The Man behind the Watete Comedian Troupe

Up Close with Comedy Theatre group founder, Eddie Wapona

By Matthew Vari

Sunday, May 24, 2015 (Sunday Weekly Magazine, PNG)

ASK any Papua New Guinean about “Watete” and his group of comedians and you are sure to get a good description of pure PNG theatrical comedy, a line or two from one of their plays, or to the extent a hip gyrating solo dance, which is the signature move these funny guys are capable of doing. 

This week Sunday Chronicle Weekly Magazine met up with the front man and the man behind the name, Eddie Wapona, or known famously as “Watete”, who hails from Goroka, Eastern Highlands, but insists he is a “Goroka blo Mosbi stret”.

The Watete group is well known throughout the country, having come from humble roots, Eddie shared with us the real story of Watete and also the reason as to why they broke off from their association with another well-known comedian “Kanage”, something many people have wondered about. 

Weekly Mag: Where did the name Watete come from?

EDDIE: The name Watete is the name of a character that started with me, where we built around an old man’s character in the village setting who made a garden and often had ransacked by boys.

One day when they wanted to steal, he was there to catch them and belted them on the ass with the thieves wailing out that they were in pain, and the old man scolding them. “Oh you are the ones that come and steal from my garden. Do you know who I am? I am Watete- when the sun comes up and goes down I am here, it started with me and that is where it stuck for our group, Watete Comedian Troop. 

Weekly Mag: How did it all start for you?

EDDIE: We started with the well-known comedian Kanage, doing awareness shows like “Yu Make it a What?” for the city’s water provider, Eda Ranu. From there we broke off from Kanage and we have been doing this ourselves all along.

Watete consisted of the full group of four of us guys and some girls; however, our girls have kind of slowed down their participation when they got married. It became complicated especially since we move around a lot. Sometimes we brought their husbands along when we create awareness campaign plays for issues like HIV AIDS and others, eventually we had to let them go.  

The original group consists of four of us, including the girls who we engage when we create awareness plays. For normal comedy acts, we four do those. Eddie plays the famous cameos of (“Watete”and “Pikinini”), while the other famous trio include Simon Labon (“Mr Brown”, “Councillor”,   Ali Emmanuel (“Unguise”, “Maus Pass”), Kupa Toru (famous cameos as “Iriputi”, “Papa”). 

Weekly Mag: What is Watete Doing these days?   

EDDIE: My real life, I was with Lae Biscuit Company for 13 years. After completing our association with Eda Ranu, I joined them (LBC) and got married recently with a child of my own. I resign just last year to concentrate of strengthening my theatre group. I spent four month at Goroka at the RaunRaun Theatre to get a deeper insight into the theatre profession.

I have registered my group with IPA (Investment Promotion Authority) already and have delivered my profiles to business houses in the city for awareness jobs.

Weekly Mag: A question that has burned the minds of those who have followed your troop, who may be wondering what happened in terms of your association with Kanage and why it ceased?

EDDIE: We were good with him during our days doing awareness with Eda Ranu, but there was a disagreement between us and him during a performance where he singled out that we were Watete so we should perform as that and he would perform with his group alone.

We broke it off at the Lancron (Naval Base) in 2000, when we performed at the launch of the Coastal Clean-up Campaign in NCD.

Kanage ruled a line in the sand that day so we accepted that and that is where Watete as a group on its own was born- we almost fought but we decided against that, shook hands and part ways not permanently at first.

Weekly Mag: Where do most of your storylines, settings, and characters come from when you develop your comedy plays?

EDDIE: Especially we develop our plays from the view of the simple villager out in rural PNG where the system of hierarchy exists where whenever there is an issue the whole community gathers to address it through their leaders.

Each of us takes on a part within the average community. We mainly study people first at home, around us, and in the community at large and we take up their roles from an old man to a child.

Weekly Mag: Were you always a funny man growing up or was that something that developed afterwards in life?

EDDIE: For me, I am a born comedian- I did not go to school for long. When I was in primary school I used to dance for various provinces from Central to Bougainville, and not long before I even went on to grade 3, I turned to a life of petty crime which eventually led to even more serious behaviour that I am not proud of, but eventually I reformed and went into the church where my liking to performing in plays started from there when I was with the Seventh Day Adventist Church. I eventually left the church and went into the awareness business, but to this day I thank God for that part of my life where I found something I love doing to this day.

I never came out of an arts school or some theatre, people assume that but that isn’t true. I started out on the streets and have ended up performing in almost all provinces in the country apart from West Sepik and Bougainville.   

Weekly Mag: What are some of the recent gigs you guys are involved in or scheduled to take part in?

EDDIE: We still are doing shows on the streets warming up for official gigs- one being South Pacific Games, which is the biggest one we are trying to take part in and hope to work closely with the organizers. We are starting rehearsals this week. 

Weekly Mag: What does a typical show from the Troop consist of?

EDDIE: Depends on what the client needs. If it is an hour then we break it up into various segments/scenes of 15 to 20 minute intervals.

Weekly Mag: If there are people who are interested to get in touch with you to take part in their events. What are the numbers to call and the requirements?

EDDIE: They can call me on 76028919, or they can 76855950 Kupa Toru. Our rates are for fundraisers its K500, TV ads K1,200, Comedy commercial K850. 

Weekly Mag: Your talent is something that is natural to you, despite the fact that you have not gone to any specific school, you have developed your name and brand that is well known from a simple at times troubled beginning. What would be your advice to youths and people out there that think that there is no hope out there?

EDDIE: If you can’t become even a comedian like me to make a living- there are a lot of things out there for us to do positively. From doing some marketing, to the opportunities that have been created by some of our MPs in terms of scholarships and training provided by organisations like Ginigoada. What I am trying to say is that the opportunities and help youths have are not anything like what I had growing up. If you want to be a comedian, nothing is stoping you, but always know that you have a place in society.