Unlike most Filipinas celebrating their 18th birthday in demure pastel concoctions, comedian Fly Lady Di commemorated her debut a few decades too late, appearing onstage at her comedy show “My Debut” in acid green, oversized terno with matching MC Hammer pants.
It’s the revenge debut only a multi-talented hyphenate can dream of.
She burst onstage in a hip-hop number with her two dancers Maldita Siriano and Candace Kumar, appearing only after a thumping DJ set opener by special guest JP Breganza.
Yes, JP Breganza, the originator of the viral Seafood City Midnight Madness, flown in from the U.S. of A.
Panting and huffing after the impressive choreographed set—she’s no longer a spry 18 year old after all—Fly Lady Di, a.k.a Diana Reyes, then showed off her many talents.
First off, her mad DJ skills.
This is a talent honed by accident, after a friend asked her to take over as DJ at a party (she had 5 minutes of training).
She’s played big gigs before, for Fenty, Dior, Tiffany & Co., and Just For Laughs, to name a few.
Then she showed the titas in the crowd how to line-dance.
Reminiscent of her hilarious IG reel, “How to Dance Like Tita”—3.8M views so far—in which she tutors us how to purse our lips, do the step-touch-step-kick routine, Reyes coaxed the crowd into practicing the moves.
The comedy skit came next, showing off her natural ability to make a crowd giggle and chuckle, as she tackled topics like emergency lip gloss (just eat a bbq pork skewer) and her Michael Jackson dance moves as a kid.
Her comedy is clean, almost innocent. She’s not the type who calls people out and embarrasses them.
And then came the karaoke.
When no one volunteered to come onstage to show off their Filipino karaoke DNA, Reyes took matters into her own mic, err…hands.
Truth be told, none of us were ready for her version of Mariah Carey’s “Hero”.
Out of tune for the majority of the song, Reyes twisted the lyrics, repeated some lyrics, invented some lyrics, and generally bungled the beloved chart buster into an unrecognizable version of itself.
But then, Mariah would have been so proud. She would have had a hernia from chuckling so hard.
Remember when Cameron Diaz stepped up to the mic in My Best Friend’s Wedding and delivered the most cringey karaoke version of “I just don’t know what to do with myself”?
With her goofy charm and huge grin, emboldened by an adoring crowd, Diaz sang her heart out, not taking herself so seriously.
She did her best to please her fiancee, despite her obvious lack of singing chops.
“So terrible,” her fiancee said, giving her a huge kiss and hug. And yet, it was so good.
This was Fly Lady Di’s Cameron Diaz moment: when every wrong note was made even funnier by her delivery.
Her careless aplomb, her bravado and her lack of ego more than made up for the missing karaoke skill, clearly not passed along to her by the collective Filipino gene pool.
This was her heroic turn in the spotlight, serenading us with her imperfect voice, yet impeccable comedic timing.
Her hip hop dancing years, her stints as a DJ, her impersonations of every Pinay tita on Instagram—it has all led to this show.
A show she invented, produced and made, because, as she said, no white guy is going to come to her rescue and write a comedy show for her.
She’s gotta do it all herself.
With the help of other outstanding stand-up comics Alia Rasul (who gave everyone a doorbell nickname) and Ernie Vicente (who makes such good use of awkward silences and green jokes), this was a show to remember.
Her debut may have come decades after the fact, but it has come at the right time, at the right place, when she has created a perfect version of herself.
Too bad you missed it.