SHANE MAKES A COME BACK

After a few years away from live shows, veteran speaker Jatupol Chompunich returned to the stage last weekend with a performance that combined talk show, musical, mini concert, magic show and comedy.

Sadly, the different parts of the show simply failed to blend.

Jatupol, whose nickname is Shane, proved he still had the gift of the gab in the talk show segment of the rather strangely-titled “Shane Come Back A Talk 10” in front of an almost capacity crowd at the 5,000-seat Thunder Dome in Muang Thong Thani. He managed to draw respectable laughter from the audience with his gags, one-liners, and trademark punning while providing food for thought on love, education, positive thinking and even politics.

He urged Thais to stop bickering and come together for the sake of their country’s development. His joke about the political division - “I know someone who’s stopped eating rice with red pork but wants to eat rice with yellow pork” – and his comments the government’s poor management of last year’s flood crisis had the audience laughing out loud.

At the beginning, Jatupol jokingly remarked, “It’s harder to make a talk show these days – I also have to sing, dance, and act out a drama”, then proved it by singing “My Way”. He also performed (unconvincingly) a magic show levitating a woman, and did a somersault during an “action scene”.

His gags were mostly clean although some jokes about the disabled could be viewed as offensive. He seems to have the ability to joke about virtually every subject, even the insurgent violence in the deep South.

The organisers might have realised that the 51-year-old speaker alone would not attract a large crowd. The result was a variety show with performers from many fields – a heartthrob singer, two female singers, three veteran comedians, a celebrated saxophonist and a magician, as well as a group of dancers – all clad in the old western style.

The show on Saturday night began an hour later than scheduled and was blamed on a heavy rain and resultant traffic congestion.

The show’s title, according to Jatupol, signified his return to the talk-show stage. It was apparently also a famous phrase from the 1950s American western “Shane”, which so impressed his parents that they named him after the hero.

However, Jatupol did not explain why it was “A Talk 10” and how that followed on from his previous show a few years ago which was titled “Thai Talk 6”. Probably it had something to do with the variety talk show programme “At 10” (“Tee Sib” in Thai) on Channel 3, in which Jatupol acts as a talent-contest judge and co-commentator.

Many people from “At 10” took part in his show, including the emcees Pui and Chompoo, fellow judges and commentators – singer Maneenuch Semarasut and comedian Note Chernyim – as well as the host Wittawat Sootornvinate, who appeared in the final part of the show as a “surprise guest”.

Maneenuch and singer Siriporn “Tak” Yooyod each sang a few songs, namely “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”, “Big Spender”, “I Will Survive”, “Greatest Love of All”, and “Oh Carol”. Saxophonist Tewan “Tong” Sapsanyakorn joined them during a medley performance.

Note Chernyim and other veteran comedians Ped Chernyim and Der Doksadao sang songs with funny lyrics and yesteryear’s hits like “You’re My World” and “Unchain My Heart” – just for laughs. They also had a brief comedy show together, with Tak, whose husband is a comedian.

Heartthrob singer Tono the Star, whose real name is Pakin Kamwi-laisak, took part in the final part of the show, singing a few songs and doing an “action scene”. His fans made up a large group among the audience and many of them held up LED signs with his name on them. He joked that many of the audience came to the show because of him and he wasn’t far wrong.

The show succeeded in attracting a large audience despite a heavy downpour, but Jatupol was not the only person who could claim the credit.