The ‘comic’ gospel according to John

There is no way you can ignore John Lapus.

The guy is a riot the moment his face appears on camera that even subjects of his interviews end up in stitches trying to catch up with his hilarious punchlines.

In one sequence of the popular Sunday TV talk show The Buzz, Lea Salonga confides to him that no, she has no beauty secrets, only keeping her face clean and using moisturizer. John picked up the line, adds he has literally swallowed gallons of moisturizers and how come he doesn’t look 21 like Lea (who is 30) does?

In the presscon for his 13th film, Kung Ikaw Ay Isang Panaginip where he is the confidante of a love-struck vendor played by Jolina Magdangal, John was a sight to behold.

He is sporting a shirt adorned with religious images.

He quips: "My gosh, inilabas ko na yata lahat (literally all his venerated saints). I would say confession shirt ko na yata ito."

And the press egg him to do just that.

"No, I don’t have a love life for the moment," he points out. "But I do have a sex life."

Does he mean he avails of sex workers for hire?

He doesn’t avoid the subject but tries tact to confront the issues. "Let’s just say that I have slowed down in the year 2002 and I stopped paying. Doon na lang ako sa mga kaibigan ko na nagagandahan naman sa akin. Crisis ngayon kaya cost-cutting."

But he makes it clear he is capable of loving beyond what is expected of him. "I am a loving person," he asserts. "But I’d rather that a partner loves me more – more than I love him. If I tell a man I love you, gusto ko naman makarinig ng ‘I love you, too’ na walang kapalit.’ There is so much love in my heart na kahit kunti lang para sa akin, kaya kung tapatan ’yan."

But in the industry where he belongs, he keeps a very professional front to the point of being curt. "May katarayan din naman ako," he admits. "Alam mo naman dito sa industriyang ito, pag lalamya-lamya ka, people would take advantage of you. So I don’t mind hearing comments like ‘Ang taray pala ng bakla.’ Deep in me, I am a loving person. May puso din naman ako."

His first film was a brief appearance in Bala at Lipstick directed by Maryo de los Reyes. His first movie with Jolina was another fantasy film where he played a court jester and got a bigger break in Ang Pulubi at ang Prinsesa which launched Camille Pratts and Angelika. He was a mama-san of call boys in the Regal Film Pedrong Palad and got bigger exposures in the films starred by Diether Ocampo, Regine Velasquez and Joyce Jimenez, among others.

All in all, he has starred in about 13 films which was a long way from the days he was playing non-gay roles in the campus theater group – Teatro Tomasino – at the University of Santo Tomas where he finished a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management.

"I was a little sister of the older gays in the theater group where I acted straight roles in such plays as Bien Aligtad," he recalls. "But then, ginawa nila akong manika doon. Nagta-tambling ako at nagsayaw ako for them. When the older actors graduated, they joined ABS-CBN and I was promptly recommended to follow suit. My first work at ABS-CBN was researcher for Showbiz Linggo. Then I got offers to do sequences in some drama series and sitcoms."

But as he got more offers, he decided he couldn’t do justice to his work as production assistant. He quit in the year 2000 and decided to concentrate on his new-found calling as an actor. From TV sitcoms to the movies, John also invaded the live stand-up comedy series.

As it is, his work-a-day world is hectic indeed.

Tuesdays he does taping for Arriba, Arriba, Wednesdays he prays at Baclaran Church and Thursday to Saturday he allots to assorted projects – film, live shows, TV guesting. On Sundays, he is one of the co-hosts of The Buzz. "So Monday is really my rest day," he says. "I can afford to wake-up at four or five in the afternoon, have coffee with friends or watch a movie. But this wake -up time is not unusual. Ako po ay isang taong-gabi (I am really a night person). My energy is at its peak at night."

Happily, John’s being gay blended well with his new-found showbiz life.

"At the moment," he declares, "I cannot think of another job not related to showbiz. And I guess my being openly gay worked in my favor. In the older days, you can only be gay in the movies but people would tend to isolate you if you were gay in real life. Call it a stroke of good luck. Saan ka makakakita ng baklang nakakapag-make-up na, babayaran ka pa."

