Jon Santos: The comic chameleon

MANILA, Philippines - At one instance, he was in a radiant yellow terno as Kris Aquino, complete with a Louis Vuitton monogram bag, talking about her failed marriage to James Yap, how she copes with being a single parent to Josh and Baby James or her rumored romantic involvement with Chiz Escudero, Coco Martin or Jun Jun Binay, which she denied.

In another instance, he delighted the crowd with a choreographed song and dance number a la Charice Pempengco, singing Don’t Stop Believing with the energetic caboodle in Glee.

Jon Santos is indeed a man of many faces. He is in his best element when he’s onstage, impersonating famous, infamous or controversial personalities before a highly appreciative audience.

Jon is a comic chameleon who can spoof different people and do it impressively. In his recent stand-up comedy series, 101 Jonjemons, Jon has proven, once again, that he’s the artist to beat when it comes to hilarious impersonations of popular men and women figures.

The likes of Tessie Tomas or Willie Nepomuceno, Jon’s fellow comedians who are also tops in doing stand-up comedy acts and impersonations, specializes on their respective male and female spoofs. But Jon can remarkably do both — and how.

In his series at Teatrino in Greenhills, which has other performances on Sept. 16 and 17, Jon entertained the high-end crowd to the hilt. He was obviously struggling with his hoarse voice on the night that we watched. Yet, he proved to be a real trouper as he sang and delivered his spiels that never failed to send his audience into stitches.

Jon works with brilliant and creative scriptwriters, so his materials are current, precise and far from being crass. The spiels were also well-researched. Take, for instance, the evolution of the words jeproks to baduy to jologs and jejemon. 

In his new series, Jon collaborates with long-time friends Enrico Santos and Joel Mercado, who provided the show with fresh and intelligent take on past and present issues. At the helm is Chari Arespacochaga. Designer Eric Pineda creates the iconic outfits that Jon used for his 101 characterizations.

When Jon spoofed President Noynoy (Aquino), there was the tell-tale guest book in Malacañang that amusingly detailed the list of VIP guests in the palace — Van Cliburn, Dovie Beams and George Hamilton during the Marcos era, “Baby, Baby, Baby” in the Ramos administration, Cesar Buenaventura for the Estrada reign or Vicky Toh and Rufa Mae Quinto in the Arroyo term.

As Noynoy, Jon talked about his “problems” with women, from sister Kris to girlfriend Shalani or even Basyang and Luisita.

When it was his turn to spoof Erap, complete with the trademark if not funny hairdo, Jon shares how he “put a lot of women through labor.”

Throughout the show, the audience saw Jon in other hilarious and interesting characters such as Oprah, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Imelda Marcos, Mike Velarde, Fidel Ramos and Ate Vee (Vilma Santos).

Quite disappointingly, the video of Jon as “Gloring” (former President Gloria Arroyo) didn’t play due to a technical glitch.

Despite his hoarse voice, Jon also sang a la Madonna (Vogue), Lady Gaga (Bad Romance) and Charice (Pyramid).

The most applauded part was his alphabet song, taunting several personalities such as Vice President Jejomar Binay, beauty queen Venus Raj, Hayden Kho Jr., Efren Peñaflorida, Willie Revillame, James Yap, senators Loren Legarda and Mar Roxas, Shalani Soledad and Lea Salonga.

Jon disclosed he was inspired by the Filipinos’ penchant for inventing new words or coming up with lists for everything. That’s why 101 Jonjemons is a tribute to that.

After 25 years in showbiz, Jon remains well-loved as a stand-up comedian, apparently because he knows how to give a part of himself to his audience. In every show, he has learned the importance of being uncompromising and giving his best, no matter what the cost.