Up close with PNG comedy king Elton Kili

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, March 8, 2015 (Sunday Weekly Magazine, PNG)

THE name Elton Kili and the name of his ‘Burukim Bus’ (lets go into the bush) Show has been associated with comedy for the last few years. From the rare breed of known comedians in the likes of Kanage and Daure Lohia, Elton is now well known in the country through his jokes that have gone viral throughout the country via the odd flash drive and various media sharing platforms.

His famous notable jokes that draw laughter to many in the country include the classics like ‘Yes no, yes no’, ‘Tonight you are dead’, ‘Haus lotu’, ‘Virgin driver’, and ‘Wabag announcer’, just to name a few. Sunday Magazine reporter, Matthew Vari, caught up with the funny man to find out what he has been up to and to get a glimpse of the real man away from the comedy stage.     

Sunday Magazine:   What’s Elton Kili doing now?

Elton:  Basically I am at home working on new comedy materials plus my music as well. This was long coming, I’d say in the making of roughly 14 to 15 years but I did not rush things. I told myself that when the time is right it will happen. Two years now I have been with CHM (Chin H Min) as a contracted employee where monthly I go in and give new jokes.

We started off just doing jokes on Drive Time called ‘Brukim Bus’ (Lets go to the bush with Uncle ET) Rait FM 99.5 where we started the idea of jokes for the road and eventually one thing led to another. We now have moved into video production of my jokes, and now currently we are now working on a plan to set a platform for comedy in PNG and the Pacific.

Sunday Magazine:   You mentioned music as part of your skill base, and everyone associates your name with laughter, fun, and jokes. What have you done in music?

Elton:  Music was there before my comedy career. For jokes it is a natural thing that started in High school. Back in the days when I started with NauFM I just used a couple of jokes on the air, but after that I trained to be a sound engineer and for those who know me I am a sound engineer, producer, song writer. I have worked with the like of some of the big names in PNG like dAdiigii, Straky, O’Shen, Hausboi, Scholastic, South Tribe, to name a few.

Sunday Magazine:   Where do you get your inspiration from for your jokes and what is the process

Elton:  Eddie Griffin, Eddy Murphy, Bill Cosby, and a lot of African American movies- because I am blessed with the talent of imitating almost anything I hear, I watch these things and I imagine local situations and if I see something that happens that relates to what I have observed on television I try to relate in into the PNG perspective and language and add my own flavor to the characters to make them more relatable and that’s where the fun begins.

Sunday Magazine:   You have been known to crack jokes of stereotypical themes, certain segmented groups, marginalized groups, the average politician, and the typical Asian satirical mimicry. Are there anymore groups to target?

Elton:  There is plenty, but you have to start somewhere so it’s a stepping stone, and now that everyone knows me and my work it is now time to take it to the next level. They may think I only know how to pick on the Chinese community here, but the next I could do the Philippines or Indian and they may not expect it. Basically the characters I build are the ones that are around and in the country.

Sunday Magazine:   Is Elton the same or are there two of you either on or off stage?

Elton:  To be honest there are two sides, as you and those that know me, on one hand I am that typical normal grassroots man that doesn’t talk that much- but as soon as I get on stage and hold onto the microphone that is a totally different person all together. That person does not look for words.

Sunday Magazine:   You are probably one of the first to take the art of standup comedy to a profession scale in the country, and Papua New Guineans have that cultural tendency of always making fun in everyday conversation. What motivated you to take it to the next level?

Elton:  Coming from a musical background- there are too many of us in music, and the subject of entertainment is so huge. I decided to move into comedy because I saw that only Daure Lohia came out with the first comedy album called the Katim Kona Joke and he was it, and also for video it was only Kanage and the Watete group more drama and theatrical based, so I decided that I might as well take up from where they stopped, blend them all and add into one and take it to the next level. Since Daure and Kanage have gone quiet I decided to come out to take up where they left it, and when I started it spread like wildfire.   

   

Sunday Magazine:   The name Brukim Bus has been around for a while now. When are you going to release an album?

Elton:  I am still working on it, which is in the process where we are trying to compile a DVD the first of its kind in the South Pacific where the same person is the artist, his songs and video clips, the comedy jokes, and the standup part all in one. I have given a lot of thought about it.

Sunday Magazine:   The word is out that you are performing alongside dAdigii this month.

Elton: Yes that will be on the 27th of March for the “dAdigii and Burukim Bus”, shows at Sports Inn with two concerts both day and night. The day concert is for schoolies and the general public which is from 2pm to 4pm, and the night event from 7pm till late. It will not just be a regular show like singing and jokes- we are going to incorporate beat boxes, breakdance, songs, comedy, plus feature a couple of up and coming artists in the lieks of Meriani Masani, Tez, and Sampson.

Sunday Magazine:   What would be your advice for someone going into your line of work?

Elton:  I’ll be straightforward with this. It is a talent to imitate, or act like someone else must be used in the right way. If you want to tell my jokes sounding like me- you can never be me. I try my best not to copy other people’s jokes, with 90 percent of my jokes are original trying to create my own stuff.

I am more than willing to assist anyone interested and my advise for you is to just be yourself and try not to copy too much of another person. You can try to imitate but do not try to be like them.

Sunday Magazine:   Everyone likes a good joker to entertain a crowd at events. How can they get in touch with you if they require your special services?

Elton:  Through Rait FM and ask for Renata Mari, or Braden Chin in regards for Brukim Bus.