Frank De Lima promises he’ll be doing some of his most popular comic characters when he takes the stage Dec. 15 at the Blue Note Hawaii in Waikiki for a show celebrating his 50th anniversary in local entertainment.
“I’ll bring out my Filipino Christmas tree, my Chinese man, my sumo wrestler, all my favorites that everybody continues to enjoy,” said De Lima, 75.
He will be joined by his longtime sidemen, guitarist Robert “Bobby” Nishida and keyboardist David Kauahikaua. Nishida has been backing De Lima since the mid-1980s, Kauahikaua for almost as long.
It has been a wonderful ride for the trio, and De Lima says he’s not done yet.
“When I do a show, when people buy the ticket and see me perform my stuff, they know what they’re getting into. They want to see me, and they always want stuff from the old days. They’re happy with that. I’m happy with that.”
De Lima got started early. He grew up in a multicultural neighborhood where he watched Japanese television shows, listened to kupuna of various ethnicities — Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Portuguese — talking to one another, and replicated what he heard as best he could.
“My babysitter, Mrs. Lee, told me when I visited her as an adult, that when I was 3, 4 or 5 years old, I was imitating her and her aunt speaking Chinese. It was imitation, but she said it sounded so real,” he said. “I’d (also) imitate Japanese singing and Filipino — learning a lot of the words — and some Korean. Growing up in that neighborhood, hanging out, I would find time to hang out with the old folks and talk to them and hear their actions.
“It just became part of the conversation, and later on in my life, you know, it was in there in my brain. The neighbors that were in there, and the old folks that were part of my life, became the foundation of my shows.”
In his teen years, De Lima was planning to become a Catholic priest. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology at Chaminade College (now Chaminade University) and then went to St. Patrick’s Seminary & University in Menlo Park, Calif., where he earned a master’s degree in divinity.
He came home, spent 10 months as a church deacon and then decided to “try comedy.”
“Through the years I was using my talent whenever we had parties, or at school class party or at Damien (High School), without realizing that I was going to be a comedian. So, after 10 months, I just thought I’d try that and see if it worked, and it worked,” he said.
Fifty years later, De Lima is best known for the colorful cast of local characters he portrays on stage and for his hit parodies of national hits. The biggest of all is his version of “Lucille,” the Kenny Rogers hit reworked local-style. Forty-three years after he released it on his Na Hoku Hanohano Award- winning album, “Don’t Sneeze When You Eat Saimin,” De Lima’s version never fails to entertain when he drafts audience members to play the roles of Lucille and her brokenhearted ex.
Other timeless hits include “Glen Miyashiro,” a parody performed to the tune of a Sandpipers’ 1966 hit, “Guantanamera,” that tells us Miyashiro’s middle name is Tadashi; “Filipino Purple Danube”; and “Beef Stew and Rice.” Among his most memorable costumed characters are Chinese magician Fu Ling Yu; sumotori Lolobono; Portuguese auntie Mary Tunta; and Imelda, De Lima’s portrayal of the iconic former first lady of the Philippines.
De Lima’s consistent success as a showroom entertainer is matched by his success as a recording artist. “Don’t Sneeze When You Eat Saimin” is one of his nine albums that won the Na Hoku Hanohano Award for Comedy Album of Year. There probably would be several more were it not for the rule that there must be more than one eligible album in the category for it to be active.
His recording of “Waimea Lullaby,” a romantic, contemporary hapa haole love song, won a Hoku Award for composer Patrick Downes in 1980. De Lima received the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.
De Lima stepped into political issues in 1987, which was designated the “Year of the Hawaiian” and was also the centennial of the infamous “bayonet constitution” that stripped the Hawaiian monarchy of its ability to rule. He responded with “Da Year of Da Moke,” an ambitious comic look back at two centuries of Hawaiian history.
Political issues also inspired “Don’t Block the Sidewalk,” De Lima’s response to complaints about Waikiki sidewalk vendors, and “Bishop Estate Trustee,” a timely comment on the political and legal battles that eventually toppled the controversial estate trustees in the late 1990s.
In 1999, De Lima recycled “Lucille” as “Star Bulletin” to rally support for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin after the newspaper’s owners announced plans to shut it down. In 2007, he used the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song to comment on the orchestrated opposition to the long-awaited re- introduction of interisland ferry service.
As the music business changed, De Lima changed with it. He switched from traditional full-length CD albums to topical download-only singles that addressed issues of the moment. To date, they’ve included the false claims that Hawaii- born Barack Obama was born in Kenya, the controversies surrounding the Oahu rail project, the national success of NFL quarterback and Honolulu native Marcus Mariota, the impeachment of Donald Trump, the COVID-19 lockdown and Hawaii’s experiences with “Kona Weather” earlier this fall.
The songs were free to download with a request for an optional donation to De Lima’s Student Enrichment Program, his full-time “day job” for several decades.
The nonprofit program, which primarily aims to provide drug education and drug abuse prevention services, got its start in 1980 when he did a special show for a school on Maui. A year later, he was invited back for 16 Maui school shows. Word spread until De Lima was doing school shows five days a week, seven months of the year, 150 schools each year on a two-year cycle, private and public schools alike.
De Lima plays his final school shows this month.
“I’m going to miss it,” he said. “I thank all the principals, all the teachers, for because, if not for them, I wouldn’t be able to have done the program all these years. If a kid went to the school in Hawaii from kindergarten to eighth grade, they’ve seen me five times. … When I first see them in kindergarten, they’re just learning about me, but by the time they get to third grade, they already know (about me) and from third, fifth, whatever it is, the grade level, they sit down and they can’t wait,” he said.
“They’ll pay attention to my message, but can’t wait for the comedy. I’m going to miss it.”
———
Celebrating 50 Years of Comedy
>> What: Frank De Lima Holiday Brunch
>> Where: Blue Note Hawaii
>> When: 1 p.m. Dec. 15 (Doors open at 11:30 a.m.)
>> Tickets: $35 (general admission) and $45 (premium general admission) plus $10 food or beverage minimum.
>> Info: bluenotejazz.com/hawaii
