Imam Darto (left) and Dimas Danang: (Courtesy of Imam Darto and Dimas Danang)

When Imam Darto and Dimas Danang go on air, the audience looks forward to their unique brand of humor.

Off air, they pretty much behave the same as they sound on radio or on TV. The duo continually cracked jokes during their conversation with The Jakarta Post.

The partnership began around two years ago when they started hosting The Dandees program on Prambors Radio, airing five days a week for four hours.

Through the program, they have become known for their funny word plays, locally known as plesetan.

'It was hard at first to do it; to go on air with someone your senior who was also your idol. But slowly everything got better. As Mas Darto's junior, I didn't dare to make jokes about him, but I did eventually, with his permission first of course,' Danang said.

Danang, 24, first joined Prambors in 2008 after he won an inter-college contest which was organized by the radio station. But that was only for a short while as he resigned to focus on his studies.

'A few years later, I got a call from Prambors, asking me to rejoin and I said yes. I had a show that aired once a week until I got paired up with Mas Darto to host The Dandees,' he said.

Darto, 31, has been working at the station for 11 years.

'Let me tell you his story; I've heard him tell it so many times. Mas Darto was a great emcee in his high school, and decided to become a radio DJ because he thought it would not be too difficult speaking in a studio with no one watching,' Danang said.

'He applied to a radio station, but wasn't accepted and I'm sure that station must regret that now. He then applied to Prambors and got in. Since then, he has been hosting many programs with lots of
famous radio DJs,' he said.

Darto said he had not expected that he could build a career in radio because at the beginning it was just a side job to channel his creativity.

'I didn't know that I could earn a lot of money by working on the radio because I used to only get paid Rp 350,000 [US$ 28.7]. But when I focused on it, it actually turned out to be a fulfilling profession,' he said.

Darto's long experience in radio was an advantage for Danang, as the older hand became his mentor.

'I've learned a lot from Mas Darto, like how to say something in a good and proper way as a radio announcer and I also learned many negative things from him,' said Danang.

'For me, I learned one thing from him, that I have to keep learning because being a mentor is not always good; if you get carried away, you don't learn anything,' said Darto.

Hosting The Dandees has given them a high profile, and they received offers from three TV stations to host programs.

'Before all that, we had a plan to make our own show by collaborating with a website, but then those offers came. We participated in the casting and everything went well with one of the stations,' Darto said

The pair finally got chosen to host The Comment which airs five days a week at 8 p.m. on the NET television channel. They also became involved in the creative process to find the right concepts for the first episodes.

'But when the filming of the first episodes was completed, we all realized that they weren't good enough for airing. We were so bad, we didn't know why,' he said.

After a while, they finally found the right formula and successfully caught the eye of viewers quite rapidly.

'This is not my first TV show, but the first one was a flop. And I was thinking that if I had to host a TV show again, it had better be a good one,' Darto said.

However, they refuse to call themselves comedy actors because they never have to act to create their TV personalities.

'That's the real us that you see on TV, yes we're that stupid and our jokes sometimes aren't funny, upsetting occasionally. When you are a comedian, you have to be funny, but we're joking, so I guess it's okay if we're not funny as long as everyone's happy,' Danang said.

Darto echoed him, saying that they never had to push themselves to be funny because they did not want the outcome to be overdone.

'We're not comedians, so if we fail, at least we've tried. We sometimes even admit if we have run out of jokes or our jokes are not funny,' he said, adding that sometimes Danang's jokes could make him frustrated.

And it is true that sometimes it is their honest gestures that make people laugh.

Having achieved so much in such a short period of time, Danang and Darto, however, say they do not want to be in it forever ' at least on the programs they are currently hosting.

'We've set the target for The Dandees. We want to quit radio while we are still on top ' leave as a legend. Just like Farhan and Indy Barends did when they suddenly quit and then disappeared from radio during their heyday and people always remember that,' Darto said.

'But we might come back to radio again one day,' Danang added.

Danang said they were not afraid that if all of their shows finished they would be left jobless, because they could always make other plans.

'That's what I also learned from Mas Darto; even if we go it alone, we can always do something. But for now, we're like Batman and Robin,' Danang said. 'Mas Darto is Batman who is so good at doing his stuff, but with Robin, Batman becomes even more awesome.'

From The Weekender

Why this unusual exhibit on waste really wasn’t about waste

At Erasmus Huis, a cross-cultural exhibition asks Indonesians to rethink their relationship with waste, starting at home.

Read on The Weekender

Popular

Artemis astronauts preparing for historic lunar flyby

Indonesia slams 'unacceptable' peacekeeper casualties in Lebanon

Pakistan announces free public transport as energy crisis bites