Comedic pair gaining fame after somewhat rough start
By Shayna Coleon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Judging by their inauspicious start, few would have predicted Da Braddahs — the local comedy duo of Tony Silva and James Roache — would ever find any success.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Flash back to a day in 1997, at Kaimana Beach in Waikiki, when they were just two buddies sitting on the grass, watching people walk by and brainstorming a humorous skit about ethnic groups in Hawai'i.
James Roache, left, is a flamboyant kumu hula, and Tony Silva is Kakio, the harried assistant teacher, just a few of the many characters the duo portray in 'Da Braddahs and Friends.'
They decided to test the half-hour bit about two Samoan dancers in front of the teenagers at a St. Andrew's Priory school dance.
It was their first performance as Da Braddahs.
"Oh man, you could hear crickets out there in the audience," recalls Silva, 33, shaking his head. "But, then we jus' buckaloose."
"Yeah, like you just do it, you get nuts," said Roache, 34, explaining their trademark with a grin.
Then he jokingly added, "And, now, here we is."
Silva and Roache are now the stars of the "Da Braddahs and Friends," a comedy television program on Oceanic Cable Channel 16, which has aired five times a week since June 6.
While Oceanic executives say it's too soon to reveal the show's ratings, it's clear the irreverent comedy series, which pokes fun at Hawai'i ways and people, is starting to draw attention.
'Da Braddahs and Friends'
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Oceanic Channel 16
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8:30 p.m. Wednesdays (repeats Thursdays through Sundays)
The show has just wrapped up its first season with six episodes. Plans for next season are in the works, Silva said. The duo also have a 90-minute feature film in the works for theater release, and they are planning to release videos of their first six television episodes, which will also run on Oceanic for the rest of the month, Roache said.
They've started getting noticed wherever they go. "I can be riding my bike to the gym or shopping in Costco, and they come up to me," Roache said. "And, if I'm by myself, some people will say, 'Eh, where your braddah stay?' They think we're always supposed to be together."
The two are longtime friends who met while they were playing football in high school (nope, they are not related, as many people assume).
They've been compared to late local comic Rap Reiplinger, as well as the '70s local comedy group Booga Booga.
"We watched Rap many times when we were kids," Roache said. "And we do dedicate one of our skits to him.
James Roache
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Age: 34
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Residence: Mililani
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Family: "Single, zero dependents, willing and able," he says.
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Ethnic background: Filipino, Italian
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Alter egos: Keoki, the kumu hula; and Bully, the Samoan tree-trimmer
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Little-known fact:He shops and plans for all the costumes, wigs and props, usually at Savers and Ross.
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Quote: "We stay away from flatulence, like farting and burping. We can push the envelope, but we stick to clean humor because that's our responsibility if we're in the public’s eye."
"But we (have) created too much of our own parodies for people to say that we are copying Rap. ... There was this local-comedy gap right after Andy Bumatai, and now this is for the next generation. So, locally, there really isn't anybody doing what we're doing, with our own style, our own brand of comedy."
The two get their material by playing off one another's observations. They say this kind of brainstorming has enabled them to invent more than a dozen exaggerated, ethnic and off-the-wall characters for their act. A good portion of the action is improvised.
On a recent day of filming in 'Ewa Beach and Pearl City, Roache and Silva donned their costumes and, with some fanfare and silliness, transformed into some of their stock characters: Keoki, the harried kumu hula, and his beleaguered sidekick, Kakio; and Bush and Bully, the tree-trimming Samoans.
Those characters were born long ago, back when Silva and Roache were Polynesian dancers for Don Ho's shows in the late '80s, and aspiring actors, appearing in "Jake and the Fat Man" and "Magnum P.I."
"When you dance a show and you're a regular, night in and night out, it gets boring," Silva said. "So, you start making fun of the people around you, or the people we knew."
Roache chimed in: "All our antics were carried backstage ..."
"... And, the next thing we knew our friends were telling us, 'Oh, try do this one and try do that one,'" Silva said, finishing Roache's sentence, which is something each of them often does.
Undeterred by their disastrous start at St. Andrew's, the pair started a production company, JPRoductions, and released a comedy CD, "Shmall Keed Time." In 1998, Da Braddahs made a one-hour video, "Home is a Special Place."
They produced these projects with their own money and the help of one cameraman, Douglas Olivares, and a sound technician, Dave Wallace.
KFVE aired some clips from the video, Roache said, but the big break came when Oceanic's "Local Kine Grindz," a food show on Oceanic Channel 16, gave Da Braddahs a two-minute slot in February.
Silva and Roache later showed a short clip to Oceanic representatives, said Oceanic programming manager Lianne Killion.
"I laughed so hard the first time I saw the clips they gave us," Killion said. "It makes you realize, you really miss this type of comedy with these characters that have local ethnic backgrounds. Comedy like this hasn't been around for awhile."
Tony Silva
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Age: 33
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Residence: Kailua
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Family: Wife, Kim Silva, four children (ages 1 to 13)
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Ethnic background: Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Irish
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Alter egos: Kakio, the assistant hula teacher; and Bush, the Samoan tree-trimmer
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Look for: his 13-year-old son, Kaena, in some of the skits on "Da Braddahs and Friends."
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Quote: "People think we really are those people we portray. But it's really when you put on your makeup and costume that you feel the character. Up until that point, I'm still myself."
Killion said Oceanic acknowledges that Da Braddahs' brand of comedy might not please everyone, so the show displays a disclaimer before each episode that warns that the show may "contain offensive material." Da Braddahs and Oceanic said they have not received any negative reactions from viewers.
Hawai'i folks laugh at the material "because people can relate to us and say ... 'I have a cousin who's like that,'" Roache said. "They understand us and what we're doing because of our culture. ...
"It's not done to degrade anyone, but it's done with a unique and specific intent to point out that we are all human. I mean, if you look in the mirror, you see we all have stink underarms or stink breath, and we can laugh at ourselves."
Roache and Silva agree that whatever happens, one will never perform without the other.
"We have our good days and bad days together," Silva said, looking over at Roache. "We're just like a couple."
Roache laughed, then added seriously, "Yeah, I'd never do a gig by myself, never. 'Cause, it's not about 'Da Braddah,' you know? We always gotta be Da Braddahs."
