C

omedian Ernest Prakasa has come a long way to be on the other end of a joke.

Belonging to the Chinese-Indonesian minority, growing up in the melting pot of Jakarta has not been easy.

Being picked on by other kids and grown-ups over his looks was the norm of the day, and he depicts those days in his directorial debut movie, Ngenest: Kadang Hidup Harus Ditertawakan (Laughing at Life)

Also the film'€™s scriptwriter and its main cast-member, Ernest based the romantic comedy on his life story. Some of the scenes are taken from his trilogy of books of the same title.

Ernest is undeterred by criticism that he has exploited his issues and the shared traits of those of Chinese descent for joke material, especially in the early period of his career.

'€œI used to [use the issues for jokes], but I grew up. I talk about a lot of other things now, including politics, as long as I can be responsible for whatever I say on stage.

'€œWhen we started all this, we talked about what agitated us the most,'€ he said, referring to the first batch of Indonesian Stand Up Comedy (SUCI) contestants in 2011, a show in which Ernest won third place.

In the beginning, he notes that it was hard for comedians to find their own persona. '€œFor me, it'€™s
my being a Chinese. That is the strong place to start with,'€ he says.

Ernest married Meira Anastasia, a non-Chinese, in the hope that his children wouldn'€™t be bullied like he was. Ernest used to think that he was unlucky to have been born with Chinese ancestry.

'€œAs my wife always says, everything happens for a reason. If I was not born Chinese, I wouldn'€™t be here. I now think that it is part of me, part of something that shapes me.

'€œPeople say Chinese are hardworking and resilient, and those traits come about, I believe, through hardship.'€

Born in Jakarta on Jan. 29, 1982 as the eldest son of a furniture businessman, Ernest was the class clown who probably inherited the funny bones from his father, a man who loved to crack jokes at family gatherings and collected the cassette tapes of legendary comedy groups Warkop and Sersan Prambors.

'€œI have always been passionate about comedy. I love to talk in front of people and make them laugh,'€
he said.

'€œ[With the books and the film] I want to tell people that it is OK to laugh at me because laughing at myself is eventually the way I cope with things.'€

Starting his career in the entertainment industry as a DJ at Paramuda sports radio in Bandung, West Java, where he studied, Ernest became the radio'€™s music director.

Together with funny guys Raditya Dika, Pandji Pragiwaksono, Isman H. Suryaman and Ryan Adriandhy, the big five later established the community Stand Up Indo, which currently has active members in 15 provinces.

Ernest, who for the past three years has lived in Bali, is working hard to etch his name in the history books of Indonesian stand-up comedy.

With over 3,000 hours on stage (yes, he counted), Ernest is convinced he has won the audience.

'€œIt'€™s a bit easier when you are known. You grab people'€™s attention and that'€™s a big plus. But that won'€™t last long. The attention wears out if you'€™re not funny,'€ says the father of two who writes his own jokes.

'€œI'€™m already at the level of knowing how to move the audience.'€