Inaugural humor fest takes international flair seriously
A short man in a sports jacket stood at the microphone, arguing with his larger, more gruff companion last night at Cambridge College. It was a comic set-up straight out of vaudeville, as familiar as Abbott and Costello. Except the act, Duo Humor Sapiens, was done entirely in Spanish with a backdrop of caricatures of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, the far walls full of political cartoons from around the world.
It would be unusual, except this is Bostoons, the Boston International Humor Festival. And it takes the “international’’ part of the name seriously. Bostoons continues through tomorrow at Hall 152 at the college, a function room turned lecture hall, comedy club, and gallery. Lectures on the history of cartooning and the comic creative process take place during the day, live comedy at night, and the cartoons are available to peruse in between events.
“When we do comedy like this, we’re taking a great risk,’’ said Bostoons founder Mario Barros, who is host for the live events. The multilingual aspect is a challenge, throwing comedy at an audience in two languages. But the crowd didn’t seem to mind, laughing at Barros’s songs, the more traditional English language stand-up of Donny Soares and Christina Bontempo, and the Spanish language Humor Sapiens.
The festival’s main component is the cartoons, drawn from 494 artists from 67 countries, mostly created specifically under the theme of “freedom.’’ They represent a striking range of styles.
Canadian Oleg Dergachov’s work shows two prisoners playing soccer while handcuffed to guards. Bulgarian artist Anatoliy Stankulov’s cartoon shows a woman who has made a flag of the veil of her burka. The caricatures of Kennedy mostly show the familiar jowls and white mane. But some take a more abstract approach, including South Korean In-Cheon Hong’s portrait of Kennedy as Superman.
According to Barros, such celebrations of cartooning are common in other countries, but not here. If he has his way, Bostoons, planned as an annual event, will change that.
