If anyone has the right to humorously criticize or praise each of the countries of the former Yugoslavia, then that someone is certainly Peđa Bajović, a stand-up comedian.
Bijelo Polje where he was born, Požega, Mostar, Sarajevo, Banjaluka, Murska Sobota, Belgrade and finally Zagreb where he has lived for ten years - each of these cities (and republics) shaped his personality, he says.
He spent some period of his life in each of them, and he picked up the most "material for humor", he once declared, from Mostar and Požega. Today, as a comedian, he reveals, he is most inspired by Montenegrins and Bosnians.
"Yes, the extreme appearances of both - both the good ones and the not so attractive ones - are proven content for the story. Whenever I talk about my 'compatriots', the audience's reaction is the strongest," says Bajović, who has been doing stand-up comedy for seven years.
Everything, he says, started in America.
"Comedy came into my life several times in different forms, but I met it under that name - stand up, met it and accepted it endlessly some 12 years ago during my stay in America. One man on stage, who makes the audience laugh has existed for a long time and it was called by different names... Well, for example, I was enchanted by the mono-comedies of Josip Pejaković, I knew them all by heart! And when the opportunity arose to start dealing with it, I grabbed it and - I'm not letting go", says the comedian with a smile, for whom, he says, it is his true and only occupation. Although before that he was also a sociologist, journalist and producer. Not to mention a multi-year career in the military aviation.
"I like to laugh and make people laugh, because then I laugh too! That's why all my previous occupations were just a search to finally find myself in what I'm doing now," said this native of Bielopolska. He finds the topics he talks about to his audience everywhere.
"I find them in life, in everything that makes it. I watch, remember, take notes and then process for the stage. Stand up comedy is a story about life, about everyday life. We make fun of the things around us (and ourselves!) and our finger, whether physically or mentally, is always pointed somewhere", warns Bajović.
"I like to laugh and make people laugh, because then I laugh too!"
His finger is really pointed in various directions - in his comedies, he deals with politics (and politicians), sex, marriage, women, sports, and often with the old Yugoslavia (Yugonostalgics and Yugophobia are his favorite topics, he says).
"This is our part of the world that some call the region, others the region, the third the Western Balkans... I call it Yugoslavia, and not the former one, because the current one does not even exist. I watch, I experience, I write down... There is something interesting, and at the same time hilarious", are his words.
It serves serious topics to the audience, but lubricated with laughter. That way, he says, it's easier.
"Nevertheless, whether it is more important that people just laugh or that they learn a lesson from the story, depends on the comedian. For some, laughter is the only important thing, no matter how they get it, while others want to gain the audience's attention in order to say something important, so if there is laughter - great! I'm somewhere in between, but if I have to choose, I'm a little closer to this second option. That deeper aspect is more important to me", admits Peđa Bajović.
The audience is completely unpredictable for him. Unpleasant situations (those without laughter), he says, happen.
“It's happening. Surprises happen both in that negative and positive sense. Sometimes you think that some joke will "kill" the audience with laughter, but not a fly can be heard in the room, and sometimes something you just 'drummed' during the performance makes people laugh non-stop", says the comedian.
In his opinion, the audience always laughs at familiar things.
"Yes, they laugh at what is close to them, themselves. It is the same in our country and in the world. I have a theory that people laugh the most at the things that physically go in and out of them. Let the readers themselves create a picture of what this is all about...", enigmatic Bajović.
With a smile, he also reveals when it's time to leave the stage and the end of the evening: "I leave when either the silence or the laughter lasts too long!"
"I'm a smart guy with slightly nerdy tendencies who (mostly) knows what he's talking about"
He describes himself as a stand-up person in a few words - "I'm a smart guy with slightly geeky tendencies, who (mostly) knows what he's talking about", and finally he reveals to us how he would introduce his countrymen from Bjelopolje to the audience in a humorous way: "Everyone likes to they hear something about themselves. I think that I will present my countrymen precisely through the prism of the two strongest stereotypes - laziness and pride".
More performers, less money
Stand up comedy in the region looks colorful today. As for money - it stagnates, and when we talk about its representation - it develops.
"Stand up as an art has not been neglected in our country because it has never really been staged." The situation is such that at the beginning of our work, some seven or eight years ago, as beginners and amateurs, we earned almost the same as we do now! It's not because we haven't progressed as performers, it's because money is much less these days. Back then, specifically in Croatia and Slovenia, we were something new and we were paid more than we were objectively worth. Today, it's the other way around," says Bajović and adds:
"Nevertheless, the network of stand-up comedians and organizations is growing and expanding, and here it consists of about 50 people who do it, from those who are pure professionals, to those for whom it is a (paid) hobby, all the way to amateurs. Each of the ex-YU countries has its own smaller or larger network of stand-up comedians, and it's time for Montenegro, as the last one left, to do the same. I believe that there are individuals who already are or would try it, but the time has come for stand up comedy to rise to the level that exists in the environment. There is no reason why this should not happen, and very soon," Peđa Bajović is optimistic.
He brings stereotypes to Seattle
The Croatian comedian will try his hand at the big international stand-up comedian competition in Seattle, which will be held from November 5 to 25. He hopes for success.
"I am going as the only representative from Eastern Europe. This year it caught my eye. Although I expect a lot, it could happen that my projections are completely wrong and I get eliminated in the first round in that competition. However, I think I'm not without a chance, and what I'm going to talk about is a kind of mixture of stereotypes about each other, with somewhat universal themes... So that the people there understand that we are here as well as them - people", says Bajović and adds that his English language, in which he will make the audience laugh for the first time - lies.
"The more I work on preparing for these performances, I realize that this language is so suitable for stand-up comedy that there are some things that are almost impossible to do in our language!"
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