CARACAS, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Samuel Rodriguez’s pizzeria in Caracas doesn’t simply serve up sizzling tacky pies – it additionally dishes out jokes, providing a stage to younger comedians filling the void left by veteran comics who’ve fled Venezuela’s financial disaster.
Rodriguez, 36, performs himself a number of days per week in what he describes as a type of catharsis for coping with day-to-day issues, on the unlikely spot that’s one among a rising variety of venues in Venezuela’s capital attracting stand-up followers.
However politics isn’t essentially on the menu.
The general public and comedians alike are worn out by points like fixed energy or water cuts and rising earnings inequality, Rodriguez famous.
“The topic of (what’s taking place in) the nation isn’t touched on within the routines or within the jokes… individuals are usually uninterested in it,” he mentioned.
The inflow of leisure venues, together with cafes, bars and eating places, comes after the federal government relaxed financial laws three years in the past, permitting extra transactions in {dollars}.
[1/5] Slapstick comedian Gabriela Ruiz performs for company at a bar, in Caracas, Venezuela, November 14, 2022. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
These new alternatives to get onstage, alongside an uptick in video-based social media corresponding to Tik Tok, have been a boon for younger comedians, locals say.
But for all of the gags about day by day life, Venezuela’s new generations of comedians are inclined to keep away from political jokes.
“(Venezualans’ humor follows) the model of North American comedy … which talks about on a regular basis life, not political points,” mentioned Laureano Marquez, 59, a famend humorist and political analyst.
Marquez, who has toured South America and is presently doing gigs in Spain, mentioned a “local weather of political repression” has additionally prompted comedians to keep away from sensitive matters.
Authorities have closed more than 50 radio stations in Venezuela this 12 months, which non-governmental organizations say is an effort to regulate info and provides state media hegemony over communications and journalist guilds.
Jeneil Tovar, a 39-year-old publicist who moved to full-time comedy a 12 months and a half in the past, mentioned she is motivated by seeing the influence on her viewers.
“It is too rattling good if you discover a objective in your day-to-day work, getting the laughs,” she mentioned.
Reporting by Johnny Carvajal; Writing by Isabel Woodford; Enhancing by Josie Kao
Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
