A new Myanmar Facebook comedy page has gone from zero to 82,000 (followers) in barely a week even though it so far boasts only three videos.
With over 67,000 likes (and climbing) the aptly titled Comedy in the City has tapped into something young, energetic and unapologetically Burmese with a brand of comedy that relies heavily on references to Myanmar pop culture and, naturally, the occasional fart joke.
Part-commentary and part lip-sync, the dry but hilarious take on current events and pop-culture comes courtesy of a young, bilingual Burmese who works as musician and designer by day but has thus far decided to remain anonymous.
The three videos up on the site feature the site’s creator dubbing dialogue over a Chinese New Year event in Yangon and a pair of Burmese movie trailers: one that looks like a bit of a “Black Panther” rip-off and the other an all-female action movie.
Even Myanmar’s most famous artists and movie stars weren’t safe, with actress and all-around national sweetheart Eindra Kyaw Zin seeing her longtime marriage to actor husband Pyay Ti Oo coming in for a bit of light-hearted teasing in the opening minutes of the Chinese New Year video.
The superhero flick, meanwhile, gets a more proper grilling, with cartoon-ish voices and references to enduring Burmese memes, including a reference to our way-too-friendly neighborhood Spider-Man Si Thu Pluck Kyut.
“I’m just a simple guy, making people laugh. It’s memorable that the whole country is laughing because of my videos but it hasn’t impacted my life in a big way,” he told Coconuts Yangon when we tracked him down this afternoon.
The motivation for kicking off the site was a recent Valentine’s Day heartbreak, he said, but the response has given it a life of his own now.
“I want to make people happy. Everybody has bad days and I want to fill in the gap to make their day [better],” he said.
Altruism aside, the site’s quick success already has him eyeing bigger plans.
“I am thinking of changing the format of the videos. I’m already making plans to make my own show,” he said. “Eventually, I might start my own production [company], making music videos, cooking shows.”
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