Actor Morita returns to Hawai'i's comedy scene

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

You'd have to be an old-timer to remember when Pat Morita, who just turned 69, did stand-up comedy in Hawai'i. Or anywhere else.

"Any chance I can come to Hawai'i, I leap," says Pat Morita, who occasionally played at the old Duke Kahanamoku's four decades ago.

Seriously, most folks don't even know him as a comic. As a TV actor, yes; he's done five or six series with recurring roles (best remembered as Arnold of "Happy Days"). As an Oscar-nominated film actor, yes; to the current generation of film buffs, he is Miyagi-san, from four "Karate Kid" features. As a TV pitchman, yes; he's still remembered here as First Hawaiian Bank's "Yes!" man in the '90s.

"Any chance I can come to Hawai'i, I leap," he said in a phone interview from his Las Vegas home. "I think I'll just work off the top of my head. That is, if there's something left at the top of my head."

Morita had a previous working relationship with Hughley, appearing in several segments of the comedian's TV show, "The Hughleys," in which he played "a back-fence Korean guy, a new neighbor, who gets into some racial stuff, and sparks fly." But the Hawai'i gig is the first time they're teaming up in a comedy concert.

"He's familiar with my funny bone," said Morita, "because during shooting, I would respond or retort in some funny way. I think that might have impressed him; otherwise, why would I be asked to join him?"

Morita has somewhat of a checkered show-biz past, but clearly his celebrity is generational — you know him by how you stack up in years, how you tuned in to his project of the moment. And there have been various layers in his livelihood.

	Pat Morita
•	Real name: Noriyuki "Pat" Morita
•	Birthdate: June 28, 1932
•	Birthplace: Isleton, Calif.
•	Family status: Married to Evelyn; three daughters from a previous marriage
•	Education: Armijo High School, Fairfield, Calif., class of 1949
•	Acting accolades: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1985, for his Mr. Miyagi role in the original "Karate Kid"; earned his own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 1996
•	Little known facts: He was stricken, at age 2, with spinal tuberculosis; spent nine years hospitalized in Welmar Joint Sanatorium in California, with a body cast from shoulder to knees; also stayed briefly at the Shriner's Hospital in San Francisco; after his release, at a time when families of Japanese ancestry were being sent to internment facilities, he spent time at Gila Internment Camp in Arizona.
•	Memorable moment: When he was made an honorary member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the fabled World War II Army unit from Hawai'i

Indeed. Waikiki club-goers may recall his infrequent gigs at the old Duke Kahanamoku's, about four decades back, in a time when Morita was affectionately billed as "The Hip Nip," a reference to his Japanese — Nihonjin — heritage. He then played off his ethnicity.

Early TV fans know him as Arnold, from the nostalgic "Happy Days" sitcom, still on reruns on "Nick at Nite," or as the first Japanese American to headline a detective series, the short-lived "Ohara." (He's also done recurring parts on "The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo" and "Mr. T and Tina.")

More recently, he portrayed Mr. Tanaka, the crotchety, tradition-bound father of Stacy Kamano, on the syndicated "Baywatch Hawai'i" show, where he said he was able to "project some real ingredients for me to work in." The show ceased production here after two seasons of location shooting; as of this date, Morita has not been asked to return in the upcoming Fox reunion movie-of-the-week project, "Baywatch Blast."

On the giant screen, he earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his portrayal of the martial-arts and bonsai guru, Miyagi-san, in the "Karate Kid" series (he did four installments; the first in 1984, the second in 1986, the third in 1989, the fourth in 1994). The karate sensei probably is his lingering identifying role.

On local TV, Morita is remembered for a round of commercials — Rainbow Chevrolet, the "Yes" man for First Hawaiian Bank. In the weeks ahead, he'll be seen in a new Suzuki vehicle spot, but only for the Southern California market.

"It would have bothered me, if I had continued to work actively, if the roles stopped coming," Morita said about his changing celebrity. "But the last few years, I've been doing more character and cartoon work for Disney and Pixar, and more of the stuff that I wished I did earlier, like narrating documentaries for PBS. I kinda find myself segueing quietly, from in front of the camera to the back. I have a wonderful life now, including my personal home life, so despite the holes in my career, I've managed to survive."

One activity that keeps him hopping is performing the national anthem at ballparks and arenas.

"It's a hobby, really," Morita said. "I work these things in between some family business and fun. For instance, I went to my brother's 80th birthday party in Green Bay, Wisconsin; but I sang the national anthem for the Packers game, as a guest of the Shriners.

"It's not a career, because there's no pay for these things. But they fly me and my wife, Evelyn, first class, put us up in nice hotels, take care of expenses; I did last year's Hula Bowl in Honolulu and have sung "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the Giants, the Dodgers, the Orioles."

Comedy, he said, has changed drastically — among comedians and with audiences — since his heyday of stand-up club work. "Funny is funny, and I've restricted my vocabulary," Morita said. "I don't use the f word and once in a while, I might slip in an 'a--hole.' To me, four-letter words are like Stop. Or maybe Hell. But it's different now, with cable and the young comics shouting obscenities. It's not what I do."

Admiring fans often stop him in airports and malls.

"If they know me as Miyagi, I give them a crane's stance," he said of his characteristic pose from the hit movies.

"Often, a group of young people may recognize me, too, and they'd say, 'Eh, you're the man, the karate guy, huh? 'Wax on, wax off.'"

He said it's fun to play off people. And the recognition factor notwithstanding, "the path of fame is intrusive, and some people can get on your nerves if you let them. For the most part, people have good intentions. Often, a shy person will come up and ask, 'You're the guy, huh?' and I tell them the truth: 'I'm Dustin Hoffman.' If they are going to be urusai (bothersome), I'll pass on some of it back to them."

Morita said he's in good health, for the most part, but traveling reminds him that he's no longer a spring chicken. "When I compare myself with folks like Mako, Robert Ito and Soon Tek Oh, the (Asian) guys I grew up with in this biz, I still think I'm pretty active," he said. "Even if I wonder, to my wife, how come the same stuff I place in my bags feels 80 pounds now, and either my legs are getting shorter or the airline terminals are growing longer."

He said he's tried, without success, to get someone to commit to doing the definitive World War II movie about Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He has bittersweet memories of the war; he and his family were in an internment camp because they were Japanese.

"I'm too old to portray him now, but I really think there's a real opportunity to tell the other side of the war story. And I've devoted the last dozen years or so to focus on another aspect of the war. Like, why isn't there a definitive movie on the 442nd regiment? Aside from 'Go for Broke,' Hollywood has not picked up on the great efforts of the Japanese Americans in the war."

He said it's a hard sell for Hollywood to buy a movie about the Japanese. "It's always about bucks, but let's face it, it's a global marketplace now; if you touch the right nerves, you could get it done."

He has many friends who served with the 442nd, which bestowed on him a real tribute several years ago, making him an honorary member.

Morita avoids gags about the war. "I don't do Pearl Harbor jokes," he said of the war that was a bomb of a movie this year. "My people did the real thing for $2 million," he joked. "Hollywood spent, what, $60 million?"

Reach Wayne Harada at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.