Being a creative in any industry can be hard as fuck, not just finding what you’re good at but also making a career out of it. Well, Issa Villaverde has managed to grab several opportunities and turn them on their head by knocking down peg after peg after each gig.
In this CLAVEL feature, we reminisce on her journey becoming a full time comedian while also maintaining our composure as to not laugh at her eccentric and bubbly personality.
Dogshowing Up
Isn’t it silly how the funniest of people find the humor in the more mundane things? Well Issa had gotten the drive to do so after having a pretty bad break-up with an ex and then decided to write a set about it herself. Add to this some frustration of not being able to express herself creatively as a writer in an ad agency, a career in comedy became the beacon that shined brightly during these dark-ish times.
Having been heavily inspired by Western comedians and local blooded ones like one international Fil-Am comic, Rex Navarrete, and even her idols-turned-contemporaries Victor Anastacio and Red Ollero. Support of course came raining down on her courtesy from both her friends and family, albeit with varying degrees initially. From friends being the butt of her raw and untested jokes to her parents watching her first performance on a Zoom call, Issa has been graced with company that continues to fuel the funnies in her brain engine to make material that works for her.
Improving Each Day
Issa takes on a more personal approach to her stand-up sets, as opposed to what other comics usually do like creating a scenario for certain punchlines. Her initial material for when she started out even focused on drawing in the girls and the gays to the comedy scene as she came to terms with her queerness. Inspiration comes naturally to her from just experiencing things and experimenting whether it works or if it’ll add to the casualties placed six feet under her own personal joke graveyard.
To keep things fresh, stand-up isn’t the only means of comedy she can dish out for some laughs, as the occasional guesting in sketches with SOLID OK as well as being involved in a couple of improv groups make up her time. Starting from meeting her soon-to-be peers in an Elyu tour with Aryn from SPIT and Zsaris, it further motivated her to take up improv classes to eventually being part of a couple of improv groups herself: Hausmates and Noted With Thanks. The former offers a full-on unfiltered range of topics to create scenarios with, while the latter is much more subdued with corporate-themed jokes for the white collared Pinoy that wants to laugh at the hilarity of their everyday desk job.
When talking about the difference between the art forms of stand-up and improv, she recounts that stand-up means to be the belle of the ball with the big ego and a rehearsed structure of jokes – soloing all the glory of a killer joke but also the shame when the landing wouldn’t stick.
Improv is another beast of its own, sharing the trials and tribulations of the stage with a group of like-minded individuals that matches your energy, being completely surrendered in the moment as you dissolve into various characters that the skits would need at certain moments. She says that there’s less pressure because when you bomb, you bomb as a group – however the magic of creating a tidal wave of laughter with the group is still unmatched.
It’s no question that it’s a man’s world out there, especially in the realm of comedy. With the scene populated with not just a male-heavy roster of comics, but the crowd that watches their sets as well. This leaves the question if Issa could make them laugh – sure enough she can. Issa details that she would like more girls in the scene, both as performers and audience members! Slowly enough, she’s working her way towards breaking this barrier for a more diverse cast, which also motivates her fellow comedians to try out new material that would cater to the gentlemen, girls, and gays alike.
“I do not compromise what I find funny since the goal for me is to make people laugh. That’s the risk of putting yourself out there. I really want more girls in the scene, if I’m not gonna do it then who will?”
Juggling Jokes and Everything Else
By excelling at comedy, she has managed to find different avenues to express her creative personality not to satisfy the whole world, but to feed her soul. She has a lot on her creative plate with roles as a host, commercial actor, and doing voice overs, on top of the usual comedy gigs both as a stand-up comic and being part of her improv groups.
With all of these gigs popping-up on her calendar, creative burnout is sure to persist, and she has been mindful to take on projects that fit her personal criteria – being able to add value to her brand as well to her project, with the most important aspect of it being that it should still be fun to her.
“Ang balance talaga ay haka-haka lang. Life is too short to do things you hate, so let’s do the things we enjoy to feed our souls.”
The next step for Issa Villaverde? It’s the simple things like having an hour worth of material for a solo theater show to dreaming big such as starring in her very own Netflix series. Right now however you can support her shows by following her on Instagram as she casually announces her shows from time to time, with this Sunday’s Trentang Ina having been sold out, a birthday celebration of the comic who’s moving onto another life (she’s not in her 20’s anymore).
Shining brighter than ever before as someone to look out for when you need a breather and a chuckle, what she’s built for herself with her artistic portfolio though isn’t a laughing matter, especially when she’s the joke of all trades.
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