The King of Comedy is Part of Our Lives

As of this writing, the King of Comedy has already laid to his final resting place at the Heritage Park in Taguig City. I was eagerly watching together with my mother and I really feel the solemnity and at the same time, melancholy of the whole scenario, in which I never expected that. Dolphy is at the scene, in which we used to see him giving us a hearty laugh because of his greatness in comedy. But now, I don't know and we don't know where we will lead after this. Privately, the interment was done with a simple march, opening of casket, buckets of tears, flying of doves and the most important part of all but the saddest part, the laying of the remains of the King to his niche. As what his son Eric Quizon had said in one of the eulogies they had celebrated for him, "Comedy is dead. Long live comedy!"

Sayang Mang Dolphy, we never met inside of this church!

I could say that we have the same denominator of the King. How could I be so proud to say that we are both devotees of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran. I am just an ordinary devotee so I traverse the thickness of people every Wednesday, while he is the King so he goes every Tuesday night or midnight to Wednesday. I only started in 2009; probably he started long way ago. And our one common thing, we know the prayers included in the novena. Both of us highly believe in the powers of prayers especially to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Since I learned that Dolphy was also one of the known showbiz folk who was a devotee, I was wishing if I could see him. Sadly, no chances was happened. I know in my heart that whenever I go to Baclaran just to say my prayers and make a wish to Our Mother, he will surely be part of it. And the whole Baclaran community will surely miss him, being part of Her prayerful devotees.

The Puruntong Family

The Kosme Family

Dolphy became part of our own homes, too. I would ask my parents if they were watching John en Marsha, but said not really much. RPN 9 during my childhood days replayed some of the best scenes of the longest running sitcom in Philippine television. My brother, who has autism, was so fixated with Channel 9 andevery afternoon, we were watching that together. He even continuously imitating the famous line of John Puruntong's mother-in-law, Dona Delilah "Kaya ikaw John, magsumikap ka!" Numerous people from all walks of life have said that the Puruntong family had been mirrored as what the Filipino family is. And for almost two decades of giving us an idea of what the Filipino family is, through thick and thin, John Puruntong became part of our lives. By giving us lessons of struggling, we were inspired and kept on moving forward despite problems coming along the way. The sitcom ended in 1990 and I never had any idea which I remember (not before the replays were made). Speaking of the word "along," early 90s was the beginning of another family sitcom made exclusively to the King of Comedy, Home Along Da Riles. I still remember the schedules of this sitcom: first it was every Wednesday 8:00 pm then changed to Thursday with a same schedule. Same concept as of his most successful sitcom, the difference is the location of the story, the side of the tracks. I can still remember the names of the kids of Mang Kevin Kosme: Bill, Bob, Bing and Baldo, together with Estong as their cousin. And also Aling Azon as Mang Kevin's former-lover-turned-sister-in-law-turned-wife (Mang Kevin's wife is Aling Azon's twin sister Sion), Maybe, Roxanne, Mang Richie and so much more. The lessons of having a very positive outlook in life though living in degrading life was the main focal point of the show. And for the next eleven years, the Kosme family became part of every Filipinos. Probably your family has the same thing as what Mang Dolphy had in TV.

His death's cause was due to his prolonged pneumonia that became chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and also because of acute renal disease. He was 83 and on July 25th, he would have been 84. Others have said that reaching that kind of age is already a bonus. But I guess for Dolphy, he still have a lot of things to be done despite of his old age. He truly believes that the whole nation still needs him to entertain us. He has been part of our daily lives since 1946, and for almost seven decades of entertaining us, he done it all greatly. July 10th, I was at home with my parents and my sleeping brother when I saw on DZMM Teleradyo that the Comedy King is already dead. Right before that news, I only heard from 24 Oras that the health condition of the King is doing great and comes to an OK status. Maybe God has the best thing in His mind and He then maybe prepared us to this situation. The atmosphere in the entertainment industry is totally different seeing different celebrities crying and reminiscing the times they were together with the King of Comedy. And also added to the atmosphere were millions and millions of fans pouring their love and support to the immediate family that Dolphy left here on earth. We know down from here that you are so happy that the Lord is already seeing you and being with you. You are now on what we know here as the "happiest and most peaceful place" everyone could see soon. 

I am one of the millions of Filipino bloggers who are now writing about the King of Comedy. Each message of the bloggers has something to do with how deeply we love Dolphy. For me, I would end my post with one of the songs from the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help entitled "Mother of Christ:"

Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ

What shall I ask of thee

I do not sigh for the wealth of earth

For the joys that fade and flee

But Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ

This do I long to see

The bliss untold which your arms enfold

The treasure upon your knee

Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ

I toss on a stormy sea

Oh, lift your Child as a beacon light

To the port where I fain would be

And Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ

This do I ask of thee

When to voyage is over, O stand on the shore

And show Him at last to me

I made the last two stanzas of the song in boldface because Dolphy already reached his last journey. And surely, Our Mother of Perpetual Help is waiting for him, standing on the shore and showing Jesus Christ to him. How I wish I am singing this beautiful song with the King of Comedy.

Yes, there would never be another great name as the King of Comedy. There is only one Dolphy! Thank you for the laughs, the tears, the joy and of course, the entertainment you've shown to us. You're surely part of our lives forever!

Toodles, Mang Pidol!

1928 - 2012