What’s So Funny in Brazil?

Lalo de Almeida for The New York TimesThe Brazilian comedian Rafinha Bastos at the Comedians Club in São Paulo.

Arts & Leisure

A Brazilian’s Comic Mania: Social Media

A profile of Mr. Bastos will be posted online Thursday morning and will appear in Sunday’s printed edition of The Times.

The Brazilian comedian Rafinha Bastos, recently named the most influential person in the Twitter universe, is spearheading a comedy explosion in his home country. He is part of “a new generation of humorists out there who are acid, vibrant and clever,” said Álvaro Paes de Barros, the general manager for Viacom in Brazil, who is supervising the opening of Comedy Central there.
From its beginnings in the United States, Comedy Central has expanded to become a global presence, with channels in countries ranging from Britain and Poland to Israel and New Zealand. But Brazil will be the largest overseas market (200 million people) it has entered and the network’s first venture in Latin America.

Mr. Paes de Barros, 39, spoke with The New York Times about the new generation of comedians that Mr. Bastos leads and cultural gulfs in humor and how to overcome them. Here are excerpts from that conversation:

 

Q.

Do American styles of humor automatically translate to a society like Brazil?

 

A.

I don’t think so. That’s why this channel is going to have a mix, with American and other international product, but also a lot of locally made programming. I can’t say yet what the percentage will be, but it’s clear that we are a country that, while it looks to the U.S. a lot, is also proud of its own culture. So we have to find a balance between the two.

 

Q.

But you are planning to have both stand-up sessions from the U.S. and the network’s two signature shows there, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report”?

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty ImagesThe Comedy Central stars Stephen Colbert, left, and Jon Stewart, right, at the First Annual Comedy Awards in New York in March.

 

A.

Yes, both of those and series like “South Park” and “Ugly Americans” too. They will be subtitled rather than dubbed. The idea is to get everything on the air as quickly as possible, before the joke loses its humor. But we’re also going to be hiring some very funny Brazilian writers and editors, some of them famous and some not. We’re talking to a lot of people because it’s our sense of things that comedy is turning into an industry here.

 

Q.

MTV Brasil has been very successful, but what made Viacom think that it made sense to bring the Comedy Central brand to Brazil?

 

A.

Well, there’s a real boom in humor going on here. It’s very fashionable, and there’s a new generation of comedians who are very sharp and savvy. Plus, the economy is booming, and the market for cable TV is also growing vigorously. So when you add all of that up, and look at our portfolio, we decided that it made good sense to launch Comedy Central here. It’s an idea whose time has come.

 

Q.

How would you characterize this new crop of Brazilian comedians?

 

A.

They’re a very irreverent group, and fearless. They’re not afraid to do social criticism and commentary. Really, they are quite gutsy. And they’re very politicized, with their antennae out for the way politics is done here in Brazil, the idiosyncrasies of our particular system. Politics is like a high-octane fuel for comedy. The other thing about this group is that they don’t do humor in the traditional way, with sketches or stock phrases. They’re focused on stand-up, which is something new for Brazil, and are always dealing with current themes, easily identifiable by the audience.

 

Q.

When did this comedy boom that you’re talking about actually start?

 

A.

It’s hard to say, but if you want me to pick a point in time, I’d say that it truly started to gain force starting around 2008. For us at Viacom, we’ve been thinking of this for about a year and a half, and we’ve done the research that tells us there’s an audience for this. It’s young, in the age range 24 to 35; it’s urban; and it’s predominantly male.

Comedy CentralThe boys from “South Park”: from left, Kyle, Kenny, Eric and Stan.

 

Q.

What makes you think that particular Brazilian audience is going to be receptive to the American programming that you’re going to be offering?

 

A.

Among other things, the example of shows like “Seinfeld” and “Friends.” Those are programs that initially were directed at one particular market or culture, but appeal to an urban, globalized viewing public that has access to cable TV. It’s the same thing with “South Park,” which has been shown on some other cable channels here. The themes are American, but that young and globalized audience understands what you’re talking about and finds the satire to be very humorous.

 

Q.

What was your reaction when Rafinha Bastos was designated the most influential person in the Twitter universe?

Lalo de Almeida for The New York TimesThe Brazilian comedian Rafinha Bastos, at a show in São Paulo recently, is very active on Twitter.

 

A.

I didn’t know he had that many followers, but I was impressed. He’s someone who started out on the Internet and ends up being mainstream. I don’t know him personally, but he’s been very astute in using these tools, which are available to everyone. They weren’t there just for him, and he’s really been brilliant in using them. It just goes to show the power of this particular group of comedians. They really operate on a high level — they’re intelligent and perceptive, and I think they are really going to go far.

I would also add that his ranking confirms the validity of our own approach. There are lessons for all of us about using new and more democratic platforms for people to express themselves. In our case, we see Comedy Central as both a channel and a multimedia platform. When it launches early next year, it’s going to have standard and HD, simulcasts, content for the Internet and cellphones and applications. There’s a public out there that’s really connected, and we want to engage them with all kinds of content on all kinds of platforms.

Fonte: The New York Time