Sometimes you just can't see the funny side

To make people guffaw while you insult them is another matter. Udom thrives on that. Without fail, Thailand’s most popular stand-up comedian has his audiences in stitches with attacks on their human flaws or biggest weaknesses. Ruthless as his assaults are, they are carried out with the utmost intelligence and creativity.

Or so it seemed. Last week, Udom’s most valuable professional weapon – the public perception that he was smart and sophisticated, with unique critical thinking – was brought under tough scrutiny. News photos were published showing his in-depth association with the controversial Dhammakaya Temple on a day when it sent hundreds of monks on a “pilgrimage”, and all of a sudden, the jokes were on him. 

To be fair to Udom, his fans’ ignorance has a lot to do with the uproar on Web boards and social media. His connections with Dhammakaya have been well documented, considerably even through his own accounts. It can be argued, though, that knowing can’t compare to seeing. To many fans, the knowledge of Udom’s proclaimed faith in Dhammakya did not sink in until they saw him in shiny, all-white dress kneeling in humble worship of the temple’s pilgrims.

Religion and commercialism can’t be separated. The people in charge have simply learned to effect the merger in their own subtle ways. Well, more or less. Dhammakaya became questionable because the temple took the unholy marriage of spirituality and materialism to an extraordinary new level. “Heaven” became some sort of a condominium. The more you pay (in cash), the higher the floor you’ll get. Not rich enough to donate millions? Fine. Stay in the lower units, then. 

It’s this contentious doctrine that is giving Udom problems with his fans. If you honestly believe that good deeds are measured by the amount in cash donations you give, then your thinking may not be unorthodox after all, many are telling him. By being critical of our flaws, do you mean to say that Dhammakaya and your faith in it are flawless?

In his latest “Solo Microphone” episode, Udom wondered out loud how meaningless children’s rhymes often catch on epidemically. It was a soft version of the way he often pokes fun at people who copy others’ actions without exercising their own wisdom. When it comes to adults, he has pulled no punches. On many occasions he has mocked himself, like when he lamented his Facebook addiction – but that is what all comedians are supposed to do. They must present themselves as naive, gullible or even silly. The trick is to win over the audience right away, and then it’s all downhill from there.

The comedian is not the only high-profile Dhammakaya follower; there are big names from virtually every professional field. They include business tycoons, a beauty queen, several politicians in the current administration, and so on. Attempts to take legal action against Dhammakaya patriarch Dhammachayo have been virtually futile. That none of the Dhammakaya-related celebrities have triggered the sort of outcry that Udom’s association with the temple has created may speak volumes about how the public views this particular artist. In fact, on certain message boards, some posters commented that if there was one man who could truthfully analyse the myth of Dhammakaya, they had thought it would have been Udom.

The disillusionment is palpable. As they say, making people laugh is the most serious business. The hilarity of being insulted by Udom was the hard-earned result of his portrayal as the man who knew better. The gullible and naive Udom was just a mask that his fans knew he had to wear to amplify stories about his linguistic adventures or trips to foreign toilets. The real Udom, to his fans, was funny because he was clever.

Given the right mixture of occasion and ingredients, we can laugh when we are insulted by just about anybody – be it a smart talker or naive speaker. Anybody except a hypocrite, that is. No matter how he used to be perceived – smart, naive, or clever coated by naivety – Udom was always received with open arms and hearts because his audiences believed he meant what he said.

A few published photos cannot take away Udom’s ability to tell jokes, of course. The problem is with some of the fans who may have lost their ability to laugh at them.