2007 Finalists

The five finalists in this year’s San Francisco International Comedy Competition could’ve been the set up for an old joke of their own:

An Asian, a Mexican, a Mormon, a stoner and a retired CEO walked into a sold-out theater...

Hawaii native Paul Ogata got the last laugh, becoming the first Asian winner in the competition’s 32-year history.“It means a lot to me,” Ogata said. “You don’t see a lot of success and opportunities for Asians in entertainment so it’s great anytime you can make a dent in the machine in a non-William Hung kind of way.”

Ogata touched on his ethnicity but used his 17 years of joke-telling experience to win over crowds with his charisma, high energy likeability and rapid fire jokes from his everyday life.

“You can spot good material from a mile away,” said third-place finisher Mike Baldwin. “When Paul did a completely different set the second night and killed again, I was like this guy is totally going to win.”

Watching Ogata for the first time was a treat for competition producer Jon Fox.

“It's always nice to see someone who is that developed for the first time,” said Fox, who credited Ogata for his range of material. “He does make fun of his heritage a bit but his real killer bit has to do with fending off jewelry store salespeople who want to sell his wife diamonds. It's a truly unique routine with upscale appeal.”

Fox, also pointed out that while Ogata appealed to every crowd, this year’s competition was the closest in years. Former CEO David VanAvermaete and Baldwin, the resident stoner, were still in the running going into the last night.

VanAvermaete, a former CEO for a $2 billion a year subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, gave Ogata a run for his money. Just one year after 64-year-old Jay Wendell Walker became the competition’s oldest winner, the 56-year-old VanAvermaete threatened to make it another win for the senior class before coming in second.

A longtime fan of the competition, he started to pursue comedy after retiring six years ago. His age gave him an advantage because he had more life experience and having fired people, closed down plants and spoken in front of hundreds, he wasn’t intimidated by comedy. But getting laughs in comedy clubs is tougher than board rooms, he said.

“In the corporate world being funny is easy,” he said. “Any humor is welcome and you can steal material and nobody cares. When you move into comedy, you can’t steal, people are paying to be there. You have to start with a blank sheet of paper.”

In third place was Baldwin, who needed the prize money he made for advancing to the semi-finals just to eat.

“I didn’t have any money going into the last night of the first week and I killed to move on,” he said. “I was almost in tears. Everything just worked out.”

He laughed about another night at one of the casinos when he won $675.

“Another comic made me give him the money and then gave it back to me at the end of the night,” Baldwin said. “I probably would’ve lost it all.”

“It was a great experience and I’m happy for Paul,” he said. “I’d just like to pick him up and take him home.”

He was also impressed with the squeaky clean fifth-place finisher Kellen Erskine, the Mormon who refused Fox’s offer of champagne after the competition.

At 24, Erskine was the baby of the group, with just three years of comedy of experience under his belt. He was also the only one with a full-time job, commuting each day from San Jose where he installs industrial water heaters.

After putting in several 20-hour days even the youngster was tired.

“I was glad I did it and glad to be done with it,” he said of the competition.

Not an uncommon feeling after three weeks of grueling competition and travel. Even a veteran like Ogata who has performed all over the country and makes a couple of trips a year to Hong Kong was wiped out.

“I didn’t know what this competition takes out of you physically and mentally,” he said. “It’s at the same time exciting, exhilarating exhausting, excruciating.”

He’s planning to shoot his first DVD in December and will be performing at a Best of the Competition show New Year’s Eve at the Vacaville Performing Arts Theater.

With turns on the Late Late Show on CBS and a role in Damon Wayans’ film Behind the Smile, Ogata has had some success. But he’s hoping this win will help his climb in the comedy world.

“I Hope it opens the eyes of people in the industry who say this guy must be funny,” Ogata said. “Let’s have a look at him.”