had its own virtue, bliss, and reward. The rebirth of his old baby is forthcoming.

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