It was different when he was growing up. Before his early teens, he’d be in tears when people call him bakla and vehemently denied he was one. "I used to get back at them and cried ‘no I am not gay’. But deep inside me, I knew I was. When I decided I had to be open about it, I felt much better. I believe the essence of being gay is acceptance. How can you expect others to accept you when you cannot accept yourself? Nani-niwala ako na ang mga bakla ay dapat munang tanggapin ang kanilang kabaklaan so that they could move on with their lives. In my case, I became happier specially at the turn of my career. I was able to focus on what I have to do because I didn’t have a repressed sexuality or personality that I have to hide. At saka ang feeling ng hindi nagsisinungaling, ang gaan gaan ng pakiramdam."

As he moved on, he realized there was no other way he could go but follow the path called Showbiz.

He admits he was drawn to showbiz at an early age. He grew up watching TV and watching Maricel Soriano and Sharon Cuneta movies in the ’80s. The bigger perk of his job is that the people he worshipped on TV and the movies (Soriano, Cuneta and Kris Aquino, among others) are now his colleagues and friends.

There is one movie star he adored in his college days and now that he is inside showbiz, his endless wish is to appear in a movie with him. Pretending to be addressing a TV audience, John goes candid once again: "Na-nawagan po ako sa mga direktor at mga producer na bigyan ako ng walk-in role or a sidekick role sa pelikula ni Richard Gomez."

But even as he entertains millions on TV and on the silver screen, one least known aspect of John is that he is also prone to fits of depression. "I have tendency to be depressed when I am alone," he says. "That is why everytime I go out, I make sure I am with someone. Sometimes I work myself to death to make sure na pag uwi ko, matutulog na lang ako."

The truth is he is moved to tears by even the most trivial things and almost always, depression follows.

He cries in the dark when the hero in the movie he watches triumphs in the end. Almost always, rags-to-riches films make him cry. He even cried in the action film (Behind Enemy Lines) he watched with Kris Aquino. Depression follows when he turns on the TV set and get doses of disconcerting stories about the plight of street children, senseless murders, coup rumors, plummeting stocks, ostracized gays and the like.

On the other hand, John sees the good side of a sinking emotional state. "It is actually these bouts of depression that make me strong," he says.

It is probably for the same reason that John considers himself deeply religious. "I pray before I go to bed and when I wake up, I turn to Him before I start working and whenever I’d go somewhere. Praying has a sobering effect on me specially in these difficult and trying times na hindi mo alam kung ano ang mangyayari sa ’yo."

On the whole, there is an aspect of his craft that John is sure of – it is harder to make people laugh than to make them cry.

He finds this out when he is doing stand-up comedy, when he is researching on his subjects, when he is waiting for the perfect comic timing on TV sitcoms and on film.

There is also the matter of knowing your audience and what jokes would get the laughs and what would amount to bad taste. While doing stand-up comedies, he realizes the green jokes get all the reactions and his wholesome jokes get a ho-hum. "It pays to know your audience," John points out. "Like I am appearing in a wholesome movie like Kung Ikaw Ay Isang Panaginip so you will hear nothing but wholesome jokes in this movie."

But even as John Lapus makes people laugh, there is a small area in his inner world where he couldn’t resist the element of sadness in his heart.

Perhaps there is something in his past that could trigger one.

Like the time his father (he writes scripts for action movies) left the family when he was only 11. "That was 17 years ago and now it’s okay. My mother (a public school teacher at the Ismael Mathay High School) managed even as my father has his own family now."

Or could he be waiting for the moment he’d hear a loved one say, "I love you too"?

Either way, John is focused on his goal. He wants to be a better actor, a better comedian and why not? Aim for the acting trophies.

When he stops doing movies and stops appearing on TV sitcoms, how does he want to be remembered?

He feigns emotions and avoids the presumptuous.

With an air of Bette Davies, the comedian declaims: "I just want to be remembered as John Lapus, the gay with a very strong aura and one who succeeded in making people laugh."