The illogical possibilities of man’s countless encounters with the naturally hilarious are summed up by a man who has been called by names and whose aura never fails to elicit heartfelt laughter.

That’s Ramon Bautista, and he’s a lot of fun.

Various roles he did on TV brought him to fame. Some of them include being Rigor Mortiz/Gerry Liwanag in Radioactive Sago Project’s music video, Astro, which won in the 2005 MTV Pilipinas Award and being David Blaine’s spoof as Dan Michael Master Magician, doing tricks like submerging himself in a water-filled drum for a “whopping” 10 seconds and travelling the streets of Cubao doing his own brand of street magic. His Misfit segment in Gameplan had him trying various sports, and even traversed the ever-dangerous Commonwealth Ave. as a step into learning the art of an extreme sport, Highway Crossing.

These antics and his own mini-show at MTV, The Ramon Bautista Show, where he sits down with well-known musicians and asks them to teach him how to play, gave him popularity big enough that his shows have been recorded and uploaded by fans on YouTube. Ramon Bautista threads invaded online forums, with posters talking about how funny, and stupid, he looked in his videos and how hard he made them laugh.

Questions on his identity filled online communities, and rumors saying that he was frequently seen at the UP Diliman campus made quite a buzz, while word about him teaching at the university was initially thought by a lot of people as a joke, but amusing if ever it was true.

A lot of people don’t know that he was a film major and graduated in 2000 with architecture units from his previous course. He worked as a non-linear editor and an audio-visual presentation maker during his college days. He also became a writer-director and on-cam talent for UNTV before the channel was bought by religious leader Bro. Eli Soriano.

They also don’t know that he does teach in the university. He handles two subjects, non-linear editing and documentary, of the Film majors at the College of Mass Communication (CMC).

His teaching career started when the Film Institute needed an animation teacher, which seemed to be exciting for him. “Si Ma’am Armi Santiago, tinanong niya sa akin kung gusto kong magturo. Nung mga sandaling iyon, nagulat ako at sinabi ko, ‘Oo’ na lang. (Ma’am Armi Santiago asked me if I wanted to teach. I was surprised and I said ‘Yes’.),” he said.

During the 2nd sem of AY 2002-2003, he became a lecturer of the institute and had the chance to become a full time faculty member two years later. After being advised to take up a Master’s Degree, he enrolled in the M.A. program of the department. “Sa kasalukuyan medyo “out of school youth” ako dahil hindi na ako nag-enroll this sem dahil sa showbiz carreer ko (I’m currently an “out of school youth”, since I didn’t enroll this sem because of my showbiz career),” he said

He finds teaching ok , sans his encounters with some irritating students, the way that he said students come across annoying professors in the academe.

One may find it hard to believe that a man like him teaches. “Kapag naging student ka niya, di mo aakalaing prof siya, parang tambay na nahugot lang sa kalye para magturo (If you become his student, you wouldn’t think of him as a prof, He’s like a bystander that someone grabbed from the streets to teach),” one student shared. But once he opens his mouth and starts talking, students become acquainted with the Ramon Bautista that the public never heard of.

To those who don’t know about what he does, he said: “Nagiging teacher din ako, matalino akong tao. Nagtatanga-tangahan lang ako dahil masarap magtanga-tangahan ‘tsaka masarap paglaruan ang media dahil, yung misrepresentation ng media napaglalaruan ko sa ginagawa ko (I also teach. I’m an intellectual person as well. I play dumb because it’s fun to play dumb and it’s fun to play with media, I get to toy with it’s misinterpretations in what I do).”

He doesn’t do his antics just to make fun, he also does it to make a statement. “Pinapakita ko sa mga tao na hindi lahat ng napapapanood ninyo sa TV iyan ang tunay na buhay. Mag-isip kayo. Maging kritikal kayo sa mga bagay-bagay (I get to show people that not everything that you see on TV happens in real life. Think and be critical of the things around you),” he said.

Asked on his forecast on Philippine media a few years from now, He sees little change in its structure dictated by the country’s major networks. He also sees people veering to new media and that technology will bring people to become citizen journalists. What he envisions in the future is a demand for TV, just like YouTube, where one can download what he wants to watch. With all the rubbish that one sees on the tube today he says, one gets the urge to put the show on fast forward. He said that an iPod of sorts for TV will exist in the future where shows can be downloaded as easy as today’s mp3’s.

People had a lot to say about Ramon Bautista. One saw him as a “cool guy that can make people laugh with a minimal amount of movements and facial expressions” while another saw him as a “stereotypically stoned guy.” “He has good use of stupidity and pop culture,” one student said. “Much like in his Dan Michael skit where Pinoy culture is clearly seen in means such as shabby pirated ideas, over glorification of an idea. That’s why it’s funny and never loses appeal,” he added. Another student shared that Ramon Bautista is “…a good representation of a Filipino today: Kayumanggi, not proficient in English anymore and a good joker.”

Ramon maintains harmony with his various jobs as director in ABC5’s Dokyu and PBA, radio DJ in 99.5 in the evening and other tapings with his teaching load in the university every Friday. All he needs to do is to “take vitamins and eat well to avoid getting sick and having time for myself for life is about balance.”

The clown in Ramon never failed to shed moments of laughter during the interview. His simple lines and subtle gestures turn out to be good enough to bring in a smile without taking out the essence from what he’s saying.

If he didn’t shift to film, Ramon sees himself as an astronaut, a scientist, a geologist or a bum. “Maraming pwedeng gawin, depende na lang kung saan ka itulak ng tadhana. Pero malaki ang chance na bum ako, kasi tamad ako (There are lots of things that I can do, and it all depends to where fate brings me. But most likely, I’ll be a bum because I’m lazy),” he said.

He doesn’t know for what’s in store for him, but he hopes to think of innovative ideas to share to students. For the meanwhile, he’ll continue with his painting, composing and other creative outputs and enjoy life the way it should be.

Then he looked at the camera, gestured with his eyebrows, and if the lady holding it got his quote on record.

Of course she did, and said she wouldn’t miss it for anything.

Written October 2007, cross-posted from my Multiply