Making People Laugh … Even in a Pandemic

CORONAVIRUS DIARIES: A SERIES

In November 2020, students in a section of an Introduction to Journalism course at City College interviewed family members about how their lives changed during the pandemic. H.P. is Nicole Pardo’s father.

H.P., who calls himself the longest professional “amatour” comedian has been performing in comedy clubs all over New York City for the past 13 years. Born Hernando Pardo, and originally from Colombia, H.P. has found a way to keep the laughs coming every Friday evening despite COVID-19 restrictions.

He recently took time out from his home studio in Queens to discuss HP Free Zoom Open Mic Show—a virtual experience he directs, produces and hosts from his computer—as well as his view about the future of comedy.

Nicole Pardo: What made you want to start HP Free Zoom Open Mic Show?

Hernando Pardo: Because of COVID-19 restrictions on stand-up comedy, there’s no outlet for comedians who are still at the amateur level. We need the open mics to continue practicing standup until we get professional spots. Now because of this pandemic they’re no professional gigs. So the safest way to do standup or any type of comedy is through Zoom or outdoor shows. So I took advantage and created HP Free Zoom Open Mic, and as of today, after 27 shows, it’s starting to become popular.

Nicole: Did anyone inspire you on the concept of your show?

H.P.: I heard Howard Stern start doing his show through Zoom, and that’s the first time I ever heard of Zoom. And then I started looking into it, and I thought I definitely can do this on my own. From there I started learning about Zoom, and I started doing it in increments to the point where now I know I can produce a full comedy show through Zoom in a pandemic safe situation.

Nicole: What do you do on your show?

H.P.: I mean on my Zoom show it’s very different. You would see I do my standup first, then pictures! I show funny pictures, then I do a Q&A and I have everybody involved in the show. So all can participate instead of the audience and comics just staring at their computer screen and sitting there like, “When it is my turn?” They participate in the polls I do and all of the questions I created. I would create these relevant questions and also create the dumbest choices for people to pick; the dumber the answer the funnier it is.

People have enjoyed that because I’m actually involving them in the process of laughing, not just being an observer. They’re actually making the people laugh as well as whoever watches the video tape back. Then I give those comedians who want to perform their 5 minutes set. That’s why I call it an open mic because other comedians can do their comedy, but on top of that, not only do they perform their comedy, I put a “laugh in a can.” That means I put a laugh track after every one of their punch lines and every single comedian has enjoyed that feedback because it’s not silence or just one chuckle here and one chuckle there but because it’s Zoom and you have your headphones on, I use sound effects to fills up the atmosphere, so they love to hear their joke having a reaction of a live studio audience.

Nicole: Did you have doubts about your show not connecting with people?

H.P.: I thought it was going to go nowhere, but in the end, there was this one particular comedian, he’s retired, and he’s been doing comedy for a long time, but he’s never reached the professional level. He recently told me that he finds my show to be very therapeutic. His mother died 2 months ago, around the same time I was doing my Zoom show, and he told me it helped him cope with the grief of mother’s death and it actually pushed him out of his depression.

Nicole: Is that why you continued doing the show?

H.P.: I continue doing the show because stand up, it’s not that I want to, I have to. I knew very early in my standup career I got the kiss of comedy, meaning I performed at a very high level and I got a standing ovation, and it was something I’ve never felt before, and I’m always wanting to get the same feeling. But now with Zoom it’s the same thing. I enjoy making people laugh, I enjoy the feedback that I get from people when they do laugh. It not only helps them, but it helps me stay healthy because laughter is very healthy for you. A lot of doctors say that the best medicine is laughter, and it is true because I do it to feel better physically and mentally.

Nicole: So is there a difference between the Zoom show and actually performing on stage?

H.P.: Yeah because on stage you get this instant rush or this instant high that you can’t duplicate doing anything else. But on Zoom it’s a new sort of format, so you kind of get the same feedback as you do from a live audience, but nothing will ever take the live audience feeling or feedback. The Zoom is just one way for me to keep being funny and making other people laugh. Yes, stand up is a lot different from Zoom, but personally, I’m still getting the same satisfaction of knowing that I’m making people laugh.

Nicole: Does anybody help you with the production of the show?

H.P.:  No, I do everything, I’m trying to put in the production value of a real TV show because I’m putting in the graphics, music, laugh tracks, and promos. I’m the director, I’m the promoter, I’m the writer, and the editor.

Nicole: What makes your comedy Zoom show different than anybody else’s?

H.P.: Me. I put in a lot of effort into my show; the show is like a train. It can’t go backwards. It has to go forward. It’s come a long way since the start of the pandemic, and you get to see how it’s progressed from when I first started to my last show, which is the Halloween Spooktacular.

Nicole: What are your hopes for the show?

H.P.: Hopefully this leads to someone watching it on my YouTube channel or on Facebook and hopefully this leads to a bigger break for me to actually get a standup special when this corona is over, that would be great.

Nicole: Will you go back to stand up?

H.P.: As of now I’m doing my stand up through Zoom because I’m not taking any chances going out there performing on stage sharing a microphone until this is all under control. Once the quarantine is over and we get back to some normalcy, that’s when I’ll go back to live standup.